General Update/Life Ramblings

Hope everyone's doing alright. I have a few things I feel I should bring up to y'all right about now, some of which has been on my mind for a decent while.

I'll get the worst (and newest) of it out of the way first: Last week, my grandmother passed away. We knew it was coming since she's been affected by Alzheimer's disease for a bit, but it didn't make it any easier to hear the news. She was a wonderful person and one of my favorite people back in my childhood, and it's been hard on all of us to have to see her go. This comes on top of more family drama that I'd rather not get into publicly, so my mood and motivation to work have been down because of it. The funeral is tomorrow morning, and I'm just hoping that my family will be able to make it through smoothly. I got a leave of absence from work this week, but I've barely touched page 6 of Gift Exchange during that time. Part of me feels really bad about that, because I need every minute I can get to finish it in time for Christmas. But on the other hand, I know I can't just cram every second of my spare time into it either. It wouldn't be healthy for me. Just a lot of conflicting emotions all around. 

I've been doing my best to balance my art out with all the other stuff I do alongside it. Besides work and errands, there's also my Japanese practice, the new album I'm working on, new stories I'm writing, books I'm reading, and even an animated movie idea that I want to to pitch to a real studio someday. It feels overwhelming, but I'm keeping it all together because these are things I'm passionate about, and don't want to fall behind in. Once the funeral passes, I'm hoping that I can get back to my normal level of productivity.

Speaking of which, I'm also starting to feel guilty about Gift Exchange dominating my output in the past couple of months. Don't get me wrong; I'm happy with how it's coming out, I like working on it, and the positive reception it's gotten has been the biggest confidence booster I've felt all year. I'm so satisfied to finally have a multi-page comic after failing at it multiple times before. But the cost is that it's pulling my attention away from the other art I like doing too. Specifically, I feel like I'm neglecting those OCs I introduced at the start of the year. One of my stated goals for 2022 was to roll out a whole batch of new characters I made, and although I did that for Alyssa and Monica, they've pretty much been put on hold for now until the comic gets done. I'm not a super fast worker when it comes to drawing, and it makes me wish I just had more time to have the kind of output that I think I'm capable of now. But still, I intend to push onward and do everything I can to keep things steady for as long as I can.

Lastly, I just want to give a huge, deep thanks to all my new patrons and followers. For 3 straight years I had almost no support on here at all, and now things are finally starting to turn around for the better. You guys mean the world to me, and the fact that I have anyone backing me at all is a big part of what's keeping me afloat right now. I just want it to be known that you've been helping me stay in good spirits through all the bullshit that work, family, and life in general puts me through. The same goes for all my followers on Twitter and FurAffinity too. Every little bit really does help. Sooner or later, one way or another, I'll keep supplying the goods. Thanks again.

-Alpha Rain