Alright, let's do this one last time

Until the reboot...

Hey everyone! I know a few months ago I wrote an update apologizing for not being here a lot and that I would remedy it. Well, I'm here to say it again. Full, serious, real talk time (which, feel special because I only have about 30 minutes a year of serious talk in me, my wife hates it). This year, actually the last six months have been really rough for my family and I. We've had to replace both cars, our oven, the dishwasher, have some concrete work done and had quite a few medical bills. This is part of the reason the new studio has been pushed back. The building is there but is empty on the inside. Oh, and we two of our dogs died in February.

I have recently come to realize that all of this has actually taken a huge toll on me and my mental well being. I try to act like this stuff doesn't bother me and that I'm always the happy and upbeat guy, but I know that it's ok to be sad. I tried to dive into my work, to use it as an outlet, but that didn't help. “Midnight Signs” was getting zero reads on Amazon, we were spending all our money on the house so I didn't have any to pay artist to work on books, and the old studio just isn't cutting it for recording. As you can see the hits keep coming.

I took a few weeks to do nothing. I needed to get in a better head space and I think I'm finally there. I've started a new kid's book that is almost done, more on that later. I'm almost done writing issue 3 of “The Embassy” and the first two issues are almost completely colored! A good friend offered me a great job that I'm currently training for. I've really learned to be better with my work-life balance. I'm not just saying yes to everything so I can be part of it.

So, does this mean there will be a new newsletter and podcast every week? I don't know. One of the reasons I've never been big on the idea of charging for these things is then I feel obligated to crank something out just for the sake of content. I think I want to use this Substack to talk more about my projects and passions. I'm planning on ranking the Assassin's Creed games soon here. Maybe highlight some of my favorite characters and story arcs. I don't know, what all would you like to see?

That's all for this one. I just wanted to give you an update to be transparent. Before I leave I do want to plug my next appearance!

This weekend (4/22-4/24) I will be at YC3 in Amarillo! I'm booth K5, just diagonal from Doug Jones! I'll have all my books and prints available so if you're close come say hi. I'm doing a panel about podcasting at 2:15 on Saturday that will be fun. Probably the most exciting thing is my youngest kid, Sterling, is going with me. This will be the first convention he's worked with me so we will see how that goes. Gotta make sure the Switch is fully charged and snacks are readily available.

Thank you for all the love and understanding.

Until next time,

Lance