Well, I seem to be in slightly more of a pickle than usual. Due to a combination of the army running my husband and our car ragged on our own dime, the light bill spiking into the several hundreds, and other annoying factors my coffers are flat. I used to have money set aside for emergencies and taxes. I currently have a past due light bill and an empty bank account. In America, the army doesn’t pay you for work. You pay the army.

There have been a few generous donations from Heavenly Bride’s three readers. It should have been enough, but it barely kept the lights from being turned off. So here I sit in a pickle, and that pickle is about to play forth across the internet in a way I’d rather avoid.

My websites are in deep dooky.

I have to come up with the money to renew one in under 24 hours. (Edit: turns out I have a month on that one.) I have to come up with the money to renew Heavenly Bride’s site in about 3 or 4 days (edit) a week. And Akashik I think has a month left? (Edit, it also has a week.) I’ll have to double check to be sure. (See? I did.)

For years each time this matter came up, I would use the money I had earned from my own sweat and tears to do the trick. But the government has made sure I don’t have the money this time. I’m even afraid to buy food, and to top it off our internet bill is past due so what will the point be if I can’t pay that first?

The sadly ironic part here is that I’ve been toying with the idea of just letting the websites go down for a few months now. There’s no activity on them. The only way I know people go to them to read them – outside of the regular three people – is because someone mentioned in a Heavenly Bride review on Amazon that they were thrilled to learn they could read the book for free rather than buy it there. And, as recent events are making clear, I can’t afford the expense anymore.

So now the pinch has come and I’m looking at being forced to do it anyway. Aaaaaand… you know I don’t want to. I’m always afraid someone is waiting to swipe the domain name out from under me. Believe me, I had to fight to get that name.

And it’s only right. Three people donated to help out.

Despite all this drama I’ve been working extra hard on Heavenly Bride. I’ve reached a page in the story that required me to do a little preplanning. Characters had to be developed. Scenes had to be made. It’s more work than usual for a page, but I am hoping it will be worth it. The new creation methods I have been employing have been producing richer artwork that I hope people enjoy.

I’ve been posting sneak previews and wotnot in the Heavenly Bride pup forum. So far I have one pup in attendance, but hey! They say things to me on occasion. Woo hoo!

So on that note I shall get back to work. I’m doing this picture of Jiu Liu that’s going to make his haters hate him even more.