I suck, I know, but in my defense...

My apologies if I've seemed distracted, uncommunicative, or simply non-existent the last several days. I'm not intentionally ignoring anyone, I promise. I know I have emails, texts, and personal messages to read and probably respond to as well as a bunch of bookish tasks and obligations to see through, but in my defense, shit has been rather chaotic and emotionally draining the last couple of weeks.

First, Shark Out of Water, book 3 in the Grab Your Pole series and possibly my fave book ever, finally released after having the writing of it completed for about 2 years. I can't tell you all how elated I am that you can all read that book now and possibly share my feelings of love for it, although I will admit to having a certain amount of "Ha! Take that, bitches. You all can suck it" sentiments drifting through my head when I think of the many "I hate you, you evil bitch monster from hell" reactions there were to the ending of TOFitS. Sorry, but it's true.

Then my three minions went back to school. That in itself has my world in a topsy-turvey sort of upheaval. (God, I almost miss homeschooling...)

Next let me explain what is atypical but has had a hand in my flakiness of late and that is that my husband and I drove for hours and spent a day saying farewell to a man who lived an incredible life and will be dearly missed by people across the globe, for he touched the lives of so very many. I went straight to bed once we got home and the following morning I learned of the shocking passing of my next door neighbor, another great man, husband and father who left us Monday evening. His wife is not only a neighbor and friend, but she works at the school two of my minions go to and she's one of my big GYP fans too. I read the news, made one phone call, and set my coffee on the counter without having taken more than a few sips of it, and then with unbrushed hair and teeth and in my jammies, I padded barefoot across the property line and the rocks in the front yard to give my friend a hug. Her adult daughter whom I hadn't met prior answered the door and when I asked if her mom was home she sort of looked at me askew and said something to the effect of, "Mom, there's a [crazy] barefooted woman in pajamas here to see you." Yeah, I really know how to make a first impression, huh? I must because her mom answered something like, "Oh, it must be Jenn..."

So that's what's been happening in the real world and although I would love to not be affected by events such as those by maybe living on a deserted tropical island or be able to say that they're the product of my imagination, they're sometimes painfully real and there's no hiding from life and its counterpart.

In moving on in my excuse for being anti-social and the sucky friend that I am, I'll just go ahead and admit that my head has also been off in other planes of reality, which is what tends to happen when writer me gets a vague new story idea in her head—I spend countless hours in bed in that semi-conscious, dreamlike state of being, watching the idea evolve and seeing scenes play out, indistinct at first until they're solid and tangible enough for me to grasp onto and put what I see into words. Then comes the massive amount of time I spend mentally working out the details of how, why, and where. Scenario after scenario is dreamt up until I latch onto one I like and feel is workable, but with something so new and fresh, establishing a connection with the characters and story takes buckets of time for me to do effectively. So, if I'm not around much in the next few weeks, just think of it as my way of easing you all into my more complete absence when I'm able to go back to the GYP world full bore, because even though that world is developed and I know the characters inside and out, I've spent almost a year away from living in the GYP gang's world so there will most definitely be a period of getting reacquainted with everyone and reestablishing the intimacy I once had with them, which will take time and as few distractions as feasibly possible, which means little to no facebooking, tweeting, and blogging.

And in closing, just a little heads up for all of you; last night I followed through with a challenge I accepted back in May that came via a humbling invitation to take part in something very unique and special, but although I completed my assignment on time, I failed utterly and epically in keeping myself from spewing less than a few hundred written words. Shocker, right? Thus I don't know if my contribution will pass muster and ultimately be included, or if I'll be asked to edit the fuck out of it or write something entirely new, but regardless, the blogosphere has an uber-fun and entertaining treat coming this Saturday which I'll encourage you all to read.

In any event, now that I'm sort of back in the real world for a bit, I'll try to be better about keeping up with everyone, and if I fail yet again, please know that I'm not ignoring you intentionally and understand that it's not you, it's me. I hope we can still be friends... :-p