Thanks for holding, we'll be with you shortly.

Every so often, for one reason or another, I find myself re-evaluating my life.

Anybody who knows me offline will be up to speed on what’s going on in my life, but for readers who are really only familiar with my presence online, I probably owe you an explanation. So here goes.

Earlier this year I went from having a live-in partner – the inimitable and delightful Maya – to being a single parent (again) and feeling somewhat adrift. Through a month-long moving process and one of the most spectacularly gradual relationship collapses, I managed to keep drawing, thanks in no small part to the Daily Dragon exercise I’ve undertaken this year. Now I’ve recovered, and I have begun to take stock of my life, my career, and my future.

Suffice it to say that I’ve spent a lot of my time, over the last several weeks, engaged in a great deal of self-reflection and careful consideration of where I’ve been, where I am, and where I’m going. As a part of that, I’ve been thinking about my daughter’s future as well.

A week ago I took a plane – actually two of them, and it was quite the mishap-laden adventure, let me tell you – to Seattle to see some friends and go poke around in the Pacific Northwest for a long weekend. I’ve traveled all over the U.S. for various reasons over my lifetime, but I’d somehow never managed to make it out to Oregon or Washington.

(Possibly because they’re so terribly, terribly remote.)

Partly, this was to explore. Partly, to take some time away from things. I really felt like I needed to get away and just think for awhile, and a road trip just wasn’t going to cut it. Lastly, I am trying to decide how much longer I’ll be staying in the Chicago area, and where I’ll go when and if I leave. I love it here, but there are some definite down sides to this city. If I’m moving, I’d like to know what my options are. Seeing as how I’d been almost everywhere else in this country, it was a good excuse to find out what my last unknown option is like in person.

I’ve had a couple of days back to cool down and reflect, and I have managed a couple of real conclusions:

1. The Pacific Northwest is beautiful. I mean, frickin’ gorgeous. I took photos. If you ever get up thataway, you should visit Oswald West State Park, it’s dang purdy.
2. If I move in the next ten years, Seattle is definitely on my short list.
3. If I can swing it, I’ll retire to the northern Oregon coast. Unless there’s a Mars colony by then, in which case red planet here I come!
4. I think I know what direction I want to take.
5. I have a lot of work to do, right now. It’s time for a productivity and priority check.

It’s that last one that’s the kicker.

So here’s the deal: I’m taking the rest of November off from the internet, more or less. Minimal face time with Facebook and Twitter, and no scheduled content. I’m going to use this month to complete some things I need and/or want to do, tighten a few things up, and generally kick ass and take names. This site will relaunch soon with a new look and new content, and I’m going to focus on the latter. Should be some good stuff.

In the meantime I will be continuing to make my daily dragon art, but I won’t be posting it. At the end of the month all of the November dragons will go up in a gallery for the month (as always) but no individual posts or commentary will be forthcoming.

I’ll see you in December, The Internet. Godspeed.