Hey all!

So instead of just doing a big status about this, I figured I'd do a blog.

While it's not bad, I haven't written anything since the beginning of March. Mostly due to dealing with a death in my extended family almost a year (3 mos in June) after my Dad, but also dealing with depression and overall work. The latter isn't the issue (I work noc and the house I work at is one of the easiest).

I left a RP'ing site 6 months ago because I'd spent too long there, plus I just never felt like I was welcome, especially after I deleted one of my more popular characters a few years ago. I should've left then, but I always kept going back. I also felt like everything was becoming a chore because there were certain restrictions/responsibilities, when it was supposed to be fun. I never thought I'd leave. I did once before, but that was in the beginning/when it was just a baby and I was starting college.

That's when I came back to FFT at the beginning of the year because while I knew it wasn't as active as it was when I left before, I knew it was still around and I still wanted to write my ideas that I'm surprised I still remembered.   Even if they don't get big reviews, at least they're out there.

So my question is to you - how do you manage to balance life/work/writing? I love my stories/ideas, but all I feel like I'm doing is sleep (when I can)/eat/work. Maybe go out with gas prices the way they are. I know it's not a competition, but I'm envious of those that I get notifications from the New Story or Chapter Updates threads because I want to be able to write like that. Days that I have off, I just don't feel like doing anything or have other things to do. I just don't want to be like before and write a few times and be gone for another 10 years because I feel like that's where I'm headed again.

I know life is more important and we've lost (in a good way) many great writers due to the hustle and bustle of it, but I feel like writing is where I can escape, even for a moment.

TIA for any tips!