It's been very quiet around here for a long time. This was never intended, and stil isn't intended, to be a permanent state of affairs (if nothing else, I'll be putting up my 2022 Crucible prediction next week, which doubtless you're all desperate to see).
So let's do a brief update, ahead of trying to get a bit more active on here going forward. The big news is that IDFC, the website that has kept me so busy over the last year, is coming to an end. It won't actually run out of material until the tail end of June, but as I write this (indeed, while I write this as a displacement activity from actually working on Trek), I've only two essays unstarted, with a third half-finished. What happens after that, IDFC-wise, we shall see, but at least for a while I'll be free from the need to get things out on a tight schedule.
Roddenberry isn't the only reason I've been quiet lately, though. Last year was an exceptionally difficult one for me. My sister passed away in September, which is something I'm not ready to write about in detail. As well as that, though, it became clear the job I had been in for over half a decade was no longer tenable, for reasons I won't and indeed cannot go into. The resulting change in employer also brought about a change in county, which in turn necessitated the buying of a house. Perhaps most horrifyingly, it also meant I wasn't able to do any painting between the end of September and, well, last week, when I finally worked out which box I'd packed my painting supplies in.
With pots and brushes now liberated, the production can continue, and sporadic updates on what I'm creating can resume.