Blog: http://www.ashpence.blogspot.com/

Fanart Gallery: http://madashes2ashes.deviantart.com/favourites/#Flames-and-Family-Fanart

Note: I LOVE crazy, long, or otherwise crack-filled reviews. Fanart makes me drool, too. Also, never fear about sending me an PM full of whatever your smoking (LOL, as in questions, confusions, or opinions). I answer them all to the best of my ability and I try to take criticism fairly as long as it's not all one-sided hate. The only time I ignore questions is if they'll answer themselves within the next Chapter.

I'm pretty laid back and I'll chat with anyone who wants to IM me, so feel free to and don't be shy.

Important notice for those of you waiting for Flames and Family V to be updated!

Carpal tunnel is a writer's second worst nightmare (the first being blindness) and I've been diagnosed with it. To give you a taste of how bad it is... Do you remember the last chapter of part four? It was 12k words in length and I wrote it in a single day. An older example is the highly memorable date chapter "Wonderland" (chap 4 of part 3). It was 8k words and I wrote it in a single day. You know all those multi-uploads I've done? Those were two and sometimes three chapters of equivalent length... and I typically wrote them in a single day, then took an extra day to proofread.

But... Right now, I'm struggling to write 2k in an entire week. Whenever I type for more than 15 minutes, my wrists become cramped and pain shoots up my forearms. I'm having to wear splints on both wrists for most of the day and while I sleep. Plus, the medicine I'm taking tends to enforce sudden naps. I can't spend more than an hour in front of my keyboard before I start dozing off.

To add to that, I've had a lot of difficulties at home. My grandmother was hospitalized on Christmas (she's fine now). My mom had a heart attack in February and a relapse in March (she seems to be recovering nicely). And my husband has spent the last three months medicated for reason that took 3 doctors and two specialists to diagnose. I'm praying he's finally going to get better, but his current meds knock him out like he's taking Morphine. That leaves me with twice the responsibility with the kiddo. I can't wait for him to go outside and play with daddy. I have to go out and play with him myself (usually while I do the yardwork). And that cuts into the time where I would normally sneak over and write... time that already decreased when I got a part-time job.

What's the point of saying all this? Well, I just wanted everyone to know that I haven't forgotten about Flames and Family. And I appreciate those of you who have messaged to ask 'when are you going to continue?!' But I honestly don't know an answer. All I can say is that I WILL continue at some point.

Right now...

Real life has to come first, which is something everyone learns eventually.

Gomen.

--Ashes

Thanks for reading~!