So…for most of 2023 it’s been…quiet. That’s because it has hardly been salad days here at the HQ. I’m a fairly private type, so no need to expand beyond that — but suffice it to say: I’ve had better days! Or, you know, years.

Of course, rough times find us all eventually, it’s a simple human truth, that, like all simple truths, contains multitudes. By that I mean, there’s good and bad in the best of times and also in the worst. It keeps our mushy brains from figuring out this crazy life, leaving us just a little bit of room to worry and wonder. Every time the world tries to break our hearts, there are still battlefield flowers that somehow go un-trampled. Somehow, in all the wreckage and chaos, some magical calculus exists that spares just enough beauty — if we’re lucky enough to recognize it. And that illuminates a dark little corner of the mind and offers us the gift of gratitude.

For instance: (and not to embarrass anyone) A few months back, “S” bought a book for a friend, ”A.” Now here at the HQ we hardly believe in the wanton ravages of Capitalism, but we can begrudgingly admit that, yes, it’s nice to sell a book every now and again.

But better than that is the idea that a reader responded to and now vouches so much for the work that they’ll send it on to a friend. That, right there, that’s the lucre there, y’all! The real dream…made real!

But when a third link in the pay-it-forward chain appear?! When “A” then orders a book for “Z,” — well, that’s enough to soften up even this ol’ world-weary pecan of a heart!

So I wanted to say thanks — publicly. You who’ve done this — both now, and before — know who you are. You’ve taken my work further and wider than I ever could’ve alone, and what’s more, you’ve reminded me why creative folks keep creating in the face of so much noise and apathy. It’s to be part of that larger confluence…part of that inter-mingled exchange of ideas and inspirations.

You all keep me going, and — in this world anyway — that’s a pretty great thing...one we could all use more of in whatever ways we can manage. I hope to find my way back to some projects that, for now, lay fallow. Until then, I won’t forget what you all have done for me.