Look...I took a break. I needed one. The plague was rough on people I know and love and I lost my energy for reading/writing/talking about erotica. I definitely lost my creative energy.
I'll be reengaging slowly. Those of you who've written...I'll write back. Those of you who've voted...thank you. Those of you still waiting for the "bonus" story I swore I'd post a zillion weeks ago...I'll post it shortly.
Those of you who wrote longer messages will take longer to answer. Those of you who engaged at (great, great, so very long and great) length on the forum will get your own answers. But I'll catch up to all of this, sooner or later.
Meanwhile, of all the new stories there's only one I think I can finish this year. So that'll get posted. Another deconstructing-while-embracing a trope, just like Fidèle.
I'll say that I didn't realize just how much of a creative vampire Fidèle would be. But it took it out of me. It exhausted me. It was so very much the story that needed to be told but everything about it, including both the narrative and the ending(s), ripped my heart out. It's been hard to lasso it back. I don't think I'll ever be able to put as much of myself into a story as I did into that one.
That said, the writing has resumed.