5 days remaining

Heya folks, figured I'd give you all a status update.

In a few days I'll be heading up to Michigan, and it's unlikely that I'll be able to get anything done until I get back.  And even then my nieces will be here for a week, so really the last half of this month could be a wash...   and the first half isn't looking much better.  Over the past week, the most I accomplished was learning how Python dictionaries work, and how they could benefit my Maya scripts.  Unfortunately that means there's only a few days left to draw what I can before my trip.

My Christmas comic idea has some major problems - story-wise it reveals too much too soon, it makes light of something it shouldn't, and the characters are out of character.  I've tried to fix this through the dialogue, but every attempt so far has killed the joke.  I'd much rather come up with something else, or get started on my Dark Corner follow-up, and maybe save this year's idea for later.  Either way, time is limited.  It's a recipe for the very stress I've been hoping to avoid.

Realistically, I think I need a break.  The past few months have taken their toll on me, and lately I've been worn out.  Drawing is normally fun and relaxing for me, but lately it has been stressful instead.  One thing that'd really put my mind at ease in situations like this, is if Patreon had a 'pause' feature.  If I'm too stressed out or work keeps me too busy to draw, I could temporarily put my campaign on hold so at least none of you get billed...

As it turns out, Patreon DOES have a pause feature, but it's currently in beta.  There is another option, though - I could revert my account to patron-only.  I'm hesitant to do this, because it shuts my page down and warns that all followers will be removed.  When I re-activate it, though, everything will be restored, including patrons.  I'm giving this some serious thought.  If I do it, my page will only be down for a few days so we skip the next billing cycle.  If it works - or if the actual pause feature goes live soon - it could be useful over the next year, especially if 2017 ends up being as busy as I'm hearing...