These are the soul cages.

I have a tale to share with you because that’s what I do here— share my life as a creator.

The TLDR version is that I’m taking September off from posting because there’s some unpleasantness happening in my world and it’s preventing me from sharing the content I’d like.

At the beginning of this week, I learned my father (still living in my hometown) has been suffering some mini strokes. He seems to be showing signs of dementia, and he is barely mobile. He’s had a couple strokes in the past and looked like he’d recovered with some speech delay, but things have significantly worsened in the past few months.

I have family nearby who are trying to sort things out for him. In all honesty, it seems pretty grim. The light is gone from his eyes. The man who loved telling me dirty jokes on the phone can’t manage a five-minute conversation.

I have commitments that won’t allow me to travel to him right away. It wouldn’t reduce his suffering anyway. I’m providing support from a distance— researching, advising and shipping creature comforts to make his remaining days better. We’re not sure how long he has. I know my fiercely independent father wouldn’t want it to be like this. (If he were in his right mind, he’d make some joke about banging a hot blonde on his way out. He’s too sick to flirt with nurses right now.)

I knew the day would come when he would pass. The reports of his condition earlier in the week were surprising. My sister and I estimate he may have six months left.

The man who has called me Red since I was a toddler is on his way out. There’s no reversing what’s happened. We can only try to improve the quality of his remaining time.

This has dominated my week. After tackling some creative heavy-lifting, Dad news came to light.

I won’t be posting any paid posts for my patrons this month, which means you won’t be charged for any September content.

There are very positive things developing. I promise.

In July, I decided I should switch to a monthly subscription instead of per-post on my Patreon. It’s not a switch that I wanted to make in a day, so my plan was to announce it in late August.

In August, I worked out subscription levels and planned content. I had a rough content calendar and plans to announce with a video before September. We invested in a lighting kit so I can get great photos and video in my home studio. 

We broke out the lights to record my Tub Tales late in the month and my video camera wouldn’t work. We tried the simple fixes recommended for the camera. It wasn’t that old. (We bought it in January 2012. It actually is that old.) No luck. I had to record some content with my cell phone.

Between August and last Monday, Mr. Snapper and I penned a murder mystery burlesque script to be performed this coming Saturday. I’m giving loose direction via email and Skype while making sure all of the evidence is ready. Pretty damned exciting. We’ve been working on this project with Shoshana of Viva’s since March. 

Once that script was complete, I could announce an October start for the subscription plan. Get my video content up for last month, find a replacement camera so I can get some video content done in September.

That brings us right up to the news of my dad and where we are now.

Beautiful things can come from loss. Sting created Soul Cages after the death of his father. Maybe I’m on the verge of some burlesque version of that kind of creation. Know that whatever I create will honor him— fierce independence, artistic vision and no fucks given.

I hope you stick around for that journey.