I’ve been completely absent for four weeks. I’m going to try to explain what it’s been like for me, and I swear, you’ll relate.

I’ve been trying to comb Medusa’s hair. You know what it’s like. There are a whole bunch of things you do, need to do, put off, or wish you did. Each one of these things, whether you really want to do it or aren’t exactly looking forward to it, is like a strand of hair. Each one is a snake, ready to bite your face off. And there’s a huge tangle of snake-hair.

My webcomic is one of those snake-hairs. Truthfully, my absence has been a really emotionally turbulent experience for me. I think about it every day. Every day, I swear I’ll return. I’ve even gotten as far as place a clean sheet of lined paper on the desk in front of me. But you know what? The moment just before you get your hands on that snake is the most inviting moment to walk away. And it sucks. It’s hurtful. It’s cowardly. And that’s what I’ve been, really. What if I had a thousand visitors every day? I always ask myself that. I’m emotionally shaken every time I check my site statistics to see how many people that day are disappointed by the lack of a new comic.

My giant schedule is my comb of this situation. The problem is, if I begin to fall behind in work, I also begin to drift away from my schedule. And then I have a dozen snakes in front of me that I need to untangle with my hands. This whole holidays thing has caused me to fall into that. What I need to do now is get my comb back within reach. That, along with the few people satisfied with a new comic – and the thousand imaginary ones cheering me on every day – will allow me to vanquish a foe that, some time ago, would simply turn me to stone.