Leave of Absence

*Hangs head in shame*

Hi everyone. I know what you're thinking: Jordan! Katie! Whateveritisyoucallme! You were on a roll, you had this awesome story going with Ryan and Lucy, and then you got us all excited for some new Sascha and Alex time, and then you fell off the face of the earth!!!
(Some of you, at this point, may also be shocked to see me include a total of three (3) exclamations points there. Those who are shocked likely know me and my abhorrence [vocab lesson] of excessive punctuation, with the exception of the occasional '?!', and thhheee insertion oooffff a bajillion extra leeettteeerrrrrssssss) [insert shudder here]

Ah, ok focus. So here's the deal. My roommate (a.k.a. best friend, Codename: Cat) has taken a serious blow in the physical health department. My neurosis requires that I do everything in my power to make sure she's as happy as possible. On top of that, my family has had to make some tough decisions, my brother especially, that have completely changed things for me. Things that are actually pretty hard to cope with when you're 900 miles from the rest of your family. As the icing on the cake, I got to watch my own mental health slip through my fingers. Remember that scene where Alex carries Sascha down to her appointment with Dr. P? Replace Alex with my roommates, Sascha with me, and Dr. P with a wait list for the school counseling center, and you get, well, my life.

Lorrie Moore said,

"Most things good for writing are bad for life. “May your life be not very good material” is a blessing I offer students."

Someone could write a pretty excellent novel with the last month of my life as the main conflict. Please understand, I'm not writing this to extract your pity, only your understanding. As much as I've tried, I've made very little progress with any of my characters. The funny thing is imagining their voices whisper 'wasn't that the whole point of our story? That strength sometimes means asking for help? Come on, girl, learn from what you've written!'

Alright, so long story short: life kind of sucks right now. (Excuse my French) Just making it through the day in a semi-normal way is a small blessing. I admit, the only reason I'm responding to things on Goodreads and writing out this whole post is because today was an extraordinarily good day (in comparison to the previous). Right now, I'm praying that more good days are on their way, and I can get back to my life. We'll see though.

As a side note: My Name
Most of you know that my real name is not Jordan Bell. My name is Katie T. Over the past few months, I've gotten very accustomed to my pen name. I respond to it almost as naturally as my given name now, and have even been called Jordan or Jordy by friends in person. I like my name. Wouldn't have picked it otherwise! BUT, I just want you to know that you can call me Katie, or Jordan or Jordy or Phil if you really wanted to. Whatever you're more comfortable with, really.

I love you all and wish you all a blessed week.
-Jordy