The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette

Volume 5, Issue 12 - Tuesday, April 21st, 2020

Howdy, patrons!

Third time's the charm: episode 8 of "Crushing The Competition" will be posted here this Friday, April 24th. Your extraordinary patience is wholeheartedly appreciated! I'm already working on episode 9; the block that prevented me from moving forward has shifted, and I feel like I might be able to tackle this thing on a steadier basis. I won't count my chickens before they hatch, but I hope I'll be able to provide more episodes sooner rather than later.

The last two weeks have been pretty tough, I won't lie. I've been working significant overtime with the day job, which is its own brand of chaos at the moment. Dealing with people trying to squeeze every drop of leeway for an (admittedly) expensive service can drain you surprisingly quickly, it turns out. I keep ping-ponging between wanting to help ease the financial burden of someone writing in and getting irrationally upset if someone keeps asking for details of a promotion that may or may not be easy to find on our website. Most days, I'm pretty cognitively and emotionally drained. 

Other than that, I think I might be getting the hang of this quarantine business! I won't say I'm living my best life right now, but...we're holding up pretty well, all things considered. I think we both are aware of our potential shortcomings with a situation like this, and we both want to encourage the other to do what we can to stick to the habits we know will help. It's really great to have a partner you can rely on, who understands you, and who pulls you outside of yourself. I'm pretty sure I would have become a lot grosser than I have without my husband!

On top of that, the recent "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" finale crystallized a few thoughts about storytelling that made me a lot more excited to be telling and dissecting stories, and redoubled my commitment to get better at this writing thing. I still have a long way to go before I'm as comfortable as I'd like to be, but I'm also really looking forward to following this new approach all the way to a more consistent practice. 

During times like this, when the world feels like it's flying apart, it's incredibly important to do whatever we need to keep ourselves sane. It might be unusual, or something you'd never have expected, but...if it brings you more comfort and stability? Quarantine rules, man. You do you.

There you have it, my permission to do whatever you need to get through this quarantine! Apparently, I need to write about insanely large furries in business suits.

-Jakebe