Ongoing health problems and my plans

Well it finally happened, to the surprise of no one. Earlier this week I started to experience numbness and tingling in the fingertips of my left hand (and sporadically in my right). Factoring in the symptoms and my lifestyle, most signs point to this being early onset carpal tunnel syndrome, which means the preventative measures I've been taking so far aren't enough.

I spend nearly every waking minute at my keyboard. I use it for work, I use it for gaming, and I use it for writing. It's a very unfortunate series of hobbies to have if one is looking to preserve their hands. But it's clear I need to be more aggressive about taking breaks and finding other interests away from the computer (though fat chance of that).

I talked to a friend with similar issues last night and immediately spent $50+ ordering wrist braces and ice packs, so hopefully that'll make a difference. My goal right now is to be as assertive as possible about minimizing damage before it becomes a huge problem that requires surgery or medication, and that means ramping down my productivity.

So as of right now, I'm suspending future story polls. The current one will, of course, continue and I'll write the winner, but there will be no poll after that. It's also very likely I won't be able to complete the previous winner, the Misato gangbang, this weekend in time for the Monday deadline. That will come at a later date.

In addition, I'm changing my previous plans to open commissions in January. Commissions will not be opening, and I'm going to take more time off to recover and hopefully regain proper function in my hands. I know most people who commission me don't expect a strict timetable, but taking coms always put a lot of pressure on my mind to complete them as quickly as possible. And I don't need that stress right now. So apologies if you were looking forward to that. I'll make an announcement whenever I am ready to open commissions again.

I already know I'm not the most productive smut writer in the community, but it's hard to impress upon people just how much I type every single day for my job. That makes it very hard to "psyche myself up" after a long day of banging on the keyboard to then immediately start banging on it all over again for my stories. As a great man once said, "The spirit is willing but the flesh is spongy and bruised." But either way, I hope you all understand.

Stay tuned for further updates.