It's bleak.

Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved.

Beautiful clouds and fog this morning, following the absolutely thinnest possible dusting of snow shortly after midnight.

All gone now on both fronts.

Nothing in the forecast through mid-November, either. It's bleak.

That's not all that's bleak. The dislocation of my dominant wrist and hand has worsened drastically; I was up until 6 AM with the pain. I've had to force myself to develop a fairly high tolerance for pain, given that this country doesn't actually treat it, but the early hours of this morning had me doing that thing I never do: sobbing out loud for more than an hour straight, the pain was so terrible. This happens with increasing frequency now, in joints al over my body, and I'm not sure how much longer I can do this without something that at least just knocks me out for a while.

Meanwhile, I'm typing with my left hand. My right arm is in a sling finally; I couldn't do it before because the pain was so excruciating to the slightest touch of fabric that it set off waves of agony. I still can't wear the brace. My wrist and arm are distorted into something like a claw. No, I can't just go to the ER to have it reset; I can't afford it, I'm not willing to catch COVID because no one there masks, and all that will happen is that it will slip out of place again, so it's pointless. But I'm so far behind now; I can't do anything, and I am at my wits' end. I have to come up with a couple hundred for Wings's scrips tomorrow, and a good four figures the rest of this week and next for autopays, septic service, and a few other one-offs, and I have no way to do it.

Nothing I do is working when it comes to sales. I need to bring in at least $1,500 worth [more than that; I haven't even had a chance to tally it all up] to cover things I know are coming down the pike in the next week+, and I'm getting nowhere. I have Wings's two latest pairs of earrings up, here and here; selling those would be a start. If all goes well, I'll have a second pair, with stones and somewhat more costly, up later today. But even that would be only a start. I've got to do better, but how?

It's been a terrible year on virtually every front, and now, nearing the end, I'm afraid we actually might not make it.

We have to make up a LOT of ground financially over the next two+ months. A LOT. This year has been so slow that we're way behind on everything, including prepaying next year's taxes [that's a zero; a big fat zero]. I need to bring in at least one sale a week, preferably two, for the remainder of the year. And it's clear that my illness's progression means that I cannot maintain the pace or workload I have in years past. That means that we need help with shares, and with testimonials, too. If you have some of Wings's work and are willing to have a testimonial published on the site, send it to me via the Contact form (we will list you however you wish, by name, name and initial, initials only, some other way that doesn't identify you; you can see an example in our newest, here, and with luck, I'll have a second one up by tonight). All the links are listed below, so please share:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here (liquid soaps are priority now [or Amazon cards, and I can order them myself]); 
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

There's lots of fabulous work on the site, and there will be much, much more in the weeks to come. The way this year has gone, things will still be grim for a good while and the holidays will be here before you know it, so please share all of the links. 

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.