I'm sorry for the unintended break. I've been working on cleaning out decades and decades' worth of stuff from the family property up in Washington and simply didn't have the time, energy or mental and emotional bandwidth to work on Emmy And Me. It has been stressful and emotionally taxing, to say the very least. Physically arduous, too.

  But now I'm back home in Southern California, resting and recuperating. I'm tired physically and wiped out emotionally, and all I want to do is sleep and rest and get my life back into some semblance of order. Of course, my clients want me back on their projects right away, too...

  I'm hoping to have a chapter up tonight. If I don't manage to finish it today I'll definitely have it done tomorrow. It's mostly written- I need to add a bit to it and then do some editing and it'll be good to go.

  Thank you all, my dear, lovely and talented readers, for your patience and understanding. The last couple of years have been rough on the family front. You guys have helped keep me on an even keel. I really am grateful for that. I love you all very much.

  Now to the second part. I have received a number of shout-out swap requests and I don't really know what to do about them. Quite a few stories I've seen here on Royal Road have shout-outs at the start of every chapter. I'm sure that helps with traffic to their stories in return, and that's cool.

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  However, I've never done that in so formal a fashion. I have discussed other stories here on RR that I've enjoyed quite a bit, and name-checked them from time to time, but it has never been in the frankly mercantile fashion that is so common.

  I read and enjoy a story, think my readers might as well, so I mention it and suggest people give it a read. No quid pro quo, no expected reciprocity. I have only ever done it this way.

  All this is leading up to the fact that recently I've received some requests by other writers for such an arrangement.

  I like the idea of supporting other writers. I really do. But I am not going to recommend some dungeon-centric isekai that I feel has zero overlap with Emmy And Me's appeal just because the other story might also put in a plug for my story.

  That said, does it make me an asshole to tell these other writers "Thanks but no thanks"? I mean, everybody could use a helping hand, right?

  Anyway, it seems to me that asking for your thoughts on the matter might be a good way to go with this. Let me know how you feel, whether shout-outs have their place in Emmy And Me, and all that. I'd be perfectly happy to share my Royal Road reading list, too, and tell you what I like about each one of them, if you want my personal recommendations, too.

  Thank you for your attention to this matter. ;)

  Gen.