I just wanted to give a huge shout-out to those of you who have ever sent a donation to me via the link at the top of this page. I haven’t used any of those funds and have saved everything in my account for when I might desperately need it.

My current job is coming to an end next week and I am still looking for full-time work from September.

I have been an English teacher in Japan for 14 years and I’ve come to realize that this is pretty much a dead end career for me. I enjoy interacting with my students, but my heart really isn’t in teaching. I get paid enough to live paycheck to paycheck but little else to save. I need something that will allow me to engage my creative side and seriously need to get back to my love of writing.

It’s just very, very hard changing careers at my age in a foreign country while being a woman…

I’m trying to work on a couple story pitches for anime/manga/games, but… I have no experience in this and I’m trying to learn as much as I can on my own and by networking and meeting people who do know these things.

I’m very much feeling the pinch right now, especially when I seem to keep getting huge bills that I simply cannot pay (my local government screwed up their city/prefectural taxes this year and even though they normally let you pay the taxes quarterly throughout the year, it’s now installments of three… which comes to an additional $500 bill every other month almost. hahaaha).

In a last-ditch effort to stay afloat, I do have money from my dad’s inheritance that I can withdraw… but I really don’t want to do that if I don’t have to. It’s a major hassle trying to do that from Japan (plus the agent I normally talk to apparently just had a baby and won’t be able to help me!!). *sigh*

But anyway, thank you very much to those who’ve given anything in the past year or more. It’s really going to help me this month!! I’m sorry I can’t do much more than say thank you right now, but hopefully if I can get my career turned in the right direction, I can start getting more involved with this site and more again. Please send me your good vibes to get through this next month or so… I think emotionally I’m really going to need it. lol

THANK YOU!!