Same question, same answer.

Typically out of my mind. If you're legit, you're welcome to leave a message. If not, well... (this is me, letting you know ahead of time about the trash bin set aside for @ssholes.)

I've come to recognize some brutal truths in the last 20 years. Survivors only need apply in the situations the most enduring learning grows from, for as a line in George R.R. Martin's film adaption of A Song of Ice and Fire (a.k.a. "Game of Thrones") said, "In the game of thrones, you either win or die." 

It hasn't been an easy life, but it also hasn't been boring. People are, in my experience, either too helpful (usually trying to offer suggestions already trotted out, found wanting, and subsequently slaughtered for useable parts), or completely blind to the thin line between life and death in their own—or anyone else's—case.

To that end, please look into statistics. Fewer than 0.08% of writers ever have great success. None of them do anything without great effort, often unimaginable sacrifices in terms of relationships, and a surprisingly heavy monetary investment. For example, editing, covers, formatting, website fees and upkeep, copyright costs, and now the inhuman competition of AI. 

The publishing industry is an ancient, dark warren with pitfalls, brutal traps, monsters, and no few demons. Knowing where the bodies are stashed isn't for the uninitiated. Creating stories either too dark or too reader-lite in a paisley pattern of purple prose, aging out of the system as it were, not in a burst of lyric beauty, but like a staggering drunk on a sinking ship... that's me. 

I can't go forward, and time doesn't allow do-overs, the past a forbidden cesspool of bad advice and no real guidance on any aspect. My solution is thus: Just write.

Giving a rat's fat @ss about who approves or who doesn't is a fast track to a custom fitted medical garment issued by guys in white, with an invitation to the Moon Bin. 

All I have left to offer is a singularly rabid grin. It's not much, but it's mine.

No. There will likely be no more (foreseeable?) cutesy faerie tales. That part of the creative psyche is being repeatedly waterboarded by a collective of politics, religion, social media addicts, greed, and general public cess stirring. 

Seeing through the darkness means becoming aware of what it contains. There are no secrets an honest artist doesn't see. Putting on masks for the sole reason of covering up your guilt is a bad idea. 

Carry on.