So another infection happened. Actually, as it turned out, it was the same one as last time. See, the trouble is that even though I deleted most of the code, I kept missing one particular corrupted file, which then spread into the rest of the system. Realising I am not qualified, I turned to the help of a specialist who cleaned out the code and I was ready to get back to work on that Monday… only to find google still had the malware sign up. I enquired at DH and they said the site was still infected. So I contacted the guy again since he worked last time, only to discover the problem was he had cleaned out LWI only, not Tnemrot. This meant I still had a heavily infected site on the same server as a clean one. It doesn’t exactly make me happy to learn I paid a guy a few hundred for nothing. Even worse, he left the infected files on the server, still active. Thankfully, I was watching the thing like a hawk and managed to get them before they did any more damage.

By now it was early January. Every year I make a list of things I want to do before the year ends. In the past, I only missed five or so items on a list of forty but this year? Almost half the list thanks to the site outages. I wanted to see if I could get more guest strips done but I can’t link back to an infected website. I wanted to try and bring in more readers, but again, same problem. There were a bunch of writing jobs and I usually use LWI and Tnemrot as examples of my writing. Unfortunately, the sites were coming up blank when they were happening.

I hit the wall. I have books but I’ve sold less than a hundred. I’ve spent a few thousand on advertising but now that’s all money flushed down the drain since readers leave during the down times. And when there’s a lot of those, a lot of readers leave. I reached out to some other creators out there, basically begging for a link in the hopes that some traffic might come my way. None of them got back to me. And I am so far in the red when it comes to this career it will take a damn miracle to get me out.

Honestly, I was ready to quit. Just let the DH account expire and start again somewhere else. Maybe finally finish my novel.

And then I remembered you guys.

I remembered the people who came to my table at cons, picked up LWI, laughed as they flipped through it, and then handed over their cash to take home a copy. I remembered the people who begged for more Tempest. I remembered that there were always a few people on twitter, and elsewhere, who tried to contact me during the down times and ask when the sites would come back.

So this is me saying sorry. I’m sorry for almost leaving you in the lurch like that. I’m sorry for not being able to keep the sites going and let you read the comics. I’m sorry for taking so long when there was a problem. I’m sorry for taking you for granted.

I’m sorry to Fer and Tatiana for almost throwing away your hard work. And I’m sorry these comics don’t make enough to buy you the luxurious lifestyles you deserve.

This is my New Year’s Resolution. To immediately jump on any problem the sites have. To make sure the readers can come back knowing the comics will always be here. And to never take anyone for granted.

Wish me luck.

~ David