Hello Steemit! Hello world! I have come back from the dead to join my voice to yours once more.

I’ve been away for almost a month now, and I thought a sort of update post was in order, so those who care could understand me better, and those who don’t yet care could find out what’s in store for them in the following weeks.

First, let's address my downtime

As I’m sure many of you know, the situation if my country, Venezuela, is of continuous decomposition and collapse. This perpetual state of decay seeps into many areas of everyday life, such as food, hygiene, academics and, of course, the internet.

My ISP has been terrible for weeks now, and I’ve basically been without internet all this time. I decided to free myself from their shackles and now use my phone as a hotspot to access the internet but, of course, it’s somewhat limiting unless you’re a millionaire.

In addition to that, I’ve also been taking care of defining and refining my plan to escape communism. Saving up money, seeking external funding and getting my papers ready (in a truly Kafkaesque process ruled by inefficiency as a state-policy).

This plan to leave, to escape, to free myself, consumes most of my thoughts and my time. The sheer amount of things to worry about is staggering, and the difficulty of some almost make me wish I never get to them. Coupled with that, there are also feelings of sadness, frustration, guilt and rage that need to be addressed and that undermine my mental and emotional stability.

That said, I haven’t stopped, and don’t plan on stopping.

So, if I’m not stopping, I need to deal with my feelings somehow. That takes me to…

New Project: Learning to Leave

I've played around with the idea of writing a series about my trials and tribulations in this godforsaken land of the impossible, but I always felt like I was missing something. Looking inwards to find your true feelings about something you've dealt with all your life is quite difficult, as most of it seems like "just more of the same".

If you don't feel that what you're writing is interesting, it's likely that it isn't.

However, as I get everything ready to leave (from Venezuela to Argentina), I find myself reflecting on the past and present with new eyes, the eyes of someone who sees his reality slowly drifting away. Driving on the highway at night no longer feels like the usual mildly-dangerous trip, but rather a mirage, a fleeting vision of what will soon disappear, and so it happens with a lot of things. New feelings arise every day as I look around me at what will soon be my past. New appreciation, and new regrets, grow like grass in my mind's field.

So, to deal with these feelings, and to finally bring my series about my experiences in Venezuela to life, I've decided to create Learning to Leave, a series to be published every Tuesday, dealing with the thoughts, feelings, hopes and regrets of a man forced to leave his home and set sail in search of dry land.

Depending on my feelings it may include anything from poetry to philosophical reflection, self-examining and general musings about all the big and little things that make up the experience of rolling down a hill to the inevitable moment when you say “See you soon”, then turn around and board a one-way flight.

I'll try not to make them too long, in part not to bore you, in part to make sure I don't miss any Tuesday.

So, join me on this journey of self-discovery and preparation, as the countdown slowly but surely approaches zero.

But that's not all

Other than that, I've got a lot of things planned for the following weeks:

• For those of you who read Spanish, you can expect a couple more Relatos del Bestiario, a series of short stories about the supernatural beings of Latin American and Venezuelan folklore, written by me and illustrated by @edenci, who also runs the "parent" series to this one, El Bestiario/The Bestiary, where he explains the myths and legends behind these beings in a fun, relaxed way. That last one is published both in Spanish and English.

• For those of you who don't read Spanish, it's OK, I won't abandon you. I'm planning to release a serialized story. I haven't decided which one of my ideas I'm going to choose for this project, but I'll keep you updated on this as it progresses. It will be my first "longer" project, and I hope to write something worthwhile, even if it's my first try.

• Finally, for those of you who've followed up until now and enjoy my short stories, you needn't worry! I'm planning on continuing to participate in a variety of contests, but I'll be a little more selective with them, as my time is somewhat limited.

En fin, my friends. I'm back and I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon, so let's get rolling. Thanks, as always, for your continued support. I'll see you on my next post (or on your comment sections, who knows?)