You might have noticed that since my hand injury, I haven't been posting here with any regularity. Two related factors explain this:

1. The injury set me back financially and forced me to hustle.
2. The injury gave me a new lease on life in a way. It made me realize that I was made for more than blogging, much as I love to blog.

I could fake it. I could keep this blog going. There are a jillion unemployment-related topics that have not yet been covered. But I'm tired of unemployment. I'm tired of thinking about it, writing about it. Most of all, I'm tired of living it.

This blog helped me a lot. It provided public therapy. The feedback broke my heart at times and let me know that I wasn't alone. It was important to me. It worked for me. I hope it helped somebody else, and I hope it keeps helping people.

But I'm pretty much done with it. Thank Goddess, I seem to have survived unemployment. I don't need a job that somebody else pays me to do. I have created my own job. Now I'm working on creating jobs for others.

Right now, the biggest issue in my life is my impending divorce. It's tearing me apart. It's an extremely complicated situation that I need to address. Love was always far more important to me than money, and that's certainly the case now. So I've started a new site, structured as a forum in the (probably) vain hope that others will participate in a way they never have on any site I've ever built (for myself, anyway). At the time of this writing, it's pretty bare. I'm calling it Survive Divorce! so if you want to see what I'm journaling about these days, go there. Feel free to participate if you want. I could use all the help I can get on this one. Divorce is far more vexing and just as painful as unemployment (I would never say it's more painful because I know just how damn bad unemployment hurts).

Anyway, in case you haven't been following, here are the key points in surviving unemployment:

• Take care of your health first. This includes physical, emotional, and spiritual health. You won't be able to get your life together if you lose it. Health is the basic thing. Once it's gone, nothing else matters.
• Get that money. Figure out how you can serve others, then get out there and let them know that you're there to help -- for a reasonable fee, of course.
• No matter what else you do, remember that family is the core of your life. This is why divorce is so hard for me, but it's also given me an appreciation for my family. Your family will always be there for you, and you'll always be there for them. I wish I had been able to keep my marriage alive, but at least I didn't sacrifice any other family relationships.

Isn't it weird? That's basically it. All these months I've been blasting innumerable electrons into the ether, and it comes down to three simple points.

If you're trying to survive unemployment, please surf around the site a bit. I and others have actually written some pretty useful things on the topic.

If, by chance, you are about to go through a divorce or have already been through one, I could really use your help with that over at Survive Divorce!

Survive Unemployment! is now all yours. I've said my piece.