Upcoming Blog Break
I hope everyone is having a beautiful holiday season as 2024 winds down!
The end of this year has brought some intense challenges for me and my family personally, and as a result, I’ve prioritized other areas of my life more than I have my writing. I have absolutely no regrets about this shift, and am in fact quite grateful to have reached the point in my own journey where I’m able to make adjustments and refocus, without guilt or self-judgment. Though I hope to return to a more consistent writing routine in the new year, I’m also allowing myself to remain flexible.
This break in writing has included this blog. I was averaging 2-3 posts per week for the past year, but I don’t anticipate maintaining anything close to that pace moving forward. I do have one more Writing Tip planned before the end of the year, but otherwise, this is one area where I can clearly cut back in order to free up some additional space and energy for other things.
I’m sure when I come back to the blog, I’ll have lots to write about, as I already cringe reading earlier blog posts. I’ve experimented throughout the year with writing style and approach, and I’ve ended up somewhere far more conversational than where I began. I don’t know. I think in the earlier posts, I was really aiming for a more classically educational tone and structure, which is fine as a general idea, but it doesn’t work for me. I was struggling to convey the information with any kind of personal voice. That’s when I started playing around with them, seeing what felt best.
Writing really is an experiment to me these days, a freedom which has come only after years of research, study, and practice. Now that I feel reasonably confident in my skill as a writer, it’s fun to try new things! I’ll continue to offer those earlier posts some grace, even if I find the language incredibly stilted and way too academic for a casual blog/journal, but that doesn’t mean I’m leaving them there forever. I’d like to revisit some of the topics I wrote about before, updating them with what I’ve learned since then, and communicating the concepts in the way that most fits who I am now. Because, while I stand behind the content even now, I don’t stand behind the execution.
My main focus will be on preparing Seen & Unseen for querying as I begin working writing back into my life and schedule more regularly. I’m sure I’ll revisit WSD at some point, too, because I have so many ideas for improving that manuscript now that I’ve been away from it for so long, but SU is my priority. I’m still thinking and dreaming about this world, and I cannot get the characters out of my mind. Nearly every day I’m adding ideas to my notes app, where they sit, waiting for me to work them into the story. My continued attachment to these characters and this world is unrivaled by any of my other manuscripts. I know it’ll be harder to query, but I think I need to try.
I’m not abandoning the blog altogether. I will be updating and sharing from time to time. And hopefully, once my life is a bit more settled and I’ve found a rhythm again, I’ll return to regular posts here. Until then, I wish you all the best. May your 2025 be full of joy, peace, and love.
