01 | April 2024

I’ll confess — I’ve been putting off launching this, but I’m brave enough to admit I’m nervous to meet you. That’s all right, isn’t it? Sometimes we have to do things a little scared.

With that in mind, I hope you enjoy these little letters. Creating can be such a solitary act; it’ll be quite nice to have some company. You might need to bear with me, though; I’m not fully domesticated and sometimes I forget the world outside of my documents exists. If you are here for the novels, that might even be good news for you.

I hope you and yours are well, reader. That you are able to take some time to appreciate what is good. It can be hard to identify, sometimes, but it gets easier with practice. This I am learning; tracing the shape of grief in clouds edged in silver. There’s been a lot of that on this side of the ink, I’ll admit. I am fortunate to have a truly incredible circle of friends and family, so despite two sudden and profound losses, my grief is still full of love. That’s all grief really is, in its marrow; love without release. We learn to redirect it, in time, if we let ourselves.

Lately I’ve taken to reading before bed. I’m the first to admit that it’s difficult to tear myself away from the story to maintain a semblance of a sleep routine, but there’s something deeply peaceful in getting cozy in my bed with my kittens and my kindle and some ambient music. If you’re having trouble finding spontaneous moments of peace, self-made is fine.

Currently, I am very hype about the three projects I’m reading from my critique partners, but those details are for another day. (;<

I am grateful that daylight is lingering again. I missed my after-work walks around the neighborhood. The crunch of familiar gravel under my sneakers is something of a conduit to new ideas and there is much to be said about the magic of some sunshine on one’s face. A little fresh air and pumping blood, some headphones and cloud watching and telling my secrets to the wildlife and suddenly the world makes more sense.

In writing news, I do have a new personal project in the works. It’s part of processing my grief, if I’m being entirely truthful, and I’d like to be, reader, if that’s alright with you. I’d love to tell you more about this project one day, but for now, suffice to say I’m revisiting some of my favorite memories shared with one of my closest friends and while it makes me miss her terribly, it also makes me feel powerfully close to her. As if she’s there, in the voice of the character she created and wrote first, woven into the very fabric of the story. I find myself wishing I could send her screenshots of scenes or shoot her a DM for an opinion on a bit of dialogue, but maybe she’s reading it over my shoulder instead of from the other side of a Google Doc.

Well, beloved reader, it is getting late and I still need to get cozy with a kitten and my kindle. I hope you take a little time to yourself in the coming weeks. If you haven’t heard it recently, you deserve to be tender with yourself. Wishing you many moments of peace and infinite love, reader. Thank you for visiting ♡

Donec iterum✧