After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much
So you plant your own garden
And decorate your own soul
Instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers

After a While – Veronica A. Shoffstall

Happy New Year! I realized I hadn’t posted a blog since November, but the last bit of 2024 went by in a fevered haze and I think we can all forgive each other if that was not our most productive and industrious time.

I largely took 2024 off. It wasn’t a conscious decision I made. I was well into the year before I realized just how burned out I was feeling. I was struggling to write. I did write a little, but I didn’t feel good about it and then I gave myself permission to take a break, especially as I was dealing with health issues. I changed healthcare providers, and learning how to navigate a completely new system to me was a steep learning curve. It took several months to find a new primary care physician I liked and then more time to get my referrals in order, so I wasn’t even booked into specialists until the summer. But now I have a Neurologist and a Rheumatologist and I like them both and while I’m not really feeling better yet, I do feel like I’m largely on the right track.

I understand now why people say managing their health is a full-time job, because it’s not just feeling crappy 24/7, though that is part of it. It’s managing appointments at three different offices. It’s all of my medications being on different refill schedules. Where am I at any given time? Probably in the pharmacy line at CVS.

Anyway, I took the year off. I spent part of it getting back into fandom, and writing fanfic and that was a fun way to get me out of my writer’s block. And then suddenly it was December and my year off was coming to a close. I periodically felt guilty for writing for “fun” but I would remind myself it was okay to take time off. And do you know what? It worked. I entered into January feeling revitalized and ready to roll. I have two projects on the horizon, and I can’t wait to polish them up and share them with the world.

Take the time off, you know? Ignore the guilt. It isn’t real. Authors, even ones with agents and publishers, they work for themselves. Don’t overwork yourself or bog yourself down with deadlines you’ve invented. It’s work, but writing is supposed to be fun too and I’m so happy to find myself back to enjoying what I’m doing.

I can’t promise 2025 is going to be a good year because my state is ON FIRE and my country is BROKEN but any joy is a reprieve worth celebrating.