TW: grief and loss.

Hi, lovely readers. It’s been a minute.

A lot has happened, personally, and I had to put everything in my life on hold.

Shortly after Orlando Reads Books, my mom, who lives with us and has been ill for a while, took a drastic turn for the worse. It was a whirlwind few months of hospitalizations, life support, rehab, home care, and eventually hospice. And then my mom, the sweetest, kindest, most fabulous person on earth, passed away.

Suffice it to say, I’ve had to pause all of my projects.

Grief is a weird thing. It doesn’t care about deadlines or plans or goals. It just sits down in the middle of your life, crosses its arms like a temperamental toddler, and refuses to move until it wants to. Everything is messy and slow and not at all on schedule.

Returning to writing has been… challenging.

My mom was my biggest support, my constant, my cheerleader. When I had doubts or struggled, she was my sounding board and would remind me that I’m a badass.

Most days now, I stare at a blinking cursor, unable to type a single word.

I’m trying to be kind to myself. Lately, I’ve been at least daydreaming about my stories, so that’s a tiny bit of progress.

I know I will move through the grief and write again at some point. I can’t not write. I just have to figure out how to be my own cheerleader first.

Thank you for your patience while I figure things out.