Birthdays

Hello, friends!

It’s been a while. Quite a long while. Which, I think is probably a good sign for a writer. When you see long gaps between blog postings, a lot of times it means that the writer has been hard at work on their next project.

For me, the past few months have been a mix of work and play. Earlier this month, I celebrated my 25^th birthday. I had family and friends who made the day so special. I went kayaking, drank sangria, and watched some of my favorite movies. It was a wonderful time.

It’s crazy to suddenly be in my mid-twenties. Time goes so quickly! When I started my first real post-college job at the newspaper where I work, I was 22. I can hardly believe I’ve been in that industry for so long. And because people are always coming and going at my work place, it makes me feel extra old-timer-ish lately.

Birthdays are always a good time for reflection, and also for resolutions. I’ve been reflecting a lot lately. Sometimes it’s easy to look at your life, and have a feeling like you’re stuck and that you’re going nowhere. But if you break it down, you begin to realize that you’re not stuck. You’re always moving, even if it doesn’t look like it. I heard an analogy once that life is often like being on a ship crossing the ocean. You look out and see the view everyday, and you think to yourself "I’m not making any progress. The view looks the same." But this isn’t true. You’re moving, even if you can’t see the immediate progress. And then one day, you spot land in the distance, and you realize you’ve been on an epic journey the entire time.

When I break down the last few years of my life, I feel like I can see the subtle changes in the ocean view. It’s progress, even if it’s not always so easy to see.

As I look ahead now, I am so excited for my career as an author. Things are in the works, and I feel that the next year of my life is going to be very significant. I think by next July, I will see land.

I can’t tell you all the details yet because it’s not set in stone, but I am hard at work on a new series of books called The Cherry Mojito Mysteries. It’s a paranormal mystery series centering around a bartender who can see how and when someone is going to die. I’m also working on another project under a pen name, so I don’t have a solid ETA on the new series yet, but it will for sure be out before Christmas. I will post more updates as we get closer to publication.

I have a great feeling about the upcoming year. I think it’s going to be a spectacular one!