It’s finally, truly honestly FALL! Well, at least it feels that way here in the vast wilds of western PA. It’s been cold enough to switch from the AC to the heater at night and I’ve had to break out the hoodies of various colors and warmths. Time for soup, tea, hot cocoa, and mulled cider.
Honestly, just a simple shift in weather has boosted my mood a little, and lord knows it needed some boosting. Of course, finally finding a new therapist has boosted my mood a lot more. I’m not embarrassed or ashamed to say that right now I need help dealing with my mental health, so I’m going to get it. 2025 has been kicking every sane person’s proverbial ass to some degree, and I’m certainly no exception. Not saying that I have worse it than anyone else, but I can recognize when I’m flailing and I’ve been for a while.
I have an amazing and an incredibly supportive spouse who has been a tremendous source of strength to be me during this last year. I couldn’t have made it as long and as far as I have without them. Still, it’s not fair to expect them to be a partner, a friend, a confidant, AND a mental health support system. It was time to get back into therapy. After a couple false starts, I seem to have found a potential good fit for what I need, so we’ll see where that takes me.
I’m also, slowly, starting to find my way again, writing-wise. Yesterday was the three-year anniversary of when I first started writing Tales of a Stranger Sister and I’m still amazed how quickly those three years passed through drafting, beta-readers, revisions, rewrites, and SO. MUCH. EDITING. It still kinda blows my mind to look at my shelf and see MY BOOK just sitting there. Like, how did that get there? Did I actually make that happen? Now, all I want is to give it a shelf sibling.
That said, while the next novel may still be a ways off, I did get some inspiration for a short story/novelette that I’m currently working on and hope to put out in the world next year. Turns out I wasn’t done with Riv, Sam, and the world of Litia just yet after all, though that’s all I’ll share about it for now.
Cozy the Day Away has come and gone and Tales was a part of it. Overall, the experience was positive. I wish I had sold more copies, of course (show me a writer who doesn’t want that), but in the same breath, I managed to have my best month sales-wise (and with a week left in the month at that.) I also made my first sales through Draft2Digital, so that’s another milestone, too. I may not making money hand over fist, but that doesn’t mean I can’t focus on the positives of this whole endeavor.
Moving on, I’ll have a more detailed review of the fall anime season when we come to the end of it, but I have to gush a little about what might be my favorite show of the current crop, If I May Ask for One Final Thing.
Last season, Anne Shirley was my favorite show because I needed something sweet and wholesome to help me cope with a world that was anything but. This season I was surprised to learn that I NEEDED to watch Scarlett beat the ever-loving fuck out of rich assholes for no other reason that simply because A. They Deserve It. and B. She Wanna.
Needless to say, I highly recommend it if you have Crunchyroll and have a desire to see awful people get much deserved justice delivered five knuckles at a time.
Ok, so with that, time to head back out into the world, but please allow me to leave you with these words of wisdom:
“Be the ass-kicking, Aristocrat-punching, oligarch-pummeling chaotic force of nature you wish to see the world.”
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