I knew this blog would take a hit when I started grad school this fall. Part of that is simply time management between work, freelance writing, schoolwork, and working on my memoir.

I’ve learned there’s such thing as a monogamous writer, and while I occasionally dabble with the occasional side project, there’s really only room in my heart for one word baby at a time. That current word baby is my memoir. It feels like the most important thing that I’ll ever do, and when I have time to write — I’m typically writing towards that.

The day after classes let out, I hit the road with the dogs and drove straight to Austin. I’ll spend almost two weeks here catching up with friends, and then I’ll fly to North Carolina to spend the holidays with my family, east coast friends and Eliot. He’ll be flying with me in the cabin, and I’m pretty nervous about it. In some ways he’s the best behaved dog there is, and in others he’s a sociopath. Cross your fingers for me!

I’m using this time away from my new California life as a general reset and attitude adjustment. I vastly underestimated how much the transition from working Austin professional to unemployed California grad student would effect me. Things are better now, but I spent about a month incredibly anxious, a month after that in a deep depression, and am just now starting to level out. Really trying to take advantage of this break and time away to come back in January with more positive attitude and renewed vigor.

That vigor applies to this blog as well. Truthfully, I’m not sure what I’m going to do here. It seems like something that I’ve had too long to toss aside. Occasionally I’ll write the beginnings of something on here that turns into a chapter in the book or a literary essay, so there’s value in blogging for me aside from general community and practice.

The nearly 1,100 posts I’ve written here over the past seven years have helped me cultivate my voice, learn how to express huge emotions with few words and follow through with narrative arcs in a small space. I wouldn’t have been able to get into grad school or write this book without the blog. But I hate how it’s sitting off to the side without a schedule, direction or really much attention.

So for now, this is a wish for happy holidays and hiatus announcement. I’m going to enjoy time with my friends in the next few weeks, attempt to bust ass at my new job at The Plaid Horse and continue the toil that’s writing a manuscript.

Know how much I appreciate the people that still read these erratic posts. Wishing everyone, their fur babies, and family the happiest of holidays.

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