I am on a short writing hiatus after writing two novels in four years. What do I even DO right now?
Set Up a Toddler Bedroom
My spouse is familiar with the joke that a writer’s home is never so tidy—dishes clean, laundry folded, cabinets sparkling—as when a writer has a deadline that they are desperately trying to avoid.
He said that I got our kiddo’s room set up so quickly (in under a week) that I must have a deadline I am dodging!
I told him it’s the opposite. I’m a different kind of sicko, actually.
While I am in this Ordinary Time, I have the brain-capacity to return to the Enchanted Forest wall decals I purchased while still pregnant. Baby got my partner’s former-office (and I keep mine), even though we painted it a dark slate gray when we bought our home in 2020.
We thought the mushrooms and acorns and leaves would make it clear that this is a child’s space.
After four hours and a few podcasts, we were cooking!
Five days later I experienced pure serendipity picking up a gorgeous, sturdy dresser and end table.
Spent a Sunday scrubbing the pieces in the garage then calling in reinforcements (brother in the area!) for moving assistance.
Birthday at Longwood Gardens
On the actual day of my 40th, I took off work and wandered Longwood Gardens.
I also finished my quest to donate the first edition of my nonfiction chapbook to Little Free Libraries. It brought me to a quaint little shopping village and bakery/cafe.
And also had a vision of myself reading my current novel draft at Longwood. I’m having so much fun with the free .EPUB converter I use, that I put the draft on my Kindle and took it along!
The beauty there was inspiring, especially the Canopy Cathedral.
The Canopy Cathedral is a treehouse and temple hybrid. I sat on a church pew, reading my current novel draft, and watched visitors enter, look around, and audibly gasp at the beauty. For hours.
There came a moment where every single visitor, even the rowdiest children, went quiet and then only spoke softly. I watched the “Cathedral” part of the name hit. It was powerful.
And then once I was home, I was treated to sushi buffet and my family sang to me with cake!
Also had a big family lunch out for my beeday and my brother’s (we are five days apart), but I am sorry to report I did not snap a single picture.
But I will share that the 2005 Pride&Prej movie soundtrack on vinyl was the loveliest gift!!
Zine Launch Party
I had a zine party. I had a birthday party. I had a combination zine launch/birthday party!
Nate cooked for friends and I debuted our gorgeous collaboration.
And I didn’t get photos of faces but the guest shoe pile makes me smile!
Seeing Friends!
I didn’t get any photos from a K-BBQ/hotpot party, but on that same weekend we also made it to a sporty baby shower that was a complete delight.
Hello, Philadelphia!
The City never ceases to inspire me. Philly feeds my soul when I write fiction, but also, when I don’t.
Checked out the galleries of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for the first time!
Harvesting
I, uh, relish sharing my garden’s cucumbers with others! And am so grateful for the butterflies who visit my garden. I love that I usually have my first monarch sighting on or around my birthday! And, making an elote salad with farmers market ingredients has been a summer highlight. Ditto for zucchini bread.
Classic Kid Summer
I have a toddler who adores being outside, kicking a ball, popping bubbles, picking flowers, and dancing to live music at the farmers market. We are having summer fun!
A family friend gifted us a bubble machine, and it is a magical sight to behold!
TRAINS!
Boy do we love choo-choos. The famous names, and, general trains, all trains, choo-choo!
Absorbing the Work of Others
Writers Block isn’t what I am feeling; in fact it’s not really a phrase I use. Anne Lamott says we don’t get blocked, it’s just that the tank is on empty. We need to go into the world, interact with others, and especially take in the art of others.
So here is what I have relished while resting my writing muscle:
BOOKS!
Audio-Storytelling
I was challenged and compelled by both this (new-to-me-but not new) YouTube series on Louis CK and the S-Town podcast (equally not-new but new-to-me).
And then ALSO this YouTuber who put himself in the line of fire with AI-psychosis and the carnivore diet and ditching a smart phone.
Tee-vee. And Trauma.
Ted Lasso is back, and a comfort watch, and it’s making us spend more time with AppleTV (certainly the whole point! Marketing works on me!). We were loving both Widows Bay* (I blame Stephen King for making us love quaint but cursed Maine towns) and The Studio, and also, We Are Pat.
*And then, in the final two episodes of Widows Bay, there is a storyline about pre-eclampsia, birth trauma, postpartum mortality, and a mother being a danger to a newborn. Hello to ALL OF MY WORST NIGHTMARES ON SCREEN.
I excused myself from finishing this series after my insomnia returned. It was difficult not the least because I hit a major life goal in 2026 by weaning off sleep-aid meds. (In early 2025 I went to the ER just on the edge of insomnia-driven-psychosis. I was SO afraid of sleep medication because I worried I would sleepwalk and hurt my baby. I can’t even type this sentence without crying. But I WENT ON MEDS and they SAVED MY LIFE, my sanity, my everything. I am not anti-medication. But after a few months I realized my body was falling asleep before the meds even hit, so I worked with my Medical Doctor team to wean off and my psychiatrist to move through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, and accept that I can have a full life even when I am low on sleep, and also regain trust in my body that I can even sleep in the first place. I have put a ton of work into sleep-hygiene and I am proud of myself for it, though none of this was ever anticipated in all of the ways my partner and I prepared to have a kid!)
Hooray! I was sleeping on my own! And then I saw on-screen an actress in a horror show treated like an absolute monster for portraying a mother with birth trauma. And I went a week with bad sleep–two nights on no-sleep.
It is infinitely frustrating that the concept of trauma being triggered has been subsumed in pop culture muck, and culture wars nonsense, because it is actually a useful word! And unless you have been hospitalized twice while your newborn is at home and not treated very well by medical staff while you are CONVINCED you are about to die but they people who could help you don’t believe you, I don’t give a whit what you have to say in this case.
But I must conclude that art and media and stories are powerful. I have been sleeping better this week, and do not feel as disturbed as I did even one week ago by the postpartum-monster I saw on screen. I want to continue my annual haunted house visit, even.
I suspect the seeds of my next writing project are being sown now, in what terrifies me and motivates me and the ways I am changing.
I love Halloween and spoopy season, and am fully embracing all the signs that this time to celebrating the darkness is coming …
