Life After the Storm

Here's to new beginnings & one hell of a Saturn Return

The last time we spoke, I left things on a bittersweet note (more bitter than sweet, if we’re being honest) and inadvertently distanced myself from the whole internet and the writer/reader community for awhile. Exhausting is such an easy word to throw around when describing the last half of 2025, but that is exactly what it was like for my partner and I.

If you read my last post, you’ll understand how I needed time to heal and just be for an indefinite time. Change is a normal part of life, and sometimes it is less than pleasant, but the sheer force of harsh, sometimes devastating change we were bombarded with was enough to knock anyone over (and have a crash out or two - whoops). Mostly, it has given me a new perspective on what matters most and what I am willing - and unwilling - to put up with in this one precious life we all have.

I pride myself on being someone who believes in transparency in an environment like social media where the opposite is rampant. I respect those who don’t want to share the downs as much as they like sharing the highs, but that’s just not how I roll. It feels inauthentic to me. Being transparent has helped me push through the darker times in my life multiple times. Even so, some of the things that happened over the last year I didn’t share publicly because I wasn’t ready to. But even if I wanted to, the devastation started piling up even more. To the point where listing it all out almost becomes laughable in a very, very dark way. When it rains it downpours.

Or as astrologers would say, that’s your Saturn Return, babes!

Given how bittersweet I left things with you, it only felt right sharing a sweeter update on where I’m at with life and writing now that I’m in a better place (literally and figuratively). Like I mentioned above, the last half of 2025 has been sheer exhausting and a massive whirlwind that at times I still pause and marvel at how so much could change in so little time.

The biggest one being, we bought a house.

On August 3rd, we lost our rental apartment of four years, and by the end of the month, our offer for a house was accepted. If that isn’t a whirlwind, I don’t know what is.

House hunting was something my partner and I were casually (very casually) looking into for about two months prior, but we by no means expected to buy before the summer was over. Life comes at’cha fast though! For very obvious reasons, our casual hunt turned into a frantic (maybe a bit desperate) search with a smoked-out, uninhabitable apartment, no car (shout out to our realtor for driving us around to listings) and a panic attack once a week on my end wondering if I actually *liked* a house we were looking at or if I was terrified of not having anywhere to live (valid). The universe, God, sheer luck, etc put us on the correct path though, and the moment I stepped into our now-house, I had that this is home feeling I was searching for.

I have also unofficially dubbed her Lilac Hill. Because the outside of her is the colour of lilacs. And because we *technically* live on a hill. My partner has not quite come around to the idea (he wants a silly name), but I am quietly calling her this.

Or not so quietly, given that I am sharing it in this newsletter?

Anyway.

She is currently a mess of half-painted walls, a white board of to-dos, two very messy home offices, uneven doors, and more, but she is ours. All 116 years of her. ❤️ The above photo of the chandelier is not an original, but each person who has come in thought it was, so that’s a big win for me! It’s in our living room and I admire it every day from the couch (especially given that I don’t have my office set up yet!)

On the writing side, I recently finished and submitted something new to my agent! I can’t talk about it (and heck, maybe never will!), but it was a fun way to flex my creative muscles in a new fantasy setting I hadn’t tried before. I sent it off to her welcoming critique and to my shock, she came back with NO NOTES. Only pterodactyl screeches (maybe I’m embellishing her words here). If that’s not the highest compliment than I don’t know what is! 🔥

She also mentioned something very exciting for an old WIP I’d shelved for a few months!! The news is a huge motivator for me, so DEMON CRIMINAL BROTHERS WIP (which I am very artfully titling this project, more so because I don’t have a name for it yet) calls for me to return to it (see the collection of graphics above for a sampling). After working on the other secret WIP and getting her great feedback, I feel more than ready to get back into things with this one.

And for those wondering, what about In the Company of Killers 2? That project is still shelved, but I intend to get back to it once I have more pages for DCB WIP to send to my agent. Thank you for being patient with me!!

That about wraps up my where is she now life post for you. With November firmly here, I’m ready to say goodbye to a very tumultuous 2025 and to look ahead to a brighter new year. I think a lot of us need that! My mother described the hellish six months we’ve endured only to end up with a beautiful home to call our own a phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes situation. It’s a little on the nose, but it does hold true in many ways. We’ve lost a lot (like…a lot a lot) and yet thankfully somehow, we’ve come out the other side of it. Not unscathed, but alive. Grateful. And ready to move with that gratitude into our new beginning.

But please, no more fires at 3am. I’ve very much had my fill of all that nonsense.