Not all doom and gloom

Not everything is terrible, and it is all too easy to let the doom and gloom overshadow even the good parts.

I’m writing again! I mean, I’ve been writing, but I’m finally writing enough to add quasi-regular blogging back into the mix.

While I’ve been away, I wrote a novella, revised it twice, and now I’m starting to query it. And I sold another story! It came out last month in Trollbreath Magazine, which is putting out some ridiculously amazing stories. Mine comes out from behind the paywall next Friday, so I’ll put a direct link in another post. In the meantime, Trollbreath has two issues fully accessible, plus the pieces from the March issue already broadly available. Even better: get a subscription.

The kids continue to be thriving chaos creatures. The youngest sleeps in his own bed all night long more often than not. He can’t wait to start school in the fall (but I’m the most excited about it). The oldest continues to love school, excel academically, and receive glowing praise from her teachers. She has now added ‘writer’ to the list of things she wants to be when she grows up! She wrote and illustrated her first book and has been donating photocopies to libraries whenever she has the chance.

After two years off from theatre for logistical reasons, I’m back! In May, I’ll be onstage in the role of an actor playing a hooker playing a nurse in Sunshine Boys. I actually kind of hate this character with how I’ve seen it played before (ditzy and clueless), but my director is amazing and let me change it up so I’m having fun and getting laughs in rehearsal. It’s wild to me that at forty and fat, I’m portraying this hyper-sexualized character. That just makes it even better.

I even have my next play lined up! It’s a super challenging two-person show with a great script that goes up in September. It might not have been officially announced yet, so that’s all I’ll say for now.

And a writer-friend made last-minute Maine travel plans to visit family. We hadn’t been in the same place for nearly seven years, so this morning I packed up the kids and drove two hours to see her. This is the type of refilling the well that I so desperately needed. I am so grateful that everything aligned to just make it happen.

So today the lights outshine the doom gloom, at least on a personal level. I’m ready to relearn this blogging thing (I’m not ready for anything drastic like scheduling) and I’ve even made some minor updates to the site, like resurrecting the stories page with links to whatever is out in the world.

It’s good to be back.