Why did I take a long hiatus from writing?

I was supposed to start blogging about 5 years ago. I thought it would be a great way to share my writing process, fears, joys, etc. But life happened, and I ended up not doing it. Here I am, fast forward years later, writing a blog.

This is the raw, unedited version of me. My semi-safe place where I will write freely and feel unjudged.

I wasn’t sure what my first blog post should be, but I think I know now what to write.

Why did I suddenly take a long hiatus from writing?

Well, that is a difficult answer to give but one that I need to explore, not for the reader, but more for myself. When I first wrote Bedlam, the book that was supposed to never be published, it was an outlet to deal with a medical problem. When I finished writing, it was recommended to me by my friends to publish the book. So I did and loved publishing and writing. I ended up publishing several books, and my writing efforts became more ambitious in ideas, etc. But as we know, life can get in the way and that’s what happened with me. I was working in a job that I hated. And trust me, hate is a word that I normally never use, but I truly did hate the company I worked for. I was miserable every single day that I walked through their doors. Couple that with book world problems as well as several other factors, and I suddenly felt that I needed a break.

The break was supposed to be a few weeks, actually. I just needed to step away from social media, from writing, from everything, and regroup. But the further I stepped away, the more secluded I became and the more I loved it. No more problems! I blinked an eye and a few weeks became months and months became years. I kept teeter-tottering on if I was going back or if I was ready to go back. The answer was always no. I love it here in my safe space.

But those darn characters never seem to shut up in my head. They are constantly talking and finally I sat down and decided to hear what these characters had to say. Their words poured out through me and into my fingertips as I banged out the words on my laptop. I kept going back and forth with books as all the characters were speaking at once, wanting their stories to be told. And throughout all of this, I still was unsure if I was going back to publishing.

Then a funny thing happened. I saw an author friend post on Facebook that she was now publishing on Radish. I thought to myself, Oh yeah, I looked into publishing with them a long time ago. So as a gag to myself, I went on Radish website and applied to become a Radish author. I honestly didn’t expect to be accepted simply because I had not published in such a long time. And I also didn’t give much thought to it, anyway. But long and behold, they sent me an acceptance letter. I was shocked but then I realized oh wow; I guess that means I actually have to publish something.

And that is exactly what has brought me back. Funny but true. Here I was all this time waiting for a sign to come to me in the form of a book that I was writing to tell me I NEED TO BE PUBLISHED. But it didn’t happen that way. It happened in a form of an acceptance letter I wasn’t expecting to receive. I’m truly appreciative to Radish for giving me the push I needed. I’m enjoying my reentry into the publishing world. I no longer work for the company that I hated. I now work from home and it gives me time to write as well. I finally feel like I’m living my best and true life. I’m happy and I love the conversations I’m having with my characters.

Well, enough of my ramblings. First blog post is done and I think this was a cool idea. Mental note to self: Let’s keep this going!

Happy Reading,

Autumn