2024 retrospective

 I feel bad that I have neglected this blog. Hardly anyone was reading it, but on the other hand some people only keep up with me here!

So time for an update about what we did this year.

In February I published Bisection. I self published it because it had been the rounds of both agents and small publishers and they all agreed: this is a great book and someone else will surely pick it up, but I don't know how to sell it/ it doesn't fit into the market. I knew self publishing it would mean it reached a much smaller audience, but I preferred that to none. It's a weird book and it deserved to find its weird people.

The premise is that these aliens are each two separate minds in one body, and our main character(s) are the first to leave their homeworld. I spent a lot of time figuring out how a species like that would live, how their lizard people friends would live, and whether they would eat French fries. But alongside that is the question of making peace with yourself, whether relationships are worth what we sacrifice for them, that kind of thing.

In May we put our house on the market to move back to our old town. Truth be told, I never stopped hating Manassas. John had been working remotely for years so there just didn't seem to be a point in remaining there. There were a lot of pros and cons going into it, and I'm still not entirely sure it wasn't just a selfish decision on my part. Especially as house prices and interest rates have gone up so much that we couldn't buy nearly as nice of a house as I had hoped. But we were rapidly outgrowing the townhouse and we would never be able to buy a bigger house in Manassas.

I had expanded my circles more than I realized, meaning it was harder to leave than I would have thought. However, even after the move, I am staying in better touch than I feared. I go up to karaoke night at the same place I used to, and Marko goes to play D&D with a friend out there every month or so. Our former neighbors drive out to visit us sometimes. So hopefully I will keep all those things going while also spending more time with the friends I had left out here when we moved away.

In July we made the move. The house is 15 minutes outside of town and near the river. It's a little shabby at the edges, but it has trees in front and grass in back, and the walks are always great. Every child has their own room, and I have designated the sunroom as my craft space, where I finally am able to spread out with my loom, spinning wheel, puzzle board, sewing machine, and so on.

The sunsets are always amazing

Marko is going to a private school which had been a draw for us. It's the one private school in the area which specifically caters to disabled kids, and they've really bent over backwards for him. He doesn't get picked on there, for the first time in his school career. However, he also hasn't really made friends. We haven't yet decided what we will be doing next year.

Michael is, as always, chill with everything. The local middle school is brand new and lovely, and nobody bowls him over in the hall anymore. But he also hears the other kids saying some racist things, which I had really hoped wouldn't be the case. I know that this town contains nonwhite people, immigrants, progressives, etc., but it's also very obvious what the majority is and they really want everyone to know they're in charge.

Miriam is furious about the move and I fear she will never forgive me. She loved her school and was just going into fifth grade. I hadn't thought to worry about her, because she's always been a social success, but fifth grade is a rough time to try to make all new friends. She misses her old friends and teachers a lot.

Jackie adjusted easily. She likes her teacher and the other kids. And she's been lucky to find a girl just her age right next door. That's certainly not a given in a house in the boonies like this one is.

In August my third book came out, the second book of my Imperial Mars trilogy, The Sea of Clouds. In this one, political unrest is heating up while on Venus, a diplomatic visit turns into a murder mystery. People who liked the first one have mostly loved this one.

In September I got a job babysitting for a friend. I hadn't been able to find a writing job like I had before, and we badly needed the money. I'm finding it more tiring than I'd thought, but the bright side is seeing my friend all the time when before I hardly ever saw her.

And that's about it. In the new year, I'd really like to make more money freelancing, self-publish a couple more books, and make time to float down the river in my raft.

Resolution-wise, I'm turning over a thought in my head about showing up for other people instead of only protecting my own peace. I've done very little for others (except my kids) in such a long time, mainly because I've been exhausted and overwhelmed all the time. But things have been looking up over the past year and a half, so maybe it's time to come out of hibernation and see what I can do for others.