Hello everyone,

Some of you have noticed that I stopped posting regularly some months ago, posting just twice right before the election. In these weeks that I’ve allowed myself to take a break, I’ve found my creativity flourishing in other directions. As creativity is a somewhat rare commodity for me as late, I’ve taken time to consider what I want most to do with it, as well as the time I’m devoting to creation in a variety of forms. This blog has also increasingly become an avenue through which people demand my time and attention, to the detriment of my family and my mental health. And although those people are objectively few in number, and the people who have messaged me this year to talk about my posts in positive ways have outnumbered the others, it’s still true that this venue doesn’t give me the creative outlet or the joy that it once did. Despite maintaining a list through this time off of ideas I think would make good blog posts, I have no desire to write them.

I plan leave this blog up for a time, with no new posts. I may eventually choose to take it down altogether. I don’t want to pretend that I’ll pick this habit back up in a few months or when my life circumstances change. I might, of course, but I believe in endings. And I feel at peace about the end that this blog has come to. I also believe in celebrating accomplishments, so here is my wrap up for 2020: 

1. Wrote over 50,000 words, including 34 blog posts (not all of which I chose to publish)

2. Read 142 books (and counting!), including these favorites

• Indigo – Beverly Jenkins
• With the Fire on High – Elizabeth Acevedo 
• Stamped – Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation – Ottessa Moshfegh
• Memorial Drive – Natasha Trethewey
• Whiteout – Adriana Anders
• City of Ghosts – Victoria Schwab
• A Prince on Paper – Alyssa Cole
• Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky – Kwame Mbalia 
• Matzah Ball Surprise – Laura Brown
• In a Holidaze – Christina Lauren

3. Adopted a kitten

4. Spent an estimated 160 hours crocheting, creating

• 20 scarves
• 5 pumpkins
• 4 baby blankets
• 4 junimos
• 2 pillows
• 2 hats
• 2 octopuses
• 1 big blanket
• 1 potholder
• 1 turtle
• 1 Christmas tree

5. Kept a journal

6. Discovered Blackpink

7. Sent letters and cards throughout the year, including 33 Christmas cards

8. Learned to use a sewing machine

9. Bought 27 masks for myself and others

10. Somehow did not bake a single loaf of bread, but did learn the 1 way I’ll tolerate green beans

Thank you to all of you who have read and searched and ask questions along with me these past 4 years. I am so grateful for your patience and grace as I’ve written and grown before you.

I have endeavored to use this blog as a way to pursue in my personal life the 2 greatest commandments, to love God and to love others. I hope you will seek to keep those commandments in 2021 and beyond, just as I will.