Everything In Between

For the past month, START VACATION has been written on my calendar under December 20. I've been anticipating today, to have a moment, finally, to digest all the events from this year: to sit with my pen and write for no one but myself, to devour books, to spend time with friends and family and talk about everything except the choppy waters of publishing. I was looking forward to serenity, quiet, reflection.

But now I'm here, sitting in my armchair in the kitchen, where I have spent mornings throughout the year drinking coffee and writing and planning and connecting, 22-hours into my vacation and nursing a head cold, unfamiliar with how to actually start a vacation.

This year has been incredible, exceeding all my expectations and taking me to extremes that I could have never anticipated: from writing my first piece for the Huffington Post during the endless blizzards to packing up 100 years of family history and moving it halfway across the country; to holding my first book in my hands in the stairwell of my apartment building and saying good-bye to my dear rabbit Ozzy on the morning of my book launch; my first tattoo and the friends that I've made through #StorySocial and the NaNoWriMo 24-Hour Write-In. 2015 has been non-stop, and it's hard to think that tomorrow is Monday and in the morning I won't have a to-do list to chase down. 

The big question--What do I do now?

It has become against my instinct to put my ambition on pause, but after this year--more than any other time in my life--I feel like I can step away from work, and work won't be nagging at me while I'm taking time off. So this post is to welcome you to my new and improved website (Hello!) and to let you know that I'm going to be afk until January 4, 2016. There might not be a 'Good morning' post from me coming up in your news feed, but I'll be following whatever whims vacation has for me and thinking of you, and this year, and everything that has happened--with more gratitude than you can even imagine.

Thank you for being here, for being awesome, for following along. I hope you've had a good year, too, and that you enjoy these few days of 2015. I'm not going to forget this year, not any time soon, and I know 2016 is going to be wonderful, too.

I can't wait.