Hello hello – I’ve been wanting to start this blog like we were in the middle of a conversation, like I’ve been writing these things for years (because, in a way, in my mind I have been), but I do realize the need for an introduction of some sort.

So, the quick’n’easy, bullet-pointed version of my recent life so far:

• June 2023 (and previous months): official dissolution of a long-term relationship

• Moved abroad from Italy for volunteering work and to clear my head and decide “what I wanted to do”

• continued to work on my freelance editing and cover design and all that jazz

• worked and traveled around Europe (well, mostly France), while also kept working on my writing, like I have been doing most of my life

• May 2024: moved to Croatia for volunteering and to scope out the country as a possible residence

• switched more and more to pure freelancing (less ghost-editing and other things) and organized some of my writing

• decided to finally publish my first stories in Fall 2024 and to finally resume my Get It Written craft series

So, here we are. I’ve been working behind the scenes on many different aspects of writing and freelancing. To give you some examples and because I value transparency, here’s what I have been doing in the past month or so:

• revamped and updated my website (and fiddled with theme and color palette and gah, branding)
• updated all sort of links and accounts and social media and archived old/unnecessary pages and posts
• kept working on the draft of the first story I plan to publish
• tried to consolidate some of the bungle of info, snippets, folders, materials I have for my stories and fantasy world (utterly failing)
• battled major bouts of impostor syndrome and all those wonderful nagging feelings
• worked on the second book of prompts for my Get It Written series and finalized the cover
• started doing research and brainstorming for the cover of the fiction book
• brainstormed for the books coming after my debut
• migrated some of my vendor channels to Draft2Digital and explored some wider options for both my books and future books I may want to recommend etc
• replanned post ideas, possible Youtube forays, and other grand plans of social media shenanigans
• tried to push myself to just do the damn thing

As a corollary, I am still volunteering (I mostly work in a vegetable garden and do other manual chores, which is delightful if you spend an average of 10 hours in front of a screen) in a lovely little Croatian island, getting used to the heat and to small village life (which, as an introvert who often would prefer to not be perceived, is not exactly that restful). I’ve resumed a more structured approach to meditating and also taken some uni-level classes, mostly on topics related to my other other life. I’ve been trying to branch away from my comfort reads to try new things (applies to movies and music too), because I realized I had been…. curling up within myself a bit too much.

And… that’s it (except it’s not, not really). Sometimes seeing a simple list of all the things you’ve been in the midst of doing and fretting over and overthinking can be jarring, to say the least. But, alas, I’m walking my path.

So, my friends, casual acquaintances, inhabitants of the void, how are you? How’s life been treating you? How have you been treating yourself?

Thanks for reading. Hope to see you around again.