January 2023 Update

Hello friends! I can’t believe we’re already at the end of January. It feels like this month has flown by, and also like it has moved incredibly slowly. In other words, it feels like it’s January.

I know one of my goals for 2023 was to post more on my blog (a perennial theme at this point), but my January was packed and stressful, so I’m letting myself off the hook for this month. I do have a whole list of things I want to write about, so stay tuned.

So what happened in January?

I had knee surgery.

Turns out knee surgery is a pretty big deal.

I spent the first half of January in a muddle of really bad pre-surgery anxiety. That comes with the territory when you’ve had fifteen eye operations as a kid. But everyone at the hospital was really fabulous at making sure I was calm and comfortable, and the surgery went well.

Then I spent the second half of January in a muddle of recovering. It’s been a lot, and it hasn’t been without hiccups. My stomach objected to the whole enterprise, forcefully and in just about every way a stomach could object. Then I had something that was possibly a blood clot. But I’m improving every day. I started using crutches a week after surgery, and now, two weeks after surgery, I’m down to one crutch and I’ve started physical therapy. Basically, I’m mobile enough to be very frustrated with how far I still have to go. I hope to be back on a bike this summer, but I’d also happily settle for being rid of this giant brace on my leg and being able to walk around without pain and without my kneecap dislocating. I do want to give a huge shout-out to all the family and friends who have stayed with me, taken care of me and my Neutron boy, sent cookies, and just dropped by to hang out and cheer me up.

With all this going on, most of my other regular pursuits have fallen a bit by the wayside. I only read three books in January, partly because I’m busy and partly because I’m still in a reading slump, though I think I might be coming out of it. My favorite book of January was THE AMULET OF SAMARKAND, the first book in Jonathan Stroud’s BARTIMAEUS TRILOGY. It had both a really compelling and humorous voice and really well done tension. I’m halfway through the second book and enjoying that quite a lot too. Perhaps I will write a blog post about the whole series when I’ve finished.

I also really enjoyed THE MARVELLERS by Dhonielle Clayton. This was a really fun, creative, and diverse take on the traditional magical school story, and I’d definitely recommend everyone check it out—though full disclosure, I did struggle with the audiobook narrator for this one, and I usually don’t have problems with audiobook narrators. I’ve been reading a lot of magical school stories in the last few months, so I’m thinking I might do a post on what those stories look like these days.

After a few weeks without much progress on my own work, I am writing again, slowly but surely. This is also helping to improve my mood immensely. I’m one of those authors who gets very cranky when I don’t write for more than a few days. I’ve decided that my writing goal for 2023 is to finish the two manuscripts I’m working on. If I have time, I have a stretch goal of going to look back at one of my older projects and do some work toward reimagining it and/or disecting it for parts, but that’s definitely a stretch goal. Otherwise, I’ve been brainstorming some ideas for fun writing posts for this blog.

Oh, one more thing. I received two short story acceptances in January. The contracts aren’t all signed, sealed, and delivered yet, so I can’t share more details, but watch this spot! I’m really excited for you to read both of these little tales.

More soon! I hope your 2023 is off to a good start and you have a happy February!