Ink, Blood, Magic

I’ve been trying to write about my Hermit Year for a while now, but true to the vibe of the Hermit card, it all feels too visible for my liking.

It was A Year, to be sure. There were all the usual hermity things: turning inward, solitude, soul-searching. I spent a lot of energy on healing, both physically and emotionally. I set hard boundaries, possibly for the first time in my life (at least consciously). I realized someone I loved was incredibly toxic and beyond my ability/not my responsibility to love into wellness. I grieved. I grew. And I reconnected with old friends, and continued to discover and reconnect with my authentic self, someone I’ve been trying to get to know again for a very long time.

Now, as my Hermit year comes to a close, I am gliding into my Wheel of Fortune year. They say a Wheel of Fortune year can truly go any and all ways, especially if you didn’t take the time in your Hermit year to let go of what no longer serves you, or confront the things that have been bothering you for the previous few years. In fact, during my last Wheel of Fortune year, I was fired from my last job and my marriage imploded…however I did thrive on unemployment for six months (and wrote two novels) before landing my current job, which has been good to me; and the end of my marriage was the beginning of my feminist awakening, so I consider that a major win.

And this year? Well.

I am THRILLED TO ANNOUNCE: As of April 12, I am officially represented by Danielle Burby of Mad Woman Literary Agency! She has read my latest story about untamed girls and magic and trauma and shares my vision for what this book can be, who it can touch, and who it can help and heal.

I’m excited, delighted, delirious, eager, and still shocked that a total stranger feels so strongly about my work. I’ve been trying to get published since I was 21 years old, back when queries and manuscripts still had to be PRINTED and MAILED with a SASE (“self-addressed stamped envelope” if you didn’t know) and I’ve been an aspiring novelist since I was 10 years old. These last few years I started to believe I might never get this far on the publishing journey. Now that it’s happened, I’m kind of struggling to wrap my brain around it.

(I should probably be displaying a bit more confidence, at least publicly, but I know seeing other writers on their journey talk openly about their struggles has helped me tremendously over the years.)

Of course, nothing changes just yet. I’ll soon have loads of revisions to do on this manuscript to make it the shiniest version yet, and of course, I will continue to write new stories. I suppose now that I have a professional contract I feel more like a Professional Writer, but it guarantees nothing. I have heard ALL the publishing (or lack thereof) horror stories from fellow authors, so I have no illusions.

But I have dreams. Pie in the sky, lofty, celestial dreams, to tell rich, boundary-pushing, devastating, cathartic, mind-stretching stories. The kind of stories that make people feel seen and validated. Stories that give people hope, that help people heal.

I want to tell the kind of stories I desperately needed when I was a girl.

And with the anything-is-possible energy of a Wheel of Fortune year, it feels like now is the right time to dream those big celestial dreams, and maybe even take a few steps towards making them come true.

(Besides…anyone else notice there are FOUR books on that card???)

That’s all for now! No promise I’ll ever blog again (but I very well might).