Update from Brittany

(That photo isn’t mine. I didn’t create it. I don’t own it. Credit to anon.)

Hello! Where have I been? How have I been? How have YOU been?

I have been slacking big time here, I know.
It has been so hectic and life things are making me tired.

Our house is on the market and playing the ‘you have a two-hour window to deep clean and arrange your house (that you and your family of five still live in) for a showing’ game. Huge shout-out to those who have gone before me, did it without complaining, who also survived to live long enough to actually sell their house. The most interesting part is not dropping everything on a dime and making our home look less-lived- in, it is that we have fixed, painted, and updated every single thing that has been on this long-time-running, 10-year, abandoned to-do list.

Also, my book has become this massive, all-consuming of energy and thoughts kind of thing. It has taken over, absorbing every slither of creative energy I have in the greatest way, every single day. Even in the car I am writing on a notepad because I have this chronic issue of forgetting things seconds after they the thought comes into existence.
Several weeks ago I printed the completed first draft after having spent the greater part of a year trudging along writing my bare bones version.  Not to brag, but it only took me a full year to complete. But hey, it has been typed, printed, and it exists. Boom shakalaka.
And because I am a basket case, I almost cried when I felt the warmth of the freshly printed paper in my hands. I have spent the last few weeks rewriting, redrafting, (with the help of my adorable toddler) and living right in the middle of a story I am so excited to share. Soon I’ll be revising. I have to say developing a writing schedule and a ‘Book Page’ have both helped me to stay on track and to be more accountable. If they had aspiring author meetings, I’d need one because of who I am as a person. I need people asking how things are going and keeping me in line. Maybe I am just conditioned that way, or maybe, I am lazy. We’ll never know.

With more consistent writing, the house being on the market, my husband travelling, my brother being in a mental-health facility (but thankfully, no longer on the streets) miscellaneous things at church, and then the regular, everyday life things that happen when you have three children involved in school stuff, and sports, my poor blog baby has definitely been neglected.

But I have a ton of things I still need to tell you. Next up, I am feeling like I want to share about Halloween. I keep seeing all of these conversation topics centered on Halloween-esque sober entertainment. And I know it matters. There are young people and single people out there who need alternatives. That’s important. But what do you do if you are middle-aged, with children, and also married? What is our alternative?

That’s next up here.

I hope you are all well and still sober, and if you know anything right now, know that you have worth, value, and are capable of doing hard things.