Oh hey, I'm alive.

[ashelterofpages]

:sheepishly waves at everyone:

It has been uh, a long time since I've been here. The thing is it's not that I'm not on DW, I do volunteering over at getyourwordsout and was posting stuff all last year for them. However, something about coming onto my personal journal was really hard, as was checking my reading page.

But I want to try and do better this year, so here we go.

For those who are curious, a quick, unordered, 2025 recap:
- Joined Codex
- Got two stories published
- Wrote a whole bunch more that I'm really happy with.
- Went to Seattle twice
- Went to my (now yearly) gaming convention.
- Went to ICFA in March and met some people I've known for years
- Did a collaborative interactive fiction project with a friend that is available to play.
- Went to my first wedding reception
- Spent my birthday in Seattle (even if that was uh, Complicated)

There was other stuff as well, but that's what's sticking out in my mind. Coming back from Seattle in December was hard, but I'm doing a lot better now. It's part of why I'm here, honestly. Hopefully this year I'll be able to write more about how things go and look back on it with a smile.

I'm not too sure what all this space is going to look like yet, but I suppose we'll find out. I don't want to say for sure what I'm hoping for because I want to let this form organically. Maybe I'll write about the media I'm consuming (the last two things I've watched are Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, both of which I loved), or maybe it'll just be life stuff. We'll have to see.

I hope everyone else has had a lovely over-a-year and I'm excited to start keeping up with everyone again!

Comments

[yarnofariadne]

Congrats on your publications! It sounds like you had an eventful year.

[ashelterofpages]

It really was one of the betters years I've had recently. Which is nice, cause I kind of needed it. Things have been rough for...a long time. Having this year be kind to me has been such a chance to breathe.

[theradicalchild]

Mine has been meh due to wounds from past trauma but I'm still trying to get better.

[ashelterofpages]

Sometimes that's all you can do. It can be So Much to just keep moving, but it still allows you to hope for better, even if you may not always be able to feel that way.

[theradicalchild]

I try.

[flowersforgraves]

welcome back to personal journal posting! <# good to hear from you.

[ashelterofpages]

Thank you! I'm excited to be here again. I have always loved DW, I just got really bad at it a long while back.

[shanaqui]

Welcome back! Congrats on the story publications and writing success.

[ashelterofpages]

Thank you! It really was a surprisingly good year.

[wearing_tearing]

Welcome back! Glad you had good things happen last year <3

[ashelterofpages]

Yeah. It gave me the chance to breathe in a way I hadn't experienced in a long time. Even when things were rough, I was able to see how much I've improved mental health-wise and that was pretty great.

[wearing_tearing]

That does sound pretty great! <3

[lassarina]

*waves* welcome back! Yay for writing!

[ashelterofpages]

<33333 Thank you! I was so pleased with the writing last year!

[autumndaze]

Congratulations on all the great news <3 <3