Is it already that time again for that New Year, New Me drivel? I don’t mean to be disparaging, and I speak only for myself here when I say that every year I’m going to do X, Y & Z with the best of intentions and then POOF, it all washes quickly down the drain by mid-year. If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know this is absolutely true.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not for lack of trying to follow through, but sometimes life has other ideas for what my priorities should be, just take a peek at past posts here and you’ll see what I mean.
All I am going to say on the subject is that I am tentatively optimistic that I can make some traction this year. This is the third blog post I’ve penned in a month — an amazing record for an aspiring author who couldn’t manage to do more than a couple of blog posts a year for the last decade!
My WIP has had steady updates as well – I am at about 22,000 words in and have been steadily working on it each week. So what’s changed? How have I been able to find some consistency now in late 2025/early 2026?
I think it’s a few things: the kids are grown and I spend far less of my time managing their lives and schedules. In fact, at this point, I don’t manage anything at all for them. It’s very bittersweet, but that’s the best outcome for any parent of young adults: you want them to be independent. They both check in frequently, but they just don’t need me like they used to. I love that they still want to chat with me and spend time with me regularly, but it is so odd to have such a quiet house now.
The newfound free time has me digging back into historical research which is fueling my imagination. I spent the last few years just reading romance novels to escape; I had very little mental space to stretch my creativity much. I’d jot down notes here and there when ideas would pop up, but for the most part, I was just exhausted and run down. My nervous system finally feels at peace and my clarity is back, freethinking is possible, and I aim to take full advantage of it as much as I can.
Lastly, I finally have a space of my very own to write that isn’t cramped, cluttered or uncomfortable. This has been revolutionary for my writing and research the last few weeks. I’ve spent the last couple of years decluttering from the seventeen years I spent single parenting two growing boys and working full time amidst their hectic schedules. I can see now that Marie Kondo had a point: the space I’ve reclaimed is refreshing and it absolutely delights me every time I see it and use it. Cluttered house, cluttered room, cluttered mind, I guess?
In keeping with my intent of not declaring a resolution this year, I’m just going to stay the course I’ve started, find some consistency in making time to be creative and see where it takes me. Here’s hoping that it leads me down some amazing paths for not only the WIP but for my psyche as well.
Evelina Wood 