It's a blog so of course I took an unintentional hiatus for over half a year. Oh well! The first half of the year was a bit of a blur. My day job got extremely busy and I had a lot of social obligations (including 3 weddings in the span of a month) that only recently wrapped up. I've been grinding away at the bare-minimum things that keep me mostly healthy (POTS and migraines, just delightful) but I've gotta admit, I've also just been a bit exhausted for a while.

I don't like complaining without figuring out a possible solution, though. I'm through the chaos of the summer now (knock wood) and I know that it's actually time for me to do MORE to help myself feel better. Last year (and a bit into early 2026) I managed to write quite a few short stories and even submitted some of them. I haven't been doing much in the way of creative work lately which is both a cause and symptom showing I'm not firing on all cylinders. So I did a bit of poking around today and noticed a couple of magazines will be open for submissions soon, and that's helped kick my brain back into gear.

One is a dream market I already have a story in mind for. Odds are low they'll take it (though I did get a different story sort of shortlisted with them last year which was a heck of an ego boost), but it's a story I'm pretty proud of and I'll certainly shop it around for a bit if the dream market doesn't take it. The second is a new outfit with a much lower wordcount range than I've written for before. But I do love a challenge and I had a surprisingly fruitful brainstorming session today figuring out a story that I could write for it.

Besides shorts, I actually spent some time planning last week (before a humdinger of a migraine episode that totaled 3 days) and managed to write something like a comprehensive outline for a medieval-type horror novel I've been picking away at for a bit. I'm certainly a creature that thrives when I've got steady habits going, and I'm actually feeling a bit optimistic now versus just... bleh. But an object in motion stays in motion, and I know I'm ready to get moving.

That's all for now, and I hope you have a good one.

-Verdigristle 7.24.26