Takin' a Break

I have not been as active or reciprocal as I should be, and for that, I do apologize. However, I do not have the bandwidth or energy to focus my creative attention primarily on Vocal at the moment. I have missed your stories dearly, and I regret not being able to read as much as I would like.

I was thinking of not writing anything at all, but I figured it would be best to let people know that I am okay! I am happy and healthy; I'm just focusing my output on sources of writing that are really important to me and take a lot out of me.

I will be spending the month of October revising my book from the ground up. I am so very grateful to the beta readers who took time out of their lives to read my work and offer me valuable feedback. I heard some great things, and I heard some hard things, and I'm so ready to make this book the best it can be due to my readers' outstanding critique.

Many of the beta readers are writers here on this website, and I am forever grateful to Vocal for connecting me with them. I am so proud and honored to be a part of such a welcoming and creative community. It's made all the difference in my writing, and I'm excited to share this final product with the world in the coming months.

I will also be participating in my first-ever NaNoWriMo during the month of November. I have a few ideas about what I'd like to do, and I'm excited to tackle this challenge. Discipline is not my strong suit, and I believe this will be a big test of my patience.

So, what on Earth does "Takin' a Break" mean in this context? Basically, I will be online, just not as frequently as I would like to be. And if I'm being completely honest, my break started a couple of weeks ago. I've had a lot going on both professionally and personally that has eaten any free time I normally spend on producing/consuming content on here.

For example, I spent 4 days last week completely renovating my "Salinger Shed."

Yes, this was an excuse to show off a project I'm very proud of. I did it affordably and all by myself. First time using an electric sander for the win!

I've been putting a lot of energy into physical projects and being more present in my "outside" life. Fall is my favorite time of year (Spring is too, just depends on what's in season, lol), and I'm feeling invigorated and creative more than ever. I'm actually getting Deja Vú while writing this, so I'm sure I've had these same feelings in the past around this time.

That said, my creativity is pulling me in other directions. I am still writing frequently, and even when I'm not writing, I'm thinking about things to write about. I think that's something that people just do when they're writers. It's a habit, and I'm grateful for it because I'm sure, when I'm ready to come back "full time," I'll have plenty of stories to fill your feeds ;)

All jokes aside, I will be attempting to participate in challenges during my short "break". You might see a notification from me here and there when I find spare time to read a few stories. And I'm planning a NaNoWriMo series for the month of November. Maybe a check-in once or twice a week to talk about the process. Haven't decided yet, we'll just have to see how it goes.

So, if you're participating in NaNoWriMo, feel free to add me as a buddy on https://nanowrimo.org/. My username is ashleylimawrites.

I am also active on Discord, where my username is ashnotketchum, if anyone needs to reach out to me for any reason. (Yes, it's a pokémon reference).

Hope everyone has a wonderful Fall season. I'll see you when I see you!