"You might encounter many defeats, but you must never be defeated. Ever."
"In fact, it might even be necessary to confront defeat. It might be necessary to get over it, all the way through it, and go on." - Maya Angelou
A majority of my writing takes place at night when my children are sleeping or silently reading in their beds. But what I came to realize, what I’d already known but hadn’t acted on, was that despite being a night wordsmith, darkness and solitude don’t entirely suit me.
Sometime over the last year, I slowly shifted from settling for the scraps of time left at the end of the day and began writing while the sun was still in the sky. Purposeful time working on my craft while not running on fumes and fading vibes made me wonder why I hadn’t done it earlier. But I was thankful I continued showing up — for myself, my stories, and all of you who have stood witness to any part of this long journey.
This change also brought me to consider other areas where I needed a change. Terrifying, yes. But I’ve paid attention to what history has taught me, and in order to reach what I want, I knew I would need to change how I got there, even if it meant walking in the unknown.
Finding new literary representation was not on my BINGO card for this year. But in that time, it’s given space for the unexpected, including beautiful writing friendships, communities and mentors who have made my writing journey richer, and will for certain, grow the Acknowledgments section in my book.
All that to say, after eight months, Magnolia’s story is currently resting. Some people use the term ‘died on submission’, but rather, she’s taking a deserved hibernation. Time will tell for how long, but I believe she will return when we need her story the most.
I’m still here though, and now represented by Sheyla Knigge at Highline Literary, a champion in every sense of the word, and writing what makes my heart (and hopefully yours) sing!