Happy Holidays!

I got to check a lot of things off my to-do list today, so I figured I might as well add blogging. Like many other people at this time of year, I've been chugging along non-stop lately. Being sick all last week (as in, barely able to get out of bed) and then some unexpected car trouble set me back a bit, but I'm back on schedule and just about ready for this Christmas weekend. (Somehow I wound up with an expected houseful of people on Christmas Eve. I'll start cooking and cleaning tomorrow.)

I'll be honest, this year it was kind of tough to get into the holiday spirit. Aside from the illness and being crazy busy, I was just kind of bummed out for a while. The current political climate worries me, and it's difficult not to become anxious about the future. While my immediate family doesn't have any major complaints about anything, other people close to me were going through some tough stuff, and it was hard to sit by and not really do anything useful. And though we didn't have any super serious issues going on in the House of Landen, it was hard to muster up the energy to do things like wrap the Christmas presents.

I did my best to try to combat these blah feelings. I made some charitable donations, was generous with my planned gifts, and opened my house to people who otherwise wouldn't have a place to go for the holidays. I'm not going to say any of that was a magic cure, because it wasn't. But it helped a little, and those little bits eventually add up.

It should come as no great shock that writing has taken a backseat to other stuff for a while. I haven't touched my WIP in around two weeks (I think; hopefully not too much longer), but I know I'll always get back to it. I don't know if I'm firmly on the "2016 was the worst year ever!" bandwagon, but no matter what, I think most people go into the new year with the optimism that it'll be better than the last.

So here's to a fantastic 2017, and lots of future good things...and good writing! See you next year!