Or more accurately, where have I been?

It’s been kind of a doozy of a year, honestly. 

First, I had surgery earlier this year to remove a cantaloupe-sized cyst from my ovary. It was actually — shockingly — not as traumatic as it sounds. I got to come home the same day of the surgery, and I was back on my feet within the week. But it was still a stressful time, and I had about a million effing doctor’s appointments and lab tests leading up to the surgery, and it was a giant time-suck. I was also diagnosed with endometriosis during the surgery, so there’s been some adjusting (mostly emotional) to the idea of having a chronic illness. (Mostly it goes something like this: AHA! I knew there was something wrong with me! And then: But wait… I just have this disease now… like… forever??? THIS BLOWS BIG TIME.)

Next, I had full video and photos for a new tutorial I was really excited about that just vanished without a trace. POOF! Gone. I don’t know if I accidentally deleted the files or maybe my camera ate them, but it really bummed me out. It was literally hours of work down the drain. Then hours searching for the files. And I hate to admit that it kind of sapped my enthusiasm for making new tutorials for a while. Because I am a big baby.

Lastly, there was a career change. After running SmarmyClothes as my full-time gig since 2005, I’ve been gradually transitioning the sewing into a side-gig over the past few years to make time for my new passion: writing. My boyfriend and I started publishing in 2013, and things kind of took off from there. We’ve now written and published 20 novels and novellas since then.  Read more ›