Thawing Out After a Harsh Winter

Creative burnout, delayed book releases, and finding my way back to writing

I've experienced harsh winters before. Some were cold enough that I questioned whether I would make it through them. But here I am again, writing about another winter—one that wasn’t as brutal as some of the ones in the past, but harsh enough that I found myself wrapped in a blanket, quietly hoping the sun would return soon.

And as if on cue, it has.

The sun has been shining again. There have been a couple of cloudy days here and there over the last week, but that’s okay. Both metaphorically and physically speaking. 

That’s why they call them the seasons of life. Sometimes they line up almost perfectly with the seasons outside our windows. This last winter of life was one of those times. 

If you follow me on social media, you probably saw me make the gut-wrenching decision to push back the release of Comatose. In fact, the book was supposed to release yesterday.

Now, there isn’t an exact date. All I know is that it will come out sometime this summer, or maybe early fall.

Losing my iPad in January—the only way I had to write at the time—was devastating. I honestly can’t put into words how devastating it was. Everything just… stopped. I had no way to edit. No way to continue forward. And no real way to keep pursuing the dream I had been working toward for so long.

I tried to stay on my routine. I still came to Pups and Cups most weekday mornings. I even tried working on other stories.

But the motivation was gone.

I spent more days doomscrolling than actually writing.

And now that I finally have a computer again? I’ve been struggling to jump back in. I’ve been sitting here for a week with the computer I waited so long for, and I’ve barely been able to type. I haven’t been able to touch the manuscript I poured so much time and energy into.

Every time I opened it, it felt… foreign.

Until today.

Today I moved to a different spot in the coffee shop.

I know that sounds silly, but moving to the back—where people can let their canine companions run around freely—changed something. I opened my computer and managed to edit two paragraphs.

Two paragraphs might not seem like much.

But when you’ve hit a roadblock like this, that feels huge.

I’m not sure if I started associating the front of the shop with what happened this winter, or if the back is just a little more inspiring. Maybe it’s the dogs.

Either way, it doesn’t really matter.

The thaw has begun.

And I’m ready for spring to come.