Some Current Updates

Not a full article, just a personal note from me to y'all.

Hey, friends. I hope you’re doing well. I’ll be honest that I’m struggling. My depression and anxiety are very high, and I’ve been having a lot of trouble with overwhelm and burnout. This is on top of me starting grad school in (checks notes) less than a week. (Send help and caffeine.)

Photo by Fa Barboza on Unsplash

I am trying frantically to finish up several editorial jobs before I get buried in schoolwork, and I am also dealing with some health issues that have made working very challenging. Let me tell you, trying to write or edit or think while dealing with a migraine is very difficult. My meds usually work, but the weather this year has been incredibly volatile, and I think my stress levels are contributing to my migraine frequency. I’ve been having clusters of them again, which means I have been regularly having 2-4 days a week that I am mostly useless for anything.

I am not going to stop posting, to be clear. This isn’t that kinda update. I will be continuing to write articles and make podcast episodes as frequently as I reasonably can, but my life is about to do some big changes since grad school is incredibly demanding, and I am in a three-year program that’s usually a four-year program. As you can imagine, this is intense!

My first class has me reading five books and writing five essays in the first two weeks. I can do this; I have the skills and capabilities to handle it. But it’s going to be pretty punishing. As such, things are likely to look a little different in regards to frequency of updates and what kinds of content I am going to be sharing.

I’ve talked about it a number of times, but for anybody new here (hi!), I’m entering seminary for my Master’s of Divinity at The University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. My goal is to become a minister. I suspect I may well end up working in chaplaincy, though church leadership isn’t off the table. I intend on pursuing board certification as a chaplain, though. Which will be more work, too.

Now, to be clear, I am not giving up writing and editing. Not by a long shot. I still have fiction and non-fiction books to write, and I have clients I’m not dropping! I’m still planning on hitting up Author Nation in November. I do have my ticket, after all. And my room plans! (Shout out to my dear Leslie Heath!)

I’m also currently working on developing some courses that I intend on having for sale on my website. My intent is for them to be self-paced classes. My first one is going to be on the basics of book editing. I also plan to do some deep dives into the various kinds of editing as well as some courses for writers, too. These will be on craft, mostly, since there are other people who talk about business and marketing with far more skill than I do (like Becca Syme, The Hapitalist podcast, Malorie Cooper, Jill Cooper, Author Automations, and many other phenomenal folks I know and adore). Craft is, however, what I am best at and what I am most equipped to teach.

My first course is actually written; I just need to finish creating the exercises and record the videos.

I’m also going to be teaching some lectures through the Editorial Freelancers Association coming up. I’ll be teaching one on short-form video and one on identifying AI writing and how to deal with it (preview: you talk to the author honestly and don’t shame anybody).

I’ve been doing the writing/editing professionally thing for almost twenty years, and I’m not going to stop. But since I am entering a new season of my life, it’s only fair to let folks who follow me know about that. Like I said, I won’t be going away. I’ll also be probably posting more over on Refusal To Sing, which is my faith-based blog. It’ll be a place for me to talk about my seminary experience, theology, and other things that I’m chewing on that aren’t great for this audience who is here for my writing/editing/publishing content!