Hey ho, my friends! I recently sent out a BIG UPDATE to my newsletter subscribers (you can sign up HERE if you haven’t already) and figured… maybe I should share some of that news here too.
IN SHORT:
A lot has happened in the last year. I got married, for one! (To the absolute love of my life: a real-life prince charming who’s a big ol’ nerd like me and has become an invaluable brainstorm partner as well.)
And I’ve made quite a shift in writing projects. Read on for the details!
IT’S ALIIIIVE! …The blog, that is. Come in, come in, take a seat! Don’t mind the dust. I’ve kept all my dragons at home today, since the last thing we want is a flaming herd of dust bunnies. (One of these days I’ll get around to doing a spring cleaning here.) Am I permanently back to blogging? Not yet. But for today? YES. And if you’re there on the other side of the screen, I am SO DELIGHTED to see you again!
The reason we’re here today (sitting amongst the dust bunny herd… *cough*) is because it’s been much too long since I shared an update on The Brightest Thread and the whole querying journey.
And this is a bit of a tangent, but if you’re wondering where the pancake-flipping heck Tracey has been all this time, the answer is: everywhere and nowhere. Life is both fuller and wonderfuller than ever these days, which means that I’m prioritizing people and the world away from my keyboard. At the same time, I’m in the process of rediscovering the joy of writing… which, over the last year or two, has meant ignoring the blog in favor of writing another few pages of a manuscript. Perhaps one of these days I’ll learn how to do BOTH again: keep up a blog/newsletter schedule WHILE writing and living life in the right measures. 😊
All right! On to The Brightest Thread! The last time you heard a big update was July 2021, when I figured out a new opening, finished “final” edits, and began querying agents.
Y’all should really stop believing me when I say “final” anything. #onlyhalfkidding
So where do things stand now?
Apparently the last time I shared a writing update with you here on the blog was… *checks* …in January. What?! OVER HALF A YEAR AGO? You might be wondering, “Did Tracey ever finish The Brightest Thread? Is she even writing at all anymore, or did she close her laptop and take up dragon taming instead?” Well, if you’ve been around Instagram, you probably know the answer to both of those questions… but only in part. (And it might be best to leave the dragon taming to Hiccup.)
I am here to give you the full story and tell you that YES, I finished The Brightest Thread, and YES, I’m writing something new!
Recently, I’ve been thinking about the power of thankfulness. How it grounds us in this present moment. How it drives out fear and replaces it with peace. How it leads to real, actual, hold-it-in-your-hands joy. It’s no coincidence that I’ve been reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. As I slowly page through Ann’s journey of eucharisteo—the Greek term for when Jesus broke the bread and gave thanks in Luke 22—I find myself on a closer lookout for reasons to give my own thanks.
2020 was wild and exhausting for many reasons, but in spite of it all, my rearview mirror shows me countless blessings. Silver linings. Little reasons to smile. All-encompassing gifts. And I want to pause for a moment to reflect. To say thank you.
It’s my custom every January to write a blog post looking back at last year’s progress and looking ahead to the new year’s goals. Because those are things I thrive on: setting objectives, measuring my momentum.
But if last year taught me anything, it’s that as good as goals are, I can’t measure the worth of my day, my year, or myself by them.
So THIS year… let’s do it a little differently. Instead of progress, I want to count blessings. And above setting goals, I want to cast a vision.
Pour a cup of coffee, grab your coziest sweater, and let’s reflect and dream together a little.
