Why I’ve Been Away: Busy Living, Loving, Battling

If you’ve visited my website recently, you may have noticed something.

It got a little… quiet.

For a writer, silence can mean many things. Sometimes it’s because the words won’t come. Sometimes life simply asks us to close the laptop for a while and pay attention to what matters most.

For me, it’s been a little of everything.

I’ve been busy living.

I’ve spent precious time with my husband, Ron. We’ve dreamed about future RV adventures, stolen quiet weekends whenever we could, laughed more than we probably should, and kept reminding each other that joy is worth making time for.

I’ve been busy loving.

One of the hardest chapters of this past year has been helping my mom transition into a nursing home as dementia gradually steals pieces of the woman I’ve always known. Anyone who has walked this road understands that it’s a strange kind of grief. You’re saying goodbye in slow motion while still holding someone’s hand.

There have been days when I’ve left exhausted—emotionally, mentally, and physically.

And yet…

She’s still my guiding light.

Even now, she reminds me what grace looks like. What resilience feels like. What unconditional love truly means.

She has always been my best friend, and no illness can erase the incredible woman who helped shape the person—and the storyteller—I became.

If you’ve ever wondered where the magic in my books comes from, a great deal of it began with her. Her kindness, her imagination, her quiet strength, and her belief that hope is always worth holding onto continue to inspire every story I write.

I’ve also been busy battling.

Cancer has a way of changing your calendar without asking permission.

There have been treatments, appointments, unexpected detours, and days when simply getting through the afternoon felt like enough. There were moments when writing had to wait because healing came first.

Through it all, I’ve been reminded that life isn’t measured by the chapters we planned to write. It’s measured by the people we love while we’re living them.

Here’s something I’ve learned.

Hope is remarkably stubborn.

It shows up in a beautiful sunrise.

In encouraging scan results.

In a campfire beside an RV.

In the laughter of someone you love.

In readers who continue to discover your books months—or even years—after you’ve written them.

And it shows up every single time I sit down to tell another story.

If my novels have a common thread, it’s this: darkness is real, but it doesn’t get the final word.

That’s true for Ursula.

It’s true for Vivian.

It’s true for Maximus.

And it’s something I choose to believe for myself as well.

So I’m back.

Not because life suddenly became easy, but because stories still matter to me. They always will.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes looks at the Falcon Motor Witches universe, updates from my writing desk, bits of folklore and magic, and a few glimpses into the adventures—both real and imagined—that inspire my books.

Thank you for staying with me.

Whether you’ve been here from the beginning or you’ve just discovered my work, I’m grateful you’re here.

Now… let’s make a little magic together.