Growing Pains, The Power of Community, and Everything In Between
May in Review
May was a month of growing pains.
Growing pains come with the territory of growing up, and for whatever reason this year I truly felt the weight of turning another year older. Change has been coming for me, slowly but surely, ever since 2024 turned into 2025. But May brought a big burst of it suddenly, stretching me and challenging me and forcing me to face the tough stuff all at once.
But also—May was a month full of wonderful moments. Moments so wonderful that, even though I’m trying to be more intentional of capturing things on camera, I got so lost in them that barely snapped any pictures.
I saw Thunderbolts (twice, which is crazy because I never see movies in theaters more than once, but it really was that good), picked up pickleball again, dusted off my record player to listen to the Noah Kahan album I got for my birthday. I journaled a lot, thought I had it all figured out only to realize—once again—that I don’t, and continued to be amazed by the beauty and power of community that shines in the highs and the lows.
Life is challenging. But it’s also beautiful. And I’m so thankful for the life I’ve been given.
Writing Updates
I’ll be honest—May wasn’t my most productive writing month. I got through the first act of draft 2 of book 3, but then life got life-y, I got distracted by other projects, and my motivation plateaued. I still love book 3, its characters, and the story I’m crafting, but when I started this WIP I told myself I wasn’t going to force myself to sit at my writing desk and put words on the page if I wasn’t feeling it. For me, doing that is the quickest way to burnout.
Instead, I’m giving myself some breathing room. I’m enjoying the extra time with my husband while he’s on summer break, taking time to do some mental processing and refill my creative and emotional tanks. I know I’ll get back to regularly drafting book 3 in time, if only because there’s still so much story that I want to tell.
One way I’m refilling my creative tank is flexing a different side of my writing brain by focusing more on my newsletter/Substack. As you may have noticed, I did a slight rebrand of this publication, retitling it ‘Abby’s Writing Corner’, and I’ve been working on some extra posts that should be going live in the coming weeks. Keep your eyes peeled!
Monthly Reading Recommendations
For the romance readers:
Lucy Loves Him Not by Rebecca Jo Jackson — This is the second installment in Jackson’s Sweet River Series, and it was wholeheartedly adorable! If you’re looking for a Parks & Rec inspired enemies-to-lovers romance with no spice/swearing, I highly recommend this one!
For the literary fiction readers:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd — After reading this in high school for one of my honors classes, it was truly special revisiting it for a book club pick! I definitely appreciated it more now that I’m older and understand its larger cultural impact.
Thanks for taking the time to catch up with me, even if it was a shorter update. But remember to keep your eyes on this space for the extra posts I’ll be sharing here soon.
Until then,
-Abby
New here and looking for my books The Cracks That Form Us or The Paths We Carve? Check them out here!