Past, present, future, and... cats!
Dec 31, 2024 2:12 pm
My Wylde-lings, here we are. This is the last email from me in the Year of the Hot Mess, aka 2024. I say good riddance to 2024, and let's never speak of it again.
I will try to focus on the good things that happened, though unfortunately, I will have to mention the bad things so I can put into perspective the next steps I need to take in 2025. Change is afoot!
I entered 2024 knowing I will have to slow down, so I was okay with publishing fewer titles than I usually publish. Here are this year's releases in order:
Guarded by the Golem (Monster Security Agency)
Wed to the Grendel (Arranged Monster Mates)
Wed to the Lynx (Arranged Monster Mates)
Guarded by the Leshy (Monster Security Agency)
Guarded by the Reaper (Monster Security Agency)
Guarded by the Yeti (Monster Security Agency)
And I am proud to say that the launch of my new psych thriller pen name was a success, even though I only have one book published on that pen name, and it doesn't look like I'll have time (or energy) to write the next one soon.
The Provider, by Joanna Margot
Okay, looking back, it's not too bad. Seven titles. It wasn't my best year, but it wasn't my worst. I'm gonna call Wed to the Lynx my favorite book because it is a charity book I wrote specifically to help a cat shelter in my city - Prietenii Pisicilor. Cat pics incoming!
These photos are fresh, taken in December. Lately, I've been visiting the cat shelter more often. I've been feeling exhausted and burned out, and kitty love always makes me feel better.
I want to thank all my readers who purchased Wed to the Lynx or read it with Kindle Unlimited! With your help, I was able to donate 5419.87 EUR to the cat shelter. You can still buy and read Wed to the Lynx, because the monthly donations will continue in 2025.
Another kitty win is that the cat I rescued from my backyard in February is now in the Netherlands. At the beginning of December, she was sent to a smaller cat shelter there, where she will hopefully get adopted soon. Why is this a win? Because in Romania, people don't adopt. And if they do, you don't usually want to let them adopt because they will often mistreat the animals, or change their mind and put them out on the street. In the Netherlands, pets have... *drum roll*... rights!
So, I am happy to announce that Miu Miu is safe, taken care of, and learning Dutch. She has her own adoption page. You'll find more pictures of her on there.
When I rescued her, she barely weighed anything, and now she's a proper loaf. She's so loafy, I can't even! You can see on her face she has loafy goals.
These were the good things that happened in the Year of the Hot Mess. Now on to the less palatable ones.
Some of you might remember that I had surgery at the end of July to remove a pilonidal cyst. Now, I knew what I was getting into. I read research papers, all of Reddit on the subject, but it wasn't like I had a choice. It had to be done. I knew I wouldn't be able to sit down or lie on my back for some time. The doctor said two months. He was certain in two months I would be as good as new. Well, let's see the real timeline of my recovery:
End of July (22nd or 23rd) - surgery
Sometime in September - wound closed completely, terrible pain, still unable to sit down.
Beginning of October - doctor concludes the scar has formed wrong, and I have two options: use a scar gel and hope it gets fixed, or he can perform surgery again to remove the scar. Because the definition of madness is to do the same thing over and over and hope for a different result. And we're all mad here.
Over the month of October - the scar gel worked and I could sit down normally. Success! I was on my way to getting my life back.
End of October - the wound re-opened. Doctor's advice - let's do surgery again if the wound doesn't close in three months. We're all mad here, remember?
Cried for three days. Ditched the doctor. Went online and read all I could about wound care (no, we don't have wound care specialists in Romania), and learned about Medihoney and the miracles of manuka honey. It was literally the only thing that closed my wound after I tried seven (not kidding!) wound gels and creams.
In only a few hours, we enter 2025, and I still can't sit properly or lie on my back because I'm scared the wound will tear again. It's right on my coccyx, so I sort of sit on my side when I do sit, but I do all my work standing. I wrote Guarded by the Reaper and Guarded by the Yeti standing, and it wasn't fun. Who knew that standing for hours on end will give you foot pain, leg pain, back pain, and neck pain?
The scar is looking better now, but it's a slow process. No matter how uncomfortable I am, I won't rush it. I refuse to sit down until I see with my own eyes that the scar is covered in its last and final layer of skin.
This absolutely contributed to my chronic exhaustion. And the bad stuff doesn't end here. At the end of November, we had presidential elections in Romania. Things were fine until we realized a far-right candidate no one had ever heard of won the first round of elections. I won't go into details, because it's a long story. Suffice it to say this guy's presidential campaign was exclusively done on TikTok, targeting a very specific audience (if you had higher studies you were unaware there was even a campaign), with donations coming from dubious people, supported by Russia. He is anti-EU, anti-NATO, anti-globalization, poses as Christian while he has a new age, pseudo-spiritual discourse, and has said numerous times that a woman's job is to make babies.
The presidential elections were annulled in December and will start from scratch in spring next year. This means nothing to me. Romania is a doomed country. We had exactly thirty-five years of democracy (more like pretend democracy, to be honest) after the fall of the communist regime, and we're not better. We're getting worse.
If you're curious and have nothing better to do (LOL, I doubt it), here is a quick article about what happened in Romania over the past month.
What does this mean to me? I'm out, that's what it means. I should've emigrated a long time ago. We have a plan for the beginning of 2025, and by we, I mean my boyfriend and I. First, we're going to a writers' conference in London in January, because we bought the tickets in fall and we can't back down now. Plus, it will help recharge our batteries somewhat. Mid-January, we'll be back home, and we're getting married. In February, if all goes well, we'll visit Norway for the first time and start looking for rent.
We've contacted a relocation agency in Norway, we had a call, and we have an offer and a price list. With their help, it shouldn't be impossible to rent a house near Oslo. They will help us with the paperwork, opening a bank account, etc. We've done this before, when we moved to Madrid, so we're not new to the process.
Norway was not our first option. We would've loved Ireland. But with the housing crisis there, it would be difficult, so we focused our attention on Norway. My boyfriend (future husband) has already started learning Norwegian, and he says it's perfectly doable. Anyway, we will be fine with English.
Boy, this is a long email! In short: the kitties are safe, I can't sit on my bum, I'm getting married, and we're moving to Norway. This means I won't be able to write a single word in January, February, and probably March. What I can do is translate my books to German, French, and Italian, a process that I started already. The translations will have to sustain me while I build a new life far (FAR!) away from here.
I'm not sure when I will send another newsletter. I'll try to update you in January, but there won't be any new books from me. I might mention new releases from my author friends.
Thank you for sticking with me in the Year of the Hot Mess! I hope 2025 will NOT be the Year of the Dumpster Fire, LOL. We all deserve better.
Happy New Year, my Wylde-lings! Stay healthy, cozy, and take care!
Love,
Cara