Happy New Year

You may have noticed that lately I haven’t been blogging much. Back in October, I got married, and then ran off to the U.K. for my honeymoon. We spent some time touring Scotland in a manual transmission car on the left side of the road. (It wasn’t scary at all.)

The whole trip was magical — I especially loved listening to bagpipes in Inverness and exploring castles like Doune (of Outlander and Monty Python fame) and Stirling (where Mary Queen of Scots lived and partied, for example).

Coming back, I had to jump back into work, and then took off on another plane to Mexico for Christmas. It was a bit of a whirlwind, and definitely one of the happiest and most exciting times in my life.

Writing Time

Now that the holidays are over, I am re-committing myself to the writing life, but my focus is on my novel. I’ve always wanted to write books, and if I’m going to be serious about publication, I need to buckle down and finish what I start. That requires not just a new kind of confidence in my writing, but a huge energy investment.

It’s not so much about the time I need to write — although I do need a lot of time. Rather, it’s about how I need to spend my free time thinking about my book, scribbling notes, drawing maps, daydreaming about what kind of coffee my characters would order even though they live on another planet and will never set foot in a Starbucks. It’s so much fun — it’s why I’ve always loved writing, and it’s something I’ve gradually gotten away from since I focused more on my career and personal life for awhile. I also spent a lot of time and energy on this blog. Now, I want to get back to the crazy creativity of being a fiction writer, day in and day out. It’s my real passion.

Due to my focus on novel-writing, as well as my job which prohibits me from talking about a lot of video games, I’ll be updating Robo♡beat less frequently and about different things. I might talk more about writing. I’ve already written about how I plan to blog more about what I’m reading and watching and not as much about video games. This post is just me reiterating that, and saying I’m back. Life is crazy and awesome, and I’m happy to be home now.

Kitty Adoption

In other personal news, I adopted a kitten this weekend and named her Gilly. (Because Game of Thrones of course!) She’s undersocialized, so she hides from my husband and me and hisses at us sometimes. But in just two days we’ve been able to feed her from our hands and pet her until she purrs. Next up: cuddling in the lap. I can’t wait until she adjusts to us and feels comfortable coming out of her carrier and hanging out. She’s the gentlest, cutest thing (please see my Twitter post for a pic) and that’s part of why the name Gilly fits her so well — I love the character from Game of Thrones, and the two share a similar wild sweetness.

Thanks and Happy New Year!

Anyway, thanks for following this blog and for your patience while I was out and about. Hope everybody else here is doing great and having a happy new year!

— Ashley