So what’s my happiest memory as a writer?
It’s been a tough topic to think about, to be honest. Not because I don’t love being a writer or because I have no happy memories of it. But because I’ve recently hit the inevitable burn out which comes to a lot of us, and when that happens, happy memories seem so very distant, and the task of looking back over such a long period of time (it’s only been three years but that can be an era in so many of our lives) can be daunting. Even though you would think it would be easy to find a stand out moment, they get engulfed in the quagmire that is just trying to function when your brain is like sludge.
So I tried a different approach. Sleep. Hydrate. Think of only the last six months.
2025 saw the release of my fifth book. FIFTH! That in itself is a happy memory, and something which I never really anticipated when I started three years ago. But the process of this book? It felt different. More organised. More managed.
I felt more confident in what I was doing.
Secure Attachment was probably one of the quickest and easiest writes I’ve done. Happy days! The cover was beautiful and I fell in love with it straight away (my artist is genius). Its reveal, which gained traction and got people commenting, leading to more interest on my ARC list than ever before. The contrast of elation when I got those first few reviews back in comparison to the anxiety when you send those first copies out for others to read; that’s definitely a happy moment. Then once it was released, it quickly hit top ten (even number one in Australia!)…the happiness kept coming. Little nuggets, day by day, making me smile, making me realise the good feeling I had about this book, these characters, wasn’t just the misguided thoughts of an overconfident writer.
So I guess, my happiest moment isn’t one thing. And maybe holding onto one defining memory as a yardstick isn’t the way we should view our happiness in any part of our lives. Maybe it’s through the smaller, consecutive moments, the ones that build, that give us little moments of joy regularly as we continue to navigate life. It’s getting another review, a shout out on a rec list, your cover on a bookstagrammers post. It’s the little things, which continue the warm fuzzy feelings, even on those harder days of being a writer, or even just a human.
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