Hey friends and welcome back to my little corner of the internet,

First a homestead update: Deer broke into the garden, ate most of the kale and lettuce while the cabbage and collards are still holding on. Our pumpkin vine may be a little late and the bunnies briefly escaped after chewing through the hardware cloth. It took us two hours to catch them...

Some weeks feel like a long, slow uphill climb. I used to post every day, kept a steady rhythm of weekly and monthly updates; I felt like I was holding a steady line. Lately that rhythm has slipped. I’ve been neglecting socials, the blog, and the gap between what I want to do and what I have energy for feels wider than I can bear.

The truth is simple and sharp: marketing is exhausting. When I started writing, I never imagined the amount of time and energy it would take to promote a book. I thought publishing would be about the story, the craft, the quiet work of writing. Instead, I find myself checking numbers, reworking videos, and measuring worth by views and likes. Two hours on a video for fewer than two hundred views; a quick, unrelated clip that somehow reaches a thousand. It’s confusing and it chips away at my joy for writing.

Being an indie author has taught me that there’s no easy path. Traditional publishing promised a different kind of burden, but the reality is that every route asks for work I didn’t sign up for when I first fell in love with stories. The grind of promotion, the constant comparison, the small victories that feel invisible, they wear on you. I won’t pretend it’s easy. It’s not.

So, what keeps me going? Faith and perspective. I’m learning to hand the worry over, to pray through the frustration, and to remember that my worth isn’t measured in algorithms. When I feel the pull to measure everything, I breathe and return to the work that first called me: the quiet, stubborn act of telling a story. The truth that leads to Christ is what matters.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” — Matthew 11:28

The struggle of juggling everything as an indie author doesn’t erase the hard work, but it changes how I carry it. Instead of letting every metric define me, I try to let faith shape my response. I celebrate small wins, a finished short story, a kind message from a reader, an honest review... and I let those moments refill me.

If you’re in a season of exhaustion too, give yourself permission to step back. Rest is not quitting. It’s a necessary part of the creative cycle. Keep showing up in the ways you can, and let God hold the rest. The work will still be there tomorrow, and you’ll be better for the pause.

Stay Blessed,

FASP