Send a Raven: Newsletter #6
It's. All. Fucking. Happening.
Happy season of change Ravens, and boy, is it ever…
This time last month, I thought I’d thoroughly exhausted the lesson that the universe had spent the summer preparing me for; surrendering to my humanity, passing tests that I’d previously failed, harvesting the fruits of my labour. But much like the leaves this time of year, the change in colour is just the beginning; the sign of what is yet to come.
I thought I'd hit the peak of my stride; great vacation, new truck, new meds, a gorgeous set of hair extensions that made every single one of my Sabrina Carpenter dreams come true for a fraction of the price that I never would’ve considered paying. Goodreads was the last thing on my list, and when that seemingly fell apart shortly after my last newsletter, I accepted that you truly can’t have it all.
Except you can…
The day after my Goodreads pre-approval was revoked, I went on the best, most unexpected date of my life with a man that I’ve found myself inseparable from ever since, effectively ending my 7-year-long dry spell, and effortlessly abolishing every single reservation I’ve ever had about doing so.
He is every part exactly what I’ve wanted, needed, and waited for, and the timing couldn’t be more perfect after spending the summer proving that I’m ready to receive the love that I know I deserve.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been challenges, and they’re challenges that I feel people don’t talk about enough; challenges that, coincidentally (or not), ARAC revolves around quite heavily. It makes perfect sense to me that at the same time as my career as an author is taking off, I’m presented with what the old me would’ve seen as a choice: something I’ve worked for vs. something I’ve longed for.
But the new me is forcing myself to choose not to choose (a secret third thing, if you will) and learn that if this truly is the right person for me, he will not make it a choice… And he hasn’t.
I also celebrated what was undoubtedly the best birthday of my life with a girls trip to one of my favorite places, a Hans Zimmer live show (my inner child was living her best movie soundtrack life), and endless praise that for once, I felt I deserved.
Birthdays have always been a tough one for me, because as a Libra sun, there is nothing that I love more than attention, but as a Taurus moon, there is nothing harder for me to accept.
My 24th birthday was the first birthday in recent years that I decided to plan something; “you can’t complain that people don’t celebrate you if you don’t give them the chance to.” And they did, and it was great; pure euphoria. But 25 was the complete opposite… Within minutes of that frontal-lobe fully developing, my entire view of the world shifted to one of cynical apathy, and I found myself doing what I’ve always done best: isolating.
But turning 26 has shown me a beautiful marriage of the two ever-present sides of my soul: the loner, and the lover. I’ve never felt so celebrated and loved in my entire life, and I didn’t have to do a damn thing to receive it.
By this point, I was revelling so hard in the abundance of blessings that I’d pushed Goodreads to the back burner. Being upset that I wasn’t immediately accepted upon finally getting to the front of the line felt greedy, so it wasn’t hard to trust that when the universe felt the time was right, I’d get through (and by the right time, I was expecting another 3 months in the queue). It also wasn’t hard to tell myself that it was a grace period to shamelessly indulge in my new relationship without the looming dread that I could be spending my time on more productive things.
But the grace period only lasted a few weeks, because right then and there at (Canadian) Thanksgiving dinner while my grandma was shitting on my little sister’s newest tattoos, I got the notification.
I still truly cannot believe this… Maybe we’ll unpack it in the next newsletter, but for now, if you’ve already read ARAC from AO3, Wattpad, or FF.net, it would mean the world to me if you would leave it an honest review. And if you’re waiting for the release, please please please (Sabrina Carpenter voice) add it to your TBR!
Promo rollout officially starts this Saturday, so make sure you’re following me on Instagram and Tiktok. Street Team information will be coming early 2025.
Needless to say, I’ve been a little distracted lately. Life these past few months has been a whirlwind of change; a hurricane of achievement; a torrential downpour of emotion—but I’ve never felt so lucky to be caught in the eye of a storm.
