New Year, a Not-So-New Attitude

Wow. To say 2025 started off with a bang would be an understatement. If you’re following the news, you’ve likely heard of the fires that have ravaged Los Angeles. As a Midwestern transplant who has lived in LA for almost 12 years, I can honestly say that this is the worst fire season I’ve ever experienced. Relentless, widespread, and terrifying.

I’ve been personally touched by the damage and destruction, but at the present time, my family is safe—as safe as anyone can feel under the circumstances. We have water, power, and a plan to evacuate if the warnings are upgraded to orders. For all of that, we’re grateful.

But once the documents are organized, bags are packed, the car is full of gas, what next? How can we focus on work and stay motivated and connected when literally the world is burning around us?

I tend to be a sunshiny optimist with a very realistic attitude. That leaves me feeling happy and inspired half the time and jaded and weary the rest. Sound familiar? I thrive on hope but am tempered by honesty.

Creative work is rarely easy. The publishing industry is a behemoth that many authors never crack. The worst things surprise us, hold us back, set us far behind in our plans. Even the mundane things of life—laundry, meal prep, errands—can feel more pressing and taxing than the list of things we need to do to build our creative business.

As a multi-hyphenate, I relate. There are days when I can’t rally the energy to put into word count. Then of course there are days when I am prepping for a client meeting and realize that this is really my life. I “get to” do so much amazing work and connect with so many amazing people. And then, of course, the trash needs taking out or the emergency alerts on my phone and watch go off.

How with all of the life we have to manage can anyone balance hope and reality? The demands of life and our dreams?

This isn’t just a modern problem. Generations of authors sought refuge from the mad wheel of time spinning too fast, asking for too much. This article is personal. It’s not a simple list of SEO-pleasing Five Things To Do To Get Out of a Creative Slump. This is a personal message from me to you. From me, a person juggling the work of my dreams while the reality of my nightmares is taking place literally in my backyard.

How in the world, literally, how in this world, can any creative stay motivated and inspired?

The answer is simple and very, very short. Over the last few days when my mental load has been heavy, when air quality in my city makes it impossible to get the time outside with my dog that we both need, when my worries about skyrocketing rent and the loss of so much weighs so much it’s hard to imagine moving forward even one step, I found a source of comfort.

That comfort came from a book. Over the last few days I have obsessively listened to Nine Tailed by Jayci Lee. I live in Koreatown so the Korean mythology retelling, the subtle nods to Los Angeles and west coast life, and the unraveling of a century-old mystery were the perfect escape. The narrator of the audiobook, Michelle H. Lee, is perfection. She balances the many genders and natures of the characters’ voices with such nuance without ever overacting.

Nine Tailed is a romance, adventure, and retelling all in one, but there are aspects of the book that grounded me in ways I can’t fully explain. The ancient clothing on modern characters. The excellent descriptions of food. (There is so much great food writing in the book!) The horrors of the dark powers (the golems’ unitards and gruesome mouths haunt me in the best ways) and the peace and hope brought by family, community, and culture remind me of the very best parts of real life.

In the book, Sunny Cho tries to disappear, to hide in plain sight to escape her dark past. But in all great hero stories, she’s forced to come into her own, to find her community and a chosen family, and to understand her dark power, even if she was dragged kicking and screaming into grave danger.

In listening to the audio, I was able to escape the modern fires and pressures and lose myself. And then, at the end, came what might have been the most powerful message of the book. The author shared in a concluding Author’s Note how she wrote the book at a time in her life when she was suffering from depression and didn’t think she would ever be able to break into publishing in the ways she’d dreamed.

I think it’s important that we share not the pithy numbered lists of things we do to stay motivated, things we do to keep the writing flow going when the juices seem to run dry. I believe we need to share with one another how we’re really doing. How life has and is impacting us and our creativity. Only by being honest, vulnerable, and reflecting can we see that it’s never just me or just you. We’re truly never the only ones carrying heavy weight.

When the going gets tough for whatever reason, I hope you reach for a book. A paperback, on your phone, an audiobook—any iteration will do. As writers, books feed us and fuel us. They help us feel seen and understood. And when we wonder why we do what we do, why we struggle to fit creating something into our routine when it can be so much easier to stand at the sink and do one more load, we experience it: our why. It’s all right there in the books we read. The inspiration, the escape, the community, the hope.

If you’re safe and healthy right now, I hope you stay that way all year. If you’re not, I send you my heartfelt support and concern. This brand new year has been damaging, scary, and hard for so many. No matter what your life, dream, or circumstances are, rebuilding is lots of hard work. But you will never be the only one doing it. Look up, look around, and reach out. We are all in this together.

I wish I could promise you success and even more I wish I could offer you an easy path. So I want to share this: “it” happens every day. Whatever you want, whatever you dream of, it’s out there happening for people like you who have chores and stresses, who’ve lost everything and have to rebuild, who suffer and worry that none of the work really will make a difference.

I can’t promise you success, but I can hope with you, dream with you, and work alongside you every step of the way. Here’s hoping that we come together so that we can look back and remember that 2025 was the year that we didn’t give up, give in, or tap out—no matter what tried to hold us back. I don’t have a list for you, but I hope you’ll grab your favorite comforts and find your Sunny—Cho or otherwise.