It Has Been A Long And Wonderful Time With You ❤️

But, for the time being, we must sadly close up shop.

Hey you. Hope you’re doing well.

Me? I’m doing alright. I’m back in New York after an extended stay with my parents for the holidays. It’s nice to be back. It’s nice, in a way, to get busy managing my day-to-day after having my parents lead much of domestic work. To plan out meals, clean the apartment, carry heavy bags of groceries home. It feels like I’m earning my own life.

I’m getting busier. This has always been a problem for me. I start a new job in two weeks (!!!) and I’m planning to lead short story exercises for my writing group Write Away. Speaking of which, I aim to get a short story published this year. Cross your fingers for me.

While at home, I spent some good time learning Indian recipes from my mom. I typed them all up on my phone’s Notes app and have already reproduced a couple of them since I’ve come back. They’re healthy recipes. Nothing you’d really find in a restaurant. Cranberry chutney, mango dal, mixed vegetable kura. Just some simple things for nutritional balance.

This year, I want to focus on these things. I want to focus more on cooking and eating healthy foods, on getting better at short story fiction, and on my new job. These are important to me. With all of those plates spinning, I don’t think there’s much room left for this newsletter.

It’s unfortunate news, I know. I’ve been doing this newsletter for two and a half years! It’s been perhaps my boldest expression of self in recent years. Writing my thoughts out for you all has been so thrilling and cathartic and fun, and hearing responses back from you has been an absolute joy. I’ve made friends through this newsletter. I’ve gotten to know people through this newsletter. I’ve experimented with new forms, done newsletters swaps, and written about the mundane stories of my own life. I’ve opened up the world of being an imaginative, solitary, quiet only child to you all, and the experience has been so rewarding.

Now, I want to publish a short story in an online magazine or something. I want to be good at my next job. I want to live a healthier life. These might all sound like flaky New Year’s resolutions, but it’s been on my mind for a little while now. So while this journey has been amazing, it’s time to move on.

Thank you all for subscribing and being a part of Only Child. I hope that some time in the future, I’ll have more to say, and maybe I’ll reboot this newsletter, or maybe I’ll make a new one; I don’t know. Some of y’all have been with me only recently; others, the entire last two years. I am so grateful to all of you for being a part of this venture. But for now, other duties beckon.

And please stay in touch. :)