Summer Shenanigans
- Michelle Emick Ronholm

- Aug 29
- 2 min read

I've had a really good summer. And it feels so wrong to say that.
I spent a delightful week at the beach swimming and sunning and reading and drinking all the iced coffee and eating all the fancy chocolate.
I prioritized my writing time and made sure I was enjoying the process of putting words on paper (or on a computer screen.) I participated in some fantastic writing workshops, had fun conversations with my writing group, and really got back to just loving writing and reading historical fiction.
I took time to play around with new creative ideas, some of which may show up around here eventually. And I sought out creators who sparked all kinds of inspiration for me, for writing and training and playing music.
I hit some heavy weights, continued to work on my running, and got ice time whenever I could.
In the space that surrounds me and my little family, things were really good.
Which seems both absurd and horribly out-of-touch given what's happening in my country. I watched in horror as our authoritarian regime set our country back in ways that we won't be able to recover in my lifetime or even my kid's lifetime. I watched our cities be invaded and our people disappeared. I saw basic human rights threatened and stripped away. As I write this Washington, DC is being militarized, voting rights are threatened, and museums are under attack. Lives have been shattered and what was good about this country has been destroyed.
My baseline is to always feel a little rage and a little fear. Mostly, I always feel a little inadequate, perhaps not able to meet this moment. I just don't know.
So I'm going to fight in ways that I can and protect my small space on the internet for a little peace and a little creativity when we need it. And maybe leave some breadcrumbs for the history that our regime is working so hard to erase.
I've had a really good summer. And it feels so wrong to say that.
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