A few years ago, over Christmas, I had four Christmas dinners in a week.

Different family members cooked each one, but it was the same stuff-yourself-until-you-explode dinner followed by a dessert no one actually likes.

I love roast dinners, but that was overkill even for me.

After eating far too many roast potatoes, I forced myself to eat Christmas pudding even though:

  • I’ve never liked Christmas pudding
  • Most of them contain dairy, and I’m lactose intolerant
  • I forgot to get vegan cream/ice cream to go with it. So I had to risk annoying my lactose intolerance further or eat it dry, which is even worse than eating it at all
  • I wasn’t eating it because I enjoyed it, I was eating it out of obligation

That taught me a valuable lesson in doing things I don’t want to out of obligation.

Because of tradition.

Nostalgia.

Madness.

Sometimes, when you’ve been doing something for a long time, there can be the temptation to keep doing it just because.

You don’t know what your life would be like without it.

Change is scary.

It felt wrong to me to have Christmas dinner without Christmas pudding. It’s what I’d always known.

Even though I’ve never liked it.

Frankly, I don’t know anyone who does.

But forcing myself to keep doing something I didn’t like, not just once a year, but four times in a week gave me a new perspective.

I haven’t eaten Christmas pudding since.

(We’re having a Yule log this year.)

What does all this have to do with a writing blog, you ask?

Well, I’ve been running The Writer’s Cookbook since 2014.

It started out as a way for me to share what I’d learned during my MA in Creative Writing with those who couldn’t do an MA. And a way for me to keep learning after I’d graduated.

It became a way for me to document my growth as a writer, opened the door to opportunities, and introduced me to some amazing people.

I’ll always be grateful for the opportunities and the people that this blog led me to.

But it’s become my virtual Christmas pudding.

(The only difference being that I did used to enjoy it.)

Truth is, I don’t enjoy teaching writing anymore.

I enjoy talking about writing. But not teaching it.

It’s why I haven’t posted on here since last year, but I’ve done a handful of TikToks.

@kristinaadamsauthor Update on my current WIP (and cute westie cuddles) #booktok #authorsontiktok #authorsoftiktok #authorsofbooktok #authorlife #afterlifecalls #authortok #fantasybooktok #ghoststory #fantasyauthor #dog #dogsoftiktok #westie #westiesoftiktok #westiecuddles #bookupdate #thepoltergeistsship ♬ Halloween ・ cute horror song – PeriTune

It’s why I’ve only taught one writing class this year.

And it’s part of why we stopped podcasting last year.

It’s taken me a while to admit that I just don’t want to run The Writer’s Cookbook anymore. After investing almost a decade of time, energy, and money into something, it’s not easy to let it go.

But I have limited energy. Far less than your average person. Even on a good day.

And there have been a lot of bad days this year.

Which means I have to prioritise.

Ever since I got burned out in the summer of 2022, and I’ve spent over a year recovering, I’m a big fan of getting greater returns for less effort.

Which means some things have to go.

And that’s why I’m closing The Writer’s Cookbook.

The site will stay active, for posterity.

But I won’t post any new content whether that’s from me, a sponsor, or a guest writer.

That’s it. Door’s closed.

Is the door likely to reopen?

I never say never.

But…no. Probably not.

That’s why you’ll notice the mailing list sign ups have disappeared from the site. The odd one that we’ve missed might crop up, but I can’t guarantee it’ll work. Since, y’know, it isn’t meant to be there.

And you won’t get any emails from me once you’ve completed the automated welcome sequence.

What about courses and merch?

All courses will remain available for you to study and purchase. It doesn’t cost me to host them on Payhip, and I’d hate for them to be unavailable after they took so much to put together and have already helped so many writers.

So you still get lifetime access, whenever you purchase.

(If you purchased when courses were hosted on Thinkific and you haven’t moved across yet, get in touch and let me know the email you signed up with, and I can send you the details to setup your new account.)

And if you want any merch, that’s print on demand so you can grab some shiny writing merch to keep you motivated whenever you want.

What’s next?

It’s not easy to let go or say goodbye.

But breakups are a part of life.

They open us up to new opportunities, new relationships, new ways to spend our energy.

There’s no point wasting time on things we don’t enjoy.

Life’s too short for that.

If you want to keep in touch, the best place to find me is my Facebook page. It’s the only social media I use regularly.

(I know, I’m old school. I try with other platforms but I just can’t stay as consistent.)

You can also join my author mailing list.

I’ll be releasing two new books next year, the final Hollywood Gossip book, Hollywood Romance, and the sixth Afterlife Calls book, The Poltergeist’s Ship.

I’ll also be talking more about the creative burnout I experienced and how I recovered from it.

I have some roundup posts planned for my author blog, but I haven’t written them yet. So keep an eye on my author blog to find out more about my 2023 experiments, favourite reads, and more.

If you want to find out more about my B2B writing, check out my content marketing services and connect with me on LinkedIn. (Let me know you found me via The Writer’s Cookbook in your connection request!)

And if you’ve made it this far, thanks for joining me. Your support really does mean a lot. I hope you’ll come with me to see what happens next <3