Liz Cultivates | L.M. Fern

In looking back on my goals for 2024, I find myself full of hope for the coming year. I wanted to get in better shape, write more, read more, be more present for my friends and family. All of these things have been my guiding force this year. I’m proud of myself for not falling into despair with any of the number of terrible things that happened.

Here is just a brief recap of the adventures I had in 2024:

I did a lot of traveling! I visited Akron, Ohio; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Salt Lake City, Utah; Orlando, Florida; Tennessee; and West Virginia (of course). I’ve spent a lot of time in hotels this year, and despite myself, I’ve become someone who also has opinions about hotels. I also became the type of person who goes to the gym at the hotel! (It’s exhilarating.)

I read more books than ever! It has been a struggle to get back into reading as an adult, even though I am (ostensibly) a writer. But I am chugging along through the Cosmere and quite enjoying myself, along with some romantasy books and several standalones (like Wild Massive). I’ve learned that just was with anything else, it’s about making time.

And speaking of writing, I’m continuing work on the novel, and for the first time, I think I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. I think part of the reason I’ve been so hesitant about the end of this book is that plot-wise, I really didn’t know how to get the characters from where they were to where they needed to be. They were in different locations and doing different things . . . But getting all of them to the location of the finale was the hard part. I needed to sit down and crank out a few scenes (that may get axed) just to work through the cobwebs in order to shed light on where I actually needed to go. And now that I’ve done that, it’s much more clear. It’s all a matter of doing it, now.

My crochet continues to be a huge part of my routine, with the latter part of the year dedicated to some projects for holiday and birthday gifts. The biggest project of the year by far, though, is my temperature blanket for 2024 — I’m still working on this. I am doing one giant granny square per month, and I am only just now finishing September. Now that I don’t have a ton of projects moving into the new year, I’m hopeful that I’ll have all my squares done and will be able to put it together soon.

Alex and I are still making episodes of Literally 2 Cents About Content!, and we have more planned for the new year. This past year was a struggle for us with scheduling (says every podcast host ever), due to some personal stuff on both our ends, but we’re ready to get back to talking about your favorite mores of internet content in 2025. It continues to be one of my favorite things that I do, mostly because I love studying complex topics and having thoughtful conversation with smart people — and Alex is probably in the top five smartest people I know.

Some not-so-fun things happened as well, including the continued erosion of rights of people I love; an unfortunate backslide into another conservative presidency; and some family health struggles, including the passing of my partner’s grandfather, the patriarch of his family.

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I also lost a dear friend in December. Much too early. When I started this post, I was feeling whimsical and full of hope for the new year — as you do around this time of the calendar. But when I got the news about my friend CP, the world stopped. I tried to work, to enjoy the holiday with my family, to make plans for the rest of the year. It has been a struggle, and really it’s been impossible to find the right words.

But I don’t want sorrow or anxiety to color the beginning of this year, or the rest of this post. So instead I will tell you about my friend CP. The words aren’t going to be enough, but words are all we have.

CP was my roommate during my two-week study abroad in London. She was the first person I shared a bedroom with other than my little brother and my then-fiance. In our room, two twin-sized beds were pushed together to create one queen, but they were still dressed as two separate beds. The bedframe was one big piece, too, meaning we got cozy whether we wanted to or not! And after this trip, we were Cuddle Buddies for life. In later trips over the years to various places in Kentucky and Ohio, she was always my roommate.

She was the kind of person that you could call at any time of the night or day. She loved her pets dearly, and when she lost her soul cat Annabelle, I grieved with her. She helped me book the hotel for my bachelorette party. I spent the hardest New Years of my life (until this one, anyway) at her place, when the year turned 2020, before everything exploded.

CP was a light. She threw surprise parties. She was always smiling. She was a writer, and a reader, and an emotional person full of kindness.

Grief is a weird thing. It comes in waves. And maybe you think that including this section in a year-in-review post isn’t appropriate or isn’t the best place. But in writing this, it helps me remember that my grief is valid and may be here to stay for a long while. And that’s okay. Grief can stay around if it needs to, and we’ll just have to get along, because I have things to do. CP was full of life, and I should live more fully, more completely, more loudly — because I am living for her now, too.

Anyway, 2025 will be a different world without CP in it, and that’s not okay, but it’ll have to be. I’ll be doing more crochet, more reading, more writing, and more cuddling of my Cora. Gotta do things with a little more color and a lot more grace and kindness. For CP.