God laughs.

It’s a Yiddish proverb, co-opted by slimy Woody Allen, but I’m using the original adage here:  Man plans; God laughs. Less than two weeks after my last chipper post, I got the sad news that Natural Health and Fit Pregnancy—rocketships by any standards, with Fit Pregnancy outpacing more than 150 magazine brands for YOY total audience growth—were folding. (Well, they’ll continue on as websites for the time being, but there’ll be no more print magazines and my coworkers and I were all laid off, which feel like the more telling bullet points here.) I’m sad, because I love my colleagues and hate to see them stressed; because I loved these magazines and hate to see good publications disappear in a puff of smoke. But I’m also excited, because I’ve been through this before and know that whatever the future holds, it’ll be exciting. For now, I’m dedicating March to finishing a draft of my novel, with a solo writing residency planned in the South of France and even a few freelance assignments turned down in order to go all in. In time I’ll look for something new, something fresh and fulfilling with a new set of challenges and a cast of new coworkers. But for now, I’ll push my nose to the grindstone and write.

I had lunch with my wonderful friend Liz Egan today, author of the upcoming A Window Opens. (Liz is brilliant and hilarious and I can’t wait to read every word she committed to paper.) As we parted ways, she turned around and called out, “Don’t let anyone give you that face, that ‘poor you.'” She exaggerated the whimpery frown I’ve seen over and over during the last two weeks. “This is exciting! This is the beginning of something great.”

And you know what? She’s right.