My first Jinglemas story is released.

I just released my first Jinglemas story. I was writing it on Hearth's Warming Day (December 26th) and on December 27th, uploaded it yesterday and gave it another read today to see if everything is right with it. I was able to write it fast and I managed to surpass my usual word count per hour with it. I was surprised about that, after I didn't write much for more than a year.
I wrote more than 100 words above my usual word count in 2 Hours and 14 Minutes on Hearth's Warming Day and more than 500 words above my usual word count in about 2 Hours and 10 Minutes yesterday. The complete writing time was 4 Hours and 24 Minutes and I wrote more than 600 words above my usual word count for that time. That's more than an hour faster than my usual writing tempo.
I was thinking I have gotten rusty in the past year, but it seems more of my practice and my writing routine than I thought is still intact.

I noticed during writing and when I was uploading the story, that this is the first new story in a very long time that feels truly right. It's the first new story that feels like that since the end of January 2017 when I made that huge mistake and when all the trouble I caused for myself and my friend began. I wrote a lot of stories during that time too, but they all feel like..... something unpleasant is sticking to them and marring the good feelings and the good memories they otherwise carry. Some stories have it more and some stories have it less, but all of them have this marring feeling sticking to them to different degrees because of all the trouble and the mental problems that occured during that time.
"First Steps", my first story for Jinglemas, is the first new story I wrote that feels completely right in almost seven years, from late January 2017 to early December 2023. I am hoping this means that the worst is behind now and that me and my friend can soon completely connect to the best times and the times without mental problems that feel so long ago now.....

I feel mixed at the moment; happy that I write again, happy that I could release a new story and that things went so well with it and happy that my friend has logged in again after more than a year, but also emotionally exhausted and drained from holiday depression. I will need a little break after this story for a couple days. But things look hopeful, like last year, and more hopeful than ever now.
.