It’s Fall, and My Spirit Awakens
Hey cuties!
I hope you’re having a lovely fall so far. As I suspected, my quality of life has skyrocketed post-Brett. I’ve realized that I was experiencing sleep apnea because of the polyp, and now I’m sleeping through the night and can breathe, which means I can exercise more, which means my brain is working again and my schemes will soon come to pass.
Writing Update
While I didn’t write quite as much as I’d have liked on our trip to Scotland due to some turbulent flight experiences, the break from work and time with friends was excellent for my brain. I’ve already written over 2,000 words this week, bringing Beyond Atlantis draft 1.5 to 8,749 words - 29% of my 30,000 words goal for this draft.
I’m chomping on the bit to work on Lilith, but based on my experience so far I think my plan to finish Beyond Atlantis and Vampires in Pittsburgh first is paying off. Beyond Atlantis feels easiest to write because it’s a novella which I’ve completely outlined, and I know what happens so it’s just a matter of getting everything on the page. When I started, my creative writing skills felt pretty rusty; in my day job as a technical writer I kind of turn into a robot, so it’s necessary to work on my skills before I take on Project Lilith. My writing speed has really improved since I started, and I’m seeing changes in my vocabulary, too. The words are flowing more now.
My goal is to finish Beyond Atlantis draft 1.5 by the end of October, then take a month to work on world building for Project Lilith as a treat for meeting the goal. We’ll see, though; I may have to be evil for the month and Beyond Atlantis is not a very evil story, so I may end up working on Vampires in Pittsburgh for a bit because Beverly’s vicious and murderous energy is what I need right now.
Travel Recap
My husband and I got back from Scotland a few days ago. We traveled for a friend’s wedding and then extended our trip a couple of days to explore Inverness. It was a lovely trip despite a 24-hour flu preventing me from finally solving the mystery of Nessie (obviously someone poisoned us to prevent the truth from coming out). Taking the week off of work to celebrate our friends and spend time in the Scottish Highlands has done wonders for my writer’s block as well. It was a week of a lot of love, fun with friends, and a couple of silly ghosts.
The city of Inverness is gorgeous. While the countryside actually reminded me of rural Ohio (we have a LOT of the same plants), the city felt like a mini-Amsterdam, except with zero weed and a more manageable bike situation. We had a gorgeous view of Inverness Castle from our hotel room, which was quite inspiring. It was a great trip overall, and I can’t wait to go back! I WILL find Nessie one day, mark my words.
Random Things
I’m currently reading the God of the Woods. I started the audio book on my flights and I’m still only like 60% through. I have no idea where it’s going to end. Also, the narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, is my favorite audiobook narrator that I’ve ever heard. I highly recommend reading this book!
I’m obsessed with The Love Hypothesis all over again. I remember loving the book a few years ago, so I went into the movie with high hopes that were exceeded. I cannot wait for the book’s sequel and I NEED them to release the movie for the sequel immediately afterward.
My friend Monica and I are preparing to travel for an upcoming Paris Paloma show. I cannot wait. The setlist is perfection - she is going to play all but one of my favorite songs! The theme for our show is Miyazaki, so I ordered supplies to sew a Howl’s Moving Castle-inspired dress. I also decided that for the merch stand book exchange it going to bring a copy of Weyward by Emilia Hart - one of my favorite books ever, and it has total Labour vibes.
I deleted my Threads account. I just spent way too much time on that wonderful and horrible app, which was not good for my mental health or having hobbies or writing. I realized the whole Threads vibe just reminded me of early-days Tumblr and the algorithm is annoyingly responsive and I’m tired of seeing stupid takes over and over again (like please, my brain just needs dopamine, let me casually like Taylor Swift music in peace).
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