For a lot of people, the summer is about relaxing and vacations. But since doing anything "normal" would be too easy – and easy stands no chance against my overthinking ogre of a brain – my husband and I mostly spend this sweat-storm of a season with our heads down, trying to get stuff done.
WRITING
Novel/novella – a draft WILL be done by summer's end. I will write through a hurricane if I have to (but, please, let's hope and pray I don't have to!)
Mailing List – a mailing list will – hopefully! - be set up by summer's end. I know, I know, I should've done this so long ago. Part of the delay was laziness, some just procrastination, but most of it was that overthinking ogre brain again.
This post - "The Thing That Sticks Out" – by Austin Kleon reminded me how uniqueness in a story should often be cultivated, not squashed.
WATCHING
Movie – "Knock at the Cabin" (2023, directed by M. Night Shyamalan) – I really enjoyed this. It was suspenseful, unnerving and unsettling, all things I love in a story.
READING
Two recent favorites for you:
LONE WOMEN by Victor LaValle (historical fiction/horror)
CROW MARY by Kathleen Grissom (historical fiction) - I was lucky to get my greedy hands on an ARC of this one.
TORTOISES
The tortoises celebrated their 14thbirthday! Banana was enjoyed by all!
*****
What are your summer plans? Any suggestions or tips for setting up a mailing list? Read or watched anything you enjoyed? Celebrating anything?
We certainly don't plan on going anywhere.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday to Larry and Mrs. Larry!
I will pass on your birthday wishes! :)
DeleteGood luck with your goals for the summer. I hope you add having fun to your list too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Natalie! I really should add "having fun" to the list! I get very caught up in the other stuff much of the time, but I will try. :).
DeleteHappy birthday to the tortoises!
ReplyDeleteI hope you get your draft done. That's a hope of mine too. But I've got a lot of summer plans. I had the kids make a list of everything they wanted to do before school starts again, and apparently go-kart racing and going to the local water park are on the list.
I'll let them know!
DeleteGood luck on your draft, Loni. I have to say, though, that not getting it done because of those fun plans with your kids sounds okay to me. :)
I plan on staying put this summer and enjoying working in my garden plus I want to finish a nearly there draft of a novel (Butter & Snow). We might head down to Annapolis Royal or Lunenburg for a few days but nothing out of the province. Good (p)luck on finishing the draft. You can do it Duffy Moon!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your garden and the rest of your draft! :)
DeleteI agree that uniqueness should be nurtured in everything we are and do. The herd mentality doesn't really work in the creative arts. Except for maybe tropes and a few other wonderful items. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnna from elements of emaginette
Then I definitely hope you check out Kleon's post, Anna. :)
DeleteHappy birthday, Tortoises! Bananas are so good; I may be making a banana cake for my birthday later this summer, so I think your tortoises are very wise. :) Austin Kleon has so many good things going. I hope you don't have to write through a hurricane, but you've got this. And for newsletters - well, I started one, changed services, and changed it again over to Substack which is kind of an odd cross between platform and newsletter. I'm still figuring it out.
ReplyDeleteYum on the possible banana cake and yeh on your upcoming birthday! :)
DeleteI don't think I'll do a newsletter. I'm thinking more of a mailing list where you only get email from me if there's publishing news. I've heard of Substack but don't really know anything about it.
Happy birthday, Turtles. Go summer writing days!
ReplyDeleteI'll pass on your wishes to the tortoises! Fingers crossed on those summer writing sessions.... :)
DeleteI find relaxing hard - unless I've got a stack of books to read, in which case my family might not see me for the entire summer.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday to the tortoises!
Me, too. I used to be better at it, but now it's like my mind is so jumpy my body can't contain it. :o
DeleteI'll let them know! :)