Adventures and Episodes: June Ramblings + Hiatus Notice + Getting Back to Work!
Happy July, my dear Book Dragons!
This year…. I feel like there are almost no more words needed after that opener, you know? Because we’ve all experienced this year. We’re all still smack-dab in the middle of it, and it’s not like you don’t know. You know? Of course you do.
2020 started out so promising. So full of hopes and dreams. Little did we know. amiright?
In some ways, i can’t believe the year is already half over. In others, I can’t believe the year is only half over. sobs and then drowns sorrows in chocolate cake
It’s been rough. It’s been trying. It’s been… refining, in so many ways. And it’s not over. But there have been so many good things, as well, and some of those good things even happened in June… so let’s see, what have I been up to?
Writing
Um…
Yeah. No writing happened this month. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.
Yeah.
But even though I didn’t WRITE anything this month, I did PUBLISH a thing! An Echo of the Fae had a lovely release month, definitely my best release so far. It even reached #3 in a couple of categories. I was SOOOO hoping to get to #1 in something and get one of those lovely little orange “best seller” banners, but alas, it seems not to be.
We also had a slight hiccup with the cover file of the hardcover and one of the text blocks. It’s getting fixed, but I had to take the hardcover down and Ingram Spark is apparently intent on taking a million YEARS to get back to me. But I’m confident that once it’s fixed I can get everything back up, thank you for your patience!
I also have some more character cards still! if you ordered the book in ANY format and would like a character card, please let me know (and send me your mailing address) and I’ll get one in the mail to you ASAP.
READING
Aha! Something I actually did rather a lot of this month!
The kids and I have been listening to the audio-version of The Spiderwick Chronicles. We got them out of the library and Mark Hamill is the narrator and they’re so fun! I think I am mostly just in love with the narrator, as there are a few things in the stories I don’t care for, though for the most part they are fun. I’ll do a full-on review of the series when we’re done (we are currently in the middle of book 4 out of 5).
I also finally finished The Reckoners series, and am so glad I did. Be on the lookout for my complete thoughts on this series in the future. I read and loved Steelheart a while back, but then Mistborn kind of soured my entire attitude toward Brandon Sanderson in general. But I finally got around to reading Firefight and Calamity and they were so good that I miiiight have to give Sanderson another try.
I also read most of the Castle Glower series and OH. MY. DEAR. BOOK. DRAGONS!!!!! I have found a new favorite middle grade fantasy series and I am COMPLETELY in love!!! I definitely plan to do a full series review when I’m finished with Saturdays at Sea (I’m about 1/3 of the way through). A castle that moves around and produces new rooms when the royal family needs them, a precocious young princess, GRIFFINS!?!?! What more could you want? If you haven’t read these you seriously need to try them out!
Watching
As you can proooobably tell by the image above, I’ve been watching Tangled: The Series and it is adorable. I love it so much. It’s so sweet and dear and fun and it’s just what I tend to need at the end of the day. Disney+ has some good stuff, and this is some of the best it has to offer (in addition to The Mandalorian, of course).
Derek and I have been watching through the first season of Merlin, which I’ve seen the first three seasons of, but Derek had only seen the first couple of episodes. I’m a little nervous, because everyone says, “ACK! THAT ENDING!” and then makes disappointed faces/sounds… so… yeah. Nervous. But I’m remembering why I love this show for the moment, and I love it enough that I’m willing to risk that ending… whatever it is. (Please don’t spoil it!!!!)
With the kiddos, Derek and I have decided that we’re going to watch through ALL the Star Wars things chronologically. It started with a re-watch of Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon series, because we wanted to watch the new season. Then we went back and watched Episodes I and II, seasons 1-6 of The Clone Wars, Episode 3, season 7 of The Clone Wars, Solo, and now we’re in season 2 of Rebels. So far, it’s been a blast!
sigh… I need to rewatch this one…
Life-ing
Well, life sure has been interesting. As I mentioned earlier, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses, but let’s focus on some of the positives, shall we?
There have been several awesome trips to the lake, as the weather has been appropriately summer-y. Strangely summer-y, actually, for June in Wisconsin. I am not normally a fan of 90+ degree days, but here in Wisconsin, I can actually relish them, knowing that they are not the norm, and knowing that very soon, we will get a reprieve and summer will be over. Thus, I actually enjoy making the most of summers here, and I like to spend every moment of summer that I can in the water… which is getting a lot easier now that my kiddos are a bit older!
My in-loves came to stay for a nice long visit and that was fantastic. We got so many little projects around the house done, like wiring up the basement breaker-box, landscaping around the house, fixing the back door so it doesn’t stick horribly, Gma did a couple of sewing projects with the girls and Gpa helped Little Buddy with some mongo Star Wars Lego projects.
Derek and I have been having a weekly game night to play Pandemic: Legacy, Season One. Which is thematically appropriate, at least. It’s a game that changes with each round. The board is constantly being permanently altered and you even rip up certain cards and throw them away as the occasion rises. It’s been a blast, even if we aren’t very good at it. We lost our fourth game in a row the other night, I managed to get my character killed, and our game-board world is currently being taken over by zombies! It’s fun stuff.
Future Plans
And this is where I get to that hiatus notice.
This entire year has wreaked havoc on my carefully laid plans for 2020. My creativity has tanked. My motivation has tanked. I see people talking enthusiastically about all the things they’re getting accomplished in all their extra time… but when extra time was being handed out, I apparently was doing something else (probably dishes). Extra time is a strange and alien concept that I can’t quite comprehend.
Some of this has been due to the quarantine stuff. Some of it has been due to the book launch. Some of it has been due to just spending too much time on social media. And some of it has been due to some stressful life stuff that’s come up in the past month.
I can’t do much about any of those things, except the social media one. So—much as I hate to do this, because I dislike having to admit that I really can’t do it all all the time—I’m purposing to take a hiatus for the rest of July and probably at least the first week of August. Not just from the blog, but also from facebook and twitter. I need a break from the world-at-large, and I really need to get back into edits for the Turrim Archive. I still haven’t finished the rewrite of The Orb and the Airship, and I really want to take some concentrated time and focus on this massive editing project. Also, my narrator has started reading King’s Warrior for the audio book project, so I’m going to be spending a lot of time listening to that! But to do these things well, I need to free up some of my time and energy.
There will still be a couple of blog posts coming this month, as I’m helping with a couple of releases (and I’m super excited about both of them, so make sure you check them out!) And if I post anything on social media at all, it will be on Instagram, because that’s the one social media place that doesn’t turn into a black hole when it comes to time.
So, until I return… enjoy your summer! And start getting excited, because The Silmaril Awards are returning this September for their FIFTH year in a row! The hosts and I are already making some plans for how to make this the best year of awards yet! Tell your friends!
Talk to me, dear Book Dragons! Have you seen Tangled: The Series yet? What do you think of it? How about Merlin? Have you read The Castle Glower series? Is 2020 treating you okay? Have you managed to do anything fun this year? What are you reading for fun these days? Have you ever watched through all the Star Wars movies/tv series chronologically?