A Final -Ishness Post for 2023
They say that 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
So that’s fun.
It’s been quite a year! In many ways, full of good things. In many ways, just straight-up exhausting. I am grateful. I look back on this year and I see so much that was good and exciting and fun.
It’s been a couple of months since I did an Adventures and Episodes / -ishness style post, so let’s dive in, shall we?
Life-ing
Really, so very much happened in the “life” category in the past several months that it has to go at the top.
I spent a day circumnavigating Lake Michigan with my sister-in-law. And what a fun day/trip that was! A little context… we live in Wisconsin on the western side of Lake Michigan (about 2-3 hours from the lake), and our daughters went to horse camp this summer in Michigan, on the eastern side of Lake Michigan…. practically straight across the lake from us. And while there is a ferry you can technically take across the lake… it costs an exorbitant amount of dollar-bucks to use it and only in the end saves you an hour of time. So we had two choices: drive south through Chicago and get there in 8.5 hours, or drive up north through the U.P. and get there in 10.5 hours.
On the way there, we opted to go south, and it took us 11 hours because of ridiculous Chicago traffic… which is never not a thing.
As we were getting into Michigan, we could see the cars stacked up going the other direction and Dory and I looked at each other and decided then and there that we didn’t want to brave that mess again. So after we dropped the girls off, we kept going north and went up and over Mackinac Bridge and through the U.P. and home by way of the “middle of nowhere” but far more peaceful route.
It took us a grand total of about 22 hours, and it was so much fun.
We had family in town for about two weeks, and then July ended and we really just dove headfirst into the 2023/2024 school year. It was a bit early for us, usually we don’t start up until after Labor Day (which is how I like it), but Elf Princess is taking an online physics class this year and it started Aug. 14. So… in we dove!
Cross Country also started up, and both Elf Princess and Shield Maiden ran this year for the Lightning Bolts homeschool team.
I participated in the eXtreme meet that we always kick the season off with, and it was fun. I ran with my 8-year old son, and we completed the 1.5 mile course in just over 17 minutes.
It was super hot that day… the parts of the race where we got to run through the creek were very welcome!
So happy I made it up all those muddy riverbanks without falling on my face!!!
EP completed her first year of high school xc like she’d been born to run that extra 1.1 miles (middle school races tend to be 2 miles, while high school races are 3.1 miles) and despite a frustrating season battling soreness and mild injuries, she managed to finish super strong, knocking most of her final goals for the season out of the park at the homeschool championship meet, even running on an ankle that was in the midst of giving out on her!
Shield Maiden realized a couple of weeks into the season that she really really hates running, but she stuck with it and continued to improve throughout the season, ultimately knocking an entire four minutes and six seconds off her overall time between her first meet and her last one!!!
Cross country ended and I immediately got hit with a cold that kind of knocked me out for a week, but now that I’m feeling better, life is settling into a slightly less frantic-feeling pace.
Mostly, we’re just trying to breathe a little and rest and recuperate. EP has strict instructions not to run on her ankle for 4-6 weeks, and then she’ll start up some light training again and be ready for track come the spring semester!
Auth-ing / Blogging
As school and team sports ramped up, so did the author activities! We’ll lump blogging into this category as well.
The 8th Annual Silmaril Awards went swimmingly, despite a few hiccups with vote-eating dragons… or possibly mischievous imps got into the server… I’m not sure we ever did figure it out.
If you missed the award ceremonies, you can still catch all the fun and enjoy the entertainment!
September 15 kicked off the A Classic Retold releases, with my own Steal the Morrow releasing on September 29th. The last book in the series just released, so all 9 of the books are now available for you to binge-read our twists and turns on these beloved classics!
I joined in with Christine Smith’s annual Fic Frenzy writing event, and am pleased to announce that I crushed my goals.
I hoped to spend 5 minutes each day of the event writing on my new WIP: Jana of Sea and Summer, book 2 of The Faelands series and sequel to An Echo of the Fae. My secondary goal was to add 5,000 words to that story. Well, as I blitzed past 5,000 words with almost two weeks to go, I upped the goal to 10,000 words, and as of Wednesday (the final day of the challenge), I had written 10,130 new words on the story! I’m just getting to the first really exciting part of the book, and this exercise has been a good reminder that 1) I can write, 2) even a little bit of progress every day starts to add up pretty quick, and 3) I like writing.
I hope to finish this draft by the end of January or possibly February.
My brother Grant, and I launched our An Evening in the Stormcave podcast! We have another episode coming soon!
The other big and exciting event of my authoring journey is that I’m getting ready to ship out the hardcovers and paperback copies of Mantles of Oak and Iron the second book in my Turrim Archive series to my Kickstarter backers!
The book is available for pre-order over at Amazon now!
Reading
I’ve read quite a few books since my last Adventures and Episodes post. Let’s see if I can list them all here:
Jo’s Boys by Louisa May Alcott - rounding out my summer re-read of these books, I enjoyed this final chapter of the saga.
The Wyldling Snare by A.R. Grimes - a really intriguing portal fantasy that I quite enjoyed. Book 2 is now out and I definitely intend to read it soon.
Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset by Sarah Ashwood - I listened to this on audio. I think I would have liked it better reading it myself. The narrator was quite good, but the way she voiced Hannah Winters really made me dislike her character, and it’s always a bit hard for me to really enjoy a book when I don’t like the MC.
City of a Thousand Tears by Pamela Hart - A sort of urban fantasy/sci fi dystopia that reminded me rather a lot of Alita, Battle Angel. Fast-paced and action packed, I enjoyed this short read immensely.
A Superhero Ever After / Engaged to a Supervillain / Accidentally a Supervillain / Second Chance Superhero by H.L. Burke - absolutely devoured these. They are so fun and entertaining. If you like the MCU and Hallmark Christmas movies… you’d enjoy this series
The Herbwitch’s Apprentice / The Herbwitch Princess by Ireen Chau - an absolutely delightful duology that is very Jane Austen-meets-fantastical-meets-fairy-tales and I am HERE for it. Highly recommend. It’s not what I would term a “retelling” of any particular story, it is very much it’s own thing. Also, major props to the author for giving me a sequel that was about totally different characters and still making me fall in love with the story! Not an easy thing to do
Specter of the Past by Timothy Zahn - continuing our re-read of the Zahn Star Wars saga. Loving it.
A Classic Retold - I have read all of the other 8 books in the series and can honestly say that I absolutely adore all of them. Highly recommend. And I’m not just saying that because one of the books in the series is mine… though I’d love for you to read Steal the Morrow, because I love it and the characters so much and I’m excited to share them with you!
Listening
Our family was gifted a subscription to the Adventures in Odyssey club for Christmas, and all four kids have been enjoying listening to the episodes, particularly my oldest daughter.
I got to hear snippets and even an episode here and there… and my kids all listened through the Novacom Saga earlier in the year and kept talking about it.
So I decided to give it a listen.
Y’all… it’s forty episodes. Forty.
And they are all fantastic.
I grew up listening to Adventures in Odyssey and already knew I liked it… but in the past several months I have gained a new appreciation for the depths of these stories, the writing, the character arcs. Ahhhh, falling in love all over again.
I finished the Novacom Saga and asked my daughter to put me together a good playlist for what to listen to next, and so far she has done a lovely job and has excellent taste. I am really enjoying these.
I’ve also been listening to Colors and Covers, Brittany Jean’s newest album. So beautiful. Y’all… just… well… go listen to it! Better yet, buy a copy for your very own!
Watching
Bumblebee - Finally got around to watching Bumblebee, and I have to admit, it’s my favorite of the Transformers movies.
Transformers 1 - Of course, after watching Bumblebee, the kids wanted to know if there were any others, and this is the only one we felt comfortable with them watching. There was a lot more language than I remembered, and we fast-forwarded one super obnoxious scene I remembered that ruined the movie for me in the theater. It is still every second of the 2-hour-23-minute adrenaline rush that I remembered it being… even with being able to pause it and take breaks… a movie should NOT be that much of a workout. Wow.
Agent Carter - Derek and I have finally jumped on this bandwagon. I’m enjoying it quite a lot.
Asohka - We finished Asohka and I have… thoughts… but that’s probably it’s own blog post.
The X-Files - trying to find something good to watch…. I was hoping this would be better than it is. There are episodes that are good… but most of it is honestly too creepy for me.
Stargate SG-1 - on the other hand, we just finished season 3 of Stargate with the kids and it remains my favorite sci-fi show of ever.
Future Plans / Hiatus Announcement
And that brings me to my “have a great rest of the year” announcement.
One of the things I love most about FicFrenzy over NaNoWriMo is the fact that the schedule for it is shifted ever so slightly. Running Oct 15 - Nov 15 means that it ends before my birthday (which is today) and all the Holiday Things that happen between now and the end of the year.
With so much going on this year (and the need to ramp up quite a bit for more exciting releases in 2024!) I am finding myself in desperate need of a break.
So as of today, I’m going to be going internet dark until the end of the year. I’ll be removing Instagram and Facebook from my phone and doing my best to stay off of social media, discord, and my blog until after Christmas. I need to focus on my family and just…. rest.
I feel like God has been tugging at me a bit, trying to remind me of the importance of rest (in fact, I joined a Women’s Bible study recently and the topic we’re studying is “Rest” - which I didn’t even know before I joined!)
Yes, He’s given me a gift and passion for storytelling. Yes, when I write, I feel His pleasure.
But He also made me a wife and a mother. And this year has been so full of author things, that I’ve let my focus get a little off-center. I need to get it back. I need to spend some time putting together puzzles, building snowmen, going sledding/ice skating, baking cookies, and sitting with my Heavenly Father and studying His Word.
So, I’ll be back for my annual 15 Favorite Fantasy Reads post, but until then…. I hope you have a truly blessed Thanksgiving, the merriest of Christmases, and a wonderful New Year.
See you in 2024, dear Reader!
Let’s chat!
Did you have a good end-of-summer?
How’s your autumn been so far?
Are you in a busy season? A relaxing one? Have any fun trips planned for the holidays?
Have you listened to Adventures in Odyssey?