In Which I return from an unexpected holiday

What… even just happened there?

Did I just… turns around several times, looking perplexed… I could have sworn it was around here somewhere!

Hang on a sec.

Disappears into another room. Returns a few minutes later, even more confused.

Seriously. Where did it go? I KNOW it was July. I had it RIGHT HERE like just a few DAYS AGO!

Looks up and notices audience.

Oh. Heh heh. Hi there, dear Reader. Soooo…. I definitely didn’t mean to go on hiatus for all of July. I had some blog posts planned… I think they were even good ones! I’ll have to use them some other time, clearly.

How have you been?

Do anything fun in July?

I… did a few things. I wish I could say they were huge, exciting things, like being kidnapped by a party of 13 dwarves and being carted off to steal stuff from a dragon… but… sadly… that sort of thing doesn’t happen to me.

Mostly, I just found myself too busy for words. At least, too busy for blog post words.

I am still in shock over the fact that it’s August already.

Summer is so quick and fleeting around here, it’s like a dragon we sort of just grab hold of and ride until it bucks us off.

I do apologize for disappearing without a word of warning. I may be a little quiet in August, as well, as we have some family coming for a visit and I’ve got to get ready for our school year.

BUT MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR SEPTEMBER!

Because, yep! The Silmaril Awards are returning for their Sixth Annual run. And one of the big things I did in July was get started planning and organizing for this epic fantasy fun phenomenon!

I am pleased to announce that we have most of the details ironed out.

We’ve got three new hosts to introduce this year! So I’m excited about bringing in fresh blood… er… new enthusiasm to the awards. I’ll be introducing them a bit later this month, as well as highlighting our returning hosts.

So keep your eyes peeled and make sure you help spread the word!

(If you have no idea what I’m talking about… welcome to the blog! Also, head over to our SILMARIL AWARDS HOMEPAGE for more details about this super exciting event!)

Also happening in July… I won a thing!

That’s right, An Echo of the Fae is now an award-winning book! If you follow me anywhere else online you’ve already heard me shrieking about it. But suffice to say, I am extremely overwhelmed, humbled, honored, and just truly over the moon and back to have won a Realm Award this year.

Writing

We’ll make this a bit of an Adventures and Episodes post, shall we?

June: I edited 42,000 words in Mantles of Oak and Iron (book 2 of the Turrim Archive)
July: I edited another 48,000 words AND FINISHED my edits to Mantles of Oak and Iron. Then I dove in and got started on book 3, Hearts of Stone and Steel, and got 16,000 words in before the month came to a close.

So it was a truly fantastic couple of months for editing, and I am extremely happy with how these books are turning out. I’m even happier because book 3 is one that I was dreading since I wrote it all out of order and then left it that way but so far, weaving the story together into order has been going quite smoothly and the original draft of this book is just flat out better than the previous two books were, so it hasn’t been nearly as much work as I thought it would be.

I’m hoping to have book 3 finished by the end of September, but we’ve got family coming to visit this month and next so I’m not sure how realistic that goal is. We shall see.

Reading

I’ve read quite a few fabulous books this summer. I managed to hit my Goodreads goal of 50 books at the end of June, so that was fun. A few of my summer favorites so far…

This and the first one were a fun middle-grade romp through the chaos and magic that is Wonderland. You can read my full review of the duology HERE

This was one of those posts I was going to write in July, because I need to do an in-depth review of this beautiful book, but again… July… got… erm… misplaced somewhere. If you find it, let me know.
vying for title of "best book I've read all year" // beautiful tapestry of themes of family, courage, nobility, honor, and coming-of-age // loved following the main character as he grows up, suffers loss and disappointment, and comes out of the forge-fire stronger on the other side // I need the rest of the series STAT

ELVES! // the characters are fantastic -- Tellie! Errance! Tryss! Kelm! THE Daisha! (also Coren and Leoren and Casara... and even Daran in his suitably despicable way is one of those villains you enjoy hating because he's not a moron but you still very much want him to LOSE) // beautiful writing // world-building was fun // beautiful allegory that wasn't heavy-handed // ending made me cry all the happy tears // also, I was a bit upset at A THING THAT HAPPENED... but then when it DIDN'T REALLY HAPPEN I was not upset anymore. So there's that

Again, more coherent review coming soon!

ACK CLIFFHANGER ENDING AGAIN!!! // this one was such a nail-biter // loved getting to know Sophie's sister a bit more // the addition of Ro is AWESOME // I gotta admit I'm team Foster-Keefe all the way // enjoying watching Keefe grow up a bit and demonstrate some self-control // I do feel like the author sometimes struggles to really maintain the massive cast list she's got going... // still adoring this series

I read a few more books than just these, but those are the ones I ADORED, and I’m trying to keep this post under control a bit.

Watching

The Tomorrow War - This is a new insta-favorite for me. I was VERY much in the mood to watch something like the original Independence Day (I get the itch to rewatch that movie every 4th of July) but we watched this instead and it was just so… perfectly what I wanted at that exact moment. Scary, intense, aliens, epic battles, time travel, all woven together into a fast-paced action movie with beautiful threads of gold and silver highlighting themes of family and forgiveness and second chances and… oooh. It was just beautiful. It’s not often that I can watch a time-travel-y-epic-battles-against-alien-invaders movie and call it “Beautiful” but this one… yeah.

Beyond the Mask - I had heard so many rumblings about this one a few years ago… but somehow, I never actually got around to watching it? I’m not even sure why?! But this movie was fantastic. A little bit The Scarlet Pimpernel, a little bit Three Musketeers, but with Christian themes of forgiveness and salvation woven throughout… this was also a new favorite.

Sully - It was a good summer for movies. Wow. Based on the true story of the pilot who landed on the Hudson River a few years ago and saved everyone on that plane after it was hit by a LOT of birds… this movie was powerful and gripping and also beautiful.

Luca - This movie was a cute romp about three young children wreaking havoc through the streets of Italy in pursuit of their ultimate goal: a Vespa! It was a movie about childhood and dreams and hard work and competition… and it was just plain fun.

Ford vs Ferrari - A rewatch for us, but we introduced some friends to this one just before the month ended, and I loved it every bit as much the second time through. Another one based on a true story, this movie is about friendship and heroism and what it takes to achieve a dream. Also, I absolutely LOVE the husband/wife relationship with Ken and his wife, and the brotherhood between Ken and Shelby, and the father/son relationship between Ken and his son… the relationships in this movie are what push it from a good movie to a GREAT movie. If you like movies like Seabiscuit, Dreamer, or Miracle, you’ll love this one.

Life-ing

It’s been a pretty busy summer in general. We got back from our trip to Florida, the girls went to week-long summer camp, the day after they got back from that we headed over to my cousins’ house for a couple of days and a mini-family reunion. June and July were filled with T-Ball and Cross Country practice and going to the park and the zoo. We’ve been out to the lake twice and the pool once. Our grass keeps growing and I keep getting to go out on the tractor and mow (this is where I get through a lot of audio books). My garden has been growing (mostly the marigolds, but we’ve gotten a squash and a zucchini now and I think the tomatoes are actually starting to ripen.

Derek built seven pieces of furniture (end tables and coffee tables) and I have been helping with the staining and varnishing of those.

We’ve had game nights galore and have just generally spent the past two months enjoying every moment of summer that we get and clinging on for dear life because that’s what we do around here… summer is so incredibly gorgeous, you just sort of have to wring every moment of beauty out of it to make sure you don’t miss a drop!

So that’s been what’s happening around here!

I hope you are having a beautiful summer, dear Reader! (Or, if you’re one of my few readers outside the USA and you’re somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere (I know a few of you tune in from the Land Down Under), what’s the weather like where you are? Do you get snow in the winter? How much?

Have you done anything super fun in the past couple of months? Have you read or watched anything that has become a new favorite? Have you re-read or re-watched something that you loved?

If you are an author, how is your writing going?

I’d love to hear from you!