Autumn Walk
Autumn is by far the busiest time of year for me. It seems like every time I turn around, there’s another Jewish holiday, and for the first time in a long time, I’m actually paying attention. When I’m not building a sukkah (a small hut structure to celebrate the harvest holiday, Sukkot) or stuffing bagels into my mouth after fasting all day, there’s work. And school. And the Renaissance Festival. Needless to say, I’ve become a creature of chaos with about two neurons firing. At this point I think said neurons are just half-heartedly waving at each other…
But it’s been a ton of fun! I’m getting somewhere (who knows where) with planning my thesis, and working Faire is always a joy. This year came with the added bonus of meeting Jen DeLuca, the author of Well Met, at an author’s tent one day! I also talked with the festival’s bookstore, Page After Page about what goes into working with them to stock a book. It’d be a really cool place to promote Witch on Fire!
Writing
Speaking of writing, I’m still querying my Pitch Wars book, Witch on Fire, but my inbox is pretty darn quiet on that front. The time it’s taken to find an agent for this book is also making me think a lot about my writing goals. I want this book in the hands of people who would love it. That’s it. The same for my future books that have more and more queer representation. So I’m making a plan to find a freelance editor in January 2023 and start the self-publishing route if I’m still in limbo by then.
At the same time, I’m also querying Water in the Blood, an Adult Fantasy novel about pirates, magic, exes, and lots and lots of sea monsters. I’ve had more bites on that one, and I’m trying to be patient. Patience is hard though…
Finally, I’m about 40,000 words into a book about a bakery witch! It's been a lot of fun to use this book to explore my own culture and heritage. Not to mention my love for baking. I’m hoping to finish the first draft by the end of the year if all goes well!
Reading
I’m reading many things right now (Braiding Sweetgrass, Nona the Ninth, How to Date Men When You Hate Men, Delilah Green Doesn’t Care), but I want to put in a plug for StoryGraph. If you like keeping track of your books, enjoy data visualization, don’t like supporting Amazon, and DO like supporting Black-owned businesses, you should check it out. You can track your reading progress the same way you do in Goodreads, but also get pretty charts like the one I just looked up on my account:
Listening
A fellow writing bud just got me listening to Raleigh Ritchie’s You’re a Man Now, Boy. It is excellent. And leads me into the next topic…
Watching
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE ON AMC+!!!! This show. I don’t know what to say. Jacob Anderson (Raleigh Ritchie is the name he uses for his music) and Sam Reid are INCREDIBLE! The way these two play off each other is just art. And the way Sam Reid plays Lestat is a gift to humanity (too much? Look, I’m excited). It’s the perfect autumn watch. The cast is perfect. It’s very queer. Go watch it.
Writing Lessons
The major lesson I’ve learned lately is to make my morning writing time sacred. My life is busy. It’s the only guaranteed time I have to sit down and put some words on paper. Anything after 9am is up in the air. But that doesn’t mean I don’t spend way too long on Pinterest or Instagram in the morning before actually buckling down. So that’s what I’ll be working on between now and the next update. To all the other morning writers out there, may your morning beverage of choice give you more writing and less yawning!
Chihiro’s Cat Corner
This month, Chihiro caught a mouse. If you’ve ever seen those documentaries of killer whales playing with a seal they’ve caught…it looked like that. Traumatizing for me and the mouse, endless entertainment for her. On the bright side, she’s finally earned her rent after three years.