Hello, my friends! I hope you’ve been having a wonderful year, summer has gone and fall is in full tilt!
I took a bit of a break from writing over the summer just because life gets so unbelievably insane. Work always picks up in the summer (we run camps for kids!), I started disc golfing, played an insane amount of Magic: The Gathering, and… I also went on the trip of a lifetime to Iceland!
My trip to Iceland was bittersweet. I went to watch the solar eclipse, and it was the last trip my late spouse and I had planned together. When he died in 2023, I wasn’t really sure whether I was still going to go, but after about a year of being deep in the trenches of grief, I decided, “screw it” I was going anyway. He would have wanted me to go even if it was scary.
So the trip, like the book I’m working on, very much has to do with grief, healing, hope, and coming to terms with the uncontrollable while facing ultimate evil. (Okay, there was no evil in Iceland, that’s just the book.)
Two weeks driving around a beautiful country alone gave me lots of time to think, listen to music and books, and ultimately prove to myself I can still do big, hard things even if it hurts. (I listened to a lot of The Wizard, the Witch and the Wild One, by the way. It’s on spotify!)
Now that things are starting to wind down with the season, as it should so we can rest over winter, I can focus more on writing. I am feeling very good about it, and I am also proud that I’ve continued a project for so long. My poor ADHD brain likes to start things and abandon them, but this one is important to my soul, and I’ve been able to stick with it.
I’m also hoping to read a bit more over the winter. I think my next books will be either A Day of Fallen Night or Among the Burning Flowers, both by Samantha Shannon. I absolutely loved Priory of the Orange Tree, so I’m excited to check these out.
What books are on your “To read” list for the fall? Do you tend to read spooky season books or just whatever sparks your fancy?
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