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Hey! I’m as surprised as many of you might be that it is already not August… already. August flew by. And it was still a slower month in a lot of ways. There was the week of vacation that I learned a lot about myself on. I’ve had some further revelations about existing more in my skin and taking care of myself. I’m finding that there are some much needed boundaries I’m working on and also learning to let others have theirs as well. Even if it hurts, honestly sometimes, especially if it hurts. It may not be my place to be.
I probably took more pictures this month than any other month this year. And I love almost all of them. Come on, we all know that every single one cannot be the best…and that really isn’t the point, either. The fact that I got out there and took pics. That was huge. (see the pics here)
Also, I’m super excited to say that even my therapist noticed that my energy was more settled, more centered! While I love all of the encouragement I get from my friends and family, having the person who only sees me once a month and helps me navigate my big complicated feels, my ups and downs, all of that emotion stuff that can really nail me sometimes, them saying that I felt more centered was a highlight of my month.
Oh, and I cannot forget about peaches! It is officially peach season. My second favorite fruit season of the year (after strawberries). We’ve got quite a few local farms that have quite a few varieties too and we’ve begun to cultivate a rotating favorite depending on what is in season throughout the greater peach season. Veterans and Improved Elbertas are long term favorites, for sure.
Anyways onward to the usual update!
Novel Writing
There is happenings here, I don’t want to spook it too much but I have written about 500 words both of the last couple novel writing days! And that is a lot more written than in a while.
I’ve promised myself that the version I’m working on will stay as it is written until the end. Then I can rewrite to my hearts content. This means that when I read back through to reacquaint myself there is no touching the words, even if I feel they need fiddling. NO FIDDLING! Yet.
The act of schlepping that pesky criminal octopus back into my brain has seemingly helped me find confidence in my writing voice, given me actual perspective rather than always existing everywhere at once. It has been interesting to see how that has such importance to actually write anything actually from someone’s point of view.
Artwork and Art Business
Surprisingly I’ve gotten back into this without too much trouble after taking the vacation break. I couldn’t find the inspiration or energy to do a lot with this both on vacation or the week-ish afterwards but I got back out there with a sticker poll on my IG and y’all delivered some results.
Thank you, from the bottom of my artists heart!
Currently the sticker files are ready to go, I just need to make an order. Keep posted for updates on the new stickers, you’ll know when I know.
Don’t forget that there are currently stickers still available on my Etsy shop! Go give 'em a look, they do get lonely sometimes.
Original pieces were singular this month, and barely. I finally got my idea of maple seeds crossed with bats done…and, as intended, they do look far more like maple seeds than bats, like the only connection to bats is that they hang off of the maple branch, lol. Anyways the Helicreepers (wonderfully named by a friend) are pretty cute if a bit unsettling, even creepy. They just want to be friends, if you let 'em.
Blog
Still settling into my new-found (maybe re-found) blog voice. I’m trying out a revolutionary thing of asking myself what I think of it. Obviously I do want to be a light to others and I think I can better do that by being myself, of not holding back my weird and my cringe from how I share myself to the world.
Sometimes that means that my 100% is different from post to post, and that is ok. My voice will shift and change throughout the year, hell, throughout the month as I go from being super excited and social to being hella upset and raw. I shouldn’t feel that I need to hide that, to over-smooth my rough edges to help me blend into it all. To fit. I’m a loud (with the appropriate people), introverted weirdo and I’m finally, truly proud of that fact.
My rebel kinda had the right idea back as a teen, saying “thank you” to anyone who called me weird. Because, I do thank them, thank them for seeing it. I may not thank them for commenting on my life, but hey that is a whole other thing…
So, I hope that you see the light I’m trying to bring to bear on the darkness. I hope that you can see that you, too, have a light and that, you, too, can shine that for others. It can be the smallest of acts and make a world of a difference. The struggle, sometimes, is not knowing if you are doing much of worth with only the small glimmer of hope that something you do will matter, somehow, someway to someone else who needs it.
The real work is showing up, no matter what you do or do not know. Showing up and doing your best, whatever that is, whatever that looks like for you.
Reading…but really, instead, Gaming
Three books. That was it. Maybe it was the stress/recovery of vacation. I gamed a lot…
The hubs and I got in to Baldur’s Gate 3 and I started up a solo playthrough of Divinity Original Sin. Something the hubs and I have played through together years earlier and I have been playing with a friend recently as well. I just had the solo game itch, real bad…and didn’t want to have to deal with other people for some of my gaming…sorta sorry, I guess, but it’s been a good stress reliever, so.
But really I blame a book I picked up and, well, it dragged! Spirits in the Wires by Charles de Lint. I really wanted to like it because I love other books by the author, and I’ve ready other stories with some of the same characters…but no, I skimmed about half of it and, wow, y’all, it felt mostly like setup with little payoff. By the time I got to the payoff and resolution I couldn’t care about it.
But, that bust of a read was offset by book two of the Tinkered Starsong Trilogy, Demigod 12 by Gail Carriger. Again I finished it in as little time as I could possibly manage. I loved all of it, I cannot wait for the final installment to drop in October. There is so much love, so much pain, so much healing in this story. And even if you don’t need to see all that the story is a wonderful one at face value.
I also finished The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton. This was a good story, though, honestly I’m still not sure exactly why Leia did forgive Han, he really did mess up… Lets just say that he really didn’t need to go quite so rogue when everyone was pressuring and encouraging Leia to marry some other dude for the good of the Republic.