Still not totally sure what I want to do with this site, but I saw some suggestions on things to blog about and figured, well, maybe I can talk about what I’m doing outside of writing in addition to what I’m working on creatively. So I’m going to jump into that and try to do a seasonal update of sorts!
Outside
It’s officially spring up here in New England! The weather has warmed up enough that my dog no longer needs a coat, we can go on much longer walks, and we’ve been spending a lot of time outside getting the gardens ready.
We fenced off the veggie garden beds to deter rabbits. So far I’ve planted the tomatoes, peppers, and beans (I know, I know–way too early, but they’re still mostly alive) that I started inside and sown peas, radishes, and carrots directly into the beds. I also sowed some bok choi and lettuce seeds into planters on the deck railing and started four kinds of squash seeds to transplant outside once they sprout.
Yesterday was beautiful so I did a lot of mucking about in the front yard too. The space right in the front of the house used to have two enormous Japanese yew bushes, but we took those out last year and planted spontaneous goldenrod and coneflowers that were on sale at Home Depot. The coneflowers didn’t make it through the year (bunnies…) but the goldenrod is popping back up! I weeded that front section and spread mulch down and put up a short, faux wrought-iron fence that I hope will keep the bunnies from mowing down the goldenrod.
We also weeded the triangular pollinator garden. The garden sorrel was trying its best to take over the columbine and the asters, but I think we mostly got it all! Didn’t lay down new mulch yet because there’s only so many bags that will fit in my car at once and the ones we bought yesterday all went to the front section, but it’s on my to-do list for this week. I also need to set up the irrigation system for the raised vegetable beds at some point… probably once I’ve planted everything that’s going in there so I know where the water needs to be directed.
Inside
One of my goals for this year (and last year) was to read more books. I set myself a nice easy goal of 12 total (about 1/month) and last year hit exactly that number. This year I’ve already read 20. Twenty!! I’m so pleased with myself and hope I can keep this momentum going. Something I learned along the way is that I much prefer nonfiction as audiobooks and fiction as ebooks/physical books. Not sure if anyone else has run into this kind of dichotomy, but it’s really helped me get through a lot more nonfiction books this year (whereas last year, and most years, I don’t think I read any).
So far my favorite books that I’ve finished this season are The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman and Babylonia by Costanza Casati. I also really enjoyed listening to Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli. The information itself wasn’t too compelling, but the author was so enthusiastic in his narration that it made me smile; I love when people get to speak at length about topics they are experts in and clearly enjoy.
A bundle of my library holds all came in at the same time recently, so I have five books out at the moment, though I’ve only started three:
– How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell (31% of the way through)
I can already tell I’m going to recommend this one to everyone. Very insightful, draws parallels from today to historical examples of ‘retreating from society’ and puts that feeling of ‘what if I just walked away from it all’ into context.
– Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky (23% of the way through)
Pretty good so far! I love learning about history, and it’s neat to see how this one particular mineral has been so influential for so long.
– The Binding by Bridget Collins (26% of the way through)
I actually started this one last year and couldn’t get finished with it before it was due back. It’s good, but heavy in that way where you can see that things are going to Go Wrong and you just have to wait for the characters to get to that point.
I’ve also got a couple of other books in progress:
– Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart and other stories by Gennarose Nethercott
Exactly the kind of spooky, weird, reality-adjacent short stories that I write so often myself. Picked it up from a small independent bookshop while on vacation, specifically based off of the front cover and it is more than living up to expectations!
– Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
I’ve been working slowly through this since last year. It’s good! But it’s not the kind of story that I read super quickly. I am enjoying it so far though.
– Babel by RF Kuang
This was a bookclub book from last year that I didn’t finish in time for the actual meeting. I’m only three chapters in, and it’s another one that’s both heavy in terms of its story and one where I can kind of see where this is going and I’m worried for the characters. I hope to finish it this year at least!
Creative Endeavors
My big original fiction project for this year is a novella that is a prequel to a larger story that I’m still trying to work out the plot for. The novella focuses on two characters, a prince (Atharic) and his bodyguard (Reya), and how their relationship changes and evolves over ten years. Each chapter is a vignette from one year, starting with their first meeting where Reya is assigned as Atharic’s bodyguard and culminating in Atharic being sent off to initiate military action in the mountains (which is then where the larger story will pick up).
Currently I have most of chapter 1 and a large chunk of chapter 3 written out, while the other chapters are more half-sketched outlines or a single sentence idea. I’d like to finish the full first draft by the end of the year, but I’ve briefly paused work on this particular story due to other stories with impending deadlines.
Such as my story for the ficwip press anthology, whose theme this year is rain & stars! I’m so overly excited about this concept that it’s been hard for me to actually sit down and get words on the page, but the idea is a delightful mix of sci fi tropes with a fantasy spin. I really like the worldbuilding I’m doing for it (ungendered alien species and sentient wooden ships in space) and I think the plot will go fairly smoothly once I can move past the desire for words to be perfect on the page before setting them down.
For fanfic I have a few longer works I’d like to finish soon: a space western arranged marriage of convenience, a sacrifice/god AU, and a platonic soulmates concept that I’ve been poking away at for a year or two. Ideally I’d have only one or two deadline-oriented works and everything else could be more spontaneous… but I keep signing up for things, so that’s a bit of (unnecessary, self-inflicted) pressure.
On the more hands-on side of things, I’ve been working on making some homemade books for friends’ birthdays and started an ambitiously large cross stitch that I hope to finish in time to offer it for a fandom charity auction this fall. Those are nice things to work on and feel like I’m making progress on something even when I can’t seem to focus on writing.
And last but certainly not least! I just signed my first contract to narrate an audiobook! It’s with a small indie press that I like and want to do well, so this was my way of trying to contribute to its success. I’m a little nervous about making sure the audiobook is the best quality I can make but mostly I’m really excited about the opportunity. (I also can’t help but fantasize about quitting my dayjob and doing freelance narration work instead but… baby steps. Let’s see how this one goes.)
***
Spring is my favorite season for a lot of reasons, but I think it brings a particular energy to it that’s great for creativity. The sun is shining for longer, the days are warmer, the trees and flowers and coming back to life, and to me, at least, there’s a can-do attitude in the air. Whatever you’re working on this season, I hope it’s going well and I hope you’re enjoying it.
Love,
CC
CC Lurae 