it's like a train wreck, only fluffier

Seems like a place to start...

Currently Reading:

Empire of Booze: British History Through the Bottom of a Glass, by Henry Jeffreys. I actually picked this up at this year's Crossing the Tees festival, which is a local literary event. The author came up to do a talk, but his train got stuck in Rotherham and he was two hours late to a ninety-five minute lecture. We had a local historian in the audience though, so he got up and did an impromptu talk on the history of local pubs (which husband really wishes he'd been there for), and a Master of Wine also did a quick talk (and the author was gutted he wasn't here to hear that, so.) Anyway, when we did get the heavily-abridged talk it was really interesting, as is the book.

I'm also listening to The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, by Steve Brusatte, on audiobook. It's read by the author and also pretty good - interesting topic, and I usually prefer when an author reads their own book: the natural rhythm of their speech usually matches the rhythm of their writing, and my ears appreciate that.


Writing:

I'm working on all sorts. I'll post my yearly totals in a couple of days, because otherwise I'll probably end up adding to them tomorrow. I've signed up to getyourwordsout and inkingitout for next year.

I'm in a weird headspace, because I want to change the name of my MC in the main novel project I'm working on ('Karen' has gained some connotations that I don't want associated with the character, but that leaves me with a gaping hole in her identity until I come up with something I'm happy with - that can't be a variation on Kath since that was my mother-in-law's name). And NaNo kinda proved that I need to change the name of the overall world, because people thought I was working on Stranger Things fanfiction. I called the 'world' Strange Natures, because nature figures pretty heavily in various ways, but I also have characters called Eight and Nine, so.

I don't want to rename Eight and Nine, because those names are intrinsic to their characters and arcs - they rejected the names Ciara and Duna and chose Eight and Nine as a 'fuck you, we're not going to build new lives, we're monsters", and then their arcs spring from there. I've put a lot of investment into plotting out their characters, and it's not like I've dropped trademarks or website money on 'Strange Natures', so the latter's gotta go.

Bum.


Crafting:

NOPE! Unless watching planner set-up videos on YouTube counts. And I regret nothing. I need to set up my own planners tomorrow, which is going to involve a lot of swearing at lettering, foil, pens, and stickers, so I'm resting up in preparation.

Random:

musyc linked to this daemon quiz. I got raccoon and feel pretty called out:

Your daemon would take the form of a raccoon! You are a curious and friendly individual who loves finding new adventures. More so than others with musteloid daemons, those with raccoons are creative people with a wicked sense of humor, highly impulsive and love to stick their noses into everything. Even still, they're known for being lazy procrastinators, more about enjoying spontaneity and the pleasures of life.

I find it kind of funny that I was torn between using a magpie or a raccoon for my shop logo. Ah, well, if I ever rebrand I know what my daemon would want.

 Gonna keep doing a thing, even though I don't have major updates.

Currently Reading:

I'm still on Water Ways by Jasper Winn, and Fear by Bob Woodward, so not much to report.  Fear is still heavy going, I'm debating DNFing it in favour of one of the vast array of books about the same topic that are popping up.  I haven't got anywhere on my reading of writing books.  Bad self, no biscuit.

Writing:

A lot less this week at 6,760 words.  Pretty much all on my Little Mermaid retelling, and the end is not in sight, but the more I get done the more I can restructure it when I pick it up again after NaNo.  It's technically a sequel to my NaNo project, since the protag is one of the surviving victims, so it's no biggie to finish it after I'm done with DS Thewlis's No Good Very Bad Case anyway (I have a habit of spinning off a minor character from a previous story, so every tale I crank out of my head is a hydra of new plot bunnies.  It's a problem).

Crafting:

Nothing to report, really.  Between the shop and writing I've kinda slipped.  I did do my November monthly spread in my planner; I should maybe post a pic before I fill it in.  I'm debating putting together a cover for my NaNo project, but that involves coming up with a catchier title than my working one.

I'm liking this combo someone ordered:




General Health/Mood:

Put it this way: I really wish I could take my face off and rinse it under the tap.  I'm tired and cold and snotty.  Fingers crossed it clears up before November hits, but I don't think I'll be that lucky.

Vid of the Week:

Look at this amazing ridiculousness, I need to share it.