When a tic tac gets stuck in your nose
This month were marveling at bloodthirsty vikings, Legend of Zelda, burned quesadillas
A marvelous welcome to the 85 new friends who’ve joined since August! Glad to have you here.
September ended, therefore I hath been woken. This month has been A LOT of running around. Kids soccer is in full swing and I have been “assistant coaching” my daughter’s team. Which basically means volunteering to be kicked by three year olds for an hour.
There’s been some gem moments, though. A bunch have come from just watching my daughter realize she can do things she didn’t think she could. Others are like watching one of the girls on “my” team pick her nose in the middle of a soccer game for 5 minutes until an adult realized, somehow, she’d got an orange tic tac stuck up her nose. I’ll carry that one close to my heart, forever.
Let’s get to it, shall we?
📚 WRITING STUFF📚
Pods that cast
I talked with Michael Lecy of The Nehemiah Collective about holding tension, changing processes, and “finding” yourself after becoming a different person. One of my favorite interviews for Kiki, so far.
I also talked with Collide Kids, a podcast for kids in which I strikingly deliver over 5 stick jokes with comedic precision.
A Korean cover for Suggested Reading
Publishing is strange. One day, you wake up with a foreign cover for your last young adult book sitting in your inbox after THREE YEARS have passed since you last heard about it. The title can be roughly translated “lend you forbidden book.”
A writing retreat approaches
Next weekend, I’m heading out for a writing retreat and I am EXCITED. I’m planning on working on discovery work for my next YA, one about a boy who inherits a magical house after his father dies. If you’re an armchair expert in ancestry, intergenerational therapy, genealogy, etc, please let me know, I’d love to chat with you.
I’ll be piloting my new writing process from start to end for the first time!
I’ve got tons of stupid terms that only mean something to me in this image, but I’m hoping to do discovery and beatboxing during this retreat. If I can get a basic beatboxes (super duper high-level “this is vaguely what happens here” ideas) down, I’ll be happy.
👾STUFF👾
What I'm looking at
The story of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In my interview with the Nehemiah Collective, I mentioned how this game got me interested in writing stories. Not long after, Michael sent me this. It’s long, but so freaking worth it and proves EXACTLY why this game inspired my author career even though I didn’t know it.
Belief as Big as the Biggest Box
If you’re a fan of my picture books, this is for you! The illustrator of Kiki and Eva and I did a 2 part children’s prayer collaboration (not a new picture book, just some #content).
What I’m reading
The Sagas of Icelanders | Ancient, bloodthirsty vikings
Status | Anyone else thinking about how much useless death has happened across time and space?
![The Sagas of the Icelanders: (penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by [Jane Smilely]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ImPH!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8a42a41a-1346-434c-a0ea-a6406ac6e725_325x500.jpeg "The Sagas of the Icelanders: (penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) by [Jane Smilely]")
The Witches Boy | Kelly Barnhill
Status | Good. Reads like a classic.
![The Witch's Boy by [Kelly Barnhill]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!HNKp!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fc53e81b3-cd22-42e0-adf5-3ff7df842b78_331x500.jpeg "The Witch's Boy by [Kelly Barnhill]")
On the Edge of The Dark Sea of Darkness | Andrew Peterson
Status | Sorry, Andrew, but CAN SOMETHING INTERESTING JUST HAPPEN ALREADY?
![On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: The Wingfeather Saga Book 1 by [Andrew Peterson, Joe Sutphin]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!ioMD!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb9a5325e-f714-4b39-8bdd-63ca83d1ed0c_329x500.jpeg "On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness: The Wingfeather Saga Book 1 by [Andrew Peterson, Joe Sutphin]")
What I'm laughing at
When you ask how someone is doing and their answer is “busy” for three years in a row
Me looking at writer sheds that’ll cost 3 milly to build
Not a burned quesadilla
Get your shongles shit
Most dramatic hydraulic press dances. Yes, you read that correctly.
What I’m listening to
Last Smoke Before the Snowstorm | Benjamin Francis Leftwhich
Longtime readers will know that this album comes out when the air starts to chill and smell like apple cider donuts. It sounds like leaves falling during golden hour.
Francis Ngannou | The Profile
Super interesting interview of a UFC champ with an incredible story and an even more balanced/fresh view on what it means to “bet on” / “believe in yourself”. It goes beyond narrow-sighted millennial “best version of yourself” theology and really hits on the fact that what you experience, all of it, is your greatest strength and not just a string of unfortunate/fortunate coincidences.