Northanger Abbey watch-party

So, last night, I attended a virtual watch party for Northanger Abbey. It’s part of the course I’m taking called Trapped in a Gothic Novel (mentioned in last week’s comments) at the Carterhaugh School of Folklore and the Fantastic.

Y’all, how is it 2024, and I’ve never done one of these?

Between watching the movie and reading all the witty comments, I didn’t have a chance to make any of my own (witty or otherwise; I’m not sure how the others kept up). My favorite of the night, in reference to the hero’s brother, Captain Tilney:

He’s handsome in that I-eat-live-scorpions-for-breakfast kind of way.

Up next is A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand, the authorized follow-up to Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. Which would be fine, except …

I’ve never read The Haunting of Hill House because back in eighth grade, I read “The Lottery” and subsequently noped out on all things Shirley Jackson.

I’m not sure I can do this, but I’m going to dive into the reading this week … and hopefully not lose too much sleep.

Snow and solstice

I love how often we get one of those bright blue days after a snowstorm. It’s one of my favorite things about winter. And when it corresponds with the longest night of the year, making everything just a little bit brighter? Even better.

I can pretend I’m in a ski lodge, drinking hot chocolate and eating sugar cookies. Mind you, I haven’t been skiing in ages. The last time I remember was when I was living in Germany, and a group of us took a trip to Salzburg over a long weekend. And even then, I didn’t ski. My eyes were all wonky, so I spent the time lounging outside (it was warm enough in the sun), drinking that hot chocolate, and eating the Austrian version of sugar cookies.

So today, I’m going to pretend I’m at that ski lodge, although I’ll stay indoors. I have hot chocolate. I have sugar cookies. I have a good book.

I hope your Sunday is filled with such things as well.

On such a winter’s evening

Last week, my daughter and I headed to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum for their Winter Lights display. Just a few photos, none of which really do the display justice.

And yes, there we are, drinking apple cider inside a large, electrified apple. In retrospect, this seems to be an unwise move on our part. We should have opted for the hot chocolate. Thankfully, the large, electrified apple is benevolent, and we emerged unscathed.

Sunday sunrise (with bonus mall nostalgia)

I was going to Photoshop all the wires and utility poles out of the photo but then thought better of it. This is how my sunrise looks, warts (or rather, wires) and all.

This week, a video about people living in malls popped into my feed—because I’m a little obsessed with abandoned spaces, malls in particular. I wish they’d spent more time showing us all the different apartments. But it was still interesting, and yeah, maybe there’s a story idea or two in there.

In fact, Coffee & Ghosts, Season 4 (The Ghosts You Left Behind) has an abandoned (and the same not-so-abandoned) mall as one of the main settings. I based that particular mall on the one in my hometown, which opened when I was in eighth grade (I think) and was a Very. Big. Deal. This part of the story was fun to research and write, although I probably spent more time looking at “vintage” Orange Julius storefronts than was strictly necessary.

I also had fun exploring the whole “what if you’re locked inside the mall overnight” scenario. 0/10 would not recommend, but it helps if you have some ghostly companions.

So that’s me this Sunday. I think I’ll quit now before I go completely off the rails with this questionable 80s mall nostalgia.

Sniffles and summit

I finished the author business summit videos, and they were a nice distraction because I’ve also been down with what I’m optimistically calling the sniffles for this long Thanksgiving weekend.

And don’t ask me why I believe I can think my way out of being sick. It never works, but I’m always convinced that maybe this time, it’s mind over matter.

Spoiler: it’s not.

So yesterday, my daughter and I decided to go with it. We pulled the shades against the afternoon sun, got the fireplace going, and then started on a rewatch of The Lord of the Rings series, extended edition. We took a break to cook dinner but managed to get all the way through The Fellowship of the Ring. This is a lot of movie. Not that they were short to begin with. But I like the extended versions; I can simply sink into the story and let everything go for a few (or several) hours.

Up today: The Two Towers. I don’t know if we’ll make it all the way through or not. But it will be a nice way to cap off the long, if somewhat sniffly, weekend.

Accountability check-in: the green bean casserole author business summit

So, when I was grocery shopping earlier this week, a woman came up to me in the coffee/tea/baking aisle. She asked if I knew where the crispy fried onions were, the kind you sprinkle on top of a green bean casserole. Before I could respond, she said:

I ask because you look like someone who would make a green bean casserole.

And before I could respond to that, she added:

Oh, never mind. They’re bad for you anyway.

And then wandered off.

I was going to suggest the condiments aisle. I did see her later, crispy fried onions in hand. So I’m assuming: One, she did locate someone who actually has made a green bean casserole, and two, decided the health risks were worth it. 

Also, this week, I attended an author business summit. Actually, I’m still attending it because it was recorded, and I couldn’t attend in real time due to work. It’s one of the things I’m looking forward to doing during the long Thanksgiving weekend. There’s at least three hours’ worth of video left, along with some homework.

I’m pretty sure crispy fried onions won’t be involved.

Accountability check-in: bread machine

This week, I unearthed my old bread machine from one of the lower cupboards in my kitchen. And when I say old bread machine, I do mean old. Not only could it vote, but it’s been around long enough to graduate college, complete med school, and residency before chucking it all to become a YouTube influencer.

My bread machine. She’s been around the block a few times.

I was wondering whether it would still work. Then I reasoned, why not? It’s only been napping there on the lower shelf, and there was no reason not to try it out.

So I bought a couple of bread machine mixes. Low stakes here. I decided not to go all in until I knew for certain.

What do you know?

It still works! And there’s nothing like the smell of baking bread for instant comfort. Unless it’s slicing into a warm loaf soon after.

So, my bread machine is very similar to my writing process. I’m not a fast writer. My stories need a lot of subconscious churning before they’re ready. So, this series I’m working on?

It’s been “in the works” for ten years.

Yep, you read that correctly. Ten. Whole. Years.

Granted, I’ve been doing any number of things during that time, including writing a whole other series (Coffee and Ghosts). In fact, I think I needed to write that first before writing this one.

It can be frustrating to be in this place, to have your process be the opposite of the current hustle and grind culture. But I’ve learned (often the hard way) that it’s so much better for me and my stories to write this way. In the long run, I actually get more words and more stories, have more fun, and end up with better stories.

And this week, I’m grateful that my bread machine reminded me of that.

Accountability check-in: Snow! Halloween! Chirp deal!

After a week of lovely autumn weather, we naturally ended up with snow (!) on Halloween. Even so, we had some good traffic, and the trick-or-treaters gobbled up at least half the candy I put out next to our Little Free Library. My daughter and I are making short work of the rest. I decided to opt out of taking a picture of our snow-covered lawn.

In writing news, it was a brainstorm kind of week, with progress on the story and word count front. Clearly, my subconscious has been working overtime (if maybe I haven’t been).

Also, this week, I have a Chirp Deal going on as well for the Coffee and Ghosts Books 1 – 3 bundle, narrated by the fabulous Amy McFadden. Book 4 also has a price drop.

And last, but certainly not least, if you’re in the US and you haven’t yet, please vote.

Accountability check-in: a series timeline

Late-blooming wildflower

So, I just took a peek at my series timeline, which is now five pages long. On it, I have dates that go all the way back to 1986.

Yes. The dark ages.

For this particular story, I need to know when people were born, when they (may have) died, when they … traveled through dimensions.

Yes. Complicated.

But I always recommend using a calendar of some sort when writing a longer story. Even jotting down the passing days in a notebook can be helpful. That way, you don’t end up with children going to school ten days in a row or making January six weeks long.

Weeding these things out can be difficult. Darcy and I actually ended up with the extra-long January in The Geek Girl’s Guide to Cheerleading. We knew something was off; our editor knew something was off. No one could say what, not until Darcy did the painstaking work of mapping out the timeline. Then we had to pull all those story threads and weave them back together again, minus those two weeks.

Yes. Painful.

So, this is my recommendation for the week, probably because I’ve spent some extra time in my series timeline, testing things out, revisiting what came before. And then heading outside to put the garden* to bed and ponder some more.

*This is actually why I garden; it gives me time to think.