Heya lovelies! Welcome to the swish new site. I really hope you like it.
I’ve been hard at work getting this pretty new thing ready to go, going through a few prototypes before finally setting on this one. A lot of the work went on behind the scenes: backing up and chucking out decades-old data, including portfolio items stretching back to the days when a CSS stylesheet was the height of web design.
And now we’re back, I’m continuing the old tradition of ‘Previously’, thanks to some encouragement from the ever-awesome Miss Cole.
Previously in… Adventures!
August was my month of getting out of my comfort zone. No matter how nervous I got, no matter how much I wanted to back up, I pushed on forward.
And wow, what a month I had because of it! Some particular highlights:
The Helsinki Trip! It was huge, and wonderful, and I got to hang out with friends from Australia, Sweden, and Tennessee. It was a fabulous week with 7,000 lovely sci-fi and fantasy nerds. I’ve got a whole series of posts to show and tell you all about it soon.
But I will show you this photo of me meeting hip-hop artist Daveed Diggs, ‘cos dang guys, I’m still starstruck.
Took a trip to London, got over my fear of the London Underground (plot twist! It’s actually super convenient and simple to use!) and went to the London Dungeon with a great group of friends from all over the world.
Afterwards, two of us went paddleboarding in Paddington Basin! I don’t have much water confidence so I was JUST A BIT TERRIFIED (and tried to bail multiple times, sorry Buz) and they put me in River Thames without even explaining how to row. But I made it from one side of Paddington Basin to the other (Little Venice) and back, and got to row through pondweed as thick as pea-soup and watch the sunset across the water. And I got to do it all without an American buddy who I adore. It was wonderful.
I went to my first roller derby match, and then tried roller derby myself! Definitely had a few bumps and bruises, but I wasn’t as terrible at skating as I feared (phew) and the encouragement and support I’ve had from the wonderful ladies in the derby scene has been incredible. I met so many wonderful, bad-ass women and I can’t wait to see them again! I’m practising with them weekly now.
Previously in Reading
After frantically cramming for the Hugos before Worldcon, it was time to move on to the beta reading backlog, the library book backlog, and the NetGalley backlog.
The beta reading backlog is in progress, slowly (grah), the library book backlog has been vanquished, and the NetGalley backlog is down to one book. My focus for September is on the overdue beta reads — I have so many wonderful stories to read, and I can’t wait to get to them!
Previously in Writing
August (and the first five days of September, because I totally blew my goal) were a chaotic mess of revising queries and synopses and generally doubting…. but… I did it! I’m back in the query trenches with the giant robots book!
It’s had a year of change since my last time querying, and I can’t believe both how long it’s been and how much the story has changed. I’m super excited about what lies ahead for this story.
Next Time in Goals
- Read at least two beta reading novels.
- More blogging! Aye, that’s right, you’ll be seeing more of me very soon with some Helsinki photo adventures!
- Revise a manuscript.
- Continue towards my weight loss goals. This month, I hope to reach my lowest weight since I was 16!
A Word of Advice
I saw this photo of Octavia Butler’s journal on Twitter, showing a lot of positive self-talk, and I found it so inspiring. This year I’ve been doing a bit of research into things like mirror affirmations and written affirmations, as well as trying them out, and I’ve found them really powerful. Mirror affirmations in particular seem so ridiculous an idea, but it feels so good to take a moment to make eye contact with yourself and encourage yourself like you would a friend.
So my advice today is: give yourself some encouragement.
Let me know what you’re feeling proud of in the comments! I can’t wait to hear.
EMaree says
Test comment. ‘cos I had some commenting issues before.
Miss Cole says
Your August looks and sounds amazing! Good luck with the querying. I’ve taken over a year out from it too. Hoping to dive back in next year…