A Quiet July
We're past the Solstice and heading towards Lammas, and I've gotten into a quiet, introspective mood. I haven't really been listening to much regular music, or even hung out much on Twitch streams (writing streams or otherwise) because all of it seems too noisy and too much. Half the time I just open the windows in my office and listen to the sounds of life outside my house. Most of the time it's the noise of cars, unusual farm equipment being driven by, and the sounds of people going to the pub next door or one of the other pubs in the neighborhood. Occasionally, you'll hear the neigh of a horse, the moo of a cow, or the bleating of sheep.
And, of course, you get the sound of wind and rain nearly every other day. Sometimes the wind will blow hard and close the office window on the street side. Other times I have to close it because it's raining too hard and getting rain on my writing desk! We have had some sunny days, and even a few days where the temperature actually got above 25°C (77°F)!
Irish weather is my kind of weather.
I suppose, after all of what I went through with my immigration and the fact that I finished writing and doing the first edit pass of The White Queen (Loba Hot Springs Book 1), becoming introspective is a given. I do usually get that way when I've finished a manuscript. Finishing a book, even before you start editing, is exhilarating and leaves me feeling strangely empty. I finish the last few sentences, sit back and go "Oh. Damn. It's done!" Then I start going into editing mode, and that mode requires a different set of mental muscles than creating mode.
That means that The White Queen is with my first readers and beginning the bigger editing process. While waiting for them to finish, I've been going through my Survey Series and doing a 2nd Edition edit of the first 4 books in preparation for the series re-brand with my pen name and release of Nemetona (and possibly Control). It's been like visiting old friends, along with being able to fix some inconsistences and formatting issues in the 1st edition books. There a many times when I re-read my books where I'm like "Holy crap! I wrote this!" and can make editing a surreal experience. Don't worry, though, there's no major changes to the stories in the first 4 books, but a lot of tweaks that make things more consistent with later books and ratchets up the drama a bit more. I'm sure when folks re-read them later, they'll let me know what they think.
My Mom sent me the cover art for the poetry book, and I'm really excited to get that photographed and the book formatted so I can publish it. Still not sure exactly when that will be yet. Working on that has inspired me to look at The Four Keys again, and I may do a 2nd edition of that as well.
In addition to all the editing and writing, I've started doing some drawing and painting again and discovering the joys of alcohol markers (not Copics, but one of Copic's cheaper knock-offs). It's been fun to do something creative that's not-writing. I also found one of my spinning wheels, so I've also been spinning yarn. I have some small samples of rare breed sheep wool which have been lovely to work with. Both arts have kept my mental health in a good place, which, at the moment, is incredibly important for me.
I've also returned to watching anime and recently started watching Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. I love that it's about what happens after the adventurers kill the Big Bad. It's a lovely series so far.
The other show I started last night, on recommendation from the Wife, is Murderbot and it's freakin' hilarious! I'll definitely be catching up on that while the Wife travels again later in the month.
This past week I've also been watching the superior football (aka soccer) that is the UEFA Women's Euro. I do love watching these big tournaments. Although, it's also been fun to watch folks in my town celebrate their local teams. Apparently, Roscommon's team did really well this year, as there was much celebrating. Eventually, I'll figure out the local teams and celebrate with them!
I feel like I should know all these kinds of things about my new hometown already, but I've only been home about 3.5 months. That's kind of shocking to think about, actually, since I feel I've been here a lot longer than that. Then again, I suppose that's when you know you've found the right place to be.
Because I've been in such an introspective mood, I haven't been streaming. I'm not really sure when I'll get back to it. I need to really think about how I want to work streaming into my current schedule. Don't worry, you'll all know when I'm back at it.
It's time to wrap this up as I watch yet another tractor with esoteric farm implements on it roll by and hear the pub in the back get a bit busier. Stay safe folks, especially my US friends, and an early Blessed Lammas!