Yes, I know I said I was going to try and get posts out more frequently, and I know it’s mid-September and I’m just now talking about August, but honestly I’ve spent the last couple weeks trying to figure out what happened to August and what I actually did. It felt like August lasted forever, but at the same time it just slid on by in a haze of hot, stormy weather and a whole lot of writing.
I did get to spend a long weekend at home with my family, which was fun, even if I squeezed all my regular doctor and dentist appointments into that time. Sidenote, flying has become really stressful. I also had some fun hangouts with my writing group where we chatted and actually got writing done. A good friend from college is moving to the D.C. area in the next couple weeks, and I also got to visit with her when she came out to apartment hunt.
Otherwise, I mostly took Neutron for walks when it wasn’t too hot or pouring rain, and I wrote. I finished my latest draft of my book, and I wrote two short short stories and a poem in August, which is just crazy. I also definitely started feeling the urge to start drafting a new book, which makes sense because I’ve pretty much been revising my book-length projects since 2019. So I snuck in an outline for the project I want to work on for National Novel Writing Month this year. I’m so excited for this one I’m not sure I can wait until November to start though.
I mentioned this on the blog a few weeks ago, but just in case you missed it, my short story “Moon by Moon We Go Together” was also published in August in the Triangulation: Habitats anthology. You can get the anthology here, and you can read more about where the story came from right over here.
While I was really productive on the writing side in August, I feel like I’ve fallen into a bit of a reading slump. It’s been worse this month than it was in August, but I’ve been having a hard time picking up new books and getting into them, even if it’s something I’m really excited to read. Once I’m into the book, I’m fine, but then when I finish it will be a few days before I pick up something new, which isn’t how I’ve been reading for the last couple years. It might be because I’ve been listening to so much of the Writing Excuses podcast, because all those episodes are so short and digestible and I’m learning so much. It’s easy to say, “I’ll just listen to one more.” But I also think I’m just generally tired, and while I’ve read some books I’ve really enjoyed, most of what I’ve read in the last few months has only been okay. I’ve read so much in the last couple years, and I feel like I’m getting picky.
I only read five books in August. A couple, like Sourdough and Honey Girl, were really fun but didn’t quite come together for me for various reasons. I really enjoyed Zero G by Dan Wells, though it felt like the author was a bit didactic on the science of how gravity works on a spaceship, even for a middle grade book. I was also a huge fan of the third Mysterious Benedict Society book, The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma. I love these children and all their crazy adventures! My one complaint on that is that it sort of feels like the kids have less and less agency with each book, but that’s a very minor complaint for me because I love all this so much. (Relatedly, I did finally finish the Mysterious Benedict Society show and it was great! Would definitely recommend.
My absolute favorite book of August, though, was The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. This is the first book in her Lady Astronaut series. The third book is nominated for a Hugo, as is the whole series, so I decided I better read them all. And between this and my love for For All Mankind, the show on Apple TV, I’ve realized I’m definitely a fan of alternate history/science fiction about the space race. The Calculating Stars is about a woman trying to open the astronaut program to women after a meteor strikes Earth in 1952. The impact will cause massive climate change, necessitating outer space colonies. And it is amazing! You should all go read it now!
And that’s it for August. Let me know what you’ve been up to, and if you’ve read any of the books I mention here, I’d love to discuss them.