I retreated!
I totally retreated, y'all. This could mean a) I withdrew from combat or b) someone gave me a treat and I passed it on to someone else or c) what actually happened, which is that I went to a writers’ retreat in a monastery thingie. I was working on a mystery novel and got the first third of it done, which was pretty spiffy. And the other writers who were there with me also got lots of work done on their projects, and several of us observed that it was extraordinary to have a little time to think of nothing but story—we didn’t have to plan The Eating of Things, because Things to Eat were included, and we didn’t have to Worry About Other Stuff Like What the Cat Is Up To, or What the Spouse or Child Needs Right Now or Somewhat Soon, and it freed up a lot of mental bandwidth. It was the first time I’d ever done one of those with a group, and I’d one hundred percent do it again.
I did take one trip outside the monastery because at one point the Rotary Club came in and made a buttload of noise, forcing me to retreat from the retreat. (Who goes to a monastery to make noise? Turns out it’s the Rotary Club.) But it proved to be fortuitous because I went to this sports bar and wound up having the best chicken wings I’ve had since the early 1990s. That was a whole other century! And I was like what the heck how dare you have wings that good and the server said oh yeah bud we’re famous for those eh, been doing ‘em like that since the 90s, and my mind went WHOA like Keanu Reeves. Apparently, based on this totally scientific sampling, sports bars in the 90s learned how to do chicken wings right and the lore was mostly lost over time, but pockets of this genius still exist.
Incidentally, some of the writers at the retreat may have written tragic fatal accidents for Rotary Club members into their novels. And one lady who loudly complained about The Bathroom Situation also got written into a novel (not mine) and roundly mocked.
Anyway, back home now and so is Levi! And that means we are going to make Levi Bread. If you have never experienced the joy of Levi Bread, let me share the recipe with you, which I wrote up in 2019 with lots of helpful pictures. We make it every year and have heard others have made it a tradition too. It’s the bestest.
At the end of the month I’ll be sending out the last Oberon’s Bathtime Story for paid subscribers, and then all twelve will be collected and made available for sale in the front half of next year. The cover art is in progress and it’s dang cute. Next year I’d like to do stories about Gladys Who Has Seen Some Shite (if you don’t know Gladys, she’s a favorite character from the Ink & Sigil series). Many thanks to y’all for supporting me this year!
I hope you have the snuggliest of holidays with hot chocolate and thick socks and a book or five. I’m actually gonna share FOUR books this month that I’m hoping to read through the New Year. Ready? Here we go.
Witch King
Right now Martha Wells is turbo famous for her Murderbot series, but she writes fantasy too! Really good fantasy. Like this.
The Ferryman
This was a recommendation to me; apparently there’s a utopian society on an island and when your life is over you get taken from the island to Someplace Else, like the elves going to the west in Tolkien. But cracks in this paradise are beginning to show and it might not be a utopia after all...
Someone You Can Build a Nest In
Folks can’t stop talking about this one so I’d better read it so I’ll know what the heck is going on. Ordered this from my indie store.
Interstellar MegaChef
This was also a recommendation to me and I ordered it from my indie. I have to admit that a giant donut in space grabbed my attention. What do space donuts taste like? Nebulas? Radiation? Are they filled with alien goo? I’m gonna find out.
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