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How to spend my mornings
A realization I’ve had, planning my week, that has some disconcerting implications. I may have to switch my morning reading into the evening.
My writing needs have grown beyond one or two days a week. If I’m to continue, it has to be a daily thing. The optimal time for me to do it is the morning; the afternoon and evening schedules can vary from week to week. But my mornings are taken already with reading.
I love my reading time. A short walk to the cafe, order my tea and pastry, play music through my headphones, and lose myself in the narrative. No matter how tired or comfortable I wake up, no matter how cold or dark the morning air, this ritual gets me out of bed. It’s the closest to lecto divinia this atheist has found. And I’m disinclined to let it go!
Evening reading is possible, except evening is my lax time. A movie can run a bit long, an hour with friends can run into three, unfinished chores can be finished. If my ADHD is getting in the way, lax time is a great buffer. Scheduling reading in the evening sounds like a great way to force myself to wind down the day, but the lax time has proven itself more enduring.
Maybe I can start by alternating days? Tomorrow I write, Tuesday I read, and to and fro? The consistency and invariance of the ritual is what helps me, though. I’m loathe to challenge it. It’s also why I don’t want to just decide on a day by day basis what I use that time for. The book is in the bag, grab and go, out the door!
I’m nervous, but I think I’m going to try writing tomorrow anyways. Maybe the physical act of writing will help me decide. 📝📚
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From: The Passenger 📚
There still have to be people who maintain their decency and humanity no matter what opportunities might come their way. Who don’t turn into swine just because they see a puddle they might wallow in.
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Currently reading: The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz 📚
This book started off the way all action thrillers should - right in the thick of the urgent call to action. 18 pages in and I’m hooked.
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Finished reading: Travel Light (Peapod Classics) by Naomi Mitchison 📚
Disarmingly simple and simply rich. It’s written for the young, which may annoy some people, but Mitchison makes it work and furthermore makes it appealing for adults and the older, with echoes of lessons learned through hard experiences. She was a contemporary of Tolkien and proofread versions of The Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien’s reason for trusting her shows in this story.
I agree with reviewers who say this book should be taught and offered alongside The Hobbit and Harry Potter. In fact, if you ever wished Hermione was the hero of Harry Potter, this book may really appeal to you. If you learned of this book through This Is How You Lose The Time War, you definitely want to read this. Even if the style doesn’t suit your tastes, the skill and observations of Mitchinson through Halla are worth reading.
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A vital but often overlooked tool when writing holiday cards: post it notes! Stick them on when you’re waiting to hear if you’ll be delivering the card in person or mailing it.
(Yes, I’m doing them on Christmas Eve, why do you have time point that out?)
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On Substack Nazis, laissez-faire tech regulation, and mouse-poop-in-cereal-boxes. A brilliant analogy related by Karpf’s college advisor, that when people start to notice mouse-poop or nazis, it’s time to clean house. Hat tip Pixel Envy.
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I really wish support teams would banish the phrase “if the client fills it out correctly” from planning meetings. It’s just kicking a hard decision down the road.
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MIRABEL’S VILLAIN SONG - We Don’t Talk About Bruno
Imagine if in Encanto, Mirabel turned into the villain! This is part of a whole series by Lydia The Bard; I discovered them recently, but this one in particular has been on repeat. Like all good villains, you kinda agree with them. 🎥🎵
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Finally finished Critical Role’s Vox Machina campaign. All 115 episodes. I can honestly say this is one of the most fulfilling nerdy series I’ve watched, matched only by Time Team. It’s been a large part of reigniting my passion in fantasy, writing, worldbuilding, and rediscovering the TTRPG community, which has grown leaps and bounds since my initial introduction in college, back in the 90s.
I honestly could not have predicted a group of voice actor friends playing Dungeons & Dragons on a streaming service would become a major part of my life. A lot of my life is different since earlier this year when I started watching on a whim, certain I wouldn’t make it past the first few episodes. Now I understand why people go to sports bars and cheer when their team scores. Now I understand the desire to cosplay and inhabit a world someone else has built. Now I understand spending months building intricate worlds and cities, and the desire to tweak and adjust a prebuilt something just to make it fit the story in your head.
I had a grasp of all of this when I was younger, a shy freshman in college into sci-fi and fantasy, introduced to D&D 2e with a new group of friends. I should say, “friends”, as the friendships didn’t last in what I now understand as patterns encouraged by an insular geek group that used social estrangement to justify toxic behavior. I shrugged them off, and put those books and joys aside in favor of what I thought of as more mature pursuits. Now I’m back in them, 20 years later, simultaneously engrossed and despondent at all the time I’ve lost, all the experiences I could have had.
But that’s why Critical Role, and the TTRPG space in general, has been so special. Where I’d normally feel out of step and hopelessly behind, the people in the space have been eager to welcome me back, patient in explaining changes and rules, pleased that I’m engaging with the space, and happy to let me come in at my own speed. When a community member breaks the rules or is revealed to be a problem, the community as a whole acts to contain and isolate the problem in a way that feels less a reactive social media ban-wagon and more putting values and virtues into practice. The CR stars, each and every one, seem like genuinely good people who aren’t faking their friendship or their joy, and in the other online spaces I’ve found, the same is true - genuine people working together for fun, play, and support.
In that space, I’ve begun updating old characters I created in the 90s. I’ve created notes on a hidden city of magic and wonder, challenged by a powerful cult that runs on mass surveillance and fearful propaganda. I’ve delved deep into Celtic and Greek mythology to rewrite two species (mostly) abandoned in previous editions. I’ve read dozens of fantasy books I missed in the past two decades. And in a few weeks (so I can catch up on a few movies friends are waiting to discuss with me), I’ll begin the Mighty Nein, and let that joy sustain and motivate me through 2024.
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I’m glad I braved the wind and rain for my favorite cafe. Without the cars, under the dark and rainy sky, the vibe is perfect for reading. 📚☕️
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Currently reading: Travel Light (Peapod Classics) by Naomi Mitchison 📚
Reading this purely because it’s mentioned in This Is How You Lose The Time War, and because Ursula LeGuin loved it. So far, I’m enraptured. I wish I had a kid I could read it alongside with and discuss.
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Finished reading: This Is How You Lose the Time War. 📚
LOVED this book. Each chapter is a sumptuous piece of worldbuilding and plot, followed by a perfect little letter to their opponent. It’s playful, passionate, heartwrenching and gorgeous. Highly recommended with a good red wine!
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Finished reading: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 📚
How in the world does Muir keep upending the reader’s expectations, while still keeping a coherent overarching narrative and world? It got a little messy at the end, but I still loved this!
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One of my daily joys is watching your children in the café I take my morning readings in. They’re happy to see the pastries, they climb and sprawl over the chairs, they talk in loud and tiny voices, and everyone smiles and indulges their happiness. ☕️
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Oh gods. What devastating three lines. 📚
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Caught The Boy and The Heron at the Coolidge Corner theater with friends this afternoon. It’s definitely a dream logic type of movie. If you don’t mind a small spoiler, this link about the international title made the movie make a lot more sense. 📽️
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Thought I’d visit an iconic bookstore in a region I used to haunt in my younger years. I’d heard it was struggling recently, but today, I found it expanded and flourishing! Brookline Booksmith, never die, you are always in my heart. ❤️ 📚
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What’s like except a love that hasn’t been invited indoors?
- _Nona The Ninth, pg. 694 📚
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I didn’t know Epstein had a stutter, but I do relate to his struggles, having a stutter myself. I wish I could say my experience with meditation was the same as his, though.
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Yesterday I saw The Holdovers with my mom. It’s a beautifully bittersweet dramedy full of people dealing and growing with their grief in different ways. The 70s aesthetic and filmmaking style was immersive, not distracting, I found. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🎥
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My easy listening Spotify Daily Mix has started with three songs about The End. Not sure if this is a joke about the recent Spotify layoffs, or the algorithm knows something I don’t…
Today’s calendar includes lunch with my rock star friend, hangouts with my fabric artist friend, and hopefully finishing my book. First, tea and a pain du chocolate!
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Shout out to the real MVP, my past self, for scheduling a massage this morning to kick off my vacation. I had my doubts and almost cancelled, but my blissful body is proof they were right. You da hero, Past Steve!
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In my research for my homebrew, I’ve become captivated by a particular goddess from ancient history. I wanted to work it in, and it fit tangentially. My mind didn’t stop, though, and kept coming up with ideas and possibilities, working them into figures and powers and histories and lore. It made for great daydreaming material!
Now it’s an hour shy of midnight, I’m reflecting on my day, and I’ve realized I can’t use three quarters of it. It changes too much of the original idea, making more work and muddying other ideas.
So, I’ll finish my wine, sleep, and tomorrow write down my ideas to get them out of my head, the move on with my project. Who knows, these daydreams may show up in another project. For now, I’ll let them sleep.
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Emily Scott Robinson, Built On Bones
An enticing, enthralling, almost gothic Americana song to start your weekend. This song is stuck in my head, and I’m in no rush to get it to leave. 🎵
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