Shanna Swendson

After walking all afternoon, my legs are tired, and it will be a good evening to curl up under the electric throw and watch a movie. So I need to start thinking now if I'm going to get to it before bedtime. I'm torn between wanting something new and wanting something familiar and comforting.

I figured a local walk would be a safe entry-level activity. If I wasn't comfortable with the people or couldn't keep up, I could find my way back on my own rather than being off in the wilderness with them. I think I could keep up with them on a hike and I liked them, so I'll do more of this.

One of the reasons I moved here was because of the hiking opportunities, but I haven't managed to do much. There's a local hiking group I've been following on FB, and today I finally joined them for a walking tour of my town. I got my 10,000 steps today!

I was in a store in late August and they were playing Christmas music. I fled.

But instead it was just rewatching a movie I'd already seen, with slightly less charm. I feel like they made Astrid bitchier and watered down the quirk of the other kids.

I watched the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, and I'd have to classify it as Mostly Harmless. There wasn't much point to remaking it as it didn't change/add anything to the animated version. If I hadn't seen the animated version, I'd have thought it was a fun, sweet fantasy movie.

I'm enjoying my usual Friday night activity of trying to decide on a movie to watch. I'll dither for a couple of hours and end up watching one episode of Community before I go to bed. Though I'm thinking of maybe checking out the live-action How To Train Your Dragon.

I got a puzzle book as a gift, a book, a journal, some needlework kits, some gift wrap, and a couple of calendars. They had a Kinuko Y. Craft fantasy art calendar I couldn't resist. She was artist GOH at one of the WorldCons I went to, and her work is mesmerizing.

I finally visited the big "book fair" (it's a permanent store) about 30 miles away. Basically, imagine that section at the front of a big B&N with the bargain books (including a lot of recent remainders), calendars, puzzle books, journals, etc., and it fills 3 barns.

Day three of roofing next door, and they're at the pounding nails stage. Which I think justifies a road trip to the big bookstore about half an hour away, maybe a stop at the big produce stand nearby. No thinking is going to happen right now. I'll think better in my car.

I got upstairs after breakfast just in time to see the deer leaving the yard by leaping over the rear fence. So, that's how they got in. Right now, I'm okay with them eating the brush. It'll help me clear out the jungle.

When I opened the curtains in the den this morning, I saw that I had deer in my backyard. I've seen them running down the street, but never in the yard. They grazed a while, then they lay down and made themselves comfortable. I took some pictures that I'll have to upload, but they mostly blend in.

I didn't watch it during its TV run because it was on at the same time as my ballet class, but I marathoned it when it came on Amazon a few years ago. Now it's on Peacock and good for when I need something short and uplifting.

In addition to rewatching The Magicians, my current other rewatch is Community. That's my comfort viewing. It's basically about flawed human beings learning to be better people, but it's snarky and surreal enough to keep it from being too sappy.

For me, it's the one time of year I can travel across country to see my parents. It's so far removed from the original myth and is just about family and gratitude.

One of the roofers working next door is singing his heart out, presumably along with music on headphones, since I can't hear the music. Bless his heart, he's enthusiastic, but he's very off-pitch, which makes my skin crawl. I'm going to have to play music to drown him out.

The neighbor's new metal roof looks really nice. I'll have to talk to him about it for when I replace my roof. I'm sure it's more expensive, but there are metal roofs in town on Victorian houses that are original to the houses, so they last. I wonder how it affects cell reception inside.

I've made a bunch of lists and I feel much more in control. There's something about writing down what needs to be done that makes it feel less overwhelming. It's concrete instead of a nebulous "I have so much to do!" feeling.

Oh, and reading and going through all the books and courses I've been buying on business, craft, promo, etc. And going through resources I've downloaded and at least organizing them so I can find what I need later.

I also want to get some promo systems set up. Meanwhile, I need to finish setting up my house. I ran out of steam before I finished the office and the basement. If I spend the rest of the year on this stuff, I think I'll be in better shape to start next year.

The book is going to require a lot more thinking and development and probably won't be ready to write for a few months. So the rest of the year is going to be development time, both for this and the next Rydding Village book. Plus, I want to put together my workflow structure.

I thought this idea I'm working on was so well developed that I could get a good plot outline and character development done before Thanksgiving, then do a messy first draft during December. During this time, I'd also prep Rydding Village book 5 to draft in January.

Now that I've decided to ease up on myself and spend the rest of the year getting a good foundation in place for going forward, internally and externally, I realize just how ridiculous my previous plans were.

I did notice how clear the stars are. I don't go out often at night, and I can see the downtown lights now that the trees are mostly bare, but I still get great stars. Someone had a fireplace or wood stove going. Not a bad night for standing on the porch, looking at the sky.

I think we have aurora. People are posting great pictures on the town FB group, but to me the sky only looks slightly pink, and my phone doesn't have a night mode setting. It doesn't help that I have a huge hill to the north of me, which blocks the horizon.

After admitting to myself that my timeline was ridiculously unrealistic, I think I'm going to pause and do that reset I said I needed to add to my process. I still need to do thinking and research, and I can think while getting my house in order and getting ready for the holidays.

This means spending a lot of time staring into space and imagining possible scenes. It's kind of like doing auditions for a movie, except I haven't written the role yet. I'm seeing what makes the characters come to life for me.

I'm currently vacillating between two very different types for one main character, trying to decide which fits better. I'm pretty sure about the general type and appearance for the other character but not sure which exact variation of that I want.

It's weird being in the very early stages of developing a new idea. It's based on an old situation, but the plot, characters, setting, etc., are all new and I'm still trying to figure out the details. It's all amorphous right now, with bits and pieces gradually taking shape.

This could be why I've been having trouble concentrating all day. Nail guns going constantly, and it looks like they're getting a metal roof because they've got a machine forming the metal panels. They feed sheets into it and it bends the edges and cuts off the length.