Hi all! My brain has been mostly drowned in Christmas preparations (and the bit that's staying afloat is clinging to my and my friend's writing projects for dear life), but winter is here, or will be tomorrow, and that means it's time for a new season of reads.

 

Winter 2024–2025 Reads

1. Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson (December 6). In other years, this might've been my most-anticipated read of the season, and I quite possibly would've already read it (or would be ravenously watching the library listing in hopes that it would come in sooner rather than later). Because I'm kind of behind on Sanderson books, I'm less hyped at the moment, but I am still excited to read this once I'm properly caught up! I have heard mostly good things from the friends who have read it, and I'm looking forward to finding out where the rest of the story goes.

2. Rescuing a Supervillain by H.L. Burke (December 23). In contrast to Wind and Truth, I already have read this one, since I got an early copy from H.L. Burke's recent Kickstarter. This is such a sweet, fun story; I absolutely loved it. Sam (a temporarily-benched superhero) and Bea (a cat-shifter thief trying to escape her former team) are such good characters, and I like their arcs both individually and together. Also! There are cats! Who doesn't love cats?

3. Captive Dance by Kendra E. Ardnek (January 10). This is the sequel to Pumpkin War, but I am much more excited about Captive Dance than I was about its predecessor. Why? Because it's a Twelve Dancing Princesses retelling with what sounds suspiciously like an antagonists-to-lovers romance, and I think it's going to be so fun. After all, the Twelve Dancing Princesses is one of my favorite fairy tales, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing what Kendra does with it!

4. The Shapeshifter Drives a Bargain by Claire Trella Hill (February 3). This is another Tales of Karneesia story, a short romantasy from the world of The Erlking's Daughters. This series is a little hit-or-miss for me — some I really enjoy; some I'm a bit meh on. That said, this combination of Beauty and the Beast with Rumplestiltskin sounds interesting; I'm interested to see what Claire has planned for that. Hopefully it'll be good!

5. Emily Wilde's Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett (February 11). Confession, I still need to read book two in this series . . . but I very much liked book one, and I'm looking forward to seeing our prickly, nerdy scholar friend navigate the challenges of Faerie. Hopefully I'll be caught up with the series by the time this comes out!

What book releases are you excited for this winter? Am I missing any? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

November 2024 Doings!

Hello, everyone! We are officially in the Christmas season, and 2024 is nearly gone. November and December are always my busy months, and this year looks like it'll be no exception — this past month certainly wasn't. So without further ado, let's dive into November's Doings!

Writing!

• I've mostly been working on more prep for Project Kingfisher this month: developing characters, building the world, and writing backstory snippets to explore character dynamics. This is a different approach than I normally take, but it seems to be working for me, and I hope that it'll have good results. I am definitely enjoying the fact that I gave myself permission to write snippets even if they aren't "necessary" for the story. That's been a lot of fun, and the short pieces are a nice change of pace from novels.
• I have also done a little work on my D&D campaign — not enough to finish this storyline, but enough to keep ahead of the sessions. My group seems to be having fun, though we didn't get to play much this month because of various people having busy schedules.
• That about covers it in this category. Writing has been a bit on the backburner this month, both because I'm in the planning stage on a story and because my time and energy is going elsewhere.

Reading!

• This month was a blend of ARCs and miscellaneous rereads. The highlights of the month were, without a doubt, Valley of Dragons (the final Secrets of Ormdale novel) and A Stab in the Dark (which is not the final Miss Dark's Apparitions novel!). I already reviewed Valley of Dragons, but to recap, I thought this was a splendid ending to the story, and I loved how Baehr brought the story full circle and wrapped up the various character arcs and plot threads. As for A Stab in the Dark, it's full of all the things I loved about the rest of the series, with the added bonus of being a Phantom of the Opera story full of secret passages and murders and ghosts, which is absolutely delightful. I was not as big a fan of the other ARC I read, The Death of Clara Willenheim, as it got really dark in the second half, but I think it just also . . . wasn't my genre.
• Other than that, the main notable reread was H.S.J. Williams's Fairest Son, a genderbent fae Snow White retelling. I honestly liked this one better on the reread than I did the first time around, though I can't put my finger on why. Maybe it's because of different expectations? Who knows.
• I wrapped up the month and started December by reading Time Echoes, Interfinity, and Fatal Convergence (currently reading, will probably finish this weekend), which simultaneously are and are not rereads because they're rewritten versions of the Echoes from the Edge series. The new versions are in a different perspective and have some tweaks to prose and description, but the narrative is the same. I think I like them roughly as much as the original; the POV change makes sense, and I still enjoy the story. I don't love them quite as much as I did originally because some aspects now seem very heavy-handed, but they're good all the same.

Watching & Playing!

• My friends and I have made it all the way to Episode 14 of Yona of the Dawn, and I continue to enjoy the show more and more! So far, I have met two of the four dragons, and I am calling it now that the blue dragon will be my favorite of them all. (He falls into the category of "characters who have experienced so much pain and choose to be kind anyway," and I love him.) I also really love Yun, partially because he's fun and partially because he and I are so often on the same page. And, of course, Hak and Yona continue to be excellent characters . . . really, all the character arcs in this show are excellent so far, and I have every confidence that they'll just get better.
• My family also launched into the start of the Christmas season with, of course, Christmas movies! Specifically: The Lemon Drop Kid and White Christmas, as those are the movies that are on both my and my sister's high priority lists. I don't have much to say about them other than the fact that I continue to really enjoy them.
• Aside from that, I continue to enjoy both Star Rail and Genshin. The next Star Rail update dropped this week, and I have therefore spent the last month or so internally screaming for two reasons: for one, we're getting an epilogue to the Penacony storyline; for another, Jing Yuan (aka, the character for whom I started playing the game) is rerunning, and I was not prepared for either of those things. That said, I still got some incredibly lucky pulls (which produced more screaming, but in a delighted way). As for the new story? I'm about halfway through it, maybe a little more, and I'm quite enjoying it. This story brings back two past characters who are both embarking on a new life of sorts, and I like how their arcs have been handled so far. One, a former antagonist, is making a last visit to his homeland to say goodbye and try to make amends, and he is very convincingly (and realistically) regretful. The other was on the verge of death and now has to figure out how to live when she's lost so much of her old life, as well as dealing with the pain and wounds (physical and mental) caused by all she went through. It's really good, and I'm excited to discover the rest of the story.
• Also in Star Rail, I've finally started really exploring different endgame mode challenges, and I've discovered that they're a lot more fun after you understand stuff about team compositions and character builds and when you have a decent number of characters as options. It's very satisfying each time I manage to beat another difficulty level!
• That aside, until this past week, I have actually been playing more Genshin than Star Rail. I wrapped up the Liyue quest (I know what Zhongli's deal is now!) and did some interlude storylines that revealed lots of lore . . . albeit in a way that raised as many questions as it answered. My approach to Genshin lore tends to be a lot like my approach to Cosmere lore: I like discovering it, but I'm not delving into all the theories and digging for tiny details in every corner (though I'll happy listen if someone else wants to share, and sometimes I'll grab onto some aspect or detail that I think is really cool and get a little more into that). I'm just along for the ride, really, but that doesn't mean I'm not enjoying myself.

Life!

• While November was, as I said, very busy, most of the busy things weren't exceptionally exciting. Work was full of wrapping up Stewardship, putting together the Advent newsletter, and preparing for Advent itself — which remains my favorite graphics season, but also has the challenge of "how do you put a new spin on this thing for the fourth year in a row." And now we're in Advent, and I'm about to have a very full two weeks as I prepare everything for Christmas before I take some well-earned time off At least I got enough prep done that I'm not too stressed, and holiday services tend to be very similar year-to-year, so I know what to expect. I'm also very pleased with the new church promo piece I put together to distribute at Christmas Eve, which I think turned out wonderfully!
• Grad school is also keeping me plenty busy, though I'm almost done with the current class. Advanced English Grammar continues to be way more technical than what I expected, and it's also a lot of writing down rules to explain things most people know instinctively, which . . . is not my favorite type of subject. It's also clearly aimed more at people planning to teach English than at general-purpose writers. Still, like I said, it's almost over (I submit my final project this weekend and do my final exam next week), and it could have been much worse.
• On a happier note, November brings with it both my birthday and Thanksgiving! We celebrated my birthday with lunch out at my favorite Mexican restaurant and dessert at Bible study; my mom made cheddar apple pie (tasty) and praline pecan pumpkin pie (DELICIOUS). The latter was something I'd wanted to try for a while, and I definitely hope we make it again. It has the best aspects of both pecan pie and pumpkin pie in one dish; what's not to like?
• At Thanksgiving, my sister got to come home for the weekend, which we were all very happy about. On Thanksgiving day, we set up (but didn't decorate) our Christmas tree and, as usual, celebrated with our Bible study group. Then on Black Friday, we decorated the tree — we used to do all the Christmas tree stuff on Friday, but last year we decided that spreading it out worked better and didn't really violate the no-Christmas-before-Thanksgiving rule.
• On the baking front, both November and December began with cake. November opened with an election cake from Baking Yesteryear, which is a kind of bready, fruity cake made in a Bundt pan. It's named as such because people in New England used to serve it on election days, back when those were practically holidays. It was tasty, though I don't plan on making it again. Then in December, I made a chocolate cake with ganache for a coworker's birthday; I had a little trouble getting the ganache to thicken properly, but it tasted delicious.
• In D&D, we wrapped up our mini-campaign that we were playing between sessions. Though it was a short campaign, it was a lot of fun; the DM did a really good job with making the NPCs interesting and complex, and he included a lot of interesting environmental aspects in the combats. For example, one fight was in a hall that had been lit on fire, so we had to deal with the fire and smoke as well as the enemy, and the final fight was in a room that was very tall and vertical, and we had to work our way up to the enemy. It was all really cool (albeit stressful in the moment), and I hope to be able to use some of those concepts in my own DMing in future.
• As for crafting, I'm still working on Christmas presents, and I have made very little progress on my new cape. I have discovered that, until you get down into the 30s and below (and maybe even to some degree in the upper 30s), capes are far superior to coats in some ways — notably, they're more comfortable, less confining, and generally more fun. At the moment, I have two capes that are both about hip-length and aren't cosplay specific, and I've been wearing those a lot. I have to say that doing so makes colder weather much less unpleasant!

December Plans

• Obviously, most of my December plans revolve around Christmas in some fashion, whether that's making Christmas gifts, baking cookies, or celebrating with various people in various ways. One notable thing that's happening this year is that I'm in charge of revamping our Bible study's Christmas play into a dramatic reading (because we're severely lacking in kids to do the play), and that's been an interesting endeavor. I'm also hoping to try a few new cookie recipes, including some from Baking Yesteryear, which should be fun.
• On the grad school front, I have one week left in the current class, and I am so ready to be done. I'm turning in my final project this weekend, and then I just have a few more chapters of reading, a last discussion, and the final exam before I can call this class finished. And while I do need to figure out what I'm doing next, I will take a great deal of pleasure in having a few weeks off.
• I really need to sort out an idea for the DOSA Files anthology; I'm down to three weeks to write, edit, and submit it if I'm going to make it happen. The problem is that work and grad school have taken most of my energy up to this point, and other creative projects are a lot easier to work on. Still, I hope that I'll be able to sit down and put something together once my current class is done. I also plan to continue Project Kingfisher prep with the goal of starting the actual draft either at the end of December or the beginning of January.
• I am taking a good chunk of time off around the holidays, and I'm looking forward to that, both as an opportunity to get some work done on creative projects and as a chance to rest and spend time with family and friends. Of course, it will almost certainly go by way too fast.
• I'll wrap this up with a fun, non-holiday thing I'm looking forward to in December: the start of a new campaign with my D&D group! It's going to be weird to play a whole new character and a very different class — I'm going full spellcaster this time — but I can't wait to find out what our DM has planned for us and see where our characters' stories lead.

How was your November? Any plans for December? Are you ready for Christmas? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Black Friday Book Sale 2024!

 

Hello, all! Happy day-after-Thanksgiving!

As per the usual, I'm here to let you know that all of my books are on sale in ebook form for just $0.99 as part of the Black Friday Book Sale! This sale runs from Black Friday (today, November 24) through Cyber Monday. In it, you'll find literally hundreds of clean and Christian indie reads from authors like Kendra E. Ardnek, Sarah Beran, H.L. Burke, Savannah Jezowski, H.S.J. Williams, myself, and many others. The sale includes free and $0.99 ebooks, as well as some special deals on print and audiobooks. I've put links below that will take you straight to my sale listings, but you can also click here to browse the whole sale.

Blood in the Snow

Mechanical Heart

Through a Shattered Glass

Bastian Dennel, PI:

The Midnight Show

Gilded in Ice

Mask of Scarlet

Daughters of Atirse

Song of the Selkies

Illusion's Reign

Have you checked out the Black Friday sale yet? Which books in it are you eyeing up? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Hello, friends! It's time for another Taleweaver's Desk update; as always, this is the part of the blog in which I check in with an overview of what projects I'm working on (and not working on) and what might be coming soon — starting with the most active projects on my desktop.

On the Taleweaver's Desk Issue 14: November 2024

On the Desktop

These are the projects you might find open on my laptop or desk if you took a peek at it during a normal day. They're currently in progress and at the top of the priority chart.

Project Kingfisher

What is it? A fairy tale retelling (or possibly series of retellings or series of mixed retellings and original stories) with a Chinese-inspired setting.

Status: In the planning stages; will start drafting the book soon.

This project has a little bit of a funny background — I'd semi-committed myself to write a retelling of a particular fairy tale for an event coming in a year or two, but I was halfway thinking about pulling out because I wasn't excited about the particular version of the fairy tale the event organizer was hoping I'd write and I had so many other stories on my plate. Then I got a little spark of inspiration from the idea of a Chinese-inspired setting with steampunk vibes (like a Chinese equivalent of what you see in some Ghibli movies) and a bigger spark of inspiration when a friend mentioned that the main couple could potentially draw on some character types I'd been writing in my just-for-fun side project, and now I'm a little obsessed with this story and storyworld.

D&D Campaign: Defenders of Serys

What is it? Defenders of Serys is the homebrew D&D campaign that I run for my D&D group.

Status: Still making progress on the tournament arc!

I have written a good portion of the current arc, but hit pause again to focus on other things that took priority because I had a buffer and we had several weeks in a row when we weren't meeting. My group seems to be enjoying the story, which is good, and they hit it off with some of the NPCs I really hoped they'd like, which has also been fun. I do need to get back to work on this sooner than later, though, or else my buffer will run out again . . .

Stacked on the Side

These are the stories that I'm not actively working on (at least not officially), but I'm keeping close at hand because I plan to get back to them soon (or I just work on them sporadically as the urge takes me).

Once Upon a Dream

What is it? A light steampunk (or gaslamp fantasy?) Sleeping Beauty retelling; the predecessor to The Midnight Show

Status: Edited several times over. Awaiting another round of rewrites/expansion/edits (and a useful excuse/motivation for prioritizing those edits).

Secret Star Book

What is it? A secret. An experiment. The product of my having read/watched/otherwise enjoyed a lot of media in a couple specific genres (outside my usual one) in the last half of 2023 and first half of 2024.

Status: I am dabbling in this as I have the time and desire to do so. Right now, that mostly looks like worldbuilding and fleshing out characters.

Shelved for Now

These are stories that are also on hold, but which I don't have specific plans to work on very soon. They're still within easy reach should I decide to return to them, but they aren't a top priority.

Blood in the Earth

What is it? Blood in the Earth is the sequel to Blood in the Snow and a retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses crossed with the myth of Hades and Persephone.

Status: First draft finished; awaiting rewrites. I still love this story, but I don't know when I'll get back to it. Currently, that happening in the next twelve months is looking somewhat dubious.

Between Two Worlds

What is it? A portal fantasy adventure about what happens when you come home from the adventure, only to discover that the adventure isn't quite as done with you as you thought.

Status: Awaiting another round of edits/rewrites while I write other things and daydream about its sequels.

The Way of the Pen

What is it? Self-aware fantasy adventure about a girl and her author.

Status: The first draft is sitting on my shelf, patiently waiting for its turn back in the spotlight, as it has been for some time and will probably continue to do for a good while.

Berstru Tales series

What is it? The longest-running series I've worked on (either in the number of books written or in how long I've worked on it. Originally was a classic epic fantasy, but is getting a genre change.

Status: Needs to be rewritten from the ground up, but the bones are good. I've decided that I'm going to try changing it to a different subgenre, and I'm excited to work on that, but I don't think it'll happen in the next six months.

Awaiting Delivery

These are the stories that are on their way, but haven't quite arrived yet to the point where I can write them: ideas I'm toying with but haven't even started to draft because they're still too nebulous.

Additional Bastian Dennel, PI novels

What is it? Exactly what the heading said. Book 4 will be Jack and the Beanstalk (yes, I'm serious); other stories planned include The Little Mermaid, The Goose Girl, The Nutcracker, Rumplestiltskin, and Pwyll & Rhiannon.

Status: Bastian Dennel Book 4 is next up on my priority list to write, and I hope it'll come together quickly. Originally I was going to write it this fall, but I decided to push it back in favor of focusing on grad school and Project Kingfisher. It is next on the list after that, though. Following that, I'm still expecting The Nutcracker as Book 5, followed by The Little Mermaid, The Goose Girl, Rumplestiltskin, and Pwyll & Rhiannon, probably in that order (unless the last two get switched).

Future Daughters of Atirse books

What is it? What the headline said, again. Multiple other stories connected with Song of the Selkies. Specifically, I have plans for some variation on Beauty and the Beast (sequel), Tam Lin (prequel), and Pwyll & Rhiannon (sequel), as well as a prequel (about Prince Diarmad) and at least one other sequel (about Uaine) that don't have specific fairy tales but will be written because I want to tell their main characters' stories.

Status: The Beauty and the Beast sequel, which will focus on Mirren, will probably be the next of these books that I write, and I plan to tackle it after I write BDPI #4. Aside from that, I continue to bounce ideas around with my friend, both to expand existing ideas and create new ones.

Unnamed Fantasy Murder Mystery

What is it? Exactly what the headline says. A prominent noble is murdered; his adoptive daughter is poised to inherit his lands and position — but some are saying her hand was behind his death.

Status: Still just an idea, but it's an idea with a really good soundtrack. May end up being set in the same world as Daughters of Atirse, though not in the same series and later in the world's timeline.

DOSA Files #2 Story

What is it? A story for the second DOSA Files anthology, set in the world of H.L. Burke's SVR books.

Status: I have an idea, probably featuring Steelblood, Quantum, and Ava again, but it still needs to percolate a little more before I can write it. I think I can get it down if I can just divert enough mental resources to speed up that percolation, but I have not managed to do that yet. The deadline is getting close, though, so I really need to get on this.

What projects (writing or otherwise) are you working on currently, and how are they going for you? Tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Hello, friends! Today is release day for the final Secrets of Ormdale novel, Valley of Dragons. I was once again able to get an ARC of this book, and let me tell you, this is such a good conclusion to the series. I may or may not have stayed up until after one in the morning the night I finished it because I got so invested in the story, and that's something I haven't done in a long time. So, obviously, I have to share my thoughts!

Thoughts on Valley of Dragons

1. The story came full-circle in the best possible way. Secrets of Ormdale closes as it opens: with Edith learning something about her family that she never would have imagined, discovering the darkness hiding behind "the way it's always been," and choosing to find ways to push back against that darkness. However, the story still feels as fresh and exciting as it did in book one, and Baehr ties all the plot threads together marvelously.
2. As always, I love the blend of cozy vibes with intrigue and Gothic adventure. While the stakes are as high or higher than they've ever been and Edith and her friends and family still face danger, Baehr maintains a sense of warmth and coziness throughout the story. We still have the love and support between family members and friends; we still have humor to lighten dark moods; we still have kindness on display and confidence that good will win in the end. That coziness doesn't undercut the danger and excitement at any point (again, I read this into the wee hours of the morning because I had to know what happened next), but
3. It's lovely to see how the characters have changed since they were first introduced. As the last book in this series, Valley of Dragons has to wrap up all the character arcs satisfactorily . . . and I'm happy to say that it's not just satisfying; it's downright delightful. All of our favorites have grown so much, and while I'm not going to spoil anything, I will say that the end of this book finds them all flourishing, freed of what once bound them and able to pursue both new dreams and new responsibilities. I especially loved how Baehr worked out the arcs for Edith's cousins and for Simon Drake. They arguably had the most weighing them down and forcing them into particular molds at the story's start, and now we see them becoming who they were always meant to be. And speaking of that . . .
4. Edith and Simon continue to be the best couple. Their feelings may be out in the open now, but that doesn't mean their journey is any less difficult, as they both (but especially Simon) wrestle with the tension between love and duty. Baehr portrays that conflict and dynamic in a very realistic way, and I genuinely wondered how she was going to resolve it. Again, I won't give away any secrets, but I will say that I really liked how it was handled and how the characters dealt with certain related events and discoveries.
5. Even the antagonists are treated with compassion. Aside from the character arcs, this may be one of my favorite things about this book. Over and over again, Baehr and her characters find the balance between compassion and justice — appropriately, as so many of the antagonists in this series are victims of the same lies, traditions, and cycles of pain they've used to hurt others. Where redemption is possible, it's offered and often pursued, and I loved the fact that this made for so many happy endings. But those who refuse still face the full consequences of their actions, and that's equally satisfying.
   

I can hardly believe this series is over . . . but, happily, Baehr has teased that more stories from Ormdale may be on the way! I can hardly wait to find out what comes of that. In the meantime, are you excited to read Valley of Dragons? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

The whole business started with hymns — or, more accurately, without them. When you work at one church and attend another Sunday mornings, inevitably, you start to draw comparisons between the two, and in my case, those comparisons mostly took the form of frustration with the lack of hymns at the church I attend. I knew that the worship, like everything else, was meant to cater to a contemporary crowd, but surely we could fit "Be Thou My Vision" or "A Mighty Fortress" in somewhere? Eventually, my frustration expanded into noticing something else: that we seemed to repeat the same songs with astonishing frequency, sometimes to the point where it seemed that the same songs reappeared every week or two. Meanwhile, the church were I work had hymns every week and, aside from the Choral Introit, seemed to repeat songs perhaps once every two or three months at most.

As I thought about (and grumbled about) this more, I began to wonder if the two things were connected. Was it possible that churches with more traditional worship styles — focusing mostly on hymns, possibly using hymnals, and led by a choir or a single instrument — tended to repeat songs less frequently than churches with a more modern worship style — marked by a focus on contemporary worship songs and led by a full band? There seemed to be only one way to find out.

It was time to do some statistics.

I've Heard This One Before: A Study in Church Music Repetition

Methods

Before I could do statistics, of course, I had to collect data to work with. Over a period from March 31, 2023 to March 31, 2024, I kept track of the music played at eight churches, plus the Bible study my family attends (which opens with worship like a church would). These churches included a Baptist church, a Lutheran church, two United Methodist churches, and four non-denominational churches, plus, again, the Bible study. The churches were chosen for a variety of reasons, mostly based on familiarity, location (I mostly chose churches located close to me), and whether or not they posted their bulletins on their websites or offered a livestream of their Sunday services. I also assigned each church a "modernity rating" on a scale of 1–5, with the levels as follows:

1. Highly Traditional (primarily uses hymns, led by a single instrument or choir)
2. Semi-Traditional (mixed hymns and contemporary songs, led by a single instrument or choir)
3. Neutral (mixed hymns and contemporary songs, led by an acoustic band)
4. Semi-Modern (mixed hymns and contemporary songs, led by a full band)
5. Highly Modern (primarily uses contemporary songs, led by a full band)

Each week, I recorded which songs each church had sung, either as a repeat of a past song or as a new entry on the list. I did miss a few weeks at some churches, either because the church didn't meet or because it didn't post a livestream or bulletin. I also didn't include midweek services, only Sunday services, and I treated identical services (such as Christmas Eve services offered at multiple times) as a single event.

Caveats

I will say before I get any further that this was a limited study with a small sample size. In order to do this really scientifically, I should have surveyed a larger group of churches and made sure to include multiple of every denomination. However, as this was a spare-time project and I am only human, nine churches was pretty much the limit of what I could track.

Also possibly skewing the data a little bit is the fact that some people in the Bible study found out about this survey midway through. Due to how the Bible study does worship (with songs being chosen during worship at the request of the participants), knowledge of my survey may have slightly affected how some people selected songs. However, I do not think enough people were aware of this for it to have a major impact on the chosen songs.

Now, with those grains of salt in mind, let's move on to my findings.

Data & Results

Because this is a blog post and not a full scientific report, I'm going to sum up the relevant data in the following chart. I've also created an Excel file of all my data, which you can get by clicking here, in case that interests you.

[/caption]

Just from the chart, some trends should be noticeable. Notably, the church with the highest modernity rating has the lowest number of songs and the second-highest average repetition and probability of repetition, while the churches with the lowest modernity rating have higher numbers of individual songs and lower rates of repetition. (An additional fun fact: the church with the lowest average repetition and probability of repetition is the one where I work — is it any surprise that I felt like the church where I attend repeats a lot in comparison?)

However, a graphic is worth a thousand words (as the saying almost goes), and it's not statistics if you don't have a chart or two to compare some variables. I started out by comparing the churches' modernity ratings with the number of individual songs sung at each one.

As you can see, the number of individual songs generally decreases the higher the church's modernity rating is. The trendline isn't a perfect fit, but it's generally pretty close, and even the main outlier fits the overall trend.

Next, I compared the modernity rating to the average repetition. For purposes of this chart, "average" refers to the mean, rather than the median or mode.

Here, we see that as the church's modernity rating goes up, so does the average repetition. The most traditional churches all have an average repetition of less than twice in fifty or fifty-two services, while the most modern church has an average repetition of 3.08, the second-highest here. Again, it's not a perfect fit — the highest average repetition actually goes to a Neutral-rated church — but the hypothesis generally holds.

Finally, just for fun, I compared the churches' modernity rating to the probability that any given song will be repeated.

This one looks a lot like the chart showing the average repetition, though here the numbers are a lot more spread out. Notably, there's a much greater difference between the probability of repetition at the most traditional churches, with two up in the area of 42% or 46% chance of repetition and one all the way down at a 1% chance of repetition (the lowest on the chart). Why? For one thing, Baptist A and Lutheran A (the two very traditional churches with a high probability of repetition) both have a much higher total number of songs sung (228 and 327, respectively) in comparison with the number of individual songs they sing. Additionally, both churches seem to have specific songs that they sing a lot at certain times of year or during particular parts of the service, which raises the overall probability that songs will be repeated.

It's also notable that the two Methodist churches have both the lowest average repetition and the lowest probability of repetition. Apparently, if you don't want to sing the same songs over and over, you should become a Methodist . . .

Also, just for fun, here's the most repeated song from each church.

• Baptist A: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (7 times)
• Bible Study: "The River" (11 times)
• Lutheran A: "Lamb of God" (35 times — but they rarely repeated songs otherwise!)
• Non-Denominational A: "Glorious Ruins" and "Rest on Us" (10 times)
• Non-Denominational B: "Holy Forever" (7 times)
• Non-Denominational C: "Be Glad" and "I've Witnessed It" (8 times)
• Non-Denominational D: "Holy Forever" and "King of Glory" (8 times)
• UMC A: "Holy, Holy, Holy" (6 times)
• UMC B: "Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed" (3 times)

Potential Further Studies

While my comment about becoming a Methodist to avoid repeating songs was mostly a joke, it would be interesting to do a larger version of this study and see how denominational differences affect how often songs are repeated. Do all Methodist churches have a low average song repetition, or is it just the two that I happen to have chosen? Would other Baptist and Lutheran churches behave similarly to the ones I studied, or are those two actually outliers?

Additionally, my study didn't really get into why more traditional churches repeat songs less and why more modern churches repeat more. (That's not a question statistics can answer.) I have some guesses about why the two correlate — including the churches' goals of worship, observation of the liturgical calendar, and financial reasons — but nothing solid. (If any church worship leaders happen to be reading this and want to offer insight in the comments, feel free!)

Both of these would be interesting to pursue in future, but neither is a high priority for me at the moment.

Final Conclusions

The goal of this study was that I would either debunk my frustrations with the church I attend or prove myself justified in those frustrations. I ended up doing the latter; the data suggest that more modern churches often (though not always) draw from a smaller pool of songs and tend to repeat songs more. That said, the repetition isn't nearly as much as I thought when I started doing the study — at the most, songs typically appear once every month and a half or two months, not every other week.

What are your thoughts on this study? Do you have any insights of your own to add? Please feel free to share them in the comments.
Thanks for reading!

October 2024 Doings!

Hello, friends! October was a weird month — the first half was honestly fairly chill aside from work stress, and then we hit the weekend of the 19th and everything happened at once. As of a result, I have been very tired. But the blog must go on, so let's review this month's Doings!

Writing!

• I intended for my writing time this month to go towards two short stories and the next Bastian Dennel book. That . . . did not go as planned. I was still very productive! Just not on the projects I intended to write!
• I spent the first week and a half of the month sorting through ideas for the two short stories, even going so far as to outline one fairly extensively and start a different one. Then I was reminded of another project that I had semi-committed to in the past and needed to make up my mind about, so I started poking at ideas for that . . .
• And, thanks to a comment from a friend, I stumbled upon a particular concept, fell in love, and decided to chase the plot rabbit until it stopped running, as I had to write the thing eventually, and the more I do now, the less I had to do later.
• The plot rabbit is still running, and it's produced several more bunnies . . . one of which did turn into a short story for the writing challenge I was doing this month, so there's that. I haven't started writing the book yet, but I've been doing a lot of brainstorming and planning of character, worldbuilding, and plot stuff. It's a Chinese-inspired setting, but not ancient China, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
• Otherwise, I continued writing my just-for-fun side project in my spare time, and I wrote a bit more of my D&D tournament arc. It's still not finished, but I've managed to stay a couple sessions' worth of material ahead of the game, so I count that as a win.
• The other big writing news of the month was that I once more had a table at Eat Local, Read Local, an author event held by one of the libraries in the area. That was tiring, but fun. I enjoyed meeting readers and potential readers, and I particularly loved that a few people who bought Song of the Selkies previously came back for Illusion's Reign. That was a definite win!

Reading!

• This month has been both a light and heavy reading month — light because I only finished three books; heavy because all those books were pretty hefty.
• Collusion by H.S.J. Williams was definitely my favorite read of the month. I started reading it literally the day it arrived at my house, setting aside Yumi and the Nightmare Painter to do so (the correct choice, for the record). I posted a couple weeks ago raving about it, so I won't repeat myself too much, but I absolutely loved this book. Getting to see Errance, Tryss, Coren, Tellie, the Daisha, and the rest again was so much fun, the new characters were interesting, the plot was amazing, and the themes of hope, healing, and the dangers of isolating yourself were all so, so good. I look forward to whenever I get to read this one; I know it's going to be just as amazing the second time around.
• Yumi and the Nightmare Painter was also good, though I'm not as in love with it as some of my friends seem to be. I liked the narrative and the themes, and Sanderson did an astonishing job of putting together a life-swap/bodyswap story that didn't give me constant secondhand embarrassment, and of course the worldbuilding was very cool. On the other hand, it took me a good third of the book to really connect with the protagonists, and I didn't always love the narrative voice? Both of those are really just me things, though.
• From there, we transition into spooky season reads with a reread of Black and Deep Desires and a new book that I'm currently reading, The Death of Clara Willenheim. Black and Deep Desires was just as delicious on the reread as it was the first time around, I'm happy to say. Clara Willenheim is a ghostly gothic murder mystery; I'm about halfway through and enjoying it so far, though it recently took a turn that was rather darker than I expected.
• And, of course, I continue to enjoy Dracula Daily, though I kind of dropped listening to Re: Dracula. One form of the story is enough for me this year, and with my head so full of brainstorming, I've been more in the mood for music than podcasts of late.

Watching & Playing!

• Wonder of wonders, I actually watched stuff this month!
• My friends who got me into Star Rail and Genshin convinced me that I needed to watch Yona of the Dawn with them, mostly by promising excellent character development and also the presence of certain archetypes that I absolutely adore. (They are excellent influences, obviously.) Scheduling that has been tricky, as we have three people in two different time zones, but we've managed five episodes, and I'm very much enjoying the show. Hak is my favorite character by a long shot, though we'll see if that changes once the dragons show up. I also like how the show is handling the development of Yona herself, how she's dealing with her grief and finding her strength in a way that seems very natural. Hopefully I'll get to watch the rest soon!
• I also rewatched True Grit with my family, which I didn't enjoy quite as much this time around . . . I feel like the sadness of the ending hit a lot harder this time? Though I also just might not have been in the mood for the story; it was a very spur-of-the-moment decision.
• As for what I'm playing, I'm two thirds of the way through the Liyue region main story in Genshin! This is one of the two regions I was most looking forward to when I got into the game, and I've enjoyed it so far. I am attempting to figure out what Zhongli's deal is, piecing together what the story tells me with bits of information gained from the fandom and my friends' conversations . . . I like him quite a lot (thankfully, as he's the character who my friends mainly used to convince me to start the game), but I am getting conflicting information about who or what he really is. Hopefully I'll find out in the next couple weeks, though.
• (I will also note that, while Genshin definitely has a steeper learning curve on combat than Star Rail did, I am less bad at that than I used to be! And I am getting better! I'm still not good by any means, but I die a lot less than I used to, and I remember to shield a lot more often.)
• The other fun thing about Genshin is the co-op mode, which currently mostly involves me running around after my more-experienced friends, picking up treasures and whatnot while they utterly destroy any enemies that show up (something that is satisfying for ALL of us, for the record). Exploring together is a lot more fun than exploring alone would be — especially since they can show me cool stuff that I wouldn't have found on my own for ages. Probably my favorite two co-op experiences so far were making it to the very top of a particularly dangerous mountain in the first region of the game and making the trek to the second region of the game together, but it's all been a lot of fun.
• This past week, though, I've mostly been playing Star Rail, specifically the version 2.6 story update, which was been a wild ride. I might be mildly traumatized by monkeys and bananas at this point, y'all, and I have definitely been fighting for my life against a particularly catchy earworm of a song. That's said, I enjoyed it — some of my favorite characters are very heavily involved in it, and we have the main Trailblaze trio together again for a lot of the story! The new characters were also cool, and one of my favorite couples in the game had some really nice interactions! I am also inordinately pleased that I was able to get one of my favorite characters (Dan Heng Lunae, for those who play) during his rerun; he has been very fun to play. (And he's narratively appropriate! At least somewhat! That makes me very happy.)

 Life!

• October started off pretty quiet and chill, for which I was grateful — for several weeks, the most exciting thing that happened was that I made some rather excellent basil sourdough bread. It was my first time trying those mix-ins, and I'm quite pleased with how the loaf turned out.
• Then we hit the weekend of the 19th and everything became Very Busy.
• I've already talked about the 19th and Eat Local, Read Local. Again, that went well . . . but I was very tired the next few days, which wasn't ideal, as the following Monday was the first day back at online grad school classes. The class I'm currently taking is Advanced English Grammar, which I chose because I thought it would be mildly interesting and not too difficult. And it has indeed not been too difficult, mostly . . . but it is a lot more technical than I expected.
  • Fun fact: there is an official grammar term ("lexical phrases") for structures like "see you later" and "by the way" where the same words are regularly used for specific functions without being an idiom.
  • Another fun fact: when you start describing grammar rules in the abstract, you end up with formulas, and those formulas look way more like upper-level calculus than they do algebra.
• Anyway. That's happening. It's better than the last class, and therefore we will get through it.
• On a happier note, last weekend a friend and I went to the Renaissance Festival! The one we normally go to was sold out, so we ended up visiting a different one instead that's a little further away, requiring a full weekend trip. That was also tiring, but a lot of fun! I love wandering around the Faire, seeing everyone's costumes and outfits, visiting the shops, and, of course, watching the jousts! This Faire's joust still wasn't as realistic as the Ohio Ren Fest's joust, but it had the best story of any Faire I've gone to so far, and it concluded in a resounding triumph of good over evil. I was truly impressed!
• That brings us up to this past week, which has mostly consisted of grad school, story prep, gaming, work, and recovering from all the driving I did over the weekend. So, pretty quiet.
• Other than that . . . I'm still working on crafting Christmas presents; that's going fairly well (though I am starting to feel the pressure of Looming Deadlines). I also started work on a new fleece capelet, this one a lovely green-and-black plaid with a properly deep hood! It's going to be so cozy when it's done. That said, I'm hand-sewing a lot of it because I didn't feel like arguing with the sewing machine, so it's going to take a bit.
• And on the D&D front, we're still playing through the mini-campaign; I think we're probably about halfway through at this point. That continues to be fun, and I'm starting to get the hang of my character's mechanics. I didn't get much done on finishing up my character for the next campaign, but I still have time. (She's playable. I just need to figure out some extra backstory stuff.)
• I think that about covers it! Again, October was mostly a quiet month; it just got very exciting at the end there.

November Plans

• Grad school continues to exist and will also continue to dominate however much of my brainspace and free time I allow it to. Given what happened last winter and spring when I let myself stress over it a lot, I'm going to try to keep it to a more reasonable resource allocation this time around. We'll see if that works.
• Otherwise, I plan to start drafting the new story I mentioned up in the writing section (with a low daily wordcount goal), and I'll continue working on D&D writing and brainstorming a story for the DOSA Files (which I really need to figure out sooner rather than later).
• I also need to either speed up work on some of the Christmas presents I'm making or decide that some of those gifts will be slightly smaller than originally planned. We'll see which one wins.
• I don't have any author events planned; I was hoping to go to Doxacon, but they're meeting in DC this year, and I do not want to deal with that. Alas.
• Work will probably be busy for the next two months as we prepare for Advent and Christmas. Still, I'm hoping to do enough in advance that it won't be terribly stressful — and holidays do have the advantage of being very similar year to year, so I have a good idea what to expect.
• And, of course, I will continue to have D&D, reading (maybe delving into some mysteries this month), and gaming to help me relax and get my stress levels down. All in all, it should be a good month.

How was your October? Any plans for November? Do you prefer to watch shows and movies by yourself or with others? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

 

Hello! First up, a quick reminder for my friends in the Northern Virginia area: tomorrow, October 19, I will be at Eat Local, Read Local at Cascades Library! The event runs from 10:00am to 2:00pm and includes loads of local authors, food trucks, live music, and fun. I'll have copies of all or most of my books, including Song of the Selkies and Illusion's Reign available for purchase, and I'll also be signing previously-purchased books if you bring them by. I hope to see you there!

Now, moving on to the actual post topic: while I don't celebrate Halloween (except, occasionally, as an excuse for cosplay), I do very much enjoy the opportunity to indulge in some spookier reads. I've always enjoyed books that have at least a little edge of creepiness, and that's become even more true in the last couple years as I've gotten into some Gothic-inspired (and actually-Gothic) stories. Besides the fact that it can be fun to be scared at times, these stories (the well-written ones, at least) are often astonishingly hopeful, celebrating not death, not the dead, but death's defeat by life. And as we're now solidly in spooky season, now seems like an excellent time for me to recommend some of my favorites.

Spooky Season Reads

Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud. This series has pretty much everything you could ask for in a spooky season story: truly terrifying ghosts, dangerous mysteries, secrets, people tampering with that which man should not, and a conclusion that affirms life's triumph over death. As a bonus, we have truly excellent characters (and character development), humor to keep the darkness from becoming overpowering, and an equal balance of friendships and romance. Also, while this is a mainline-published series, the themes and conclusion make it an astonishingly Christian in the best way.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. This list has to include at least one of the classics, and no one should be surprised at which one I chose. My enjoyment of Dracula is well-established by now — I love the characters, the creeping terror and slow-growing realization of wrongness, the sacrificial love displayed by so many of the heroes . . . it's just so good. Granted, I firmly believe that the best way to read this book is the Dracula Daily method (or the Re: Dracula method if you prefer your books in audio form), but reading the whole thing at once is also a good option.

Black and Deep Desires by Claire Trella Hill. This is probably my overall favorite book on the list, and the only reason it's not at the top is because Lockwood & Co and Dracula have more of what I like about spooky season reads specifically. However, Black and Deep Desires is delightfully creepy and Gothic, full of crumbling houses, monsters, mysteries, midnight ventures through secret passages, haunting dreams, and so forth — plus a story of love, friendship, and healing from trauma and abuse, plus a stubborn, bookish, Shakespeare-quoting vampire. It's a delight, and I'm currently planning to reread it as soon as I finish my current read.

The Abhorsen original trilogy by Garth Nix. I am disregarding everything except the original three in this recommendation — the other books are fine, but the first three are the best. (And the first book is my personal favorite, though some of my friends prefer the second book . . . I digress.) These don't have quite as much of a creepy edge as some of the others on this list, despite being basically a zombie story in a fantasy setting, but the storyworld and the themes still make them a good choice for a spooky season read.

 

Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson. This book shares some similarities with the Abhorsen books, especially Sabriel in terms of the world and magic system, which is delightfully spooky and dangerous. It doesn't go quite as hard on my favorite themes of this season, but it's still a good ghostly read.

Do you enjoy Gothic or spooky reads? What are your favorites? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

Hello everyone! You may remember me raving about H.S.J. Williams's wonderful novel Moonscript when it released a few years ago. You may also recall that the sequel to Moonscript, Collusion, finally came out just over a week and a half ago — and that I was absolutely hyped about it. I was so excited, in fact, that I started reading it the very day I got my paperback (putting a Sanderson novel on pause, which I very rarely do), and now I'm here to tell y'all that it is so, so good and y'all need to read it. Well, if you haven't read Moonscript, you should read that first . . . but then you should read Collusion (and, naturally, I'm about to tell you why).

You NEED to Read Collusion

1. The characters are excellent — especially Errance. I raved about this in Moonscript, and I will rave about it here too. Collusion holds so many amazing characters, and even the minor ones shine. However, Errance is the best of them all. He's still healing from all he went through in the first book, and Williams handles that trauma well . . . but at the same time, for all his doubts and fears, all the points where he's broken, he's also courageous and loving and determined to take care of his own, and he holds to what is true even when he's struggling in his faith. I love him so much, and I loved seeing his growth over the course of this book. That said, Errance isn't the only star here. I still love brave, resilient, loving Tryss (and I maintain that we would be excellent friends were she real). And, of course, Coren is absolutely my favorite character after Errance — still as clever and as much of a schemer and talker as ever, and still using his cleverness (and his wisdom!) for the good of others.
2. The antagonists are wonderfully complex. One of the biggest changes from Collusion to Moonscript is the nature of the antagonists. Both have excellent villains, but where Moonscript gave us the utterly evil and terrifying Voice of the Darkness, Collusion's villains are a bit more human, a bit more tangled, and a bit more like people you'd see in our own world. They're just as well characterized as the more heroic figures, and at various points, I found myself wanting to stab them for what they'd done and desperately hoping they might get a redemption arc (if not in this book, in a future one). I can't say more without spoilers, but I think you get the idea.
3. There are so many actually-married couples.  I've been saying for at least a few years now how much I want to see (and like to see) stories that don't stop just because the main couple got married. Wonderfully, Williams has given me (and like-minded readers) exactly what we wanted. Most of the major couples we met in Moonscript are now married, either with kids or thinking about kids, but that doesn't stop them from having adventures and being amazing. In fact, those relationships are, in multiple cases, where they find the support and encouragement they need to keep going on the right path and to be who they're meant to be — and I absolutely love to see it. And, on a related note . . .
4. Family is front and center. Y'all know that family-centric books are like catnip to me, and we see so many different family relationships highlighted here. Errance and Tryss are looking towards parenthood and figuring out what challenges that might hold (with Errance, naturally, worrying about how to be a good father when he's so broken), and we also have Leoren being an Awesome Elf Dad (I would say "best elf dad" but there are too many people in the running for that role for me to actually pick). Errance and Tellie have maintained a sibling-ish relationship even as they've grown, which is lovely to see. The best of the family relationships, though, is Errance and Coren, who spend a lot of the book in each others' company and have some amazing interactions. They make me very happy.
5. The story takes on dark topics without losing sight of the light. I've already touched on Errance's trauma, and I will say again that Williams handles that very well. A lifetime of pain and suffering will take its toll, and many of the internal scars Errance bears have yet to fade. However, healing is still possible, and we see that again and again through this book. On a broader view, Collusion deals with many societal evils, ones that plague our world as well as the storyworld, notably issues of trafficking and sexual slavery. Williams doesn't shy away from the darkness of these issues or the complexity of solving them, but she also handles them tastefully and makes sure to keep hope in sight. Again and again, this story reminds us that whether we're dealing with a broken heart or a broken world, that which is shattered may yet be mended by the One who made all things.
   

Have you read Collusion yet, or is it on your to-read list? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!

September 2024 Doings!

Hello, all! I will be honest; after a month of a really weird blog schedule, I completely forgot that Doings! was a thing until about two days ago. (The fact that this past week of work has been really chaotic and busy did not help matters.) Thank goodness I remembered Wednesday morning instead of Wednesday night so I could still get this out on time!

Also, just as a quick heads-up for those in the Northern Virginia area: my books and I will be at Eat Local, Read Local at the Cascades Library in Potomac Falls on Saturday, October 19, 11:00–2:00. The event will also include many other authors, food, and live music, so come stop by, check out the tables, pick up some new books, or just say hi! I hope I'll get to see you there!

Writing!

• In case you missed it: Illusion's Reign officially released on September 27 and is available for purchase on Amazon in both ebook and paperback forms.  Thank you so much to everyone for the wonderful reception you gave this book — all the excitement and encouragement was such a joy! I've seen a few early reviews and a few people saying that they're reading and enjoying the book currently, which is also delightful.
• Just as a reminder, if you didn't preorder the book but you were thinking of buying the Kindle edition, make sure you do that soon! The ebook price will rise from $2.99 to $3.99 next week.
• Most of my writing-related work this month was, of course, on Illusion's Reign: proofreading, formatting, and putting together promo stuff for it and the other Lost Kerchiefs stories. All that went very smoothly, though, with the exception of some delays on blog tour materials, so it was a surprisingly calm release month. I will say that I was very glad to be done with the final round of proofreading, though.
• Also writing-related: September was, of course, Silmaril Awards month! I hosted the Silver Tongues category this year, and I was very pleased that someone I've spent years rooting for took home the Silmaril! If you missed the Awards, you can still find links to all the ceremonies on the official website. I highly recommend checking them out! (On a side note, Athelas from City Between has cameos or actual finalist appearances in so many of the awards ceremonies this year, and that delights me to no end.)
• Additionally, in case anyone missed it, Song of the Selkies and I were featured on Tricia Goyer's Avid Readers of Christian Fiction blog and podcast! Go check those out if you haven't already; I really enjoyed getting to chat with Tricia about my writing journey and my books.
• As for D&D writing for my campaign . . . I admit to slacking a bit on that front. I also admit to once again underestimating the complexity of what I decided to do. Still, I am making progress in bits and pieces, and as long as I'm maintaining a buffer, I'm fine.
• I've also been doing some writing on a side project, but that is entirely for fun. Basically, it's an opportunity to recharge with a story that I know won't be published and that doesn't have deadlines, so I can keep in the writing habit without the pressure of an "official" project. (That's not to say anything negative about my published books; I love working on those too. But I've learned too that sometimes it's nice to write something that's just for me.)

Reading!

• This was another slightly lighter reading month (two of those seven books pictured are short stories), but it included lots of excellent stories! I can hardly pick a favorite!
• Splintered Mind was probably my most highly-anticipated read of the month, and it was every bit as excellent as I hoped it would be. Seeing a different side of Between and Behind was fun, and I also liked the new lead character. Viv is decidedly, determinedly normal, and she is much more reluctant to embrace the new, mad world she's been pulled into than certain previous protagonists — but I can't blame her. Plus, she's also caring and practical and Doing Her Best, and her new perspective gives this book a very different vibe than the previous books in this world. (Also, because Viv is coming into this cold, this is an excellent starting point if you want to give the Between and Behind books a try but are intimidated by the ten-book commitment of City Between!)
• Another world I enjoyed revisiting was H.S.J. Williams's Aselvia! I reread Moonscript and read Crown of Sand and Sea in preparation for Collusion's release, and both of those were excellent. Hannah is magnificent at balancing heartbreak and hope, facing the darkness without succumbing to it. I've said before that her books remind me of Goldstone Wood, and I stand by that now. (On a related note, I'm currently reading Collusion, her latest release, and it is excellent.)
• On the shorter side, we have Claire Trella Hill's Come by Water and Aeronwy's Stolen Child. Come by Water was a cool take on Tam Lin, and Claire does a good job at deciding what to show from the original myth and what to leave out. It's not my favorite of her books, but it's still a good read. Aeronwy's Stolen Child, on the other hand, is definitely in my top three favorites of Claire's works! It's such a clever reimagining of a changeling story, one in which the faery child might not have been so willingly given and a faery mother is desperate to get her baby back. I absolutely loved it!
• Moving on, I read the first Artemis Fowl book as research for my Silmaril Awards ceremony. I almost got into this series at one point when I was much younger . . . and, to be honest, I am not upset to have missed it. To be clear, the author does some interesting things with worldbuilding, the story is exciting, and Artemis is an interesting character, so I see why the series is so popular, but I did not vibe with it.
• Wrapping up this month, I finally finished reading Moby Dick via the Whale Weekly Substack! It was . . . definitely something. I admit that, even in email form, I was definitely skimming a lot by the end. This falls solidly into the category of "I'm glad I read it, but I sure hope I don't have to do it again."

 Watching & Playing!

• I am actually caught up on Star Rail main story content, and it is the weirdest feeling. What do you mean, there's not another big story mission for me to do? What do you mean, I just have to sit here and wait for months to find out what happens next? That can't be right, can it? (It is, apparently.)
• So, yeah. I finished the Penacony story and jumped straight into the Wardance, and storms was that intense and amazing. I finished the first part about three days before part two dropped, and the agony of that cliffhanger — I don't know how people who had to wait the full time didn't go crazy. But that whole storyline was amazingly well done. I loved the new characters, and I also loved the way many established characters' arcs continued, both in the main story and the event quests. The Xianghou continues to have some of my favorite characters and my favorite storylines; it's just the best.
• And now I'm just waiting for the next update to drop . . .
• Or, rather, I would be just waiting, except that my friends who got me into Star Rail talked me into starting Genshin Impact. Which, to be fair, I planned to do eventually, but they were very persuasive in getting me to move that timeline up. And by "very persuasive," I mean that they filled our group chat with pictures and discussions of all the cool characters in Genshin, and they also pointed out that a character they thought I would love (both as a character and in terms of gameplay) was going to be available to pull fairly soon. And given that it probably was going to be the best time for me to start a new game for a while (in that I was entering the gap between Illusion's Reign being done and my next grad school class starting) . . . I really couldn't argue with them.
• So, yes, I'm playing Genshin now. It is going very slowly (I just finished Act II of the prologue), and I am still very bad at the combat (I keep forgetting to switch characters and shield), but I'm having fun! The storyline is interesting, and I like the characters I've met so far. The fact that the main story quests are level-locked is a little frustrating to me, but from a gameplay and game design perspective, it makes sense. And it probably isn't a bad thing that I have to wait a little to find out what happens next . . . After all, patience is a virtue.

 Life!

• September started with a Bible study retreat up at White Sulphur Springs. This was, again, a joint retreat between our study in Virginia and another study group in Ohio that my sister and many of our friends attend. Getting to spend time in one of my favorite places in the world with some of my favorite people in the world was absolutely lovely, as always! We played board games, went up to the shooting range, explored the small town near the retreat center, did square dancing, and just spent a lot of time hanging out and talking. I also got to do a lot of just-for-fun writing on the porch with a gorgeous view of the mountains (which are beautiful no matter the weather). Saturday also came with a magnificent thunderstorm . . . which did put a damper (pun intended) on a lot of outdoor activities and briefly knocked out the power, but I still enjoyed it.
• The retreat was a nice break, which was good, since the rest of September was pretty busy. Besides book releases and Silmaril Awards, I had a lot to do at work to get ready for our Stewardship campaign and start of fall programming. Granted, a lot of it was in the vein of "hurry up and wait" because I'd get my part done, then have to wait for the relevant person to review what I'd done or give me more information . . . but that describes many of my busy seasons, to be honest.
• D&D was pretty eventful this month. I mentioned back in my August Doings that we'd reached the climax of the campaign and had played the first stage of the final confrontation with the villain. This month, we had the rest of that confrontation, battling the antagonist himself (not just his armies). That was every bit as epic as I expected. Our DM did an amazing job with the setup of the fight, both narratively and mechanically, and everyone had their moment to shine in the battle and in the aftermath. After that, we had one more session as an epilogue to wrap up our characters' stories and figure out what they're doing now that their adventure is over. That was also lovely — bittersweet in that we were saying goodbye, but more sweet than bitter. Pretty much everyone got a happy ending, one way or another, and so I am more than satisfied.
• I'm also looking forward to our next campaign, though right now we're doing a mini-adventure DMed by one of the other players in the group. I'm playing the sister of my main campaign character, who is rather different from both her and me personality-wise, so that's been interesting. She's also a paladin/sorcerer multiclass, which means combat is a lot more complicated than it was previously. She's fun, though, and I'm enjoying this new story and the other player's DM style.
• We wrapped up the month with another Bible study event, specifically a campfire get-together. Getting to see people there outside of the study, and I successfully made a mountain pie without either burning or underheating it, so yay for that.
• That covers pretty much everything — this September was a lot more chill than a lot of others have been, and I am grateful for that.

October Plans

• The big thing for October is the start of a new grad school class — my extended summer-and-early-fall break has come to an end, and it's time to get back to work. I admit that I'm not excited, but hopefully it won't be too bad either. This class is on advanced English grammar, so I suspect that either it's going to be chill or it's going to be really technical and frustrating. We'll find out which in a couple weeks!
• I plan to spend most of October working on shorter stories for anthologies and writing challenges rather than jumping back in on another Bastian Dennel book. However, there is the chance that will change depending on my mood and inspiration. I do know that I want to write something for the next DOSA Files anthology, though, and it would be good to do that before I start another novel.
• As mentioned earlier, I will be at Eat Local, Read Local at the Cascades Library in Potomac Falls on Saturday, October 19, 11:00–2:00! As long as nothing goes wrong, I should have paperback copies of Illusion's Reign there, as well as most of my other books. If you're in the area, I'd love for you to come say hello!
• Since I didn't end up going to the Renaissance Faire in September, I'm hoping to make it to one in October instead — ideally with a friend, but I'll go alone if I have to. Scheduling that has been a pain so far, though, so we'll see what happens.
• Aside from those things, I expect October will be business as usual. I hope so, anyway.

How was your September? Any plans for October? What's the best for-fun decision you've been talked into by someone else? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!