Jenn D’s June Recs

It’s June, and that means one very important thing: it’s the start of winter. I love winter in Australia, because it’s basically the best cold, sunny, clear autumn day I ever had growing up in Oregon, but for like, three months straight. Ideal. It’s also doing-stuff time, so I’m back to running, cleaning, moving things around in my house, and, uh, getting the driveway redone. Fare thee well, 1950s double strip of concrete, broken up by years of tree roots and vehicles. (Goodbye also to my beloved 1961 carport. You were made of rust, and fell into a heap with the builder leaned against you too aggressively. Thanks for the memories, and for not killing us.)

Anyway, house and builder-y stuff aside, I have done a few things!

I took an excellent writing class over zoom, conducted by one of the pod’s faves, Maggie Stiefvater. I wish I could articulate everything I learned in a gracious, concise way, but a) we kinda did the class as a group-wide trust exercise so I’m not saying a damn thing; and b) I’m basically melty-brained when I try to explain it. I keep referring back to my notes and having little insights that I immediately jot down as pertains to my own WIPs. I can say for sure, just having an author use her own books (books that I know particularly well—see the past several years of my life, and also, Season 5 of this podcast) as a teaching tool was a GREAT way to link into concepts and forms I needed in my own writing. I do a lot intuitively, and I know when a story is working, and when it’s not, but I also haven’t really got the faintest when it comes to how to workshop it better. This class has given me so much in the way of being able to approach a story from a completely different angle. I can’t wait to get stuck in.

If you’re interested, Stiefvater is going to run another 5-week class in August, and there’s also a more intensive NaNoWriMo thing, and she’s also doing a Scottish Castle retreat which I just… want to go to so badly. Maybe someday.

And if you’re a miser like me, you can always start with her really excellent seminar series, which leads into the 5-week class really beautifully. You don’t need it, but it will help a lot. I think kids these days call it “consolidation”.

Also in the “becoming a less crap writer” corner, someone on the Tumblr recommended Gail Carriger’s “The Heroine’s Journey” to me, and I read it in one sitting, and now I basically want to tattoo it all over my brain. It’s the story I’ve been reading and writing my whole life. It’s what I want every story to be. If you’re a writer or a reader and you like seeing the shape of things, I cannot recommend this book enough.

Further reading: I finally bought and read all four Heartstopper books, and I watched the show on Netflix, and my heart, my HEART. Nick Nelson is the purest and sweetest child. And Charlie needs all the hugs all the time. I think the books are on sale at Booktopia, but I picked mine up at QBD, and I am sending them all to Jen V so she can having copies in real life, because she also loves them (in fact she loves them more than me, I am 100% sure of that).

In arts and crafts corner, I’ve been cross-stitching up a storm. I finished the Lizzy House pattern I had started on and am now well into the Pretty Little Sydney pattern by Jodi Rice of Satsuma Street. (She’s got a really fun Mary Blair vibe that I adore.) I’m also having lots of fun cataloging my sewing thread onto plastic bobbins and neatly writing the numbers on the cards and color-coding the patterns with the threads and basically just creating a little island of loveliness and order! Very fun. I’ve also got some Shitpost Samplers to do, but those will have to wait.

Also in arts and crafts corner, I’ve been making a Plot Board. This involves some acoustic pinboard (or cheap felt over a sturdy bit of scrap plywood, or stretched across a wall or a door), hook-only velcro dots, a lot of steamy afternoons with my trusty laminator, and tons of little paper cards from Daiso. I want to go further into detail on this at some point, but I like the idea of transcribing my plot points and concepts to a workable, physical space where I can move things around. Laminated cards = dry erase marker compatible. Velcro dots = move around easily. It’s been fun to make! Now to actually plot some stories…

In real life, my kids both do soccer now, and that’s eaten my Sundays. But I recommend it. I’m wearing in my hiking shoes and I’m enjoying standing in the sun having casual conversations with other parents. It’s really fun to watch my kids picking up new skills. And I love how my endlessly polite and careful daughter is learning how to just get in there and get that ball!! (She still really hates running after it, though. She walks very urgently. It cracks me up.)

Also, a reminder: I just got my flu shot, and if you’re in NSW, they’re free for the rest of the month. I know we’re collectively pretending there’s no pandemic (which, btw, there still definitely is), the more people are at risk of contracting influenza. Influenza, by the way, sucks. I had it back in 2017, and it was the worst I have ever felt in my life, and I gave birth twice without drugs inside my house. Get your flu shot.

All right, I’m off to go build some Mario Lego and try and convince my kids to unstick themselves from the sofa. Gotta love weekends. Stay safe!

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Jen V’s June Recs

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Season 6 Reading Themes