June 2024 Newsletter
From beach babe to demigod trainer
June has been, as hoped, less of a whirlwind than May — although I spent this past week on-site at Richmond’s Camp Half-Blood, which was wonderful but definitely not relaxing! I front-loaded my chill time at the beginning of the month, down at the beach.
Come to think of it, I spent a lot of this month out-of-doors for one reason or another. The weather at the beach was outrageously perfect, and I took my laptop out on the deck as much as possible so I could soak it up. The weather at camp was… well, less perfect. 😅 Virginia is firmly within the heat dome that’s been plunked over half the country, and we’ve had some absolute scorchers. It honestly didn’t feel as bad as it could’ve, though, even on the hottest day, because the humidity stayed relatively low. Well, low when you’re used to living in the swamp that is most of this state, anyway. And we used that opportunity to play water games, which always excites delightful chaos.
Even with the challenging weather, I had a blast getting to be a Counselor for a week. I had an absolutely amazing group of campers to work with, which made the whole week such a genuine joy. Seriously, they were everything you could hope for a group of middle-schoolers to be: energetic, creative, generally good-natured and kind-hearted, and weird in the best possible ways. They were all kids who’d been to camp before, many of them coming back for a third or fourth year, so they knew the routine and came ready and eager to play. It makes such a difference to have kids who buy-in to the fantasy of the mythical world we’re creating, choosing the immersion rather than trying to poke holes at it.
Oh, the Egg? Wondering what that picture is about? 😂 Well, this summer, all of our camps have been given a special charge: to guard and protect a clutch of Phoenix Eggs — and to imbue them with positive energy for the phoenix to absorb. Each camp is doing something a little different, and it’s been fabulous seeing what the campers are coming up with. Ours decided to put it on top of the grill so it would feel comfy amid the coals, festoon it with paper chains (including some green to help hide it), and give it a rad hat. Want to know more about this particular phoenix saga? Listen to Season 2 of the Myths and Muses podcast (featuring yours truly)!
News
I had a great time at Massanutten Regional Library’s FandomFest last weekend. I’ve done my “Choose, Don’t Presume” presentation (drawn from everything I’ve learned while working on Worldbuilding for Masochists) a few times now, but always online! This was my first chance to do it in a room with people. The crowd was fantastic. They asked so many insightful questions, which made for a great discussion at the end of the presentation. I followed that up with a trip to White Oak Lavender Farm, even though it was about 101 degrees that day, because a lavender farm in June is just too great a temptation to miss!
Upcoming Events
Glasgow WorldCon is coming up in — eek! — not that many weeks now! I’ll be in Scotland August 8th-12th (before traveling to Bordeaux, just for fun, with my mama!). My schedule is still TBD, but I expect I’ll have it set by my next newsletter. There’s still time to vote for Worldbuilding for Masochists for Best Fancast! (And goodness, I still need to pick out a dress!)
Work continues apace on Halcy-Con, October 4-5 in Orlando. I’m spending a lot of this weekend working on that programming schedule, since we’ll be announcing our slate of sessions next week. Some really exciting things are starting to take shape — and we’re — eek! again — under 100 days to the event now.
And I do have a new item to add to the list! November 16-17, I’ll be at the Carolina Renaissance Festival for their annual author signing event. I’ve been to CRF a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed it — to me, it feels like a nice balance between the intimacy and strong character focus of the Virginia faire and the larger footprint and fuller environment of the Maryland faire. I’m looking forward to getting to wander about, take in some shows, and shop when I’m not at the signing table! If you’re in the area, come say hi!
What I’ve Been Reading
I made some great progress on some actual, physical books while at the beach in the early part of June, but in the past couple weeks, I’ve been in the mood for familiar, comfort re-reads! Or, re-listens, as the case has been. There will be a lot of good listening material in my future, because I completely lost my head during the recent 85% off Audible sale. (Did any of y’all pick up the Aven Cycle audiobooks during that? 57 hours of listening material!)
As always, these are affiliate links, and if you use them to buy books, I’ll get a small commission, which will feed right back into my ever-expanding TBR.
Royal Tea Service, Casey Blair
The Outlaws of Sherwood, Robin McKinley
Road to Ruin, Hana Lee
The Spellshop, Sarah Beth Durst
One Dark Window and Two Twisted Crowns, Rachel Gillig
Lords and Ladies, Terry Pratchett
Well Met and Well Matched, Jen DeLuca
Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade
Wrapping It Up
I’m gonna be honest, I’ve been so focused on what I had going on in June that I’ve barely thought about July yet. 😅 I’ll be dropping into the Richmond camp a few more times to see how the stories are playing out, and I’ll be getting ready for Glasgow. And, I hope, I’ll be able to revive the writing habit I was gently getting back into earlier in June! (It fell apart completely during camp, but, well, I expected that.)
Hope your summer is off to a smooth (if sweltering) start!