I'd LOVE to see you at the North Georgia Regional Book Fair!
Also, life has been life-ing in the best way possible!
Hey friends,
I am coming to a regional book fair near you! If you are local to Dahlonega, GA, anyway. I, along with several bookish friends plus some more I haven’t met yet, will be converging on the University of North Georgia’s campus at the Convocation Center to talk about books! I will be speaking on a panel about writing processes, and I have several friends who will be on panels about worldbuilding in fantasy novels, writing romance, and so many more to choose from. I’ll be in room 119 from 1:30-2:30. Come see me and my fellow panelists and bring your questions!
Here are a few more of my friends that will be there!
, , , and Sophie Leigh Fox
Most important of all since my last update, my beautiful niece Fairlight made it earthside. I don’t have the right words to explain how much I love this little spot of sunshine, so I won’t try. You’ll have to see for yourself. Just look at her FACE. I’d give her a million dollars if I had it.
If you need me, I will be staring at the 99782394 photos of her I saved on my phone just TODAY.
LISTENING/READING/WATCHING/WRITING
LISTENING:
I’ve been really enjoying With the Perrys. It’s a husband and wife ministerial team that really have blessed me lately with sound theological teaching and a bunch of laughs. It’s refreshing to see couples in ministry who act like they genuinely love people AND build each other up. This episode with Lisa Fields about wrestling with God was so good.
READING:
I’ve read a few enjoyable books this summer, including two Emily Henry books, People We Meet on Vacation and Happy Place. I enjoyed Happy Place more, but both books were fun summer reads.
In doing research for The River Woman Project, I read Tara Westover’s book Educated, which I thought was fascinating. Her mother works with frequencies for healing, which is part of my river woman’s gift. I also listened to Where the Crawdads Sing because I love how Delia Owens wrote about the marsh, and I want to recreate that kind of feel for TRWP.
Another good read was Dear Henry, Love Edith by Becca Kinzer. Henry ends up with Edith as a roommate, but they are on opposite schedules so they don’t meet in person. They start corresponding via notes left on the counter, and he mistakenly thinks the young widow is a much older woman. It’s adorable.
WATCHING:
Jared and I have been binging Midsomer Murders. It’s an old British murder mystery drama, perfect if you love cozy mysteries.
We also just started the newest season of The Umbrella Academy, and I love this show and also I have no idea what’s going on lol It must have been so hard for the writers to keep the story straight!
WRITING:
Speaking of keeping the story straight, I am THISCLOSE to finishing the second draft of The River Woman Project! It’s a much stronger draft than the first by far. I know I will need to move a few more things around to bring the mystery of the story more to the forefront, but I am proud of the progress. Most of this draft was written during #mamawrimo, which is an alternative for NANOWRIMO. NANO has never worked for me because it must be designed by people who have no holiday responsibilities!
MAMAWRIMO was still a challenge because we homeschool, so August is bananas for me, but the school year feels like a fresh start, so I dug in and I only missed two days. Now I want to keep that momentum going!
My hope/prayer/goal/dear Jesus help me do it/plan is to be done done with this draft by the end of September and have it be ready for some beta readers. Put me on the prayer chain, y’all. I’m believing this thing will get done soon!
I love y’all!
Tristan
P.S. I’ll be doing a giveaway at the book fair, so be sure to come see me at my table :)