Lexical Gap No. 45: Latibulate
November 2023 summary
Well, well, well, it appears as though winter is here, if the dryness of my skin and the constant static electricity is anything to judge by. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Bear and I took a vacation to Bermuda, and I swear it takes just as long to recover from vacation as it does to be on vacation. Or maybe that’s just me.
And now we head into the part of year where my seasonal affective disorder just makes me want to hibernate. I joke with Bear that I’m solar-powered; as soon as it gets dark, I shut down. Nowadays that seems to happen around 4PM, which means I spend more time in 0% battery mode than not.
I still have quite a bit of work to do over December, especially with regards to GUARDIANS 3, so I plan to hunker down and go quiet for a while. Which is fine. ‘Tis the season of hibernation, after all.
In this issue
1. JJ’s magical world
2. Lexical gap
3. Upcoming events
4. This creative life
5. What I’m reading
6. What I’m watching
7. Other things of note
lexical gap: latibulate 🧩
According to the internet, latibulate means “privily to hide oneself in the corner,” although I can’t find a lot of citations as to usage.
upcoming events 📅
If any of y’all are in the Chapel Hill area of North Carolina, I will be joining Renée Ahdieh on her tour for the final book in The Beautiful Quartet, The Ruined! Come for shenanigans, sisterly teasing, and arguments about sexy leads in books.
WHERE: Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
WHEN: Sunday, December 10, 2023 at 4PM
Audience Q&A and signing to follow!
this creative life ✍🏻
I tried an experiment for the month of November, where I would try to draft 50K in a month. I did not succeed in this experiment, but I’ve learned some valuable things about my writing process.
It’s a mess.
It’s a hot mess.
It is always different from the process it took to draft my last book.
There is no consistency to creativity. There is labor, and then there is inspiration, and while I’ve accepted that inspiration comes and goes like a fickle sprite, I’m slower to accept that labor is similarly temperamental. Perhaps it’s because burnout is like a sprained ankle; I will forever baby that part of me that was injured the last time because I’m afraid of it happening again. Or perhaps I’m just lazy. I’m not sure. But as much as I’d love to be that person who shows up at the same time every day to work, I simply don’t function in that way. Trying to write every day for 30 days straight has shown that to me.
It all evens out in the wash. I know that, even as my brain keeps searching for a hack.
what i’m reading 📖
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland. I thoroughly enjoyed House of Hollow when I read it earlier this year, and I was thrilled to be asked to join Krystal on her tour stop in North Carolina for The Invocations. More to come in February!
The Ruined by Renée Ahdieh. Rereading The Beautiful Quartet prior to my event with Renée in December has been a treat.
The Art of War for Writers by James Scott Bell. As I am wont to do while drafting, I start reading a lot of craft books in the hopes of somehow hacking my brain into making the entire process easier. (Spoiler alert: it does not.) This book is not a craft book so much as a tough love sort of encouragement about the process of writing and being in publishing.
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. In many ways, this is the opposite book to The Art of War for Writers, where instead of tough love, we get a journey through the sort of transcendent parts of writing, the place where creativity lives instead of mere work. I actually liked reading these two books together.
what i’m watching 📺
Loki: Season 2. I’ll admit I was a little iffy on this one to start; unlike season 1, which I felt was a lovely little piece on learning to learn yourself, I couldn’t quite what the Point of season 2 was. And yet. And yet. The ending was beautiful. It really stuck the landing, for all that I felt the first four episodes were sort of messy and unfocused.
other things of note 💾
Walker, Campbell. “The Hidden Cost of Gamification.” struthless. YouTube. November 2023.
That’s all for this month! I expect things will be quiet until the new year, unless I have news or announcements to share!
사랑해,
