I ♥ (Faux) Monday
♥ FREEFALL by Mindi Scott. I’m not a self-destructive but sweet, kinda alcoholic musician dude, but my best friend in high school was. And Mindi nails the voice. I’ve never written anything from a male POV, and I am SO impressed by how entirely she nailed it. I grew up with guys like Seth, and his voice felt incredibly realistic and honest to me. I was cheering so hard for these characters to heal. Also: the book itself is tiny and paperback and striking.
♥ Yoga. I went to class at my old studio last night and it was amazing. So relaxing, so just what I needed both spiritually (focusing on gratitude) and physically (shoulder openers!). I came away determined to make more time in my life for this. I’m already looking at my schedule for this weekend to figure out when I can fit in another class!
♥ This post by Sarah Dessen. Especially this bit: "But the truth is, I realized a long time ago that I have absolutely NO control over my writing, how it goes any given day, or week, or in any given book. I can follow the same schedule, sit at the same computer, eat the same two chocolates, every single day, with wildly varying results. And that, my friends, makes me NUTS. It’s why I spend so much of the rest of my day organizing drawers, separating my daughter’s toys into neatly ordered bins, and obsessively updating my calendar. I need to feel like I’m doing something right, when such a big part of what I do and love is always the big question mark. But I do love it. That’s the thing." I just–this hit such a chord for me yesterday. I’m waiting to get revision notes from Awesome Agent Jim on Thrice-Blessed, the thing I have written that I am most proud of and most in love with, and I am all kinds of nervous about it. Also, we have come to the conclusion that Garolass needs to be shelved for now. We’ve gotten lots of compliments from editors but no actual offers. So. That’s been hard. I hope to come back to it someday for sure. But it is difficult, not having control over so much in publishing. It makes me happy that even the amazing Sarah Dessen resorts to frantically writing to-do notes or whatnot.
♥ Mumford & Sons. I am in love with their album, especially "Little Lion Man." Here’s the video (which is NSFW unless you have your own office, probably).
♥ Apples. I went to visit my parents in Gettysburg last weekend, and I came home with Autumn bounty: yellow and rust-colored mums, apple cider, pumpkins for the front porch, and a dozen Red Delicious from my uncle’s orchard. Red Delicious are possibly my favorite apples. I’ve been eating them with reduced-fat peanut butter, but tonight I might try this recipe for Whole Wheat Apple Muffins. I’m also looking to get some tarter apples this week and make Carmelized Onion Tarts with Apples. Nom! I can also enthusiastically recommend this recipe for Smitten Kitchen’s Apple Cake, which will be my contribution this year to my family’s Thanksgiving.
What about you? What’s your favorite apple? What’s your favorite apple recipe? What are you in ♥ with this week?
