Sweatshirt season

Be one with the fuzz

Roads Go Ever On 05: Sweatshirt season

💻 what I'm up to 💻
It is my most loved time of year in Los Angeles. Gray clouds start to cover the sun more often. I don’t feel an instant sheen of sweat cover my body when I step outside. And because insulation in this apartment is terrible, even when it creeps back up to 80 degrees it doesn’t get hot. This means I get to wear a sweatshirt every day. Since I’m working from home, I can wear the same sweatshirt for several days if I so choose. I make the rules.

And I just love sweatshirts. They’re comfortable, warm, cozy, soft. I can usually pull the sleeves over my hands when they get cold. If it has thumb holes? Heaven. I can sink into fleece ones for a whole other level of luxury. Sweatshirts feel like a hug. It’s just… sweatshirts bring me such contentment. I know it may sound silly, but going through my many sweatshirts (too many for a reasonable person who lives in a desert to own) and choosing the one that suits my mood brings me such joy. Maybe it’s all the looking for happiness in unconventional places to get through this year? Who knows.

Aside from writing odes to sweatshirts, I am in Ultimate Planning Mode. My husband, cats, and I are moving across the country in just about a month, and I’m just going through lists on the daily and making notes in my calendar.

📘 my book/writing things 📘
You may know the drill by now, but if you’re still looking for last minute Christmas gifts, I’d sure appreciate if you got one of my books through whatever means is safest.

I’m starting to think about my books that are arriving next year and soon I’ll be able to reveal the cover for A Kid’s Guide to Fandom, my middle-grade debut that’s a non-fiction guide to exploring fandom. And I’ll get to share who the illustrator is too and YAY!

Finally, Star Wars Insider #199 is on shelves now and I have two interviews in it: one with Ashley Eckstein about the end of The Clone Wars and one with the authors and architects of the High Republic.

📺 what I'm watching 📺
Klaus
I am fully in Christmas mode so I’ve been revisiting a stable of favorites. Klaus is a new addition since it only debuted last year. It’s an animated film with a sweet Santa Claus origin story. Santa’s history here involves a postman, a desolate angry town, and an exceptionally kind and lonely toymaker. No joke: Klaus is beautiful with an earnest thread of togetherness and helping others. I cried. I forgot how good it is. If you want something heartwarming to watch this holiday season, Klaus is on Netflix.

And, and, and the animation is breathtaking! They drew it in 2D but applied lighting and textures as if it was 3D? Look, I don’t know animation technology but Cartoon Brew has an interview with folks who worked on the film, and it’s fascinating. 

📚 what I'm reading 📚
Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
Imagine if a certain fantasy show made its own way once it went through the source material and then didn’t end well. Just imagine. Hmm. That happens in Spoiler Alert. That’s kinda the b plot though. This romance has fanfic, body positivity, a convention, nerdiness, and utter joy. I inhaled it.

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden
It’s winter time even if SoCal doesn’t feel like it, and when it’s winter I want books that bring me snowdrifts, icy forests, and roaring fires. I only just started The Bear and the Nightingale two nights ago, but oof, am I enchanted. It has Russian fairytale vibes and centers on the story of a daring girl and Frost, a blue-eyed winter demon. There's magic, wildness, and descriptions so vivid I feel like I need an extra blanket while reading.

🐳 something whalesome 🐳
I like wholesome things and the whale emoji is cute so: whalesome!

adriancmurray

A post shared by Adrian C. Murray (@adriancmurray)

If you’ve ever owned a stuffed animal you know they can be the most loyal friends. We form bonds with our toys, especially as kids. This dad has been taking photos of his kids with their plush bears for years, and I dare you not to smile at his Instagram feed.

🍃 creativity corner 🍃
Here I’ll share tips and tricks that are helping me write, imagine, and/or stay productive.

As I’m approaching a holiday break from my day job at Nerdist and already entirely failing at taking the time completely off (I need to work on a magazine article, looks like a deadline for a start on a book just dropped in my lap, I want to brainstorm ideas for more non-IP books and that’s all on top of packing for the move I mentioned -- you can see what I’m doing to myself here), let me share advice I’m terrible at practicing: take a break if you can! You need it. Your mind needs it. Your body for sure frakking needs it. It will clear some weeds and give you a fresh place to start from. Even if it’s just for a day. And remember: you do not have to “earn” or “deserve” your rest.

📃 quote of the week 📃
“Words are living things. They must be treated with respect. They’re born, they live and grow, and change, just as we do.” - Lenora Bell, Love Is a Rogue

A lovely (and quite steamy!) romance novel I recently devoured featured a protagonist who, in the Regency era, is determined to write the ultimate dictionary. I can’t resist a bookish heroine, it’s very my brand, and this quote jumped out. Words evolve, and we need to pay attention to the whens and whys and roll with the changes.