5 Things on a Friday

Back in the LiveJournal days, we bloggers did a feature called "Five Things on a Friday". I'm feeling that today. Here are my five things:

1. Roy Kent. If you're watching Ted Lasso, you know. If you aren't, you're missing out. Roy's gruff demeanor, love for his niece, and effort to communicate and really put work into his relationship with Keely gives me all the feels. Plus, let's face it, I love his liberal use of profanity. (Note: I'm two episodes behind. No spoilers!)

2. Martha Beck's new book. It's got some woo-woo in it, but I really enjoyed Martha Beck's latest book, The Way of Integrity. She uses Dante's Divine Comedy as an extended metaphor for living life. Interesting things to think about personally, and I also found myself applying some of the questions and exercises in the book to my characters for my latest novel. Much fun!

3. September. Yep, the month. The summer we had in the Northeast was a big ol' washout--tons and tons of rain, plus scorching heatwaves when it wasn't pouring. I'm digging the sunshine and temps in the 70s we're getting lately, everyone in my family being (masked, vaxxed) back to school, and loving my deck and yard. Plus, yanno, blaring some Earth, Wind, & Fire and dancing around my kitchen.

4. Pesto sauce. I don't use it as much in the summer as I probably should, but this garlicky basil delight is going in everything coming out of my kitchen right now.

5. Creative joy. After a big long stretch of not writing at all in 2020, I'm riding a bit of a creative surge. I'm not writing a crazy amount, but just working steadily and making a point to enjoy and appreciate the process, as opposed to forcing myself to work for a length of time or achieve a certain word count. As a result, I'm having way more fun and happily producing a range of pieces. It's a shifted mindset for me, and I kinda like it.

Those are my things this week!