Welcome to Inkpot Droplets

Welcome to Inkpot Droplets, a monthly newsletter this is basically replacing what was once known on my blog as "Bookish Breakdown" or a monthly wrap up. And it's only the second newsletter and I'm already changing how I'm doing it. I think I am going to stick with just long form text. With my first one, I think I was trying too hard to make it like a blog post, with fancy graphics and line breaks. Yet some of my favorite newsletters I read are just...simple. Black text on a white background.

So, we're going with simple.

For me, life has been...a whirlwind, this month. I started really energized (the new year always does that for me). I made new intentions. Particularly about my reading. Especially about my writing. I made decisions to start looking for a new job and try to escape my toxic current one. We started looking to see if buying a house could ever be possible. Edward and I celebrated six years together, starting our seventh.

But then I got sick. Again. This time, it was a GI virus that made it to where I couldn't eat anything for five days without it going straight through me. Exhaustion, low grade fevers, body aches, muscle aches and headaches became my companions for the week. Then halfway through trying to recover that, I got my period. I had to do my first class of the semester virtually. I interviewed sick (virtually). After being sick for a quarter of 2022 (literally), getting sick so early into 2023 just felt so disheartening.

Yet now, I'm trying to remind myself that time is just a construct. So even though I had a week where all my writing goals went to shit, and nothing got done, didn't mean that I'd suddenly failed the month, let alone 2023, like my brain was trying to tell me. It just meant I needed to listen to my body, do the best I could and try again.

So, I'm trying to carry that spirit with me, right now. Giving myself more grace. Trying to listen to my body more. Still masking, of fucking course. Still taking precautions to try and keep myself as healthy as possible. But also accepting that sometimes, life gets in the way. And beating myself up doesn't serve anything.

Content Consumed

Onto a positive note, though! GUESS WHO WAS ABLE TO READ AGAIN!? Y'all, I can't believe that I actually read books again. And like, good books, too. Currently, I am trying to read an antiracist read while I am on my stationary bike, to encourage me to use it more. (And, on remote days, I try to do it before work, which is really nice). Then during lunch, I read my current SFF book. Before bed, I try to read a little of a romance novel. It's worked pretty well so far and I hope I can keep it up!

• ​The Helm of Midnight by Mariana Lostetter
• ​A Lady Can Never Be Too Curious by Mary Wine
• ​The Assassin and the Libertine by Lily Riley
• The Outlaw and the Rogue by Lily Riley (in progress)
• Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male by Ijeoma Oluo (in progress)
• The Last Watch by J.S. Dewes (in progress)

Other media I've been enjoying includes: replaying Cyberpunk 2077. I've finally gotten past the part I got to last time and I'm a lot better at the game. Curious to see where the story goes, but I just thoroughly enjoy the combat system. Haven't watched any TV or films, though I am in a screenwriting-type course this semester, so I think the film bit might be changing later.

Highlight Hello

This month, I want to highlight a friend's debut book release!! The wonderful and amazing R.K. Brainerd has been a writer friend I connected with on Twitter years ago. But, even so long ago, after reading her first novel back then, I knew she was something special. And she's taken her books into her own hands, publishing her debut novel, Jagged Emerald City, just this month!

If you like ecopunk, alt-history, romantic fantasy and ANGST, you're gonna wanna buy this book. I know it's available electronically as of posting this newsletter, with the paperback coming soon! I really hope you all give it a try. And don't forget, if you do read it, to leave a review on all review sites, to help R.K. fight the algorithm gods.

Advocacy Action

This month, I want to highlight the protests to stop cop city. To learn more about it, I recommend this article and this article, both by the ARD. For ways to get involved, including flyers you can post, petition you can sign and a call you can make, go here!

Thanks for Reading!

Thank you all for joining me on this newsletter! The fact that any and all of you care enough to sign up and let me invade your inboxes potentially once a month will forever be absolutely humbling. It's a fun way to connect with you all, share some highlights and talk about how the month went. Never hesitate to respond, though, if you desire to. I'd love to hear from you all and see how you're doing!

Until next month.

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