On chapter 18? 19… of my Summer Project (It’s called Daisy, but I keep referring to it as my Summer Project to … appear more mysterious? I don’t know)
Gathered a list of short stories that I think I could possibly put together in a collection
Went through a few chapters of Lazarus Rising’s first draft (Fogg is so fun to read and write)
I spent yesterday reading 2.5 books, and both were disappointing. I don’t know why I keep expecting romantasy to be good. It’s all miscommunication tropes that make me want to slam my face in a blender. And if it’s not that, it’s the main couple arguing about their relationship. It’s so frustrating that the plot is non-existent in a lot of these. But if the people want the fuckin’, I guess they’ll get the fuckin’.
I’m going to spend some time typing up a bit of the first scribbles I made of The Dust Chronicles. A story I keep drifting to in my heart. It might be a duology. It also might just be a single novel. But a fuckin’ big one. That’s the next project after the Maker Series.
That’s all the snow on this mountain. I hope you are doing well. I hope the summer has been kind to you, even if it’s been hot as balls.
Q: What is your favorite food? A: Cheesy carbs, but also peanut butter
Q: Do you have a favorite color? A: Blue, in any hue
Q: How about hobbies? A: Sure, writing–although that one is more of a life. Reading (I’m currently reading two books, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, and No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. I just finished Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer.)
I also enjoy hiking, art museums, listening to music, visiting my family, and seeing my friends.
Q: How big is your family? A: I have a blended family, which gives me two brothers and three sisters. Most of us live in the US, but one sister lives in Japan with her family. I have four nephews and a niece. They range in ages from 6.5 years old to two less than a year old.
Q: What music do you listen to? A: Pretty much everything. I’m not a country music fan, but I appreciate people are. I don’t usually listen to rap unless I’m in the mood for it. My most listened to band right now is Sleep Token (shut up, they’re good to me), but I also am very fond of soundtracks, “classical” music, and other assortments of musical acts like Dead South, Bedouin Soundclash, Breaking Benjamin, Noah Gundersen, Elbow, Modest Mouse, Heilung, Hozier, Juice WRLD, Keane, Linkin Park, Hanson, etc.
Q: Do you believe in God? A: Not really. I used to. I was raised Mormon (LDS) and was fairly active in the church until my early twenties, and then I kind of had some stuff happen that didn’t really shake my faith, more confirmed some things I’d thought for a while. I do believe in a spirituality of sorts, not necessarily religiously. I find a lot of solace in nature, and I like being reminded there’s more out there much bigger than I am, and I can get easily lost in the thought of how rivers know where to go. Spirituality often gets misconstrued as having to do with religion, but I think it’s more a connection to our place in the universe. For whatever reason, evolution gave us the ability to have a deep thought now and then, and a lot of us humans ponder why we’re here. I certainly don’t know the answer to that, but I do know I’m doing my best to enjoy being here.
Q: What is your biggest fear? A: The dark, deep water, mirrors, losing my family. The dark is, of course, the possibility of what’s inside the darkness, deep water because there’s an element of the unknown and darkness, losing my family is pretty obvious, haha. I don’t mean the natural way of life loss, though. I mean more the metaphorical loss. Mirrors because I don’t need to see things in there that don’t need to be.
Q: Is there a Mr. Salisbury Fake? A: No, and I don’t seek one. There is loneliness from time to time, but that’s human nature. I am quite content by myself. I think one day it’d be cool to be married, but that would probably be a weird relationship to outsiders. I’d like having someone, but I’d also really like being left alone, haha.
Q: Are you romantic? A: Unbearably so. I think there is beauty in romanticizing life to an extent. I don’t think it’s good to let romance become delusion.
Q: So, if you did get married, what would your choice of ‘first dance’ song be? A: Blue Skies by Irving Berlin, but specifically from the Picard season 1 soundtrack.
Q: Are you happy? A: Happiness is such a fleeting feeling and something I think as elusive as perfection. I don’t strive for happiness, I strive for contentment. Far more achievable and far more sustainable. Happiness is important and something to enjoy when it appears (such as seeing my brother’s kids play together), but to me it’s far more important to understand it’s okay not to be happy all the time. Generalized contentment is my preferred goal, and so in that line, I say yes. I am content. Wanderlust and yearning aside, I am content.
Q: Did you make up all of these questions for this interview with yourself? A: Yes. Yes, I did.
Hi, salutations, popcorn in your bucket, and maybe some peanut butter and jelly on your sandwich?
I’ve been writing, sure. The “Summer Project” is about to be merged with the 2023 draft, and that’s exciting. I have to … grow up? the 2023 draft a bit more because the character is older and some of the stuff is youthful.
Been reading. Finished The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (highly recommend). Read through a few others this afternoon, actually, and had the thought that I don’t think all people who can discuss books should write them. A lot of “thrillers” and “mysteries” are being churned out by the booktok machine and it’s clearly written for popularity rather than substance. That’s okay. The world does need books like that for the readers who want them. I am not one of them, it seems, so I will consume with caution from now on.
I don’t consider those books beneath me, but I prefer the books I read to offer a satisfying conclusion to a building of tension and “thrill.” Both endings of the books I read today were rushed and one of them I predicted well before the reveal of the “twist” and I felt let down. This is why I don’t tend to read modern mysteries. I usually figure them out before the halfway point and I get frustrated.
That’s all the spokes from this wagon wheel, darlings. I hope you’re well, and I hope the heat isn’t keeping you down.
salisbury.fake 