What I'm excited about: This Clubhouse call! It was so good! Stephanie talks about the incongruity of a character described as strong and smart but she always needs to be saved, and the joy of being able to use her voice wholly and completely to its potential; Petrea talks about giving yourself permission to write crap, “gritty Camelot”, and becoming a narrator capable of narrating her own book; Cass talks about writing authentic dialogue, character growth catalyzed not just by the love interest, and the beautiful challenge of navigating intergenerational differences of opinion with respect. And that's just a tiny freakin' fraction of all the places they went! It was so good we're going to reconvene at the end of October, just before NaNoWriMo begins in November.

What I'm excited about recording: a high-quality litRPG with a female protagonist. Eeeee! This author is going to take over the gamelit world. Mark my words.

What I'm looking forward to: The Grand Canyon, 2023. Just like last year, I'm going to hike it the day before 20Books Vegas. Unlike last year, I won't be just 30 days post-major-surgery, and my brother is coming to hike it with me. It was the best part of the 20Books week last year; this should be better, what with the not-post-surgery thing.

What I’m appreciating that my past self invented: "The small improvement thing". Having "small improvement thing" on my daily list leaves psychic room for me to just take the 2-10 minutes right now to fix, move or change the little thing I inevitably notice, and have probably tripped over for days, that would just make things slightly better or more efficient. Unexpected effect: the things are not so small. They have an outsized effect. I almost almost notice time saved and streamlined, and am SO glad I finally did that “tiny” thing that made everything better.

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