Writings, Wanderings

Going on summer break from school has been good to me. Although I had a good school year, I had a lot going on and as my last month's blog entry stated, my reading suffered. For June I took the time to rejuvenate by focusing on reading what I felt like when I felt like it as well as writing in my next novella (maybe short novel?? it's turning out longer than I anticipated but I think editing will keep it under 40K). I finally read the Grisha trilogy ( Shadow & Bone, Siege and Storm, and Ruin & Rising ) by Leigh Bardugo. I have seen others gushing about on Instagram for months now! This fantasy series is definitely more young adult than adult, but I wanted to keep reading and plan on reading the other stories in the Grishaverse. I found her system of magic interesting and was invested in the characters. Loved Nikolai! Yes, there was the over-used love triangle (or was it a pyramid at one point?), but it did not overwhelm the other elements. Recommended read for tee

Last weekend I made a flying trip to South Carolina for a wedding reception. (And when I say flying, I don't mean that I flew but that it was a fast one, just over 48 hours gone from home, at least 18 of those spent in my car.) I arrived about two hours early for the reception, so not wanting to sit sweltering in my car, I drove a few miles over to the town of Fountain Inn and after cruising a few streets, found some public parking. My wandering led me to the Chamber of Commerce which houses a small hometown museum open for a couple of hours on a few days of the week--a few hours that happened to coincide with my visit. The museum is basically one large room that has a series of displays, each one flowing into the next. A little bit of attention is given to the earliest native inhabitants--including a display of a small collection of arrowheads--before moving into the beginning of European colonization. The right-hand side of the room moves visitors through time with a ment