What have I been doing? Writing, mostly. Now that the butterfly season & convention season are over, I'm back on a regular schedule. I'm chewing through my latest project faster than I expected ( I'm still gonna miss my self-imposed deadline, tho. Oh, well.)And I do take time off to do Other Things. Here be the most recent Doings:BOOKS.Long list this time around. For some reason I read faster when I'm writing more. Restricted access to social media also helps.

• Stars Are Legion, Kameron Hurley Space Opera. Organic ships & kickass protagonist.
• Rights Of Use, Shannon Eichorn Space Opera. Aliens. Awesomeness.
• Freelance Familiars, Daniel Potter Fantasy. Sorta portal, urban-feeling, all fun. CATS.
• Eden's Outcast, Kuta Marler. Urban Fantasy. Fun world & fabulous characters.
• Fated Sky, Mary Robinette Kowal. Science-fiction. Full of humanity. MADE ME CRY.
• Poppy War,  R. F Kuang Fantasy. Epic world-building, phenomenal mythology.
• Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik  Fantasy with fairy tale roots. Deep & delicious.
• Fluency,  Jennifer Foehner Wells Space Opera. Linguistics. <swoon!>
• Sere From the Green, Lauren Jankowski: Urban fantasy. Werewolves. Wonderful richness.

I enjoyed every last one of these books immensely,  in totally different ways, and I am working through reviewing them on Amazon & Goodreads. (Amazon gets squirrely and starts refusing to post reviews when I do more than 3 at a time. I should have the last few done later this week.)VIEWING ETCI've re-watched a buncha movies: Black Panther, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War I, Lilo&Stitch, Spiderman: Homecoming, Moana... I think I'm in the mood for brain fluff.That's about it. I haven't been watching much TV. Most of the series I've been following are between seasons, jumped a whole school of sharks, or have been cancelled. (Law & Order reruns do not count. They're background noise to fall asleep watching.)I'll be asking for viewing recommendations in a month or so. Hibernation season is coming.There's new music in my life for the first time in forever. I have a new writing-time soundtrack: Hamilton. I didn't expect to like it. I am not a big Broadway fan because the voices & songs all sound alike to me. This one? THIS ONE IS DIFFERENT. And excellent. And fabulous.Kitchen & GardenSeptember is my favorite month in the garden. I have tomatoes in the freezer to turn into sauce soon, and lots of super-hot little peppers. As soon as we get a cool, damp day, I'll start transplanting the super-tall mystery plants (some kind of prairie sunflower)  into the back of the garden and hack off the seed pods of my ever-enthusiastic senna plants.Baking season is nearly upon us.  I am stocking up on essentials as they go on sale. The big excitement is that I get to indulge in guilt-free baking all through October. My department will be sharing space with two others next month while renovations happen, so I will have three times the usual audience. (The guilt comes from being I'm told over and over, "I shouldn't be eating these," / "Oh, no, I'm going to gain so much weight," / "Oh. You baked again?" Yeah.)So, anyway, new people to feed, yay!And autumn is also apple season. Spouseman & I are car-pooling with some friends to take our first orchard trek of the year tomorrow. Cheese, fruit & goodies, here we come.Yes, the pictures I tack onto my posts are sometimes reruns and mostly random. I love grouchy cats, I will not lie.