What Happened in November?
Hello everyone! I don’t know about you all, but I’ve been writing nonstop this month. When I’m not writing, I’m working and trying to keep my spirits up as the season changes. Because all I’ve been doing is writing, I feel like I don’t have a lot to talk about (what else is new), but I’m sure you’ll enjoy hearing what I’ve been into this month!
Livestream Concerts are the Move
On the list of things I’ve missed most this year, concerts are pretty close to being number one. Standing in the pit surrounded by people who love the artist on stage as much as I do, scream-singing along to the lyrics…the energy is unbelievable and something that’s hard to replicate.
With “Monsters” coming out earlier this year, I assumed that the Midnight would be going on tour over the summer/fall. Unfortunately, the album dropped right in the middle of the first wave of the pandemic, so the band decided not to tour. It broke my heart, as I wanted to see them live again badly.
Fortunately, artists in 2020 have gotten creative, and drive-in concerts and livestream concerts have been a big deal. On October 30th, the Midnight had a livestream concert and you know I was all over it. My only regret is not grabbing snapshots and clips to go back and watch later!
Watching a live concert has never been the same type of experience as actually being there, in my opinion. I like watching live performances, however; one of my favorite videos ever is Lady Gaga’s VMA performance of “Paparazzi”, after all. The difference between watching a live performance and watching a livestream performance is definitely the audience. Because there was no physical audience during the Midnight’s concert, we relied on the live chat. It was so much fun to read the virtual audience’s reactions to the songs being played, and while it wasn’t the same as being at a real concert, it gave off the same kind of camaraderie vibes that a real concert would give.
I genuinely think livestream concerts (and drive-in concerts, like the tour that Marc Rebillet did a few months back) are a new and exciting way to make sure that everyone is able to enjoy live music. A lot of people can’t enjoy concerts for whatever the reasons may be (anxiety, physical disability, graveyard shift work hours, you name it), so I like the idea of having a concert experience that you can enjoy on your own time. Hopefully musicians are willing to try more unique concert ideas as we navigate out of this pandemic!
The Prince of the Underworld is my Boyfriend
There’s a new indie game that’s been very popular recently, and Matt and I are obsessed with it. Hades is a game developed by Supergiant Games, about the Prince of the Underworld, Zagreus, and his attempts to escape the House of Hades to get to Olympus.
The game is a rouge-like, which means that the gameplay is very different every time you play. You get different power-ups, different weapons, and different rooms and enemies every time you play. And when you die, that’s it. You have to start all over again from the beginning. If you’ve never played a rouge-like game, Hades is the perfect place to start. I was nervous about picking it up, as it looked like it was a hard game, but it’s very fun, pretty easy to learn, and challenging enough for me to feel really, really good when I get to move forward.
The story is interesting as well. It’s a retelling of Hades and Persephone’s story, as well as various other members of the Greek Mythos. I’m not going to give any plot points away, but I will say that I am 100% invested in every single character’s arc in said story. The voice actors are brilliant, the weight of the plot is felt in every moment, and the scenery is honestly breathtaking. I’m hoping that Supergiant wins some sort of award for their soundtrack as well, as the music in this game is so, so good. The boss battles are so much more intense with the hard rock in the background, and the softer moments are felt deeper with sweeping strings and gentle orchestration.
If you’ve heard of Hades, and/or if you’re interested in the game based on hearsay, just go ahead and buy it (it’s on most gaming platforms; I have it on the Switch) because I think no matter what style of game you like to play, you’ll enjoy the execution of this one. It’s just a 10/10 game all around, and I’m putting all my chips on it being Game of the Year. It’s that good.
So…Did We Finish Writing?
(tl;dr: yes, yes we did.)
At the time of me writing this blog post, I have about 2,500 words left to write for my National Novel Writing Month project this year. I fully believe I’ll get those words down on the page by the end of the day, and I can declare victory over this 2020 NaNo.
Am I done with the story? Not even close. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what will be happening with my characters, but I’m very excited to keep exploring their world after November comes to an end. While I’m excited to keep writing, I’m strongly dreading the editing process! I can already tell which spots I’ll have to cut out and which spots to polish up, which is good…but there’s a lot of work to be done. I think that that’s the whole reason for NaNo, is to get your story finished no matter what…then you can make it great once the 30 days of running are done.
My other two NaNo projects haven’t seen the light of day for almost 10 years. After getting to the finish line, I couldn’t work on them any longer. I don’t want that to happen to Luke’s story at all! Matt has already volunteered to help me edit when I’m all finished with the first draft, and I think with his help (and maybe a couple of others), I can make my dream of publishing a book a reality.
All in all, I’m very proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish these past 30 days. It’s been a struggle to get 50,000 words on the page, but by the end of the day today, I will have done it for the third time. And as the saying goes, “third time’s the charm”. I think this story has potential, and I want to be able to share it. NaNo was my excuse to get started, and now I have to keep grinding to share my story with you!
An Unconventional Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, hands down. Seeing my family, eating my body weight in food, and getting to do nothing for the rest of the day is something I look forward to every year. Of course, this year was a little different. Because of the pandemic, I wasn’t able to go to my dad’s house or see any of my extended family for Thanksgiving. I had a frozen pizza for dinner instead of a feast, but I was still happy and thankful for what positives have happened this year.
I was bummed out that I couldn’t have a normal Thanksgiving this year, so I decided to make a Thanksgiving feast the Sunday after the holiday. Damian (best friend and roomie) and I cooked up so much food! Mashed potatoes, turkey, ham, green bean casserole, and so much more. I even made a new to me dish, succotash, which is essentially just a bunch of veggies thrown in a pot with some bacon grease and bits of bacon…it was delicious! The entire meal was great (even though I forgot to cook the mac and cheese…), and dessert was delicious as well. I made my favorite, dirt pudding, and sat around with my little family (consisting of the husband, the bestie, my sister, and the bestie’s boyfriend). I had never cooked a Thanksgiving meal before, and it was a LOT of work. I have a newfound respect for people who cook for larger families than mine!
My sister and I FaceTimed our parents as we ate our second plates. It was nice to have them ‘here’ with us. Even though we couldn’t get together physically, it was still so great to speak to them over dinner. It wasn’t the Thanksgiving I thought we’d have this year, but it ended up being a very good holiday. Of course, I hope next year I can go to my dad’s house and eat everything in sight, but for now, I have plenty of leftovers to get me through the rest of the month!
Music Obsessions
Since I’ve been writing so much, I’ve been listening to albums that I don’t really have to focus on too much. Albums that I’ve listened to over and over that are on constant rotation anyway, as well as video game music that I’ve heard a million times but still love regardless. I also asked my friends to send me their favorite songs, so I’ve been going through those as well.
On this month’s playlist, I included two recent songs; ‘HOLIDAY’ by Lil Nas X and the Julia Holter remix of ‘Color Me’ by Active Child. The rest of the tracks are all songs I either grew up with (like the Cocteau Twins and Prince), songs from video games (like Hades and Super Mario), and songs that I’ve been listening to while writing (like Robyn’s newest album and my favorite song by Linkin Park). There’s even a song from the Great Gatsby soundtrack on there this month!
I’ve been listening to the Midnight’s latest release, “Horror Show”, nonstop as well. The only reason I didn’t include a song from it is because I can’t listen to it on Spotify! It’s an Amazon Exclusive, and even though I dislike the company, I love the band too much so I bought the tracks to download them to Spotify. As far as I know, I’m the only one who can listen to them on Spotify because they’re on my computer. Of course, if I’m wrong about that I’d love to know so I can share my favorite song from this album! Either way, if you’re interested in listening to the short album, you can stream it for free on Amazon Music (and no, this is not an ad, I just really love the Midnight).
If you’re interested in listening to the monthly playlist, click here!
November was a blur of typing and eating, but we’re at the end of it. Next month is the end of 2020! This year has been going by both fast and slow as hell. I wonder what December will have in store for us…
If you’d like to keep up with my day-to-day musings (and get some decent memes on your feed), consider following me on Twitter! I also have been saving to self-publish my book sometime within the next year or so, so feel free to leave a tip for me on Ko-fi to help me make that happen!
I’m going to take next Monday off, seeing as my wedding anniversary is next week! I also would like to take a little break from typing, which I feel I’ve earned now that I’ve technically written an entire novel’s worth of manuscript. So, I’ll see you guys on the 14th of December with another blog post!
