Ellie Potts's Blog, page 7

Me

I want to see Castles…

If you won two free plane tickets, where would you go?

If I Had Two Free Plane Tickets: A Castle-Calling Journey to Ireland

If two free plane tickets landed in my lap—no strings, just possibility—I know exactly where I’d go: Ireland. Not for the pubs or the cliffs (though they’re lovely), but for the castles. The ones that rise from moss and mist like ancient guardians of story and soul.

Ireland has over 30,000 castles, each one a portal. Some are crumbling ruins with ivy-cloaked secrets. Others stand proud, restored and regal. But all of them hum with history, magic, and the kind of quiet that invites creativity.

My Must-Visit Castles

Kilkenny Castle — Elegant and symmetrical, perfect for sketching at sunrise and journaling in the rose garden.Blarney Castle — I’d kiss the stone (maybe), whisper intentions into the wind, and wander the Poison Garden like a witch in training.Rock of Cashel — A dramatic ruin where I’d lay out a tarot spread at dusk and listen for ancestral echoes.Dunguaire Castle — A poet’s tower by Galway Bay. I’d read Yeats aloud and light a candle for creative flow.Ross Castle — Lakeside serenity in Killarney. I’d craft a moon ritual by the water and walk barefoot on moss.

Why Castles?

Because they’re more than stone. They’re metaphors. Fortresses of imagination. Symbols of feminine power and mystery. Visiting them would be a ritual in itself—a way to honor softness, strength, and the stories we carry.

Movie Review: Happy Gilmore 2

Happy Gilmore 2 is how a sequel should be. It brought the laughs, but it also brought the nostalgia of the original. It was sweet of him to have his daughters in it. I loved seeing the original characters, or them giving them homage. From a grave stone, or to their children making appearances. I’m just glad it didn’t go down the route that Joe Dirt 2 or other disappointing sequels have. Watch now on Netflix.

Blurb: Gilmore returns to the sport of golf since his retirement after winning his first Tour Championship, to finance his daughter’s ballet classes.

Disappointing July

I had a lot of plans for this month. Release my Cannabis Grimoire and finish my edits on Black Star. But a weird medical thing happened which put me behind. It’s disappointing but I will get over it. The doctor took me out of work for another week. Have been out since July 3. I’ve managed to get caught up on my reading, and put myself over by one. I am hoping to finish up Tale of the Sun Queen today or tomorrow. The series started off strong but the third book was just eh. I am hoping for a good ending with this.

Share some good news in your life!

Book Review: American Rapture by CJ Leede

American Rapture by CJ Leede is a religious zombie horror book. It flowed nicely, and it hurt in the right spots. It’s not as bloody or gory as some zombie books, but you wanted to keep on following poor Sophie. Sophie is a sheltered 16 year old who isn’t allowed TV or books that her parents don’t approve of. Her Twin Noah, was more of a free thinker, and now lives in an institute. When shit goes down her first instinct is to go to her brother, but he’s in a quarantine zone. You have a crazy cult leader whose people are attacking safe zones. You have a virus which can turn people into horney zombies. I felt for poor Sophie, raised to believe you have one precious thing to offer a man, and to live your life to servitude. How she thought this was her fault, her not understanding the world, and just trying to survive while trying to separate Catholic guilt. It was a crazy read.

Never been kissed.
About to get screwed.

A virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust.

Sophie, a good Catholic girl, must survive the hellscape of the Midwest to try to save her twin brother while the world around her burns. Along the way she discovers there are far worse fates than dying a virgin. . . .

Neil Gaiman’s American Gods meets The Last of Us in this epic and sweeping novel about the end of the world as we know it.

If I Could Shift Society…

What would you change about modern society?

Rethinking How We Care for Minds and Bodies—Especially Women’s

If I could change one thing about modern society, it would be the way we address health—not just in clinics, but in everyday culture. I want us to truly care: about mental well-being, about women’s voices, about how medical systems still leave too many of us unheard. Especially when it comes to the quiet storm of perimenopause and how it affects our bodies, moods, and sense of identity.

Mental Health Shouldn’t Be a Luxury

Still stigmatized. Still overlooked. Still under-resourced.
Modern society often treats mental health like a personal inconvenience rather than a collective responsibility. I would shift this by:

Making emotional literacy as common as financial literacy.Normalizing therapy as preventive care, not a crisis measure.Designing systems—workplaces, schools, communities—that accommodate mental health as essential, not optional.

We need to stop asking people to “push through” and start asking how we can help them feel whole.

Women’s Health Needs a Rewrite

Women’s experiences—from menstruation to perimenopause—are too often dismissed as exaggerated or “just part of getting older.” Here’s how I’d flip the narrative:

More funding and research into perimenopause, so it’s no longer a mystery even to healthcare providers.Routine screening for hormonal shifts and mental health changes during midlife.Medical education that respects women’s intuition about their own bodies.Accessible support for sleep disruption, anxiety, mood swings, and physical changes—without gaslighting or shame.

Perimenopause deserves the same visibility as puberty. It’s a major life transition, and we need language, care, and community around it.

Expanding the Framework

Let’s stop asking women to adapt to rigid systems. Let’s redesign those systems to meet women as they are—in all their complexity.
When we invest in true care, everyone benefits. And when we treat women’s health and mental health not as side concerns, but as foundational pillars of a thriving society, everything shifts.

Audiobooks and music

What do you listen to while you work?

It depends on what I’m doing. If it’s a simple thing at work or at home I’ll be listening to an audiobook. Next up is Two Twisted Crowns! Puzzles and audiobooks go together so well I get lost in the story as I build the picture. It’s great.

Heavy work or cleaning. Things that need my attention I’ll listen to music. 80s-90s are good for cleaning, Metallica and other hard bands to help focus on a task that needs me to concentrate, for writing it depends on the story and where I’m at. You can find me on Spotify, my books have playlists. But it also depends if I’m editing. Then I get a little weird, I like to put on soundtracks Newsies, Repo! The Genetic Opera, and Buffy Once More with Feeling. It helps me from spiralling cause editing makes me feel like a bad writer and it’s the worst. I don’t do quite well so I need something.

What is your listening guilty pleasure?

Coming Soon: Cannabis Grimoire!

This book I have been working on for a while. I am excited to share it. It is more advanced magic, sorry baby witches. I am looking for witchy beta readers. If interested leave me a comment or email me.

Book Review: Glow of the Everflame by Penn Cole

Okay for sequels this one was pretty good. So good I was up to 4 in the morning to finish it. Diem’s hold on for Henri irked me. I get why but still. I hate Henri. I decided not to go on to book three because book 4 is not out. So I decided to finish Tale of the Heart Queen and finish that series up.

An unexpected gift offers the power to change everything—but keeping it could cost Diem her life.

The threat of war has arrived at Diem’s doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by forming a devil’s bargain with the people she hates most: the royal family of House Corbois.

But as she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren’t as simple as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

Meanwhile, her mother is still missing, and the secrets she left behind can no longer be ignored—and neither can the Guardians and their demands. Caught between an old flame and a sizzling new spark, Diem must confront the truth about who she is and what she wants before time runs out.

War is coming, and dangerous enemies wait on all sides.. but the most deadly battle Diem faces may be the one for her heart.

Glow of the Everflame is the second book in The Kindred’s Curse Saga, a four-book fantasy romance series. This book will appeal to fans of plot-heavy, character-driven romantasy such as A Court of Thorns and Roses, Throne of Glass, From Blood and Ash, Gild, Shadow & Bone, and The Serpent & the Wings of Night.

VR

What’s your favorite game (card, board, video, etc.)? Why?

Favorite video games used to be Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  But the last Guitar Hero was super lame. But I ended up getting an oculus a few years back. And Beat Saber and Ragnarock give me that Guitar Hero vibe.

I love boardgames in general. My middle sister was a sore loser, she’s the one who would get mad if she didn’t win. But my baby sister could throw down on a game. . I started her off with some of the easier games and then we started playing Monopoly, which I kind of collect. This made me think I need a boardgame night

Recommend a good boardgame?