Once Upon a Weekly Update
October 25, 2024
What I’m reading:
As usual, I’ve probably spent too much time with my nose in a book (realizing that I can read while on an elliptical machine without getting motion-sick was a game-changer). Between last week and this week, I read:
The Last Word, by Katy Birchall (very basic literary rom-com about a magazine writer who’s stuck working with her old rival. Give me rivals-to-lovers any day, especially if it’s about two people who are both competent and witty and smart. I had a great time)
Just Add Water, by Katie Ledecky (I love a good well-written sports memoir. Did Ledecky have anything new or revolutionary or groundbreaking to say about her sport or her success in it? Not really! But I basically grew up on a pool deck, and many of my best friends are from the swim/dive world, and it’s really great to see that Ledecky loves the sport for the same reasons that they all do)
The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich, by Deya Muniz (Just absolute silliness. Cheese and queer joy. Excellent cheese-based names. Cute illustrations, too)
And I’m about three chapters into Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries, by Heather Fawcett, which approximately a million people have told me I’d love. So far, I am enjoying it a great deal, so maybe they have a point.
How my writing is going:
I hit the 78% mark on my second draft (post-developmental edit) of my current WIP, which I’m tentatively referring to as Messina Beach Playhouse. That title may well change between now and its Summer 2025 publication date, but it’s good enough for now. It’s a Much Ado About Nothing retelling, set during a beach house summer stock production of a new play, in which all of the characters are grown-up theater kids with Lots of Drama. Beatrice and Hero (named Elizabeth, in my version) are former child actors trying to be taken seriously. Claude is a straight white boy who can dance and sing a little, so naturally he thinks he’s God’s gift to theatre. Benedick is a theater kid in a family of investment bankers. The Watch are a pair of teenagers who run a podcast. It’s exactly as chaotic as you think it is, but I’ve laughed out loud at my own jokes a few times in the editing process, so maybe you’ll think it’s fun too.
Also, I’m outlining a fun little holiday advent calendar surprise… let’s just say that folks who like short stories and romance and Hallmark movies and a teensy bit of spice will be pleased with what I’m releasing this December!
Something fun:
Every week, I like to toss out a good fun recommendation— this week, it’s an oldie but a goodie. My partner and I have been rewatching The Magicians lately— we both watched it as it was coming out on SyFy, and I read and loved the books when I was in high school. And man, it’s still just so well done. It’s the exact right balance of menace and spooky and utterly delightfully silly. Good character development for the female characters, too. And one episode in particular delivers one of the best queer love stories I’ve seen on TV in ages— I’d put it in the same category as That One Episode Of The Last Of Us that broke all our hearts last year.
Highly recommend making a cup of hot cocoa (bonus points for dark chocolate, whole milk, a pinch of salt, and a healthy dash of bourbon-based vanilla extract) and watching, or rewatching some of the best episodes. Especially if you choose to watch A Life in the Day. Peaches and plums, peaches and plums.
That’s it for me— I hope you all have a magical week!
~Gemma
