summertime and the livin' is... 🌕 full moon letter
My world's on fire. How 'bout yours?
My friend tells me the “spiritual girlies” on Instagram say that we can blame our feeling-down-do-nothing day yesterday on the moon, so I’ll go with that. Today, I’m feeling good after my morning bike ride and after I finish this newsletter, I think I’ll get into some fiction writing—something I haven’t been doing much of lately, even though I plan to have another book of short stories for next November.
It’s the Strawberry Moon. Last time I was at my parents’ house, my mom pointed out the little white flowers in a few clusters around the yard and said they were wild strawberries. If she can keep my dad from mowing them, she’ll have some teeny tiny strawberries to snack on soon. It reminded me of when I was a kid, we’d pick wild strawberries from the ditch along the road across from the church. I certainly remember the little tart treats more than anything that happened at church.
Summer Vibes
Last June, I declared the season’s vibe was Summer Nostalgia. I got as far as creating a playlist, but sadly never climbed a tree. I’m a person, not an international brand, so I see no reason why I can’t repeat my summer vibe and declare another Nostalgic Summer this year.
Being underemployed this summer, I feel it would be a waste of this 9-to-5-free time not to embrace school summer vacation vibes. Am I going to spend most of my summer indoors playing The Sims 2? Well, no. It’s not a recreation, it’s a vibe. I also can’t stay up all night, running around town with my friends like I once could.
I want to get outside more often. (Something I definitely did not do during summer vacations is check the air quality to see if it’s even safe to go outside, but here we are.) I want to explore more green spaces around my city. (I have my two usual places for bike rides, but I know there are more and plenty of hiking trails.) I don’t want to eschew all responsibility—sadly, just not possible as an adult with rent—but I can embrace the attitude more often.
Creations
Madame d’Aulnoy’s Drag King: Belle-belle or the Chevalier Fortuné
I’m really proud of my second fairy tale monthly essay about one of my favourite tales.
If you’ve ever wondered what a film programmer does, or what it’s like to consume 21 films in 8 days, you can read about it!
Fairy Tale MASH-Up
Speaking of nostalgia, when was the last time you and your friends played MASH to determine your future? I made a fairy tale version that’s somewhere between MASH and a choose-your-own-adventure. You can get it if you subscribe to Tales with Tish! (If you’re already subscribed and want it, just let me know and I’ll send it to you!)
Curiosities
Not tracking everything.
I’m still trying to figure out the best way for me to work for myself, from home, with only my own self-discipline to get stuff done. The past couple of weeks, I decided to stop doing what I’ve been doing for years: tracking my time spent on work and creative projects. In theory, it would be helpful to look at the time logged by project to predict how much time the next similar project would take. However, I have not made use of that data, since it seems actually irrelevant, since no two projects are ever the same. I try to improve each video essay, taking more time on research, but I also get more efficient as a writer and video editor, saving time. My next book, though it will be the same number of short stories, probably won’t take as long because I’m a better writer, editor, and I’m not learning about publishing as I go.
The results so far: I think I’m getting more done actually allowing myself to jump around between tasks and not using precious cognitive fuel on remembering to start and stop a time track and decide what project/type of task to track it as.
I also stopped tracking my walks and bike rides (I never remember to stop it when I’m done, and end up including my drive home). I don’t need to know how long and fast I was going. I’m not in competition. I’m just enjoying my time. And I stopped using my sleep app. I mean, what does it matter how many hours of sleep I got? I know if I feel underslept or energized, and I’ll take a nap if I need one.
Fixing my bike brakes
I can’t honestly say I fixed them, but the back brakes no longer rub on the tire, making my biking a struggle. I’m impatient and broke, so I opted to fiddle with my brakes myself rather than pay someone. I’m in a real “get one more season out of it” mindset this year. (See: unemployment)
Consumptions
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life
I forgot to pause Netflix (I have to do it every month now- it used to pause for eight months), so I paid for it at the beginning of May and by the end of the month I wanted to at least watch one damn thing for my money. I loved this comic and the live-action film adaptation, so I was excited when this animated show seemed to be just the comic exactly animated, but then it changed and I was confused/disappointed but not for long because it turned into something else fun while keeping the humor and tone I love about the comic. Also, they got the entire live-action cast back to voice the characters!
Beetlejuice: The Musical
My friend, who loves musical theatre, snagged some last-minute cheap tickets from someone, so I went, and it was fun! I’m not a theatre person, so that’s the extent of my review: it was fun.
The Little Hours
It may not seem like a big deal, but I bet some of you will understand that actually selecting a movie to watch from all the streaming services and all the options and actually mentally being able to commit to watching one story for 90 minutes deserves a big gold star. I don’t know why it feels like such a feat to just choose a movie, but it feels impossible sometimes. Also, this movie is hilarious and free on Tubi. If you generally like Aubrey Plaza, you’ll like this.
Pippi Longstocking
If you ask me to watch a movie with you, I’ll say no thanks, that is a solitary activity. Unless it is a bad and/or weird and/or drinking game movie, then the activity with my friend is not sitting silently and uncomfortably next to each other, but talking and laughing and making fun of something together. I’ve been wanting to watch Pippi with someone for a long time, because they watch it on Gilmore Girls, and I wanted that experience with a friend who also watches Gilmore Girls. I finally did it. And it was fun.
When We Lost Our Heads by Heather O’Neill
This book was a recommendation/loan from a colleague who thought I’d like it, after hearing about my book. It’s nothing like my book, but I loved it! I love little psychopathic girls who turn into wild, ambitious, scandalous women. It inspired me for my own novel that I’m vaguely working on; I want characters as compelling, imperfect, and sometimes unlikable as these.
Cards
As I’ve said, I tend to favour certain oracle decks over tarot for their variety. I decided to use my Marigold Tarot for my summer reading, since it’s so beautiful and I rarely use it. Well, I did a fun Litha spread to see what summer held for me, and the cards were literally all about despair, depression, and darkness. So I said to my friend, who was Facetiming with me, I don’t want that. And I put them away and pretended that reading never happened.
Then, I did a simple three-card spread, one for each month of summer, with my Southern Gothic Oracle deck. I got this deck from an art gallery gift shop when I was in Arkansas for a film festival last year. Since it was the furthest south I’d ever been on the planet, I thought it was an appropriate souvenir. The first time I used it, I didn’t like it. I didn’t like what it told me, and I also didn’t connect with the symbols or what it told me about them. But I’m glad I gave it a chance this time because it had only good things for me.
Peach: “You have reached a time when you are called to taste the fruits you have been working so hard to grow.” Wild Violet: “a sign of encouragement that you are indeed headed in the right direction.” Nest of Wasps: “By surrounding yourself with loved ones… you can reach a higher vibration.”
Wishing you all higher vibrations and sweet peaches this summer,
.tish
Make my summer by reading my book, Ebony, Blood, and Snow: New Stories from Old Tales! Fairy tale-inspired stories of women fighting for their rights. And their wrongs.
If you’ve already read it, make my summer by leaving a review on Amazon, which will help more readers find it!