Every session where I sit down to write is a different. I bring some new form of thought, idea, and feeling from my experiences of the day that excite me to push further into my story. Some days I’m grinding against the keys of my laptop and wondering why I bother. Each sentence is like pulling teeth from my head. But sometimes, those glorious, magical times, I have good days where the words flow from my heart and soul and pour smoothly across the screen. Flow is a psychological phenomenon that enhances creativity where the user becomes hyper-focused on the task at hand and worldly distractions melt away. An article from BBC talks about creating an environment to get into the zone, which mirrors my own process of watching Anime Music videos, listening to particular music, looking at artwork, and reading inspirational books. It also correlates to mindfulness which can help transition into the flow state. I’m learning more about flow and mindfulness and trying to find ways to bring myself back to that state of focus on purpose.

The Road So Far

In July and August we went to the Arvada Street Festival, a local event in our town that features local vendors and live music. This is the first time we’ve gone and it was a lot of fun! What caught me on to the event was a band called, the Selfless Lovers. They performed at my friend Katheryn’s wedding and their Instagram post announced they were coming to Arvada for the July event. What a pleasant surprise! They’re such a lively band to dance to. We even took Tsuki with us the second time around in August. The town does this four times during the summer from May through August. We’ll definitely be returning again next year.

In July, I traveled to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for Jessica’s bachelorette party. Unfortunately, due to flight delays by American Airlines I missed a full day of fun by the poolside. But the subsequent day at the beach and bar crawl the next night made up for it. I had a blast and I’m so excited for the upcoming wedding happening in November! One month from now.

For Labor Day weekend, we made a brief weekend trip to St. Paul & Minneapolis, MN to visit Ellen and her husband! They moved to St. Paul a couple years ago and we’ve been wanting to visit for a while. We had a wonderful time wandering around the twin cities, swimming at the lake, and eating. We also went to see Ellen’s husband, Erik, perform at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival! The Renn Fair in Minnesota is one of the oldest in the country, celebrating it’s 53rd year, and it was an absolute blast! The setup is impressive with all the original building construction, giant trees, and the costumes that both attendees and performers alike were wearing. I would go back again, preferably when it’s not nearly 100 degrees outside. We met up with my friend, Meg, and her group of friends that drove over from Eau Claire, WI. I haven’t seen Ellen or Meg since our wedding last year and they’re two of my oldest friends ❤️

We left for Germany & Switzerland on the 20th! Which is why this post is a bit late. The trip was in celebration of Eric’s parents who were married in Karlsruhe, Germany 50 years ago. Congratulations! We toured from Frankfurt, to Heidelberg, Rottenburg, Karlsruhe, Baden-Baden, OberWolfach, Fussen, and ended in Munich. We saw beautiful castles, idyllic landscapes, and caught Oktoberfest. The food was amazing, my two favorite meals being a potato soup in Rottenburg and an Autumn Salad in OberWolfach, which had a divine balsamic dressing over wild mushrooms with grapes, sage, celery, and another ingredient that I can’t remember 🤤 From Germany, Eric and I skipped over to Zurich and Lucerne, Switzerland. If you’re interested in the scenic views from the trip, please check out my sister website, LilyBorak.com, for my professional photography portfolio.

I encountered Two Steps from Hell back in college, eleven years ago. When I heard Heart of Courage (likely their most famous song by now since I hear it in TV commercials), I was transported onto a battlefield with soldiers clashing against each other. The intensity, the desperation, the heat of battle was palpable with the beat of the music and I’ll never forget it. Each song that Thomas Bergensen & Nick Phoenix write, creates that same feeling. If you’re a writer, you probably listen to TSFH. Their music is epic and inspiring and I love it. So when Eric’s parent’s told us about traveling to Germany for their anniversary trip, I immediately looked up TSFH’s tour. Because although they have performed in Los Angeles, it’s been about a decade since they’ve been to the US with no sign of returning any time soon. They’ve briefly toured through Europe before the pandemic and I knew that if I was ever going to get a chance to see them, it would be across the Atlantic. Luckily, their 2023 tour dates aligned with the timing of our trip and I booked Eric and I the VIP, front row package for their performance at the Hallenstadion in Zurich, Switzerland. I was not disappointed. Despite suffering from a cold, the concert was one of my all-time favorites. I cried at how beautiful the music was and all the performers were having such fun one stage.

And I was delighted that afterwards, Thomas Bergensen came out from behind stage as people were leaving to say hello to a few fans. I wish I had been able to get a photo with him, but alas it was impossible! I was able to shake his and and say “thank you”!

If you were to ever read this Thomas & Nick – Thank you again for bringing such beautiful music into my life and the lives of others around the world! You inspire me and my books! Hope to see you again soon and come tour in the US! Your music absolutely makes me braver.

What Else?

Tickets to Japan are booked! This will be my third trip to the Land of the Rising Sun and Eric’s first visit. We had originally booked this trip for March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic crushed it. Now everything is in place for this coming spring, March 2024. I’m so excited to go back to my favorite place! Likely this will be the last international vacation that Eric and I take for a long time. But who knows what life will bring?

I started a Book Club! There’s three of us, hopefully soon to be four now that two of my friends just got married. We all live fairly close to one another and enjoy reading. We’ve only had two meetings to far. Scheduling is hectic! But I’m looking forward to having a set social evening once a month (pending busy schedules) with some girlfriends that will also allow me to gush over what I’ve read. Other than my friend, Ellen, I don’t have a lot of people to talk to about books. I also have a low-key plan to try and get Eric interested in reading…I think it will be highly dependent on the book. But I have one in mind…more to tell on that later.

What I’ve Been Writing

Before I left on vacation I had 58,000 words in the Nine Kingdoms book which is about halfway through my book. I didn’t accomplish my goal of finishing by the end of summer, bleh. I’m setting a new goal to finish the book before Christmas.

From my book, The Tower, I decided to submit myself for a magazine contest. The Unchartered Magazine is an online publishing company for short fiction. They’ve been around since 2021 and I heard about them from my friend, Ellen Rozek, who also submitted to one of their contests. The current contest that I’ve entered is the Novel Excerpt Contest which asks for a climatic, thrilling, 5000 word submission from your novel. This contest closes on October 31st, but they hold them frequently. I entered Chapter Three from The Tower and hope to hear back by the end of November. I also requested written feedback from the judge regarding my novel to see what they think of my writing. That part makes me very nervous! I will probably do a short separate post once I receive the results from the contest.

Three Favorite Reads

Next

Write on. Fight on. Finish the Nine Kingdom’s book by Christmas end.