A Wednesday list...

1. What I'm reading...
It's been a good couple of weeks for reading, both in quality and quantity. The first was Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal, a charming Regency-era novel set in a world of magic (think, Jane Austen with magic). The good news is that it's the first in a series (The Glamorous Histories), and I'm itching to pick up book number two. The second book I absolutely devoured was Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel. Station 11 opens on the first day of the apocalypse: the day a super-virus becomes a pandemic that wipes out 99 percent of the world's population. It's a character-driven, atmospheric story about the lives of a handful of loosely connected people, both in the weeks leading up to Day 1, and the years afterward. My favorite part is the time spent with The Traveling Symphony, a troupe of musicians and actors post-apocalypse holding on to art in the middle of a time where art could be scene as unimportant, summed up in the slogan they've adopted from a Star Trek quote: "Survival is insufficient." Next on the docket is more Glamorous Histories and a historical fiction novel I picked up at the local author fair a few weeks ago.

2. What I'm watching...
Sneaky Pete season 3 dropped on Amazon Prime a couple of weeks ago, and Jeremy and I wasted no time in watching it. I love this series so much, and season 3 was just as fantastic as I hoped. I read a review that said each hour long episode feels like 15 minutes, and that is so true. The writing is tight, the acting is superb, and the stories balance the craziness of the con with things like family drama, what it means to love, the fallout from bad choices.

3. What I'm grateful for...
Today, I'm grateful that I got to run outside (as opposed to on the treadmill) this morning, even in the summer-time South Texas humidity. On the other hand, I am so grateful to have a treadmill now, because in the summer it's quite difficult for me to keep to a consistent running schedule and the treadmill makes it possible for me to run more than once or twice a week.

4. A little inspiration...

I discovered this Instagram account @writtentospeak (otherwise known as Tanner Olson) during the writing challenge I participated in a couple of weeks ago, and I love it. Olson's poems are brief, but really thoughtful. You can also check out his work on his web site www.writtentospeak.com.