Summer Reading 2025
Well, that was a summer. As usual, the worst of the heat hit our area in the midst of Summer Camp, which may or may not reflect in the quality of my articles throughout the month. Without reading other articles for inspiration and motivation, I would not have made it through the second week.
But here we are, with 37/40 prompts completed, though not with any considerable grace. The first week was actually a joy to write, second week came early burnout, the third week...happened, and by the fourth week I woke up at midnight to write whatever came to mind because it was either that or settle for gold. I wish that diamond badge wasn't as shiny as it is. I can't remember too much about those articles, and dread the day I must read and edit them.
On the right I've listed some of my favorites from others this Summer Camp, both those that helped me keep going and others I enjoyed while I took some time away from Lovenoma after the challenge. I hope others have enjoyed both the reading and the writing throughout the month as much as I did.
Future Plans
I thought about what I wanted to do with Lovenoma after this summer. I have been worldbuilding it without much of a break for the entire year, and by the end of the Summer Camp I needed a break, so that was what I started with. No Lovenoma, not even a glance, for two weeks. It was actually nice to get back to the world after that, so perhaps I made the right decision.
For the rest of the year, I planned to take a step back into writing actual prose—I've tipped by toes into it before and decided those waters could do without me a while longer. Until the end of this year, my goal is to write minimum of one entire short story located in the world of Lovenoma. Written, edited, but most importantly, finished.
It will be lacking and prone to ridiculous mistakes, of that I have no doubt. None of it matters, it can't matter or I'll stop writing. I just want to get something finished. And after that, if by some miracle I want to keep going afterward, maybe I'll try for another.
I hope the writing process can also dissipate some of the doubts I've been having about Lovenoma—I'm not sure it's entirely what I want it to be. Maybe it's growing pains, maybe it's lack of organization or something else. Lovenoma has grown so much during the past year and maybe I'm losing its heart beneath all the various ideas and miscellaneous worldbuilding.
One possibility is that I've been looking the world from above, so to speak, for too long. That's one of the reasons I want to see the world through the eyes of someone born and living within it, whose sphere is much smaller and knowledge more limited than my own.
That was a lot, probably. I can't tell, it's 4 am and I haven't slept because there is a horse fly in my bedroom and a spider in the corridor. I love summers.
Thanks for including the Eldritch Moon!
Of course! Both the idea and its execution made for a wonderfully eerie article, it was a pleasure to read.