October 2023
Flower of the Month: Cosmos
Native to Mexico, cosmos flowers symbolize order, harmony, and balance. These flowers were often grown in mission gardens because of their orderly and symmetrical petal arrangement. In the garden, too much watering leads to fewer flowers, just like too much planning in our own lives upsets the harmony of work and play.
Cosmos will reseed themselves, which helps them thrive in their native arid climate. Even when our season of balance comes to a close, there is hope for the future. Time has a way of putting things right and bringing our lives into order if we allow the dry season to run its course.
Reading
Forcing Fate by M.A. Frick
I was fortunate enough to be chosen as an ARC reader for this book, though not quick enough to review it before its release. (It’s a hefty read!) If you like fantasy romance that smacks of “Beauty and the Beast meets Mulan,” I highly recommend this one! You can check out my full (impending) review on Goodreads (follow the link to my profile below).
Research
Babylonian empire, King Darius, and the book of Daniel.
As usual, the Bible holds some fascinating topics of research. Needless to say, there may be some ancient mesopotamian flavor to my writing in the future.
Solarpunk
Most people have heard of steampunk and cyberpunk, but what exactly is solarpunk? That’s a question I’ve been diving into lately, and I can honestly say this is one aesthetic I’m looking forward to exploring more.
Updates
- Funding update: Lily’s Passage is 19% funded. Things have been moving slow this month, but I’m remaining optimistic. I still need to raise about $11,800 to move forward with copyediting. I’m praying that I can start this phase before the end of the year. As always, if you want to support my writing, you can visit my Project Jumpstart page.
- Find me on Goodreads! If you want to see more of the books I’m reading and reviewing, give me a follow.
- Find me at the fair! I’m excited to have secured a spot at a local craft bazaar this November. I’ll be there with all the sewing projects I’ve been working on this year, including many designs that aren’t available on my Etsy shop. If you’re in the Tucson area, stop by and see me!
- Next project: Holly’s Portent, book two in my YA fantasy trilogy. Starting in November, I’ll be embarking on the journey to draft the book’s first 50k words during National Novel Writing Month. (More on that in next month’s newsletter.) In the time leading up to November, I’m hard at work creating the outline, character sketches, and major plot points that will help carry me through the mad dash of drafting. I find the planning stage can be just as fun as actually writing the book, and I’m enjoying seeing all the pieces pull together.
Lore
By this point, it’s probably no surprise that flowers are very important to me. Anyone who’s read drafts of Lily’s Passage knows that plants feature heavily in the story, both from a practical and symbolic perspective. While I don’t consider myself to be a green thumb, my love of the natural world spurs me to dive deeper into botany at every turn. Plants can heal us, harm us, and draw us closer to our Creator as we seek to uncover their mysteries.
All three books of my trilogy have titles steeped in symbolism. Lily’s Passage is a coming-of-age story in which the protagonists seek to find their place in the world and their purpose in life. Fittingly, lilies are often symbols of innocence and purity. The motif of the lily appears throughout the book, and is even represented in the cover artwork. To say that it’s a story of “the passage of innocence” isn’t too far off-base.
Looking forward to the next book, Holly’s Portent is shaping up to be a story of uncovering and learning from the past in which the protagonists must use their newfound knowledge to prepare for the future. Holly has many associations, but in the language of the flowers it’s often known to symbolize foresight or defense. Like in the book before it, the titular plant surfaces throughout the story and will most likely make an appearance in the cover art. Omens of the future run rampant through the book, so this story is one of “foresight of the coming change.”
Alas, the third and final book in the trilogy remains veiled for now. But fear not, the title and theme are already solidly in place, along with some major players and events. Although I’ve much to do before I embark on that story, I’ve laid most of the groundwork already in the first two books. What’s left is to see what grows from the soil I’ve been tending.
As the wind blows,
Sydney Frusti
