Alakazam, Postcardians!  #notsorry, but I did suggest in my previous post (now private) that “Goodbye for Now” might turn into “Merely a Hiatus,” and/or that I might take a break from Other Big Projects to sneak in a post or two this Fall.  Luckily, I just needed a few extra months of vacation in the Real World to recharge my brain for:

Postcards (Mini) Season 10:
The Nostalgic Re-awakening!

Tentative ideas for upcoming posts include:

• Writing Children’s Books:  Tips from Helen Frost:  Highlights from a recent workshop with Fort Wayne author Helen Frost.  Plus a review of her historical verse novel Salt, which offers a glimpse into the War of 1812 from the perspectives of two boys from the Fort Wayne/Kekionga region:  a new American settler and a member of the Miami Indian nation.
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• A review of Emily Whitman’s The Turning, plus a recap/comparison of all the selkie tales I’ve reviewed on this blog.  What (if any) are the essential tenets of selkie lore?  What are the biggest disagreements?  I’ll try to be as spoiler-free as possible, but no promises.
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• Halloween Month:  Selkies, Sequels, and Second Chances.  It’s happening.  Brace yourselves for the ultimate showdown between October Daye’s sea witch aunt (creator of all the seal folk) and the entire selkie race!  Then, buckle in for another high-speed spy thriller featuring Lithuanian teen assassin Gobija Zaksauskas!  And, finally, cheer me on as I (maybe) take a second crack at one of my 2018 DNFs!
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• A Decade-End Review:  Highlights and Lowlights from Ten Years in La-La Land.

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In the meantime, you could think of today’s post as a What I Read This Summer Essay.  Or maybe it’s a Trippy Time Travelogue.  This summer, I’ve revisited some of my favorite stories in spoken form, channeling story addicts of millenia past, who ingested their favorite legends and fairy tales through their ears.  In other words:  audiobooks!

I’m also going to take this opportunity to give a shout-out to my favorite teen magazine, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, and whose evolution into a more inclusive, LGBTQ-friendly publication is one awesome example of how far we’ve come since Stonewall.

Introducing my new puppy, Spurga, to Fort Wayne’s best summer festivals.  (Oh, did I mention the new puppy?  She’s a bernedoodle, and her name means “little donut” in Lithuanian ^_^ )

Onward to:  Nostalgic Summer Listening 2019