June is in full force here. I'm writing this newsletter on an afternoon, and have just had to run around the house closing all the curtains to keep the sun from peeping in. It hasn't quite gotten to any heat waves yet, but I'm sure they aren't too far away.

Anyway, despite that, I've been quite a busy bee. I may need to scope out a cafe in Salisbury that has air conditioning in order to keep up in the coming months, but that's future Vivian's problem.

Anyway, let's get into some of the fun stuff I've been up to.

What I've Been Writing

So, I may have been quite busy writing quite a lot of essays. Short essays, long essays, but many posts. This is because I have decided to start a substack under the Incidental Mythology name. You can go subscribe now! I may be sharing some of them here - I haven't really decided yet (tell me how you feel about that, I don't want to clog up your inboxes unnecessarily).

But anyway, we have quite a few essays already ready to go when the substack opens up full force in July. I wrote a piece about genre combinations in Shape of Water, polished up my piece on folklore and Taylor Swift, and even added a short one which was going to be added to that essay on Taylor Swift as a separate piece. Strap in for some regular posts - I plan to have something for you to read every Tuesday at 17.

What I'm Reading

Due to a lot of life events, I've been away from my research into tabletop roleplaying games and communal storytelling. It's been about three months - if I counted corrected - since I last even looked at my notes. So I spent some time this week getting back into it, and look forward to the rest of the summer being spent settling back into the swing of things.

So some of the research I've been delving into has been related to the anthropology and philosophy behind creativity. Particularly, the question of how you define it. Most definitions, both academically and colloquially, have focused on the outcomes, the product, of the thinking. But obviously this has its problems, one of which is to always focus on product rather than process. Most creatives will know that product isn't everything.

What I'm Enjoying

As the stress of everything has been slowly easing, my husband and I have been collapsing into cosy gaming as a way to cope. I've been in a fog of Stardew Valley in the last month or so, including a lovely co-op farm we played together.

On the other media front, I've been enjoying the latest season of Taskmaster. Jason Mantzoukas is the second American they've had, but definitely the roudiest, and I am enjoying every crazy moment of it. I also am loving Fatiha, who is new to me for the season. To be honest, the full cast is absolutely amazing and their energy is just beautiful to watch.

It's also the beginning of Love Island season, and I'm watching both the USA and the UK versions. And as I am an academic above all else, I do my research. This means I have three to four recaps on my rotation as well, which means I'm spending a large portion of my day consuming and thinking about one of the dumbest and campiest reality television dating shows.

That's it for now, guys! Stay tuned at the end of the month for a recap. In the meantime go enjoy and scope out all the lovely other things I have on offer for you. Until then, as always, be good to one another!