Monthly Recap: August and September 2024

The long-awaited update is here! I have much news to unpack, from chatting about college life, writing work, and a recipe I’ve been baking nonstop since Fall started! So let’s kick off October with a recap!

With the release of the Elden Ring Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, there has been a lot of new lore for the community to unpack. I’ve been watching lore breakdowns from channels like VaatiVidya and FatBrett who do a phenomenal job at bringing new discussions to the table. As I’ve been getting into Latin studies and Greek and Roman religions in college, I’ve been mega inspired in my writing as I see how Elden Ring has taken inspiration from many real world events and myths and changed them to feel new!

In fact, my Latin and GRK/ROM Religion classes inspired me in my Creative Writing class. So, in my Creative Writing course we had writing workshops! For this workshop, we were given the choice of writing a chapter excerpt for a novel, a short story, or three pieces of flash fiction. For this I decided to experiment and write flash fiction! I wanted to try and write a more grimdark style fantasy than I usually write. It was a collection of flash fiction stories that each told a separate tale with an overarching story between them all. It was more of a dark fantasy style but set in a medieval world. It was way more poetic than my usual works, but I received some outstanding feedback on this piece!

I’ve been working on the sequel for The Final Born whenever I can, but progress has been slow with college and work right now. That being said, the title reveal for book two will be coming out on October 5th! So keep an eye out for that! More news on the sequel should start picking up shortly after that, as the new draft is really starting to pick up as it all starts coming together.

I can’t wait to share the journeys of Calypso, Ophelya, and Leandre once again!

Pumpkin Cake Loaf Recipe

This is a recipe I’ve modified. It’s super simple to make, the canned pumpkin makes the batter mixing very easy! I’ve made it for family and friends multiple times now. It has become my go to recipe since it’s so easy and I can write while I wait for it to bake!

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ sticks (¾ cup) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 (15-oz) can 100% pure pumpkin

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325°F and set an oven rack in the middle position. Grease two loaf pans with butter and dust with flour.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Whisk until well combined; set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a fork until just well mixed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until very light and fluffy, a few minutes. Beat in the pumpkin and vanilla extract. The mixture might look grainy and curdled at this point — that’s okay.
Gradually add and stir in the flour mixture until well combined.
Turn the batter into the prepared pans, dividing evenly, and bake for 35 – 45 minutes (I use small Bundt pans, so add more time for bigger pans), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

That’s it for August and September! I can’t believe October is already here! I’m so excited for spooky season, and hopefully the fall weather arrives soon. Anyways, I hope you’ve had a wonderful Fall-ish so far, and thank you again for supporting my writing journey!

Cheers,

Mason Monteith