I can’t believe it… is that… an (almost) on time monthly update post? Your eyes do not deceive you! This post is finally not late. October is my favorite month of the year! As my birthday month, spooky season, and the anniversary for my first book’s release-there’s a lot of stuff happening in October!
Submissions, College, and Work
As I’ve been taking more Creative Writing courses in college, I’ve been writing a lot more short form fiction. I’ve finished some flash-fiction and submit them to a few magazines that I think could be interested–so fingers crossed there!
In college, I’ve been practicing Latin, working on writing, and studying ancient heroes in the Greco-Roman ages so this semester has been a fascinating one for sure!
In work, I now work for a literary press as a student hire! So now I work freelance in editing and I’m learning about the publication process for a small press.
Shards of Magick Book 02: The Fractured Body Updates
So this month we had a title reveal! The sequel to The Final Born sequel wasn’t The Fallen Boon, The Forgotten Bounty, or even The Forsaken Bread–It’s The Fractured Body. Progress is going slow, but the story is coming together very well. I might be looking for beta readers real soon! Right now though, I will be submitting the prologue for my class workshop, so the feedback for that will be helpful! Soon there will be a blurb reveal, and then the cover reveal! Be sure to keep an eye out for those posts on my Instagram @bookishmasonmonteith. Also be sure to add the story to your TBR on Goodreads! Here’s the link to the story, it’s pretty bare bones as of right now, but I plan to add more information there soon!
Thrifted Books & Other Projects
This month was a GOLD MINE for thrifting. I went around to some thrift shops I’ve never been to near college, and found so many books for $1-2 each. I grabbed a huge book of all of Shakespeare’s works, books on Norse, Irish, and Celtic myths, some annotated classics, and a few fantasy novels! I also found a few adorable frames which I’m going to fill with more sketches and paintings when I find the time to make them.
In terms of projects on top of The Fractured Body, I’ve been experimenting in writing in my Creative Writing classes in college. I’ve really been getting into flash-fiction, which I might share one or two here soon. I’m enjoying flash-fiction as it’s a good way for me to test out ideas and see if I’d like to take them further into a short story or novel down the road. Also, I cannot wait to continue writing The Spellbound Abbey rewrite! I’ve been reading a lot of classics and stories of the roaring 20s era, which is the time period I want to portray better in the rewrite.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Cookies Recipe
Here’s a recipe I decided to test around with for a book review meeting I had this month. I wanted to make something simple and not too messy since it was in a classroom on campus, but still fall themed! So pumpkin chocolate chip cookies it was! Since I’ve been baking more, I’ll try to incorporate a recipe into every monthly update if possible. (Maybe I’ll even do a few in theme with book reviews or my own stories!)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 Tablespoons canned pumpkin
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used dairy-free chips)
Instructions
- Mix the melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar together in a bowl until no sugar lumps remain.
- Dry the pumpkin mix with paper towels (around one or two just to remove moisture.)
- Mix in the vanilla and pumpkin until smooth. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice together in a bowl. Add the wet ingredients gradually into the dry ingredients and mix together.
- Fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
- Cover the dough and chill for 30 minutes or up to 3 days.
- Remove dough from the refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and roll each into balls. Arrange cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the dough slighly.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes or until the edges appear set. Remove from the oven.
- Cool cookies on the baking sheets before moving to a wire rack to continue cooling.
That’s it for October! I hope everyone had a good spooky month! As always, thank you for supporting my writing journey!
Cheers,
Mason Monteith
Mason Monteith, Author Blog 
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