Lydia Schofield

Scribbler, writer, illustrator

From My Notebook to Yours

Welcome to my public notebook, where I’m thinking out loud to generate ideas, sharing what I know, and trying to be interesting. The philosophy behind this public notebook is very much based on Austin Kleon’s Show Your Work! which I go into more depth on here if you’re interested. The basic premise is that this is a place for me to do something – anything – to keep creative momentum up. Anything is better than nothing.

  • Cosy admin? Legends and Lattes and other (actually) cosy books

    Described as Dungeons and Dragons meets Animal Crossing meets a warm hug, Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree is meant to be the cosy book of the century. But maybe it’s just admin?

    Australian cover of Legends and Lattes. The title is in the centre of the book with a sword running through the ampersand for 'and'. Above it is a shield with a coffee cup in its centre. The whole thing is designed to look like a coffeeshop chalk board.
    US cover of Legends and Lattes. A green orc lady wearing a leather apron stands with her back leaning against a smaller pink-skinned woman wearing a grey jumper. They are making coffee in a wood-pannelled shop and there are pastries in the counter in front of them.

    Viv is an orc barbarian who’s hanging up her sword in search of a calmer life. She’s moved to the big city and is ready to set up a shop selling gnomish coffee. The novel follows her journey through the streets of Thune to find assistance, befriending Cal, a grumpy dwarf who works on the docks to help her transform stables into a chic coffeehouse, complete with new assistant, Tandri.

    While many readers have found this novel’s low stakes relaxing, I found the mundanity confounding. While the setting is strong – especially the bustling markets full of building supplies, antiques, and tableware – Viv is unnervingly unemotional as her purse of silver grows empty and the tasks around setting up a shop pile up. I’m not convinced reading about people shopping and putting up shelves is interesting or cosy. And when conflict does arise, Viv stamps it out so quickly it’s irritating and, honestly, silly. (Can you really pay off the mafia with a muffin? I don’t think so.)

    Meanwhile, although the tension between Viv and Tandri is definitely present, it is plonked onto the page so obviously and clumsily that I found it distracting and awkward. I love a good awkward romance, especially a queer one, but I did not get the impression the author meant for the reader to cringe at what should be sweet glances exchanged over a busy coffee counter.

    So if you, like me, did not understand the appeal of this book, what should you read instead? Here’s my shortlist of the best actually cosy books to curl up with on a rainy day.

    PSALM FOR THE WILD BUILT by Becky Chambers

    Cover for Psalm for the Wild Built featuring a winding path through the woods. A robot stands in teh top left corner and in the bottom right, a person sits on a wagon, drinking tea.
    Cover for Murder Most Unladylike. Two silhouetted girls stand on the letters of the title. The background is baby blue.

    It shares a lot of motifs with Legends and Lattes. A monk looking for a change of pace retrains as a tea monk and sets off into the world, offering advice and tea to villagers across the realm. This is a Ghibli-esque solarpunk socialist masterpiece that quietly examines what it is to seek meaning and connection, and questions – literally and gorgeously – what it means to be human. And there are robots and lush treehouse towns along the way.

    Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens

    Mysteries are cosy. Boarding school books are cosy. Historical fiction is (depending on the time period and focus) cosy. Whack them all together with enigmatic eleven-year-old detectives, a diverse cast of queer and POC characters in 1930s England (and Hong Kong) and you have my go-to comfort series. For ultimate cosy vibes, start with the snowy Oxford Christmas book, Mistletoe and Murder.

    Cover for Gwen and Art are Not in Love. Four royal teenagers gaze at each other. Two are sitting on a horse, looking down at their respective love interests
    Cover for Pumpkinheads. A black girl with her hair in buns gazes into the eyes of a white boy with blond hair. They both wear matching overalls and nametags and are lying down, surrounded by pumpkins and vines.

    Gwen and Art are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

    Princess Gwen catches her brother snogging the boy she’s betrothed to. The female knight Gwen is crushing on is in town for a tournament. Also, the whole book is set in Camelot. There are hunts, there are feasts, there is intrigue and there are injuries nursed by worried lovers in fire-warmed castle rooms. What more do you want?

    Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks

    Rowell’s snappy, cute dialogue blends with Hicks’ warm illustrations to create a butterfly-inducing love story set in a pumpkin patch at the end of Autumn. Serving suggestion: consume with hot drink of choice and lots of marshmallows.  

  • Best Books of 2023

    I always collect my reading stats for the year, so here’s a look at what I loved most and a breakdown of the kinds of books I gravitated towards.

  • Midnight mist and lambs

    I decided a while ago that I wouldn’t get any word tattoos, only images. There’s one phrase that tempts me though, one I have tacked up above my desk.

    DEMONS HATE FRESH AIR

    Linn Ullmann, relaying something her father Ingmar Bergman told her. I found it via Austin Kleon’s book, Keep Going

    The idea is that movement and the outside and walking in particular get rid of the demons in your head. ‘Go for a walk and then work, he’d say, because the demons hate it when you get out of bed, demons hate fresh air.’

    A lot of writers and artists took long walks and I’ve often found them incredibly helpful as ways to get out of my head, and to find sparks of ideas.

    Here are two excellent things that I’ve seen on walks recently.

    Midnight fog on my way home

    I walked home at midnight the other night after a concert. It was so foggy that all the streetlights left streamers of light through the gumtrees. It was beautiful and calming and I know I’m going to use it in a story or drawing soon.

    The second came on a very bad day when I was feeling miserable. My best friend and I went on a walk to talk everything through and saw lambs in a paddock near the creek.

    Seeing something small and new wobble around on their fluffy little legs was a delight, but it also made me feel much better. I felt wobbly too, but I’d be okay.

    All this to say: take a walk. Make a plan that travels.

Lydia Schofield

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