Documentary about Ashurbanipal.
Seven people contributed as voice actors (all quotes in the documentary are in Assyrian), and three individuals reviewed the script in advance. It's the only documentary available about King Ashurbanipal and begins from his birth around 685 BC. Watch the documentary here.
120,000 views on YouTube
It's been nine months since we launched the channel with our first episode. Even though the cookbook has been our main focus, we've still managed to get 120,000 views on the channel and 3,000 subscribers. It's something I’m proud of since the purpose of Table of Gods is to make Mesopotamian history accessible and interesting to everyone.
Edited 3 chapters in the book
The manuscript in Table of Gods consists of travel guides and recipes. I completed the travel guides in June. While they were set aside, I wrote recipe introductions and tested recipes. Now it was time to revisit the travel guides again. It took a while to go through all the chapters and identify improvements. It's primarily about editing the text to its essentials, ensuring the best possible reading experience for you.
Goals for October
For the first time since 2019, it feels like I'm actually finishing the book. Every time I think about it, I get nervous. It's scary to release something you've worked on for five years. But I remind myself that I need to publish the book so I can move on to the next project – advice I picked up from the book "The Creative Act" by Rick Rubin.
More
Three books I read this month that I can recommend are "Keep Going" by Austin Kleon, "Excellent Advice for Living" by Kevin Kelly, and "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens. The first two are easy reads that take about an hour to finish but are packed with wisdom. The last one is a book I picked up – finally – and finished in one night. I didn't sleep that night because I kept thinking about the book until my kids woke up. That's why I try to avoid reading novels.
If you're interested in writing your own book or even a screenplay, I can recommend Masterclass. I've taken several classes, but my two favorites are by Neil Gaiman and The Duffer Brothers.
At a wedding in Baghdede (Nineveh Plains, northern Iraq), over 100 people died when the venue caught fire. The fire began when the bride and groom had their dance, and the tragedy is beyond words. I was in Baghdede a few months ago, and the people there already face challenging living conditions. You can donate to help those affected here.