Crysta K. Coburn's Blog

Because I am again sick of listening to ads every two songs on streaming services, and the USB drive I have plugged into my car is getting old (again), I dug through my decently sized CD collection and pulled out an old favorite: Green Day's International Superhits! (Yes, the ! is part of the title.) If you are unfamiliar, it was Green Day's first greatest hits collection that came out in 2001, bringing together the singles of the 90s as well as some other great tracks. 

Every time that I listen ...

  Every summer, libraries host events to encourage people to read. Ypsilanti has the Summer Challenge. In Ann Arbor, it's called the Summer Game, and it has many facets. After reading (or listening to) 10 books, you get a free book! Yay! Pretty standard for a library summer reading program. But you can also earn badges, and the badges are really where it's at if you want to win prizes.  Both Ypsi and Ann Arbor libraries use their summer programs to encourage people to explore their communities....

Image courtesy of Chicago Steampunk Expo

Haunted Mitten cohost Kay Gray and I will once again be presenting at the Chicago Steampunk Expo May 39th to June 1st: 

Saturday at 4 p.m. come hear all about Monsters of the Great Lakes!

Sunday at 11 a.m. learn about starting your own podcast with Podcasting and You! 

This is Ivy. She loves being in our episodes!

I admit I have been struggling to write much these days. In addition to Haunted Mitten, I am working on finishing the first draft of a novel. It's n...

 

Turns out that 2024 was an incredible year for Haunted Mitten! Not only were we asked to speak at multiple public libraries, but we were invited to create and run a haunted downtown Ann Arbor tour. It was such a unique and fun experience. And of course I can't forget...
OUR BOOK CAME OUT! 
Ypsilanti Ghosts & Legends is available wherever books are sold, although it might require inquiring at the service desk for a special order. You can order online at books2read.com/YpsiGhosts or tinyurl.com/Yps...

Streaming music online is really annoying. At first, it was pretty cool to be able to sample all these different artists and find new bands based on music I already know. Then the advertisements took over. Despite years of curating playlists on Spotify, I made the decision to delete the app on my phone. (And I am not alone in this. I recently read "Why I Finally Quit Spotify" by Kyle Chayka for the New Yorker.)

I downloaded Deezer, and everything was great at first. I was able to import my playli...

Of course the water tower is on the cover.

Oh my goodness, y'all! Kay and I wrote a book! Amidst a lot of health problems, including being hospitalized for the better part of a week, I have not had time to update about this. My Haunted Mitten podcast cohost Kay and I spent the majority of last year working on a book for History Press's Haunted America series. 

And it's available for preorder!!

From the back cover:

From its beginning as an outpost to its current offering of occult shops and restauran...

I was watching Journey Across Japan on the Abroad in Japan YouTube channel, and the two guys go shopping at Daiso, one of the largest 100 yen shop chains in Japan. It's like a dollar store, except 10,000 times better with actually good quality and useful products. And I used to work at one.
How is that when I was only in Japan for 3 months in 2003? Because I lived in Mountain View, California for 4 months, and Daiso has (some) stores in the U.S. I put on the application that I minored...

You may have noticed that it's been a while since I've updated. Lots has happened in my life, both positive and very sad. 
I'm working on two books at the moment, one fiction and one nonfiction. So that's fun! I've also been working regularly as a feature writer for Mashed, which has been good for my spirit. But since having Covid, my energy is constantly low. 
I've stuck with the library because it's a solid, reliable income, but it takes a lot more energy to maintain than it used to....

Haunted Mitten has a bunch of upcoming appearances in October, so I suspect my blog updates are going to be scarce for a few weeks. 

A few weeks ago, my podcast cohost Kay and I presented for the second year at FrankenFest Detroit. (Click here to read about FrankenFest Detroit 2021). It was another great year, though it was pretty hot in the room. We don't blame anyone who had to leave to get some fresh air. Who thought it would nearly 90 degrees F halfway September? We had so many good questions...

This summer has been a pretty erratic one. There were either stormy days or ridiculously hot days. So not too many I really wanted to spend time outdoors in. But I need my lake time, or I become incredibly depressed. (Or depression deepens, depending on how you look at it.) 

It has also been a busy summer for Haunted Mitten with multiple appearances and prepping for a growing number of appearances this fall. (I think we are up to 4 events in October alone.) And we still need to record season 4! S...