May Highlights + Q&A Announcement
Well, May came and went a lot faster than it ever has before. Despite dozens of hours spent idling along in the tractor, it felt like a whirlwind few weeks. Probably because it was. :P
MOVING // We moved twice this month and it has been HECTIC. We moved to my parent's farm for the first 3 weeks of May and moved again to my in-laws in town just last Monday. After moving out of our first house end of April we've chosen to stay with each set of our parents for part of May/June while we work for them, and then move out to live at camp for the summer. Has it been stressful? Yes. Busy? Yes. A good idea? Yes, I think so. I wouldn't want to be bouncing around like this all the time, but it's definitely a fun kind of way to spend the beginning of summer, especially getting to spend time at home again with family.
FARMING // I've spent most of this month doing a ton of farmwork, especially seeding since it's that time of year. Always easy money but also always really boring. :P I am eager for camp to start up!
KIDNAPPING TO BANFF // At the beginning of the month a few friends and I kidnapped my sister-in-law and took her to the mountains for the day for her recent 18th birthday. It was certainly a nice day well-spent out in the beautiful vistas of Banff.
GRADUATIONS // I'm shooting a few graduations this spring and did my first two sessions already. One for Kyrianna and another for a friend, Kayla. I got some really nice shots that I'm quite happy with and had a lot of fun hanging out with people and celebrating the end of their childhood. :P
WRANGLER TRAINING // Training of camp horses and wranglers began at the beginning of the month. We have a lot of newbies this year and only a few familiar faces and as one of the few experienced people currently able to get in the saddle, I have found myself working 7 horses through the day while others do 1 or 2. It is a bit tiring to say the least, but it's something I'm passionate about and I am looking forward to what this season brings. I also get to ride Morgan, the baby, this year, which is kinda cool.
HORSE SHOW // I attended our first show of the season with my barn family this past weekend. It was super fun! I placed in all 5 of my mounted classes, both on the school horse, Bandy, and my mare, Two Bits. Our team came home with lots of ribbons and I'm super proud of my girl who braved her first showing experience like a champ! She was such a good girl, got 5th and 6th place in disciplines neither of us excel at and while riding in a bit, something she hasn't done in months.
As you may have already guessed from above, my writing life was not um, alive this month. I'm super busy/exhausted and struggling with personal issues so when I finally do get the time or chance to work I have 0 motivation. It's been hard, and of course once July and August roll around there won't be any writing til September, I will keep at least promising myself to try and put something down in my WIP.
I've had people reading and finishing the second draft of Faithless and I'm getting a bit excited to attend to that manuscript again when I get the chance. I even went and reread a few of the final chapters and was brainstorming some improvements the other day. I guess that's a small victory.
I finished A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket this month! Ending with The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End (naturally). I super enjoyed this series and though I was left with a ton of unanswered questions, I think that Mr. Snicket does well in how he wraps up his story. I'm hoping that looking into some of his other books will help me find some of the answers to sub-plot questions that I am seeking. Any hints fellow Snicket fans? And what's up with the sugar bowl?? Like, actually?
I did not stick to my schedule much this month, simply because of burnout and busyness. However, I still met my post quota thanks to my participation in Indie E-Con 2018, which was a BLAST, btw. And I'm pretty proud of the posts I did get out this month, a couple of them have been on my heart a lot and it was good to get them off my chest.
Goals for May
LIFE EVENTS
MOVING // We moved twice this month and it has been HECTIC. We moved to my parent's farm for the first 3 weeks of May and moved again to my in-laws in town just last Monday. After moving out of our first house end of April we've chosen to stay with each set of our parents for part of May/June while we work for them, and then move out to live at camp for the summer. Has it been stressful? Yes. Busy? Yes. A good idea? Yes, I think so. I wouldn't want to be bouncing around like this all the time, but it's definitely a fun kind of way to spend the beginning of summer, especially getting to spend time at home again with family.
FARMING // I've spent most of this month doing a ton of farmwork, especially seeding since it's that time of year. Always easy money but also always really boring. :P I am eager for camp to start up!
KIDNAPPING TO BANFF // At the beginning of the month a few friends and I kidnapped my sister-in-law and took her to the mountains for the day for her recent 18th birthday. It was certainly a nice day well-spent out in the beautiful vistas of Banff.
GRADUATIONS // I'm shooting a few graduations this spring and did my first two sessions already. One for Kyrianna and another for a friend, Kayla. I got some really nice shots that I'm quite happy with and had a lot of fun hanging out with people and celebrating the end of their childhood. :P
WRANGLER TRAINING // Training of camp horses and wranglers began at the beginning of the month. We have a lot of newbies this year and only a few familiar faces and as one of the few experienced people currently able to get in the saddle, I have found myself working 7 horses through the day while others do 1 or 2. It is a bit tiring to say the least, but it's something I'm passionate about and I am looking forward to what this season brings. I also get to ride Morgan, the baby, this year, which is kinda cool.
HORSE SHOW // I attended our first show of the season with my barn family this past weekend. It was super fun! I placed in all 5 of my mounted classes, both on the school horse, Bandy, and my mare, Two Bits. Our team came home with lots of ribbons and I'm super proud of my girl who braved her first showing experience like a champ! She was such a good girl, got 5th and 6th place in disciplines neither of us excel at and while riding in a bit, something she hasn't done in months.
WRITING
As you may have already guessed from above, my writing life was not um, alive this month. I'm super busy/exhausted and struggling with personal issues so when I finally do get the time or chance to work I have 0 motivation. It's been hard, and of course once July and August roll around there won't be any writing til September, I will keep at least promising myself to try and put something down in my WIP.
I've had people reading and finishing the second draft of Faithless and I'm getting a bit excited to attend to that manuscript again when I get the chance. I even went and reread a few of the final chapters and was brainstorming some improvements the other day. I guess that's a small victory.
READING
I finished A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket this month! Ending with The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, and The End (naturally). I super enjoyed this series and though I was left with a ton of unanswered questions, I think that Mr. Snicket does well in how he wraps up his story. I'm hoping that looking into some of his other books will help me find some of the answers to sub-plot questions that I am seeking. Any hints fellow Snicket fans? And what's up with the sugar bowl?? Like, actually?
BLOGGING
I did not stick to my schedule much this month, simply because of burnout and busyness. However, I still met my post quota thanks to my participation in Indie E-Con 2018, which was a BLAST, btw. And I'm pretty proud of the posts I did get out this month, a couple of them have been on my heart a lot and it was good to get them off my chest.
GOALS
Goals for May
Actually flippin' write something (at this point I'd settle for anything). Again, I am a failure and horrible person.Read 2 books/find ASOUE #11I managed to at least do this - and read 3 books to pass my monthly quota.Beta-readdddddddddddddd you horrible person!I DID do some of this, which reminds me...I should get on that again. :PFind an opportunity to do a book signing at a library (to get rid of all my extra copies, haha). I haven't had the chance for this yet, but maybe June will present some opportunity.
Goals for June
- Write 1000 words of The Snow Dragon
- Read 2 books
- Beta-read
(If I keep it basic there may be hope)
Well, that about wraps up my hectic month. A lot of fun things happened but there has been a lot of weariness, especially soul-wise. As I write this it is a gloomy, rainy morning after a week of blazing sun and that's pretty reflective of how I feel moving into the summer months. How was your May? Are you feeling the burnout? Let me know in the comments below!
Oh yes, I almost forgot about the Q & A ANNOUNCEMENT that I mentioned in the title. :DD Next month on the 19th will mark one year since The Sorceress and the Squid was officially released (which is absolutely crazy, where did that time go) and I wanted to do something kinda special to mark my first book's first bookaversary. So, from now until June 10th I am looking to gather a collection of questions from YOU, my readers! These questions can really be about anything, from my book, to writing books, to my upcoming projects, to fandoms, to food, to farming! Whatever you like really! From there I will create my very first ever VLOG (which is kinda scary tbh) to answer all those great questions you send in and post it on the 19th. Oh, and by the way, anyone who sends in a question to my email address: emundell97@gmail.com will be entered into a giveaway draw to win a signed copy of The Sorceress and the Squid as well as an e-copy of my short story The Door-Sleeper! Excited yet? I am! So get sending in those questions!
Oh yes, I almost forgot about the Q & A ANNOUNCEMENT that I mentioned in the title. :DD Next month on the 19th will mark one year since The Sorceress and the Squid was officially released (which is absolutely crazy, where did that time go) and I wanted to do something kinda special to mark my first book's first bookaversary. So, from now until June 10th I am looking to gather a collection of questions from YOU, my readers! These questions can really be about anything, from my book, to writing books, to my upcoming projects, to fandoms, to food, to farming! Whatever you like really! From there I will create my very first ever VLOG (which is kinda scary tbh) to answer all those great questions you send in and post it on the 19th. Oh, and by the way, anyone who sends in a question to my email address: emundell97@gmail.com will be entered into a giveaway draw to win a signed copy of The Sorceress and the Squid as well as an e-copy of my short story The Door-Sleeper! Excited yet? I am! So get sending in those questions!
Wow! Your parents farm is so wonderful. I wish I could live there too. you have a wonderful family.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! It is really wonderful, I'm very lucky.
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