My May Highlights
Remember me hoping that May would be less busy than April?
To that me, I say - HA!
I first of all can't believe that May is over already. What the heck, 2016?? Every month is going by twice as fast as the last. It's ridiculous. Pretty soon it'll be Christmas and what will I have to show for it? Nothing!
Well, that's not true. I've accomplished a lot more writing in the past two years than I have in my entire life and the past two years have been the busiest of my entire life, so I must be doing something right. :P
Right??
///BRIDAL SHOWERS AND LAKE FUN. The first of May was my the co-ed bridal shower for two of my good friends who are getting married this summer. It's very exciting because I've known the guy since he was born and the girl has been one of my best camp friends for the past few years. Also, I get to be in the wedding party and so does Jonathan, so we get to be all cute together walking down the aisle. I am excited for that. In any case, not only did we have the bridal shower party which was pretty entertaining, but some of us afterwards went out to the local lake. It's a man-made lake and is dammed, so at the beginning of the month it was quite low and had a bit of a river with mud running through it. Yes, we went swimming on the first of May in Alberta, Canada (for all you un-Canadians this is usually not a thing, the swimming months are strictly mid-June to early September).
And of course we needed a campfire to warm up after that. The next week Jonathan and I took a swimming date together back by the lake/river which was quite fun but also quite cold and basically turned into a mud-fight between the two of us.
///SEEDING. Since I am a farmer's daughter, this horrendous task falls to me every springtime and I dread it. Going in endless circles for days and weeks drives me crazy (not to mention swallows up my writing time). I unfortunately spent 5.5 hours working yesterday for nothing and the field I did has to be re-seeded. Yay. Things like that happen to me often.\\\
///INDIE AT SCHOOL. So after a month of getting schooled, quite literally, my big Thoroughbred, Indie, gets to come home tomorrow. I'm super excited to have him back and work with him and what he's learned. I was impressed the other day with how still and good he stood while another mare was throwing a fit around him. He is a good boy now and not so insane. XD\\\
Well, June is looking super hectic. I'll be away at least one weekend and two weeks so that takes a large chunk of time, I want to do some horse stuff before summer hits and hopefully hike a bit too. Writing time is looking bleaker, but there are a couple things I'd like to get done...
My May Goals
///WRITE AT LEAST 100 WORDS PER DAY. I think I mostly did this? Days I missed were made up for days where I did a thousand words.\\\
///FINISH 3RD DRAFT OF THE SORCERESS AND THE SQUID. This one did not happen, as I hardly had any time, but I'm hoping I can do it this month, we'll see.\\\
///FINISH SHORT STORY. This definitely didn't happen. I think I wrote another paragraph and haven't hardly touched it, even though I've really wanted to.\\\
///POETRY AND ART PROJECTS. Welp. I drew one thing this month, a portrait of Jessica Jones. That's a start at least. And I did do a little poetry. But what I really need to do is some art these days...\\\
///BLOGGING. I did some more writing-related posts but wasn't able to get too much into my blogging, sadly. Too much going on, guys!.\\\
My June Goals
///FINISH FIRST DRAFT OF FAITHLESS. This is an ambitious one, especially with the timeframe I have to work with in the month ahead, but it's my last chance to really accomplish any significant amount of writing, so I'm gonna have to go for it. Wish me luck!\\\
///FINISH 3RD DRAFT OF THE SORCERESS AND THE SQUID. This one needs to happen to so that I can polish it up and hopefully have it ready for something or other in the fall.\\\
///WORK ON SHORT STORY. I can at the very least do something with this little piece of random cluttering up my hard drive. Shouldn't be that hard, right? *whimpers*
///FINISH OUTLINE FOR SUMMER PROJECT. That's right, as if I didn't have enough writing on my hands. :P I'm on a tight schedule for the next two years-ish and I've got to keep moving on to accomplish the writing I want to. Get excited because I might introduce a touch of it or Faithless or the third TSatS chapter next Wednesday, we'll have to see.\\\
Well, it's past midnight here and I managed to get this post done after a full day of seeding fields, kayaking and exercising my very fat and out-of-shape mare who needs a good exercise regimen and more time from me and my writing. Ugh. Time-consuming hobbies are time-consuming. But hey, at least I have them. That is good.
So how was everyone else's month? Anything exciting or special? Did you get a good chunk of writing done? Tell me about your crazy or not-so-crazy May in the comments!
To that me, I say - HA!
I first of all can't believe that May is over already. What the heck, 2016?? Every month is going by twice as fast as the last. It's ridiculous. Pretty soon it'll be Christmas and what will I have to show for it? Nothing!
Well, that's not true. I've accomplished a lot more writing in the past two years than I have in my entire life and the past two years have been the busiest of my entire life, so I must be doing something right. :P
Right??
LIFE IN GENERAL
///BRIDAL SHOWERS AND LAKE FUN. The first of May was my the co-ed bridal shower for two of my good friends who are getting married this summer. It's very exciting because I've known the guy since he was born and the girl has been one of my best camp friends for the past few years. Also, I get to be in the wedding party and so does Jonathan, so we get to be all cute together walking down the aisle. I am excited for that. In any case, not only did we have the bridal shower party which was pretty entertaining, but some of us afterwards went out to the local lake. It's a man-made lake and is dammed, so at the beginning of the month it was quite low and had a bit of a river with mud running through it. Yes, we went swimming on the first of May in Alberta, Canada (for all you un-Canadians this is usually not a thing, the swimming months are strictly mid-June to early September).
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| *flails about iPhone cameras being better than Androids* |
Today the both of us were at the lake again to kayak - my third time! I'm really terrible at it but Jonathan's a good and patient teacher, so hopefully I'll pick it up eventually *file under things that made this post late*.\\\
///HONEYBEES. So at my grandma's house in the awning above the back porch there's been a nest of bees hiding behind the siding and kind of just chilling. Unfortunately for the bees, my grandparent's house really needs to be re-roofed, so they had to be removed. Some professional beekeepers came down to suck up the bees and take them back to new hives. We got to watch the process through the upstairs window and discovered that the hive was massive and there were layers and layers of combs in the wall. It was crazy. We also got to keep some honeycomb and shared it around with people and tried the fresh honey, it was so ridiculously sweet, but delicious!\\\
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| It was so cool to watch them vacuuming up the bees! |
///MORE JUMPING. We did so much of this in our lessons this month and I am so happy about it. When I was younger I had bad anxiety about jumping fences of any size but now I feel so much better about it and actually am able to enjoy it. I have much better balance now and much more skill with horses, so it's thoroughly enjoyable.\\\
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| This is called a "bounce" jump and is meant to teach you to hold your two point (jumping position). |
///AFTER-WEDDING PARTY. So the older brother of one of my best friends got married this month and since he got married and is now living in Vancouver the big group of friends and family back here at home had to have their own celebration as well. We had it by the river and it was great getting to hang out with everyone. Me and my friends, the two Mackenzies, walked upriver, found some sand and talked about what kind of people we'd be if we didn't have God. XD Among other things. It was a nice night.\\\
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| Myself, said Mackenzies and my sister. |
///SEEDING. Since I am a farmer's daughter, this horrendous task falls to me every springtime and I dread it. Going in endless circles for days and weeks drives me crazy (not to mention swallows up my writing time). I unfortunately spent 5.5 hours working yesterday for nothing and the field I did has to be re-seeded. Yay. Things like that happen to me often.\\\
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| At least I got to look at pretty ponies while I did the same field again... |
///INDIE AT SCHOOL. So after a month of getting schooled, quite literally, my big Thoroughbred, Indie, gets to come home tomorrow. I'm super excited to have him back and work with him and what he's learned. I was impressed the other day with how still and good he stood while another mare was throwing a fit around him. He is a good boy now and not so insane. XD\\\
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| I think he'll be happy to get home to his pasture... |
WRITING THINGS
This month was not too bad for writing, with all of the above going on plus daily activities, jobs and stresses I had my work cut out for me. Especially these last couple weeks. However, when Jonathan was gone to Vancouver/kayaking for a week I was able to get a lot done (go figure). I wrote like, three chapters in a week this month for a total of four or five for Faithless. In any case, I made a fair chunk of progress. Also, this story is going crazy on me, I literally do not know what is going happen from any given moment - even as the author. This has never happened to me before, SEND HELP!
I did some editing of The Sorceress and the Squid as well, going through the comments that the lovely Abigayle Ellison left me as well as writing a whole new additional chapter. I still have one more scene to add and then everything to polish before it will be ready, but Abi's comments are very encouraging and I'm hoping to possibly have it out there by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!
I also did some editing for a friend and tried to work on both my fantasy series and my short story but neither of those really happened, it was all I could do to get the writing/editing I had to do done amongst all the craziness of this month. Guys, I really need a weekend writer's retreat or something...
Oh, I got poetry/prose inspired again...
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| Got slightly inspired by the themes in Til We Have Faces... |
READING LIFE
I only read two books this month and am halfway through a third, but that's more than I expected so I'm happy with it.
///BLACK SHIPS BEFORE TROY by Rosemary Sutcliff. After reading about and fangirling over Aimee Meester's fantastic Camp NaNo story I got flooded with Iliad feels and wanted to read the actual book but then my boyfriend presented me with this much simpler and beautifully illustrated by LotR artist Alan Lee edition instead. How could I say no?
In short, everyone you love dies, including but not limited to; Hector, Patroclus, the Amazons (who are way too awesome to just up and die in one freaking chapter) and Achilles. It is angsty, tragic and very cool and the thing I love/hate about it is that you don't even take a side, you feel sympathetic towards each character, it's so weird in that way, how there's no clear bad guys or good guys. I really enjoy that aspect of it.\\\
///TIL WE HAVE FACES by CS Lewis. So this was one of the few CS Lewis books I hadn't read (I am a huge fan of literally everything he's written that I've read) and I was sitting by the bookshelf one day a little bored and I saw it and picked it up and started reading and a couple days later was finished (which is fast for me right now cause I'm so busy!). Man, I really enjoyed this. Why did I not read it sooner? Basically it's a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche that breaks your heart and holds a mirror to your soul and asks you really deep questions about love, specifically how love should work. It's thought-provoking and deep, as Mr. Lewis generally is, and I would strongly recommend it to any and everyone. Likely my favorite book of the year so far aside from Wild Geese.\\\
(I've also just started The Road by Cormac McArthy yesterday and am halfway through so when I get more time to read I will probably have it finished this month, then I'll move into The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and we'll see what happens after that - maybe more CS Lewis, cause I've got a craving)
BLOGGING LIFE
Was sad this month. As it generally is. XD But that's okay! Maybe I'll eventually have time to make more of an effort. But for now, if anyone has any good blogging and interactive tips to share I'd be much obliged, that seems to be where I have my problems.
Current blogger stats...
2258 pageviews
4 followers
39 posts
I'll still be looking to grow these numbers if possible but I sense a very busy June ahead and then of course the busy summer, so we'll see what happens...
GOALS
Well, June is looking super hectic. I'll be away at least one weekend and two weeks so that takes a large chunk of time, I want to do some horse stuff before summer hits and hopefully hike a bit too. Writing time is looking bleaker, but there are a couple things I'd like to get done...
My May Goals
///WRITE AT LEAST 100 WORDS PER DAY. I think I mostly did this? Days I missed were made up for days where I did a thousand words.\\\
///FINISH 3RD DRAFT OF THE SORCERESS AND THE SQUID. This one did not happen, as I hardly had any time, but I'm hoping I can do it this month, we'll see.\\\
///FINISH SHORT STORY. This definitely didn't happen. I think I wrote another paragraph and haven't hardly touched it, even though I've really wanted to.\\\
///POETRY AND ART PROJECTS. Welp. I drew one thing this month, a portrait of Jessica Jones. That's a start at least. And I did do a little poetry. But what I really need to do is some art these days...\\\
///BLOGGING. I did some more writing-related posts but wasn't able to get too much into my blogging, sadly. Too much going on, guys!.\\\
My June Goals
///FINISH FIRST DRAFT OF FAITHLESS. This is an ambitious one, especially with the timeframe I have to work with in the month ahead, but it's my last chance to really accomplish any significant amount of writing, so I'm gonna have to go for it. Wish me luck!\\\
///FINISH 3RD DRAFT OF THE SORCERESS AND THE SQUID. This one needs to happen to so that I can polish it up and hopefully have it ready for something or other in the fall.\\\
///WORK ON SHORT STORY. I can at the very least do something with this little piece of random cluttering up my hard drive. Shouldn't be that hard, right? *whimpers*
///FINISH OUTLINE FOR SUMMER PROJECT. That's right, as if I didn't have enough writing on my hands. :P I'm on a tight schedule for the next two years-ish and I've got to keep moving on to accomplish the writing I want to. Get excited because I might introduce a touch of it or Faithless or the third TSatS chapter next Wednesday, we'll have to see.\\\
Well, it's past midnight here and I managed to get this post done after a full day of seeding fields, kayaking and exercising my very fat and out-of-shape mare who needs a good exercise regimen and more time from me and my writing. Ugh. Time-consuming hobbies are time-consuming. But hey, at least I have them. That is good.
So how was everyone else's month? Anything exciting or special? Did you get a good chunk of writing done? Tell me about your crazy or not-so-crazy May in the comments!
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