January Highlights

  Hello all! It's the end of a fairly busy but also quite productive month, and I'm happy to be able to look back through and recollect on all that was accomplished. It's weird that we're already one month into 2018 and I will 100% be saying that as every month passes for the whole year. It's also weird to compare now to a year ago, and to think about where I'll be in another year. SO MUCH CHANGE.

  LIFE EVENTS

• BACK TO WORK/SCHOOL//After all the awesome hubbub of the Christmas season it was time to delve back into regular life. Though I don't attend any post-secondary my photography course started back up again and so far it's going quite well. Annddd babysitting continued, which, while occasionally emotionally draining for my introverted self, is not the worst thing ever. Back to work and school also meant that writing and subsequent agenda items had to be brought back.
• BIRTHDAY//One of my close friends/bridesmaids, Kenzie, turned 20 at the beginning of the month and we had a little party for her which was pretty fun. 

• CAMP PONIES//I had the chance to spend afternoons out with the camp horses and friends this month which was nice after not seeing them since early December. Gus and I took a ride for the first time since October, which seems crazy! I also got some super nice photos while stalking around for photography homework. 

• INTERNSHIP//I've been riding up to 4 times a week through my internship and have been able to get on a lot of new and interesting horses. My project recently has been Frost, a tiny pony that I am just small enough for who has recently taken to throwing bucks when she canters. I've fallen off more with her than any other horse ever. So that's been fun. 
• FARM VISITS//I took my babysitting charge to my family's farm for the second time and as usual, it was highly entertaining for the 4 year old city kid to maneuver his way around a farm setting. 
• TWO BITS//I've been working lots with my horse, Two Bits, the past while. We even got a bareback and bridleless ride together in December right before going to Mexico. Jonathan came out to ride her with me the other day and commented on how even he can feel improvement from when she was living at home, so that's pretty cool. We trotted over our first tiny fences together this past week and I'm hoping I'll be able to teach her a bit of jumping this spring.

• SUMMER PLANS//Jonathan and I have decided to commit to working the full summer at camp this year (which will be my 7th such summer) and I couldn't be more excited. It'll likely be the last we get for a long time, maybe ever depending on how life goes, so I'm aiming to treasure it. What's going to be really cool is the fact that we get to live at camp from June to August, so we'll be living and breathing it. I'm looking forward to the summer already!

  WRITING LIFE

  This month I didn't do much in the way of actual writing (read: none). My goal was to finish my second draft of Faithless so I could sign-up beta-readers for February, which I did by the first week. Since then I've been doing a ton of beta-reading for people. I've got a writing plan for 2018 and so long as I stick to it I should get quite a bit accomplished this year.

  Speaking of Faithless, if you are looking for something fresh, original, and hard-hitting to beta-read this spring, might I suggest checking out this link and signing-up? It's the final day to do so and I'm looking for all the feedback I can get!

  READING LIFE

  A mediocre reading month, though what I did read I really enjoyed.

VICIOUS by VE Schwab
SO good. Ugh. I loved this book, the characters, the plot, the very idea driving the story. I've been raving about it for a month and I can't wait to get into more of Ms. Schwab's work. Everyone I've come across has been getting this book slapped in their faces. If you like edgy superheroes and complex anti-heroes/villains/heroes and smart plot twists then this is the book for you.

BATMAN: ZERO YEAR + ZERO YEAR: DARK CITY
I've been reading this Scott Snyder series of Batman comics the past while and just finished #4 and 5. I had already read 6 so I'll be skipping ahead to 7, 8, and 9 soon. I love the artwork and the really cool plots all mixed in together. Especially Death of the Family and Court of Owls. If you're into Batman and/or comics, then I'd recommend this series.

  BLOGGING LIFE

  I've been posting regularly so far this year which is great and it has been a pretty smooth process. I also gained a few new followers since my last wrap-up, so I'm pretty excited about that. I've been doing a lot of bookworm-related post and am wondering if you guys want to see more writing-related stuff or not? Or something else entirely? Hit me with your brilliant suggestions!

  GOALS

  New year, new goals for the month! One of my favorite parts of the new year is looking ahead and making plans (I am a planner, my whole life is planners) and January is the best month to do that. Also sometimes the beginning of September, since new school year plans are good too.

  Goals for February

• Finish The Wandering: Part One (final 5 chapters)
• Read 2 books (going for 30 this year!)
• Beta-read Morrigan by Jonathan King
• Send Faithless out to beta-readers (which you can still sign-up to do, just contact me!)

Well, that's about all I have on my end for this month. I want to hear from you! How was your January? Was it ridiculously warm then cold like here in Alberta (legit we had some -5's and then the next day be -40 with the wind chill, it's been ridiculous)? Let me know in the comments below!