Goodbye Summer
Well, it's been quite a few months since my last post here. I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking that I had fallen off the face of the earth/spontaneously burst into flames. Unfortunately for you, I am still alive and kicking, though definitely exhausted from a crazy summer. Obviously I haven't been active on my author platforms, nor have I been doing much in the way of writing because I am a pathetic human being. BUT, now comes the fall/winter season, when I don't want to leave the house anymore because it's probably -42 and blizzarding and it gets dark at like, 4:30 pm and the seasonal depression sets in and you have nothing left but to pour your soul into angsty characters and stories. So yay for that?
If you're curious about what I was up to this summer, check out some of the stories/images below! If you're curious about my reading life and the awesome books I read the past few months, scroll a little further. If you want to know what the actual heck is up with my writing projects, scroll once more. If you want to hear about some new changes coming to this blog in the new school year, that'll be at the bottom. If you don't give a crap about me or what I did and am doing then please, by all means, click away! I honestly can't blame you, lol.
MY 21st BIRTHDAY // I turned 21 on July 3rd and I guess I'm old now? And I can drink alcohol in every country? Coolcoolcoolcool.
CAMP // This was pretty much my entire summer, guys. End of June to mid-August I was living out here and working in the horse program, helping kids and wranglers learn to ride and handle horses. As always, it was pretty fun to teach (most people anyway) and see their progress and their faces light up when they learn a new thing, when they understand how to properly handle the horse. It's really awesome and rewarding. I got to ride the green baby horse (by "baby" I mean he's 6), Morgan, for the summer which was also super cool, I learned a lot riding him and he learned a lot too! I am so proud of his progress from spring to fall, he's such a smart, brave boy! I had some really good conversations with fellow staff, played my heart out in games, got my own cabin/shared it with my husband/shared it with one of my favorite fellow wranglers, learned lots of stuff from the horse chiropractor who came out multiple times, and had a really interesting conversation with one of the speakers. It was a busy, crazy summer, but so so good.
CAMP STAFF HANGOUTS // Gotta get together as a staff family outside of camp too, ya know? This year was really great for that. We went to the fair together, floated down the river, loitered for hours at DQ, and spent time at the local lake. Lots and lots of good time together.
1st ANNIVERSARY // Jonathan and I celebrated our first anniversary as married people and while we didn't do anything big or fancy, we did have a really wonderful and relaxing day of just us in the city. It was nice to get away for that right after a long, long summer. It's also crazy that we've been married for a whole year already and we still actually like each other?? It's like magic, or love or something...
MY PONIES // I've been so busy riding camp horses this summer while mine have been getting fat in the field, but I've made some really important discoveries about my horse and about horsemanship in general and I hope to implement them as I work with her this year. Also excitingly, my baby is growing up! She's approximately 2 years old now and is really beginning to look like a grown-up horse! She loves to race around my other three adult horses and show off her beautiful movement. I'm so excited to be watching her grow up! My old guy is also doing well, just hanging out and enjoying being retired. He had a chiropractic adjustment in August and I think he enjoyed it quite a lot.
TRIP TO RADIUM // At the beginning of September, Jonathan and I went with his family to Radium Hot Springs in BC for a weekend vacation while Kyrianna was home. It was my first time there and first time in a hot spring at all, which was really neat. We did two really neat hikes and got to relax together which was really needed, lol.
GOODBYE TO FRIENDS // After this, Kyrianna headed back to the West Coast to continue an internship at a local camp on Quadra Island. At the end of camp, another friend, Jessie, headed to Africa to help a missionary couple in Cameroon. Two of my favorite young people headed off on an adventure and I couldn't be more proud of and excited for them - although I do miss having them around a lot as well.
TRIP TO THE WEST COAST // Mid-September, Jonathan and I took a trip to the west coast of BC ourselves, we were planning to backpack the Juan de Fuca but got rained out after our first night. So we spent the rest of the week visiting people, staying in a cool hostel in Victoria, visiting Kyrianna on Quadra, visiting camp friends in Vancouver, and my grandparents in Kelowna. It was a pretty cool week. When we came back to Alberta we were met with snow, rain, and basically dreariness ever since.
NEW BABY // One of the horse program supervisors, Janna, had her second baby this last month, a gorgeous little girl and I'm really excited about her! Janna's kids are the only ones I like, lol.
NEW PUPPY // Our hired hand got himself a dog and my sisters and I have basically adopted her. Her name is Gruesa (German for "big") and she's a Bernese Mountain Dog. I love her to death!!!
NEW HOUSE + MOVING UPDATE // So we were planning to move to Calgary at the end of summer so Jonathan could go to U of C to continue his Kinesiology degree. But unfortunately, due to mix-ups from the government, we won't be able to go this year. Instead we're sticking around home, moving into the house I grew up in as a kid, and working for the year. Deep down I'm relieved, although I'm not sure what this will mean for us now. I guess we'll see what God has in store?
I have to say, all the books I got to over this summer (while not at all part of my reading plan) were really REALLY good and I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one. VE Schwab is one of my new favorites, and of course CS Lewis and George MacDonald have always held that status. I highly recommend checking out each and everyone of these books and putting them on your TBR!
So I didn't really write at all through the summer, but I have been catching up on edits through September and I definitely have some winter plans!
"Faithless" is in its third revision stage and I've had some brainstorms and am quite excited to see it develop and grow as a story instead of a pile of garbage.
I am looking to outline the second half of "The Wandering" this coming month (it's October already, yikes) and it's high time I get this sequel all figured out.
I am also going to attempt to do NaNoWriMo for REAL this year, and that means this month will be devoted to prep and plotting! What am I going to be writing? Who knows, I definitely don't. But hopefully I will right away.
Those are my immediate writing plans, and I am still interested in beta-readers for Faithless, if anyone is interested from the blurb on my Upcoming Projects page, please, send me a message or leave a comment!
Now, for the fun announcements. :P It's been a good long time since I blogged on here and while I plan to continue blogging, I am going to be making some changes to the blog and my posting schedule. Previously I would aim to try and post once a week on Sundays, but my life is always so busy and random and never seems to settle, so rather than running myself ragged and wasting energy posting blogs rather than making progress on books, I will be slowing my posting schedule down to twice a month, probably something like every two weeks. Hopefully this will be something a lot easier for me to maintain, and will keep me from getting so easily stressed and overwhelmed. I love being a blogger and a part of the community, but I think for the sake of my projects and time, I need to step back a little and not try to take on more than I can chew. Life is crazy and I want to write more than I do, so I need to cut back in certain areas in order to make that happen.
I am hoping to revamp my blog, possibly create a host website with a more professional design, and be more on the ball with my writing, my overall platform, and the pursuit of publication for different projects. There will likely be changes in the coming months to my blog style, my author platform, and my posts, and hopefully they will be for the better. I am very much looking forward to starting fresh in this area. I hope you'll have patience with me as I struggle to navigate the writing life that mixes with the rest of my life too!
Anyway, that was my summer and these are my plans! I'll be posting again, closer to the end of the month, but will of course be on various social media hubs before that time if you'd like to connect or are interested in what's going on. Thank you for sticking around through my giant hiatus! I'd love to hear what all went on in your summer! Was it as crazy as mine? Any cool vacations/adventures? What were your top summer reads? Let me know in the comments below!
If you're curious about what I was up to this summer, check out some of the stories/images below! If you're curious about my reading life and the awesome books I read the past few months, scroll a little further. If you want to know what the actual heck is up with my writing projects, scroll once more. If you want to hear about some new changes coming to this blog in the new school year, that'll be at the bottom. If you don't give a crap about me or what I did and am doing then please, by all means, click away! I honestly can't blame you, lol.
SUMMER LIFE
MY 21st BIRTHDAY // I turned 21 on July 3rd and I guess I'm old now? And I can drink alcohol in every country? Coolcoolcoolcool.
CAMP // This was pretty much my entire summer, guys. End of June to mid-August I was living out here and working in the horse program, helping kids and wranglers learn to ride and handle horses. As always, it was pretty fun to teach (most people anyway) and see their progress and their faces light up when they learn a new thing, when they understand how to properly handle the horse. It's really awesome and rewarding. I got to ride the green baby horse (by "baby" I mean he's 6), Morgan, for the summer which was also super cool, I learned a lot riding him and he learned a lot too! I am so proud of his progress from spring to fall, he's such a smart, brave boy! I had some really good conversations with fellow staff, played my heart out in games, got my own cabin/shared it with my husband/shared it with one of my favorite fellow wranglers, learned lots of stuff from the horse chiropractor who came out multiple times, and had a really interesting conversation with one of the speakers. It was a busy, crazy summer, but so so good.
CAMP STAFF HANGOUTS // Gotta get together as a staff family outside of camp too, ya know? This year was really great for that. We went to the fair together, floated down the river, loitered for hours at DQ, and spent time at the local lake. Lots and lots of good time together.
1st ANNIVERSARY // Jonathan and I celebrated our first anniversary as married people and while we didn't do anything big or fancy, we did have a really wonderful and relaxing day of just us in the city. It was nice to get away for that right after a long, long summer. It's also crazy that we've been married for a whole year already and we still actually like each other?? It's like magic, or love or something...
MY PONIES // I've been so busy riding camp horses this summer while mine have been getting fat in the field, but I've made some really important discoveries about my horse and about horsemanship in general and I hope to implement them as I work with her this year. Also excitingly, my baby is growing up! She's approximately 2 years old now and is really beginning to look like a grown-up horse! She loves to race around my other three adult horses and show off her beautiful movement. I'm so excited to be watching her grow up! My old guy is also doing well, just hanging out and enjoying being retired. He had a chiropractic adjustment in August and I think he enjoyed it quite a lot.
TRIP TO RADIUM // At the beginning of September, Jonathan and I went with his family to Radium Hot Springs in BC for a weekend vacation while Kyrianna was home. It was my first time there and first time in a hot spring at all, which was really neat. We did two really neat hikes and got to relax together which was really needed, lol.
GOODBYE TO FRIENDS // After this, Kyrianna headed back to the West Coast to continue an internship at a local camp on Quadra Island. At the end of camp, another friend, Jessie, headed to Africa to help a missionary couple in Cameroon. Two of my favorite young people headed off on an adventure and I couldn't be more proud of and excited for them - although I do miss having them around a lot as well.
TRIP TO THE WEST COAST // Mid-September, Jonathan and I took a trip to the west coast of BC ourselves, we were planning to backpack the Juan de Fuca but got rained out after our first night. So we spent the rest of the week visiting people, staying in a cool hostel in Victoria, visiting Kyrianna on Quadra, visiting camp friends in Vancouver, and my grandparents in Kelowna. It was a pretty cool week. When we came back to Alberta we were met with snow, rain, and basically dreariness ever since.
NEW BABY // One of the horse program supervisors, Janna, had her second baby this last month, a gorgeous little girl and I'm really excited about her! Janna's kids are the only ones I like, lol.
NEW PUPPY // Our hired hand got himself a dog and my sisters and I have basically adopted her. Her name is Gruesa (German for "big") and she's a Bernese Mountain Dog. I love her to death!!!
NEW HOUSE + MOVING UPDATE // So we were planning to move to Calgary at the end of summer so Jonathan could go to U of C to continue his Kinesiology degree. But unfortunately, due to mix-ups from the government, we won't be able to go this year. Instead we're sticking around home, moving into the house I grew up in as a kid, and working for the year. Deep down I'm relieved, although I'm not sure what this will mean for us now. I guess we'll see what God has in store?
SUMMER READING LIFE
I have to say, all the books I got to over this summer (while not at all part of my reading plan) were really REALLY good and I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one. VE Schwab is one of my new favorites, and of course CS Lewis and George MacDonald have always held that status. I highly recommend checking out each and everyone of these books and putting them on your TBR!
WRITING LIFE
So I didn't really write at all through the summer, but I have been catching up on edits through September and I definitely have some winter plans!
"Faithless" is in its third revision stage and I've had some brainstorms and am quite excited to see it develop and grow as a story instead of a pile of garbage.
I am looking to outline the second half of "The Wandering" this coming month (it's October already, yikes) and it's high time I get this sequel all figured out.
I am also going to attempt to do NaNoWriMo for REAL this year, and that means this month will be devoted to prep and plotting! What am I going to be writing? Who knows, I definitely don't. But hopefully I will right away.
Those are my immediate writing plans, and I am still interested in beta-readers for Faithless, if anyone is interested from the blurb on my Upcoming Projects page, please, send me a message or leave a comment!
Now, for the fun announcements. :P It's been a good long time since I blogged on here and while I plan to continue blogging, I am going to be making some changes to the blog and my posting schedule. Previously I would aim to try and post once a week on Sundays, but my life is always so busy and random and never seems to settle, so rather than running myself ragged and wasting energy posting blogs rather than making progress on books, I will be slowing my posting schedule down to twice a month, probably something like every two weeks. Hopefully this will be something a lot easier for me to maintain, and will keep me from getting so easily stressed and overwhelmed. I love being a blogger and a part of the community, but I think for the sake of my projects and time, I need to step back a little and not try to take on more than I can chew. Life is crazy and I want to write more than I do, so I need to cut back in certain areas in order to make that happen.
I am hoping to revamp my blog, possibly create a host website with a more professional design, and be more on the ball with my writing, my overall platform, and the pursuit of publication for different projects. There will likely be changes in the coming months to my blog style, my author platform, and my posts, and hopefully they will be for the better. I am very much looking forward to starting fresh in this area. I hope you'll have patience with me as I struggle to navigate the writing life that mixes with the rest of my life too!
Anyway, that was my summer and these are my plans! I'll be posting again, closer to the end of the month, but will of course be on various social media hubs before that time if you'd like to connect or are interested in what's going on. Thank you for sticking around through my giant hiatus! I'd love to hear what all went on in your summer! Was it as crazy as mine? Any cool vacations/adventures? What were your top summer reads? Let me know in the comments below!
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