2021 Quarterly Update #1

  The first part of 2021 is incredibly already behind us. This time last year COVID-19 was a fairly new thing still, and we had only been in global shutdown for a little over a month. It's a little disheartening to look back and see how things haven't changed much in a whole year on a global scale, but that's not to say there hasn't been light and beauty in this first bit of 2021...

WRITING

  Even though I have felt burnt out on the regular and way behind on all my regular tasks, I actually have been getting a TON of writing done this year. I started off January, February, and March writing the first 15 chapters of Part Two of The Promise, reaching my goal of finishing that before Camp NaNo. I still have 15 chapters to go but then I'll be finished the THIRD book in my medieval fantasy series and ready to outline and move on to the fourth one in fall (fingers crossed). In March I also started my sequel to The Sorceress and the Squid called The Sorceress and the Soldier (which you can read more about in this post), wrapping up the first draft for Camp NaNo over April. I am pretty happy with both of these projects, and also with how much I was able to write during a time of pretty much endless responsibilities and little in the way of energy. Sometimes just showing up even when it's hard is truly all it takes. 

  I have more first drafts to pen in the rest of the year, but for now, I'm pretty happy with my writing journey in 2021. 

MEDIA

  I started off the year really strong in the reading department but I've taken a turn for the worst in April. *hides* It gets so much harder to stay on top of reading when the sun comes out and dries up all the snow so early and the days get long. However, I've already read some pretty great stories just a third of the way through the year and I'm excited to get to more on my tbr as soon as I can!

  Jonathan and I binged The Good Place (awesome) and my siblings and I have of course hopped on the Disney+ Marvel show bandwagon (eg; Wandavision and Falcon and the Winter Soldier). I cannot say enough good things about all these shows (especially because I'm a Wanda and a Bucky stan) but I REALLY loved watching Wandavision in particular and I highly recommend it for even casual or non Marvel fans. 

LIFE

  It's been a time, lol. I've been working nonstop since March with my year only just now taking a turn for the busiest season. I already have no energy on the daily so it will be interesting to see how that goes as spring wears on into summer. There has definitely been some cool stuff keeping me going despite it all...

WORK. I dumped the awful weekend barn job early on in the year, which did wonders for my mental health, and have more or less become a horse trainer full time (possibly the worst idea). I spend 3 days a week as an assistant trainer at my barn where we have recently had an enormous influx of horses, go to camp every other day where I have been hired as barn manager, and of course work my own horses and personal client horses inbetween those times. Spring is coming as well which means farming will shortly be upon us.

NEW CAR. I had to get a "new" car due to the transmission dying in the lovely white one I so generously received in 2019. My new transportation runs nicely but is the same age as me and a serious downgrade from the other one in all but how many kms it had. While I've had lots of people tell me it's perfectly fine, most of them are driving cars made in the current millennia, so I am not above complaining about it.

saying goodbye to ol' whitey

ABRAHAM LAKE. I've already been on hikes out here twice this year which is pretty exciting, though I haven't done much hiking at all due to the busyness of my schedule. Both times the views were spectacular as always, if not cold and windy.

SKIING. The cross-country skiing this winter season was pretty abysmal due to a much less than normal snowfall, but we still got out a few times and I got to try the new skis I received from Jonathan for Christmas. We even went out to Kananaskis which was fun but also very difficult since I wasn't at all used to my skis. It made for a lot of falls.

YA HA TINDA. A couple friends and I took a drive out to Ya Ha Tinda in March to hike around. We saw some pretty cool views and a lot of wildlife, including a huge herd of wild horses which we got to walk amongst. 

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2020 Quarterly Update #3

LET'S TALK. 

  How was the first chunk of your year? Are you still in a high-functioning headspace or are you feeling the drain like I am? And did you participate in Camp NaNo this year? Let me know in the comments below!