Hello and happy Wednesday!
Today’s post brings another summary of the past month of my life – with writing progress reports, reading accomplishments, and general updates!
So without further ado . . .
General Update
Autumn is here! In case you couldn’t tell from my previous posts, Autumn is definitely my favorite season and I’ve been greatly enjoying the cool-but-not-too-cool weather. And in honor of the new season, my schedule exploded again this month, adding in a bunch more responsibilities and completely changing my daily routine. Proper sleep has been harder and harder to come by lately, haha.
That said, I’m enjoying everything and am very grateful for the opportunities. This month I’ve been able to start a second job watching little ones, continue working elsewhere, teach more writing classes, grow deeper involved with my church’s youth group (including being on the worship team), spend special time with friends and family, join a young adult Bible study, and also continue to write some fiction and blog posts.
One of the biggest lessons impressed on my heart this month is the importance of prayer. Of course I already knew this, but I’m far too prone to forget just how important it is, and let it slip to the wayside for a while. But the difference that daily time in prayer makes is so incredible. I don’t know why I ever choose to forgo the peace, wisdom, and reassurance that God offers when I spend time in conversation with Him.
Fiction Writing
Funny how fiction writing tends to get pushed to the very end of the to-do list when life gets busy. Despite this unfortunately being the case for September, I was blessed with the chance to do a few fiction projects that were very refreshing! I wrote a song-based short story (1,744 words), outlined a medieval novel, edited some of Cabin Girl, and outlined another short story. I’ve missed fiction and look forward to the approaching NaNoWriMo!
October goals include:
~ Finishing Cabin Girl edits and formatting?
~ Writing another short story
~ Prepping for NaNoWriMo!
On the Blog
Like I’d hoped, my blogging schedule has definitely gotten back to full swing again! Counting this one, I’ve written 9 posts in September! I was also blessed with the opportunity to swap guest posts with the sweet and talented blogger, Kristianne Hassman. As always, her words were extremely insightful and she was a joy to work with. Go check out her site – you won’t regret it! Below are the links for all this month’s blog posts.
~ 2021 August Wrap-Up
~ Daylight: Blog Tour & Author Interview
~ What I’ve Learned in One Year of Blogging
~ Blography Tag
~ 10 Quotes About Waiting
~ 5 Time-Management Tips for Writers
~ The Bookworm’s Tag
~ 5 Ways Stories Can Impact Our Lives (my guest post on Kristianne’s site)
~ 5 Keys to Creating Soul-Deep Characters (Kristianne’s guest post on my site)
~ And of course, this one (no link required, haha)!
Reading List
I had far more time to read this month (naptimes while watching kids are ideal for this), and got to finish five books I’ve been wanting to read for quite a while! And mostly fiction too, which always takes me longer. I enjoyed the chance to soak up some stories as well as the godly teachings from the nonfiction book.
The books I finished:
~ Dust by Kara Swanson
(A creative Peter Pan retelling that I greatly enjoyed. The characters and theme were well-done, and the plot kept me guessing. I highly recommend checking it out!)
~ Shadow by Kara Swanson
(This sequel to Dust took all my favorite parts of the first book and added in everything else I hoped for! The plot twists, emotion, character development, and just all of it was so very good. I definitely recommend this one, too.)
~ Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan
(I wasn’t sure about this one or its writing style at first, as it’s kind of a mix between a biography and a historical fiction novel – but I found it fascinating! Some parts were tragic and hard to read, while others were a beautiful portrayal of humanity in hardship.)
~ The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
(My only qualms with this book were the few glimpses of content. Otherwise, it’s now a favorite. The writing style is gorgeous and gripping, the plot is engaging, the characters were incredibly real and relatable, and the worldbuilding unique. I highly recommend it.)
~ You Were Made for Love by Philip Carlson
(This is such a insightful and inspiring book about loving others like Christ does. Again, I would definitely recommend this one. I was convicted and challenged countless times. )
Currently, I’m working on finishing Who I Am in Christ, Passion and Purity, and Hind’s Feet in High Places (a reread that’s always a dear favorite of mine).
Looking Forward
I’m still adjusting to the weekly and daily schedule changes that appeared over the past month, but I’m hoping that October is a good month for really settling in and figuring out the best ways to keep on track of it all. I don’t want to forget anything, and somehow I do need to figure out how to sleep and keep up with it all, haha.
Some highlights I’m looking forward to in October include: continuing to work both jobs, hopefully improving at my piano and singing for worship, learning to lead small groups well, participating in more weeks of Bible study, spending more time with loved ones, volunteering at a local food pantry organization, teaching more fiction writing classes, and a lot more writing.
Specific writing goals I’d like to reach in October are much the same as September’s. I want to do a lot more work on Cabin Girl and also work on my fiction much more, as well as keep up and prep some blog posts for the next two months. October is also the ideal month for NaNoWriMo outlining, which I hope to take advantage of, since I started with story notes that were messy at best last year and definitely noticed the effects. I’m praying I’ll have enough energy and motivation for my stories, because I miss them!
What was YOUR September like? What kinds of things did you get to do? If you have a progress report on something, or books you read and would like to share, go ahead and let me know in the comments! And while you’re at it, feel free to include what you’re looking forward to and/or hoping to accomplish in October! As always, I’d love to hear from you!
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Sounds like a lovely month! My main accomplishments for last month were baking a ton for a vendor sale and helping my fiance find our future apartment. In October I’m looking forward to more wedding planning and blogging. 😉
Thank you! And those are absolutely lovely things to accomplish! Congratulations on your future wedding 😄
I still need to read Shadow because I enjoyed Dust.
I enjoyed Shadow even more than Dust, so I definitely recommend it! Both books are very well done. 😊