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
It’s now officially Spring where I live! And in a cruel turn of events, it’s almost felt more like Winter than February did, haha. There’ve been a lot of cold winds and even some snow on the last day of March. Thankfully, I believe we’re finally turning a corner into blue skies, green grass, and warmer air. I’m very ready for long walks in the sunshine again (I’ll brave the mud and rain far easier than the cold and wind)!
Just like February, last month was not one I’d consider productive – at least by my expectations. A painful stomach bug spent almost the entire month working through my family, which meant the schedule (or lack of one) went up in smoke, and after my turn to be sick, I was wiped out. So while I did make progress here and there, it was mostly on smaller misc. things, and not on the bigger projects I’d intended to finish. Once again though, I am so grateful for the lessons that God’s teaching me. They’re not easy for me to learn, but I know they’re necessary.
I certainly wouldn’t have organized March the way it turned out, but there were so many blessings amidst the hardships, and I’m trying hard to seize the many opportunities to trust God and be thankful. A few things I was especially thankful in March included: having coffee with a dear friend I haven’t seen in months, watching a hilarious play that my siblings were involved in, Bible study, attending a church choir concert, sparkling water, walking with several other friends, piano, and supportive loved ones that took care of and encouraged me when I wasn’t feeling well.
Fiction Writing
I had every intent of having March be another pirate-y month focused on writing Cabin Girl, but instead I wrote a grand total of 0 fiction words… Yikes. Am I disappointed? Yes. I’d really hoped to make grand progress, but instead the month felt like a rollercoaster, and my extra focus and energy just went toward trying to keep calm among the craziness. However, am I letting my disappointment derail me? Not if I can help it!
Life is unpredictable, and I’m continuing to rely on God to learn how to balance all its different aspects better. Last month was not a writing-focused month (either fiction or blogging). Instead, my focus ended up going toward health, family, lesson planning for the class I’m teaching, and some technical aspects of my platform – such as my website and email list. It wasn’t what I’d planned, but I see God working in the midst of it, and that’s good enough for me. And hopefully, this month contains some fiction writing.
On the Blog
Well, I fell behind on posts last month, but considering everything that happened, I’m pretty happy with the fact that I managed five posts. And, much to my surprise, March continued the streak of receiving a higher number of views and visitors than any month in 2021. And there were only five fewer views than in February of this year! Which is pretty cool to me.
Here are the posts for March (just click on the titles to read them):
~ The Reading Habits Book Tag
~ 2022 February Wrap-Up
~ The Bookworm’s Tag (Take 2)
~ Writing Advice: Remember All the Senses (Not Just Sight)
~ Blogger Recommendations Tag
Reading List
My reading was absolutely pathetic last month, but at least I finished one fiction book! I’m also currently working on several beta-reading projects, so even though I haven’t finished those books yet and won’t list them, I’ve managed to work on more than just one book.
~ A Time to Die by Nadine Brandes
(I’ve been meaning to get to this series for months, and am so glad I finally jumped in! I’ve yet to read a book by Nadine that I don’t like. This one kept me glued, and I read the entire thing in a day while I was recovering from the flu. The plot twists, the relatable characters, the intriguing worldbuilding, the moving themes…oh, and her writing style as always. I’m so excited to continue with the series!)
For non-fiction, I’m also continuing The Sacred Search by Gary Thomas (now on week 11 of 18), and so far, I think it’s gotten better every week! If you’re looking for a biblically-sound, insightful book on dating relationships, I definitely recommend it.
Looking Forward
I’m cautiously optimistic about this month (as far as productivity goes, haha). There are several events coming up, but nothing too crazy, and I’m hoping that with the weather calming and the germs dying out, that I’ll feel much more equipped for getting stuff done. I keep telling myself that any progress is better than no progress, so my aim is to just finish something. And in the meantime, I know God will continue to provide.
Non-writing highlights this month include: Easter, teaching four more classes, youth group and worship team, getting back into the full swing at both jobs, walking more often, a weekend church camp event, games with friends, attending several of my siblings’ track meets, Bible study, serving at a local homeschool banquet, growing stronger, hopefully reading several more books, and continuing to make prayer more of a habit.
Writing-wise, April is a Camp NaNo (a smaller version of NaNoWriMo, where instead of writing an entire novel in a month, you set your own goal and work at it), so I’d love to use it to make a lot more progress on Cabin Girl. I’m finally ahead in lesson planning, so the hope is to use that extra time for fiction again. I’ve also worked ahead to schedule more blog posts this month. There are only a couple more months before the craziness of summer, and I have big fiction goals to accomplish before then – so we’ll see what ones are actually meant to happen!
As always, thank you for your patience, and for supporting me on my writing journey!
What was YOUR March 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 April! As always, I’m excited to hear from you!
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