Pinterest, Procrastination, and Plotting

Thumbs up for the beautiful alliteration guys. Take a moment to appreciate the effort I put into that title please...

Ok, moving on.

HOW IS IT NOVEMBER ALREADY??? WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS?!?!? I PROTEST!!!! *waves flags* *climbs walls* *yells* *runs around in circles*
Seriously guys, HOW. JUST HOW??

Two. Months. Until. 2017. Chew on that while I update you on what LAST month was like for me.

Life:

You know, it never really stops being busy. As you can tell from my posting this wrap up post a week late. *cough* I don't even have the "Well, I've been busy with outlining my novel for NaNoWriMo" excuse. However, I DO have the "school, housework, and ministry" excuse, so. But yes, life has been busy. Have I said that before? Well, the truth doesn't change. Basically, we've been learning how to cope with one fewer older sister around the house. Which means everyone has to step up and help more. And that takes time.
Also, I've been taking a college class, so that sucks up time I would have spent reading, writing, or blogging. (And having an account on Pinterest doesn't help much either...more on that later.)
I did get more reading and writing done last month then in September...which is good. Improvement is always good. ;)
My parents attended a conference in North Carolina during the last week of October which put Margaret and I in the babysitter position. That was fun. We actually had a blast while they were gone. To put a very long week shortly: it was a party pretty much nonstop. We are awesome babysitters. ;) I can't believe Mom and Dad left us in charge again after all the excitement of last time we babysat...but apparently we are very popular. XD
Hallo*cough*een came and went. Our family doesn't celebrate it as a general rule, but if you watched my vlog, you would have heard that we do hold a harvest party at our church where we earn candy by playing carnival style games and hang out with all our friends. (Which is waaaay more fun than protecting your bowl of candy from small [or not as the case may be] children dressed as skeletons and ghosts.) And I made the brilliant discovery that the shortened version of "trick-or-treaters" is "tots". You're welcome world. (And yes, I'm totally calling them that from now on...)
While I'm on the subject, here is my favorite Halloween video:

Writing:

"Ocean Mist" is NOT finished yet...but it's on the home stretch. I ended up changing the end completely (which happens quite a bit to me) so we'll see what happens now. ;)
For those of you who don't know, I participated in the "5k in one Day" challenge at the beginning of this month, and killed it with over 7,500 words. And I didn't even start writing until after 2 in the afternoon at which point I was totally freaking out!!!
I started a brand new story that is going to be a futuristic Daniel tale called "A New Name". Which I'm super excited about. :) I'll give you all a teaser in a post eventually, but I've got a couple other posts to write first. ;)
But yes, my writing didn't suffer QUITE as much in October as it did in November. :)

Reading:

I actually feel good about the amount of reading I got done last month. Sure, I didn't read a crazy amount, but I did better than September. (Even though two books isn't very hard to beat...) Here's the list:

 

I also had the privilege to read the work-in-progress by Jesseca Wheaton: A Question of Honor. :)

Favorite book of the month? Probably Navigating Early. But the other ones were really good too! I gave them all five stars on Goodreads, (excepting "A Question of Honor" because that hasn't come out yet) so that says something. ;)

Editing:

I am still getting feedback on "The Princess & I" from my awesome group of editors. It has been so nice to hear their advice! I'm feeling very confident that this is going to be my best story yet! ;) And I can't wait to get it published!!

I've already mentioned this in the books I read in October, but I was able to give Jesseca some feedback on her book "A Question of Honor" which was amazing. I rarely cry while reading (or watching movies for that matter) but her book definitely brought me to tears. I'll be giving a full review of her book later. ;)

 



Music:

(Yes, I'm adding something to my monthly overview post!! :D Because music is a large part of my life!)

Here's a few favorite songs from this month. They also happen to have gotten stuck in my head periodically all throughout October...

Yep, you're welcome. ;) Don't annoy your family with these songs too much now. :P

Goals I Reached:

1: Edit "The Princess & I" and "Alice & Alyssa"

Yes! I did this! Both are still a project in the works...but they're getting there! ;)
2: Finish writing "Ocean Mist"

*cough* Better luck next time, right? After all, I had to stay true to the "procrastination" part of my title. ;)
3: Try vlogging 

Been there, done that, and over all, had a blast! It was so fun to try something new! And I discovered I do very well in front of a camera...things to consider... :)
4: Write a poem

I did actually! I'll probably be sharing it with you sometime this month. :) It's called "Incomplete", and it's about how every Christian is being worked on by God. We're not perfect, but we're GOING to be...someday.
5: Read at least five books

*thumbs up* Whew! That was a close call though. ;)
6: Reach forty blog followers, twenty Pinterest followers

Wow. You guys are so awesome! <3 Not only did I reach this goal, but went over the top! I have 41 blog followers and 43 Pinterest followers! :) Talk about awesome!
7: Get my drivers license 

*cue fanfare* I got it! And I have been driving all over the place now. And it's AWESOME. I'm loving it. ;)
8: Host two guest posts (anyone interested? Comment below!)

I did get the volunteers, and one of them was actually posted last month. But your second guest post will probably come this month. So you have something to look forward to. ^_^

But I did guest post for Faith P. so that totally counts too. ;)

 

Goals for November:

1: Continue the editing process with

"The Princess & I" and "Alice & Alyssa"

2: Finish "Ocean Mist" (for reals this time!)

3: Publish a guest post

4: Write a poem

5: Read at least five books

6: Write a book review

Hope your month is going well so far. For those of you who are doing NaNo, good luck and good sleep (what little of it there is). ;) Watching you guys freak out over word counts and lack of inspiration is kind of funny...but I do feel your pain and can say with full assurance: you guys have got this. :) Do it. Don't give up. Because no matter what you do, however much or little you write this month, you probably will write more than me...so keep it up! :P