Snow, Christmas Celebrations, and Power Outages

I'm in shell shock. Seriously, HOW CAN A WHOLE YEAR GO BY SO FAST? It seems like last month I was watching "War Room" for the first time and playing Scattergories (one of my favorite party games EVER) with friends as part of our church's annual Watch Night Service held every New Year's Eve. And now? Exactly a year later? I'm scrambling to complete a Monthly review before the date changes to January 1, 2017! So, what are we waiting for? Let's jump right in! ;) 

Life:

Well, life has been exciting. Not only have I been working on all the usual things (reading, writing, blogging, family, and church) but also taking a college math course and trying to curb my use of Pinterest and other online distractions the flow of extra writing ideas that never cease to bombard my active mind. *sigh* Ahhhh, the life of an author. ;)

Of course, with Christmas this month, there's been a lot of family get-togethers which have been fun. (No, seriously. I love family parties. We are blessed with awesome reletives.) Annnnnd, bonus excitement: my ONLY big brother flew back his seminary in the snow infested Wisconson for a while. It's been so awesome having him around again. :) 

We had snow. Let me rephrase that statement. WE HAD SNOW!!!!!!! WHAAAT?? Not just the wimpy powdery covering that one can't even make a decent snowball out of let alone snowman either...we had a whole three inches! (Don't make fun of us you back east.) Yes, my friends...let it go down in history that it HAS snowed before in Western Washington. ;P It doesn't always rain. (Though, as I write this blog post it is...) 

As the title announced, we survived a couple short (and one long) power outages. Due to having an old fashioned, wood burning stove, we were still able to have the necessities of life like warmth, food, and coffee. ;) Thankfully, none of the power outages lasted longer than seven hours. :) 

Our church held its annual Christmas Cantata, and four of us sang with three other PK friends as a part of that. If you want to hear that, here's the video: 

(I was playing my flute in the orchestra this year, that's why I'm not in a robe. Just fyi. ;) 

My siblings and I "preformed" a play a couple times throughout this month called "The Ugly Duckling" written by A. A. Milne. Check it out guys.  I'm sure its on Google SOMEWHERE. It's AWESOME. Hopefully, as we get better at it you may even see a recording of it...but we'll see. ;)

Writing:

As you know, I finally completed "Ocean Mist" and am working with a friend of mine on a cover for "The Princess & I". Super excited to get that story finished and published! :D 

I'm currently working on a holiday story called "Alone" which somehow ended up getting waaaay longer then I thought it was going to be...so you all might not hear anything further about it until next year. Whoops. 

Also, my new novel length story I'm hoping to finish is "A New Name". This futuristic re-telling based off the story of Daniel in the Bible is going to take a large amount of work, but I'm excited to share it with everyone soon. :) 

One last project I took on only a couple days ago was the result of a dare from a friend. (Yes, you know who you are. B-) This book called "The Idiot's Guide to Writing Books for Dummies" written under the pen name "I. M. Stupid" is basically a parody off of those really helpful writing tricks and tips books...only instead of giving you help, it's all the worst writing advice I can think of. Generic plot lines, cookie cutter characters, and cliche...everything. It's going to be so much fun. B-) *rubs hands together* CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. 

Reading:

Well, *cough* I didn't get five books read this month. But, the ones I did read are worthy of mention. :)

I couldn't find an image for the book cover, but I also read "The Innocent" by Willowy Whisper
Yes, I know. Three out of five. Believe me, I feel pretty bad about that. HOWEVER. I have an excellent amount of reading materials ready for me this next year. ;)


Editing:

Two of my editors have finished making their remarks, so I'm only waiting on five before I can buckle down and put their advice into action. *coughs emphatically towards the other five editors* Depending on how soon the other ones can finish, I'm going to TRY to set the release day for February 14th. But otherwise, I'll move the tentative date towards early March. 

I'm self-editing "Ocean Mist", and hopefully I'll have beta signups ready to post in February. :) So look for that. 

Music:
Well, because of all the various writing I've been doing this month, a lot of the music I've been enjoying is movie soundtrack or video game music. Here's a few of the favorite ones....And a lyrics video of one of my favorite songs as sung by one of my favorite Christian artists, Jason Gray. :)  

 

Quotes:

Bloggerly News:
This month I participated in the 12 Days of Christmas Link-Up hosted by the fabulous Faith P. from Stories by Firefly! and this month I have a couple exciting extras for you all. 
1: I'm starting a monthly(ish) blog series entitled "Life of an Author" where I will start posting some more writing related things.
2: By popular demand, I'm continuing to post "21 Answers" posts on a monthly basis and I would LOVE some help from you guys on that. Buuuuuuut....more on that when I post the next one in January. ;)
3: I'm going to be taking a survey in my next post where you will be given the change to give me feedback on my blog. (What you like about it, what you think I should change, ect.)
I began following some amazing blogs recently and I can't wait to get to know all you better throughout this next year.
Also, I know I've been a sporadic commenter at best. THIS IS GOING TO CHANGE. I'm really going to try to comment on your awesome posts more and I'm so sorry for not being better at it. *hides face*

 

Goals Reached:

1: Continue the editing process in "The Princess & I" and "Alice & Alyssa"
Yup. Definitely continued...but a ways to go... ;)
2: Finish short story "Alone"
*cough* Yeah.
3: Do a Pet Peeve Post
*triumphant fanfare* FINALLY.
4: Read at least five books
Well, I was close, ok?
5: Write a book review (I'm going to just keep putting this on here until I finally get around to DOING it... -_-)
Hmm...I didn't do very well this month, did I? Two out of five. That's actually...pretty terrible. >_<

 

Goals for January:
1: Have editors finish editing "The Princess & I"
2: Read at least five books
3: Write a book review
4: Finish writing "Alone"
5: Write a "21 Answers" post
6: Write at least five chapters in "A New Name"

 

And there you have December in review. I'll see you back next year for a post on my yearly goals (both accomplished, unaccomplished, and those yet to be accomplished). Until then, I hope you sleep well tonight. ;)