A Glimpse of January

Some of you are the observant type and noticed the change in my monthly recap title style. Annnnd, the rest of you noticed it just now when I mentioned it. :) Now, all of you are probably wondering why I brought it to your attention. Ok, so let me explain:

January was a difficult month for our family. Yes, a lot of amazing, wonderful things happened to us in this first bit of 2017, but there were a lot of tears involved too. So I wanted to keep this post a little less flippant than my usual monthly recap and started by using a more reflective title. This is not the new norm, only an exception. I'll be back with the regular title style next month. :) 

Without further ado, let me give you a glimpse of what my January was like. 

Life:

As I mentioned before, this month has been hard. 

January started deceptively calm...though there was a lot of recouping after the holiday madness we know as "Christmas" and "New Year's Eve". I got a lot of editing done and even squeezed in a little writing and reading around studying for college courses. My mom, older sister Margaret, and younger sister Tabitha went down to Georgia to visit Sarah and Jesse. That left Dad and I in charge back at the home base.

This...happened.
Welcome to life with a brother who just started being able to text.

The really funny thing is: we were sitting on the couch together after the littles were in bed...the entire time this "conversation" took place

I got to have what I like to call "Mommy Practice" (a.k.a babysitting while Dad studies for sermons, helping kiddos with school, and more general housework than normal). This was...fun, but also challenging and kept me VERY busy.

He will be missed. <3

Most of you know about the accident Lemuel Houston had that eventually claimed his life. Singlehandedly, this was what made last month so difficult. I have cried more in the last couple weeks then probably all the months of 2016 combined. To warn you, there may be a post coming up about this...but that's only a maybe. Please continue to keep the Houston family in your prayers as they go through this time of grief. Their lives will never be the same.

Me, my friend Kathryn who is now in Florida, and a mutual friend of ours, Grace. We went to a coffee place as a final "friendship fling" before she left. :'(

I also had to say a temporary goodbye to one of my closest friends who is now at Pensicola Christian College in Florida. It's hard for me to let people out of my life that I'm close to, but I realize that it's important for my friends to pursue their different paths into the future. I'm so proud of my dear friend, but she will be missed. <3 

Writing: 

Snoopy's way of writing is scarily similar to mine...

I wanted to write five chapters in my brand new story, "A New Name" last month...and I almost did it. But, (and I'm totally blaming this on college) I stopped short of my goal by one chapter. Total words written? Well, not counting all the editing I did, nor the blog posts I wrote, etc. the total word count was
8,046. Not excellent...but pretty good considering everything else that was going on in my life. 

Reading:

Oh, goodness...must I even talk about this? After you all posted about what a great month of reading you had...here I am to say that I read a grand total of two books. Granted, I'm in middle of like three other books...but STILL. You're probably wondering which books I did read, and for those curious souls like me out there, here are the two books I was able to enjoy front-cover to back-cover:

No, I did not take this picture...

Editing:

FINALLY something in which I got a decent amount of actual work done. Ok, so it wasn't just me...my editors (I REALLY appreciate you guys btw) did a large chunk of editing as well. *whispers* So now...I am working on the finishing touches, formatting, cover reveal and blog tour stuff, and am almost ready to actually publish "The Princess & I"!!! *squeaks* SUPER EXCITED about this. (You probably couldn't tell. ;) Keep an eye open for the posts coming up where you can help me spread the good news of my book being released soon! 

Music: 

Again, with college and writing, a lot of the songs I listened to in January were movie soundtrack style. However, there were a couple songs I've had stuck in my head that have words. I'll share a couple of both types. :) 

Quotes:

Goals Reached:

1: Have editors finish editing "The Princess & I"

Yep. *gives a glorious check mark next to this*

2: Read at least five books

Um...yeah. So I failed THIS goal miserably. -_- 

3: Write a book review

Does it count if I did a book review on Goodreads? Because if THAT counts, then I reviewed two. ;) 

4: Finish writing "Alone"

Nope. To busy writing "A New Name" and editing. 

5: Write a "21 Answers" post

Yes. I did that. And as usual it was surprisingly popular! So another one is due for this month. :)

6: Write at least five chapters in "A New Name"

Well, I almost made it. So close...yet so far away. Better luck this month. :)
So...I got HALF my goals completed...which is better than last month. *faint cheer*

Goals for February:

1: Get "The Princess & I" completely ready for publication and release

2: Write 5 chapters in "A New Name"

3: Read 5+ books

4: Host my first cover reveal

5: Begin the editing process for "Ocean Mist"

 

So *huge sigh* THERE was your glimpse of what life was like for me in January. I hope you all have a fabulous February. :)