January Highlights 2019

Soo, January's over. We are now 1/12 of the way into the year. Just do that 11 more times and you got this!!

Anyway, time for monthly highlights!

READING

This was a pretty good reading month! I read a whole 5-star trilogy, one of my precious fairytale retellings, and a classic. Also, I'm currently in the middle of The Radiant Road by Katherine Catmull, and it's great so far! So I'm excited to see how it ends up rating for me.

Also, I don't think I've said this before, but if you want to add me on Goodreads, click here.

WRITING

I did some writing this month in my NaNo novel, Roots to Claim, but not a whole lot. I'm trying to get through kind of a slow part of the book before the big climax, so it's been a little less than exciting for me. BUUUT the good news is that even though I didn't get a lot of writing done, I still got some work done on the story itself and figured out some important details that I really needed to get sorted. So now I feel like I have a better handle on things whenever I go back through and rewrite some
parts.

Also, if you read my 2019 goals, you might remember that I said I was going to try to keep track of the words I've written this year. So, here's my first wordy update!

Words written this month: 3179

Not the most impressive monthly word count, but it's something! What I'm most pleased about is that I figured some really important stuff out storywise, and I'm excited to move forward.

LIFE

This month we got SNOW!

This is just one of the snows we got this month.

It was lovely and I had a whole weekend at home because of it, which never happens anymore! I mean, I'm all but broke now since I missed two days of work, but it was so great just the same. I stayed home and read and wrote all cozy in my room with a fuzzy blanket, and drank hot chocolate. It was fantastic.

I also played Lord of the Rings Risk with my sisters.

This game... has been going on for three weeks. I think we're going to give up soon.

BLOG

Aaand the monthly blog happenings!

A Review of the Angel Eyes Trilogy

Why I Want To Journal More In 2019

(For some reason I could only get the first picture to link back to the post? So the links to the posts are under the pictures.)

I posted every week this month, which I'm happy about. This doesn't mean I'll be posting every single week from here on out, but I feel like I've fallen into a pretty good groove with blogging. I'll continue to get better at it, of course, but I'm pretty happy with where I am right now.

Overall, I had a good start to this year. I got back on track with keeping up with my bullet journal every day, which helped me keep up with all my goals. Of course, I didn't accomplish all my goals every day, but I've improved so much since the end of last year and I'm still pretty proud of myself.
Soo what are some of my goals for February? Well, for one, I'd like to try to finish Roots to Claim. I'm getting so close to the end and I can't wait to get to the big climax because guys, it's gonna be
GOOOD.

Other than that, though, I haven't really done any planning for February as of yet. Actually, that's one thing I do want to work on: making goals. It might sound kind of funny, but sometimes when I'm bullet journaling and I start to write out my goals for the week or the month, I can't really come up with anything. Yet there are so many things that I've been wanting to accomplish?? So I want to kind of push myself a little to get those things done.

How was your January? Taking the New Year by storm or taking a more relaxed approach? Do you have any goals for February?

Why I Want To Journal More In 2019

Hey guys! I hope you're having a great January!

Since it's a new year, a lot of us are making resolutions or commitments to follow through with in 2019. (We all know the drill.) Maybe it's eating better, or keeping your room clean, or reading more.
(Or all of the above. Hehe.)

This week I'm going to share with you one of my goals for this year. It's a simple one but it's become really important to me and I'm looking forward to working on it throughout the year!

So, this year I decided that I wanted to do more JOURNALING. (side note, have you ever noticed that sometimes you'll look at a certain word and suddenly that word just looks so weird?? I had to look up the correct spelling of "journaling" and before I knew it the word "journal" just looked fUnKy. no? just me?) 

I'm not talking about bullet journaling, which I may have talked about here before. (although bullet journaling is fantastic and I'm 100% planning a post on that soon, too, so stay tuned!) I'm just talking regular old journaling, what some might call keeping a diary. I've kept a journal/diary for almost as long as I can remember, although there were times that I wasn't consistent and other times that I wrote nearly every day. (You know, during the dramatic tween years.) Back then I just started it as a way to record daily happenings. Most people's intentions when they start a diary, I guess.

As I got older it was not only a place to write down memories (or a list of my favorite toys-- shoutout to August 2, 2005), but my thoughts and feelings. I always have a journal, but there are times when I don't utilize my current one as much as I'd like. Mostly just special events are written down. And then I look at my journal one day and realize it's been three months since I last wrote.

But I decided this year I want to try be more intentional about journaling. I think there are a lot of benefits to journaling besides just writing down memories that you can look back on someday. Here are just a few for me personally:

IT'S A WAY TO CONNECT WITH GOD

This is something that I started doing as I got older. Whether it be in my regular journal or a prayer journal, sometimes I write prayers or thoughts to God. For me, I felt like it was my own personal connection with Him-- I'm a writer, and I feel like my best communications and efforts are on paper. So to write directly to God is like my own personal offering to Him-- it's like saying "This is what I love to do, and this is what I do best, so I want to share it with You."

IT FEELS GOOD FOR ME AS A WRITER

I do most of my writing on my laptop. Stories, blog posts, emails, comments-- I type. A lot.
So journaling is a great way for me to stay in touch with a pen and paper. I love that fluid feeling of writing with just the right pen, of filling up pages with physical paragraphs. It is so satisfying and fulfilling, getting away from technology and putting the extra effort into handwriting.

Also, sometimes my journal writing comes out more poetic than my fiction writing. So in a way, I think journaling is a good way to experiment with different styles of writing without having to worry about other people seeing it.

IT'S THERAPEUTIC

This is the main reason I purposed to journal more this year. I really wanted to focus on journaling for the mental/emotional benefits. Life can be stressful and sometimes it's good to just sit down and focus on writing down either the day's happenings, or the things that are bugging me, or just simple positives that I would like to remember when I look back on my entries.

It's a way to vent, to get my frustrations out. When I don't want to discuss something with somebody, I'll write it down and it can make me feel like I've done something about it. Of course, praying is always a good way to do this too. But again, I'm a writer, and there's something really beneficial in being able to physically get my anger, disappointment, or frustrations down on paper. Picture that pen as a butcher knife and the paper as your problems. 

Journaling can help so much with anxiety and stress. It's just such a good way to unwind and unburden your mind.

IT'S REWARDING

I've filled about six journals. When I look back on them, not only do I see the pleasant or perhaps melancholy memories that I know I'll be so thankful to have later, but I see my personal journeys. Memories, you can preserve in a video, or a photo, or with the people you made them with. But your mental and spiritual journeys? That's between you and God, and writing down your struggles and victories can not only prove therapeutic, as I mentioned in the last point, but you'll be glad you have them later.

Of course, there might be some people that would not benefit from having these things to look back on, and that's okay too. Maybe doing so would only drag them back into those negative thoughts and be harmful to their progress. But for me, I appreciate being able to revisit the dark times of my life, because it shows me how far I've come. It hurts sometimes to see words that I had written, the things I thought about myself or my life, but it just makes me so much more thankful to be where I am
today.

And that's just about it! I look forward to journaling more intentionally this year and seeing the positive effects it might bring into my life.

What about you guys? Do you journal, or are you interested in starting? What benefits do you get from journaling? And don't forget to stay tuned for my bullet journal post soon (probably sometime next month or so), because I'm super excited to talk about it!

A Review of the Angel Eyes Trilogy by Shannon Dittemore

Hi guys! Can you believe we're halfway through January already?? I hope your New Year has been going well. I'm pretty proud of myself because I've been keeping up with my bullet journal and my daily goals. I've also written a little and I've been reading a lot, which has been SO great because this past year or two, it has been so rare for me to actually sit down and just read for a while.

And that's a great transition into this post, because today I'm reviewing the first books I read this year: the Angel Eyes trilogy by Shannon Dittemore.

I had heard good things about this trilogy from other bloggers. I had first gotten to know Mrs. Dittemore from her posts on the Go Teen Writers website, and so I knew that I would have to read her books eventually. And now that I have, I definitely loved them.

I'll be doing a mini-review of each book and then sharing my thoughts on the trilogy as a whole. This post is mostly spoiler-free, but of course the parts about each book will give a little bit away if you haven't read the previous books. Also, for those of you who have read them, I'll include some spoilers in white text so you have to highlight them to see anything. Like this: spoilers spoilers hi guys

ANGEL EYES

There are just certain books that hook me right from the beginning (I guess every book should be that way), and this was one of them. The book starts with Brielle returning to her tiny little hometown of Stratus, Oregon, after some kind of tragedy has happened in her life. The mystery, the cold weather, the woods by her house-- it gives it an intriguing, almost eerie feel.

Then we meet Jake, who is so endearing and has such chemistry with Brielle from the moment they meet. Brielle realizes from the beginning that there's something strange about Jake and his "guardian", Canaan. Jake gives her an odd object that gives her comfort-- and also makes her see things. Like the angels and demons around her. She soon realizes that the object is a halo, which belongs to Canaan, who is actually an angel.

This book was a great lead-in to the rest of the trilogy. You get a taste of the setting, grow to love Brielle and Jake, and slowly watch Brielle's eyes start to open (no pun intended).

The only thing I was unsure about with this book at first was that I expected it to be a bit more realistic. The story starts and the angels/demons thing is kind of lowkey; in the celestial POV, you see them having conflicts, but they mostly stay out of the terrestrial (what the normal people without celestial vision see). But then as the story went on, they began to have more of a role in the terrestrial, and it just started to feel like a fantasy. The human trafficking thing just felt weird, being run by a legit demon and all. These celestial beings living on Earth and having so much to do with humans just felt kind of weird. (although if I'm honest I can't say with absolute certainty that this doesn't happen! who knows, "entertaining angels unawares" could go a lot deeper than we think.) (more on my opinion about that later, because those are not my final thoughts on it.)

BROKEN WINGS

This book is a little more difficult because I feel like a lot happened in it and it's all hard to classify.
So, just a quick overview of a bunch of things that happened: we meet Satan, which is super chilling (how ironic). We meet the Sabres, the angels who fight with worship. We meet Brielle's dad's new friend, Olivia Holt.

We find out what really happened to Brielle's mom.

Also in this book, Brielle's and Jake's private little world with angels and demons begins to come to light with others, such as Brielle's dad and best friend. They face the demon that has been plaguing Brielle's and Jake's life for the past seven months.

Brielle goes through a lot in this book. From her dad starting to drink again, and the way-too-young Olivia (who gives off a bad vibe to Brielle) hanging out with him, to disturbing, unexplained dreams, to a lot of drama involving her mother's death... it's not a walk in the park for our poor girl in this book. The title "Broken Wings" is really fitting for everything that happens, because Brielle learns to be broken and still go on. This is said in a lovely way in the last line of the book: "I'm broken, but here in the red orchard, surrounded by the sweet smell of worship, I raise my hands above my head,
and I believe."

I overall liked this book as much as the first one. But I felt like the overall plot was kind of everywhere? I don't know, it could definitely just be me. I just remember as I was reading it, trying to decide what the main plot was and I was having trouble coming up with one. But it still carried the story nicely and led well into the finale.

DARK HALO

The last book picks up right where the previous one left off. (Brielle's still dancing her little heart out in the orchard.) Jake's gone, and there's a heavenly battle raging above Stratus.

Then circumstances land her right in the middle of the Danakil Depression, all alone-- save for the company of the Prince of Darkness. You know, Satan.

I just want to talk about this part of the book for a minute. I think it was so well done. Brielle is literally facing off with Satan, and he is seducing her to all his evil lies. Brielle is listening to him, telling herself that he's a liar, that he's just trying to trick her, but she can't help but be drawn in and believe him. He's so appealing and obnoxiously charming. When he offers her the dark halo that will
take away her celestial vision, she doesn't just say "nope, under absoutely no circumstances am I taking that thing" like we think she should be able to. She gives in to temptation a little and has to fight it.

I think that's a great example of what happens in real life sometimes-- temptation happens, and we know that we should fight it. And maybe we try. But sometimes we're pulled in anyway, because it's just like it's portrayed in this book-- sin and temptation are appealing sometimes. And I feel like it's important for us to see the characters we love struggling with that-- nobody wants a perfect hero. If they don't struggle with something, it's not really that rewarding to root for them. (More on that later, too.)

I was a little worried after Danakil that the book had slown down and would have a subpar finale. Danakil was actually pretty early in the book-- less than halfway in. And it really felt like climax material-- after fighting demons all this time, Brielle meets Satan and has to deal with his temptation face-to-face. After that, I just felt like the closer I got to the end it still felt too slow to be leading up to a great climax.

But it did. I can't say too much, but I was satisfied by the ending and  I think it measured up.

There was one thing in this book that perplexed me. Brielle suddenly, without any clues that it could lead to this, discovers that her friend Ali, who was murdered just before the first book started, was Jake's twin sister. I was totally thrown off by this. If I'm not mistaken, there was only one tiny indication in the whole trilogy about this-- Brielle looking at a picture of her and Ali and thinking for a fleeting moment that Ali was Jake, because of the way she was smiling and her hair was slicked back. I just felt like that whole twist was really pointless. It was revealed very close to the end of the third book, and with everything that was going on, there really was hardly any time to process it and the characters didn't say a lot about it after the reveal. I don't know, I just didn't see the point. 

And just look at those covers! Aren't they gorgeous?

So, my thoughts on the whole trilogy. I'll start with what I said I'd come back to.

Although they took a different turn than I was expecting, the nature of the books didn't bother me anymore by the end. I was expecting a more realistic story when I started, but the thing is, everything that happened in these books could actually happen. I mean, the prologue is an actual scene from the Bible where people were actually seeing the angels that were fighting for them. Eve met and was tempted by Satan face to face, like Brielle was. The New Testament says that Jesus gave His disciples power and authority to heal, like Jake does. So while everything in these books was carried out in a more fantastical manner than we read about in the Bible, yeah, I think it could totally happen.

Okay, now back to the subject of perfect characters. I really struggled with whether or not Jake fit this description. I loved Jake, don't get me wrong, but honestly, I felt like he should have dealt a little more with temptation, like Brielle did. Maybe I shouldn't have thought that, because he's not the main character, so that kind of thing was mostly focused on Brielle. It just felt like he was the only human character who never really did or said anything wrong. (Tell me your thoughts on this in the comments!) I don't know, maybe that's what literally being raised by an angel does to you. That aside, though, I really did love Jake, and his and Brielle's relationship was so cute.

I also adore Kaylee. I mean, yeah, she's the typical spunky, quirky sidekick. But she is so supportive of Brielle and continues to stick with her even after she starts seeing the DEMONS that are attacking them. There's a scene in Dark Halo where Kaylee and Brielle are having a heartfelt conversation about different things, braiding each other's hair. It's just such a sweet scene.

I loved how worship and prayer were used in these books as weapons. I already mentioned the Sabres, who literally fight wars with worship. And throughout the whole trilogy, we see Jake and Brielle doing the same thing-- praying in the face of danger, worshipping to resist the enemy.

So! There were a couple things about this trilogy that I didn't care for or understand. But overall, I loved it and it's now definitely one of my favorite trilogies. I will for sure be rereading it in the future-- for enjoyment and also because there were a lot of things that kind of went over my head the first time (I don't pay attention) that I think I'll be able to put together a lot better after a second time.

All right, guys, thank you for bearing with me through this very long, kind of all-over-the-place post. Have you read the Angel Eyes trilogy? Who's your favorite character? Any other trilogies I should check out?

My 2019 Goals

IT'S 2019!

I'm excited for this year. I feel like it's going to be a good one. I was sad as always to see Christmas go, but I think I was more ready than ever this year to start fresh again. My routine and some of the healthy habits I'd gotten into had totally gone down the drain and I was so eager to get back to that.

So, today I'm going to be sharing with you guys some of my goals for 2019! I kind of accidentally made a lot of them? Which is kind of funny because last year I didn't technically make any. I just felt like last year it was better for me to just try harder in every area of my life, be intentional with my time and money, and not waste a moment, rather than make a bunch of hollow goals.

But this year I found that I wanted to make goals and lists. Maybe it was because I had gotten so far off the routine I had established and wanted to redeem myself. But I have goals, and I'm looking forward to actually putting the effort into achieving them.

So here they are: just a few of my goals for 2019 (in no particular order)!

(ft. the first book I read in 2019)

KEEP UP WITH BULLET JOURNALING

I got so involved in bullet journaling this past fall. It was helping me so much to stay organized and make daily goals, and I was looking forward to sitting down each evening and drawing out the journal for the next day. But, like many other things, I got off track and stopped being so faithful about it. I'd get days behind and then catch myself up just so there wouldn't be any gaps.

So this year, I want to be diligent again about keeping up with it. Like I said, it's such a great help to me and also very satisfying to see all the organized little calendars and boxes, so I definitely want to keep up with it and not get behind again.

GET OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

This could include many things, but I mean it mostly in the way of social situations. If you know me personally you know that I'm extremely antisocial outside of a computer screen. Unless someone's my close friend I prefer to keep to myself and avoid them. It sounds awful and I feel bad about it sometimes, but my introverted self just wishes that everybody else would mind their business and leave me alone. Don't talk to me, don't look at me.

This is me. So, so me. 

But at the same time, I want to be a friendly person. To show love and light to those who need it. So this year I want to try to always be getting out of my comfort zone in some way. Even if just means something as simple as walking through an occupied aisle at the store instead of seeking out a deserted one.

KEEP UP WITH READING BLOGS

This is HARD, y'all. There are so many great blogs that I try to read. And I fail. All the time.

But especially now that I've started my own blog, I want to make more of an effort to stay up-to-date with all the blogs I read, too. I've gotten so far behind on some of them and I want to keep from doing that this year.

FINISH A BOOK

I have all these stories sitting in my laptop unfinished and I keep flipping back and forth between this 
one and that one. It's been so long since I started some of them and I feel kind of guilty for leaving them like that so long.

So this year I want to finish one of my books. Any of them (because I can never predict which one I'll be in the mood to work on this year, heh). I'm not talking about edited and polished and publisher-ready (although that would be fantastic); I just want the story written and ready to move onto the next draft.

KEEP TRACK OF HOW MANY WORDS I WRITE

So this is one that I literally JUST came up with, but I think it will be fun. (Until I get tired of keeping track...) I'd like to try to actually keep a record of how many words I write every time I sit down to write. I think it will be interesting at the end of the year to be able to look back and actually see those statistics (and not just for the month of November ;).

I'll just count my books in this, not blog posts or anything. Of course, I can't promise that I'll stick with this one. It's just something that I'd like to try and if I decide it's not something I want to do all year, I'll stop. But I want to give it a shot, anyway.

These are definitely not all my goals for this year. Like I said, I seem to have a lot. But I'm ready for this year and excited to see what it will bring. Each year gives us 365 days in which we can grow and learn and accomplish so much. Can you imagine what we could do in a year if we worked as hard as we're actually capable?

What are some of your goals for 2019? Do you enjoy making lists or do you keep it all in your head? What are you most excited for in 2019?

(also, I'm trying out normal black font for this post instead of the brownish color I've been using as I feel black will look more standard and polished... what do you think? is black better? I'd love your opinion.)

End-of-Year Wrapup

(*posts an end-of-year-wrapup at the beginning of the year*) (oops)

We made it-- 2018 is over.

It's always such a weird feeling letting a year go. On one hand, I'm kind of sad, especially if some really great things have happened that year. It's silly, but you'll never get to live in that year again, you know? And then on the other hand, I'm so ready to start a new year with a fresh outlook and a clean slate.

But before I do that, I usually look back at the past year and recall what it brought me. And that's what you're reading right now: my first end-of-the-year wrapup post.

BLOGGING

I STARTED MY BLOG THIS YEAR! *confetti*

Thank you to everyone who's read my blog, left comments, and supported me. Starting this blog was such a big step out of my comfort zone and I'm loving it so far. I hope to share much, much more with you all in the next year!

READING

This year has not been great in the way of reading. I don't mean what I read, but how much. Of course, I still read, and that's what matters, but I just didn't read as much as I would have liked.

Please excuse this unproportionate Goodreads screenshot.

Honestly, most of the year was consumed with reading the complete Oz collection by L. Frank Baum. Which I very much enjoyed, but whew. What an undertaking. Also, I just want to point out that Goodreads only counted these as five books, but excuse me, there were THREE books in each 
volume, thank you very much.

Not counting the Chronicles of Narnia which are of course going to win out over everything else, I think my favorite book this year would be The Bridge.

(I just logged onto Goodreads and it said to me "Challenge yourself to read more this year!" and the suggested amount of books was 12. XD Shows you how little I read in 2018.)

WRITING

Sooo...

*drumroll*

I WON NANO THIS YEAR!

If you've been reading my blog you've probably seen me yell about this more than once. So, sorry. But this was a huge triumph for me and I'm still so happy that I did it.

Other than that, I did some work on one of my other stories this year (which you'll probably hear about eventually). But the main thing is that... *whispers* I won NaNo.

LIFE

This year's been kind of full of things.

First, I turned 20. Which is crazy. I literally still forget sometimes that I'm not a teenager anymore, 
and then I feel like I'm 80 years old. Seriously, how am I already 20?

I became an official crew trainer at work, which means that I'm one of the people they depend on to properly train new hires. I'm also expected to help my fellow employees whenever they don't know how to do something, or correct them if they're doing something incorrectly. SO MUCH POWER. (jk.)

This year I said goodbye to my 18-year-old dog Shadow.

And I got a car! Which is great for me, not so great for my bank account. But, you know. That's how it is.

Overall, it's been a good year. There's been some stuff to deal with, but, you know, I'm sure nobody's year was perfect. It's often how we choose to deal with everything that makes the year good or bad.

Anyway, guys, there you have it! I hope you had a great year and that 2019 will be even better!

How was your 2018? Anything fantastic happen? Did it go by super fast for you, too? Let's chat!