JUNE 2020

Hello, lovely people! Can you believe it's the end of June?? Summer is officially here, and the year is halfway over. 2020 IS HALFWAY OVER.

This has seriously been SUCH a crazy beginning to the decade. Nobody would have thought it would have started out like this, huh?? But here we are, we're surviving, and hopefully the second half will look a little brighter!

For now, though, let's focus on June, shall we?

I mentioned last month that I had started reading Dust by Kara Swanson. (my first-ever print ARC of a book, by the way, which is pretty exciting.) I finished it the first week of June and AHHHHHH. You guys NEED to read this as soon as it comes out because it was SO SO GOOD. prepare yourself for a killer cliffhanger that will make you question everything though lol haha haha fun times

I read the Stories That Sing anthology! So many great stories! As a whole, I think I even liked it a wee bit more than the first anthology. no I'm not biased why would you ask What I love about these anthologies is that even though they have their share of stories I just don't love, there's such a wide variety that there are plenty of stories I DO love!

And finally, I read Rising Shadows by Ashley Townsend! Aaaad here we are with another cliffhanger. Why do I always buy only the first books of sets? xD I enjoyed this book and while I feel like it could have been MORE (vague, I know), I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy!

Writing was next to nonexistent this month. I did do a little teensy-weensy bit of work on Roots to Claim, but definitely not the 10 chapters worth of work I was aiming for at the beginning of the month. (maybe a bit of a lofty goal? maybe??)

I really want to intentionally make a habit of taking even just five minutes a day to write. It almost hurts to even say that, because I really love the idea of getting all my other responsibilities out of the way and having at least an hour to sit down and dive deep into my story. And five minutes a day sounds like so little progress, you know?

But honestly, those longer sessions are rarely as fruitful as I'd like them to be, because when you sit me down in front of a computer for an hour you can BET I'm going to get distracted. BUT if I just make it a goal to work on my WIP for five minutes every day, and force myself to stay hyper-focused on JUST my story for that five minutes, I'll actually be making progress. And sometimes I know that five minutes will turn into even longer, and maybe with time I'll be able to stay hyper-focused for that whole hour. xD

Also, I've tried a "Writing Log" page in my bullet journal multiple times, and it just WON'T WORK FOR ME. Keeping track of words written every day is next to impossible sometimes, especially when you're rewriting. But if I record how much time I spend working instead, I think it might be better? We'll see!

I'm planning on doing Camp NaNo in July, so hopefully I'll be able to kickstart some real progress (without it completely consuming my life)! :D

I watched Ralph Breaks the Internet, which was great. My favorite part was the Disney Princesses. xD

I started watching The Saddle Club with my sisters. Yes, we are all adults, thank you very much. xD But it's been SUCH a nostalgia trip and I miss those carefree days. If you didn't know, before writing consumed my life, horses did. And I think Pine Hollow was pretty much every horse-crazy girl's dream back in the day. xD

the childhood feeeels

I've started doing monthly themes in my bullet journal! Last month was actually my first time doing this, and I did a Star Wars theme. But I forgot to show anything other than what was in my title photo, and I didn't do anything that exciting with it other than draw some lightsabers, so that doesn't really count. xD But in the spirit of finishing Dust, I decided on a Peter Pan theme this month and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

What I've been listening to:

Dear Yesterday by Michael Booth // I love this whole album, and the lyrics have really been speaking to me lately. Especially this song:

Though my heart won't heal this side of heaven
And the hurt I feel this side of heaven
Will stay with me for all my days
Til at last we're face to face
Still my heart will choose
To trust in You

// This Side of Heaven

This is such a beautiful song. While we can certainly find peace and comfort in this life, we won't experience perfect healing and wholeness until we're in heaven. But it's trusting in God and His purpose and plan for our lives that will help us find peace while on this earth. You should definitely go listen to this song.

For King and Country // After falling in love with the song "Fix My Eyes" and having it on repeat, and listening to the "Burn the Ships" album a couple times, I've decided I really like this band and should listen to more of them. *nods*

Remember that post I wrote about shalom that was inspired by the Out of Time series? NADINE BRANDES actually READ IT and I just O_O WHAAAT.

#ded

That's about it! Looking back, it seems June was actually pretty full, and went by a lot faster than May did. It was a good month, and I'm ready for July! Let's all hit this second half of 2020 with all we've got!

How was YOUR June? Any highlights? Did any of you watch The Saddle Club when you were younger?? And finally, WHO ELSE IS DOING CAMP NANO?? Let's panic in complete un-preparedness together!