I don't know what to post so here's a mid-year life update I guess

I mean… the title pretty much says it all.

 

Basically, I miss posting and I miss you all but really have no idea what to post about. I’ve lost the blogging groove. *sad audience noises* So, I decided to just share a little bit of what I’ve been up to lately. (emphasis on the “little bit” because I really haven’t been up to much. XD) Anyway. Here’s some things I’ve done this year. With no pictures because reasons.

 

In April, I saw Celtic Woman live! This was a fairly longtime bucket list item for me (although I didn’t remember that until afterwards, lol), and it was a beautiful experience. I went with my brother and one of my sisters, our seats were SUPER good, and we enjoyed every minute. (In fact, we plan to see them again on their Christmas tour later this year!)

 

I got a new laptop!! My previous laptop was almost seven years old, and was definitely showing signs of age. As in, doing things like turning on but not turning ON. (I know it doesn’t make any sense. Be glad you don’t know what I mean.) I kept putting it off and off and off because I don’t like spending money, but, well, it was time. And so, I’m typing this from my new laptop. It’s a lot smaller than I’m used to but I’m GETTING used to it, and I’m just glad I have one that works. Oh, and when I said I wasn't putting any pictures in this post because reasons, the reasons are that I don't have any of them on my new computer yet. XD

 

I cancelled my pitch appointment at Realm Makers. Which was a little disappointing to have to do, if I’m being totally honest, because I WAS looking forward to the experience. But while having that sort of deadline was absolutely fantastic for my motivation, even with the extra boost I realized that my book just wasn’t going to be ready to pitch. (Unfortunately, with the cancelled appointment also came cancelled motivation. XD) By next year, though, I plan to be in much better shape with this story and hopefully will give pitching another shot!

 

I reread Dust by Kara Swanson. Which isn’t a huge happening in itself, but it reminded me how little I reread books and how important it is. I feel like we often hesitate to reread books because we have sooo many books on our TBR that we want to get to and we feel like we’re wasting time if we read something again. But do that too much and it kind of takes the joy out of it. Reading your favorite books again really helps reawaken your love of reading and silences thoughts of statistics. Especially when it’s as fantastic a book as Dust.

 

I went to the Superman Celebration in Metropolis, Illinois and met Kristin Kreuk, aka Lana Lang from Smallville! She was super nice, and said she liked my phone case. :)

 

I’ve been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender! I watched the first few episodes a few years ago but couldn’t find the rest of the series (shoutout to shifty websites with empty promises). I bought the whole series a while back, so I recently started over and have been slowly making my way through it. I think I’m almost done with season 1? And yes, I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I also think it’s one of the funniest TV shows I’ve ever seen. XD

 

I got back into working on Look for the Flares! Which, honestly, I’ve probably said lots of times by now and anyone who follows me is probably wondering how many times I’m going to accidentally take a break from this book. But, well, like I said, when I cancelled my pitch appointment and had no sense of deadline again, I lost a lot of my motivation to write. (whoops.) And it’s not that I don’t WANT to, because I am absolutely still as into this book as I’ve ever been and want to see it finished. I’ve just been so overwhelmed with what all I need to do with it lately, and it’s a challenge to jump back in and know where I left off from last time I opened the document. (Probably a good reason not to be lazy and neglect your WIP for weeks at a time.) But I managed to weasel my way back in without feeling like Gandalf.

 

 It’s not the first draft but IS still pretty rough, as I’ve gone back over it multiple times this year changing little things and big things and just really making a mess of it but somehow making it better in the meantime? Anyway, I’ve gone through almost the whole book with those changes and I actually think that story-wise, it’s in pretty good shape right now. I just need to wrangle my climax into something that makes sense and then I can tighten the whole thing up. (I’m hopeful that in a few months I’ll be able to start looking for beta readers… so stay tuned. ;)) I’ve said it probably a lot of times before: I love this story with my whole heart and I cannot wait for it to hopefully be in your hands someday.

 

 There’s one more thing I’m looking forward to sharing with you, but not just yet! It’s not really a secret, but it’s also not “public” yet, so I’ll just wait until everything’s a little more set in stone. But I’m really excited about it, and I can’t wait to share! :)

 

And… I think that’s about it. Right now my main focuses are getting ready for Realm Makers (I ALMOST have my costume finished and I can’t wait to show you guys!!) in LESS THAN A MONTH (WHAT) and saving money because there are tons of things I want to do. XD (Some people are still waiting for their Hogwarts letter, but I’m just waiting for someone to tell me I’m actually a princess and have inherited an estate or something. Your girl’s broke.) I do hope to be a little more present here, and what with Realm Makers happening very soon I’ll likely have a little more to talk about. But regardless- thank you as always for reading my ramblings, and I can’t wait to talk to you soon! < 3