Dragons, Time Travel, and Sass || or a look at my next writing project

Heyyy guys! So this week's post is a little different and kind of random, but I'm super excited to share it with you.

This week, I'm introducing you guys to my story Fall Into Time!

It's not a new story. I first started drafting it for NaNoWriMo in 2016. BUT this is the first time I'll really be telling you guys about it! And the reason I decided to write this post is that I'm ridiculously close to finishing draft one of last year's NaNo novel Roots to Claim that I won't stop talking about and Fall Into Time is my next goal to work on. So I thought I'd 1) get back into the groove of it by yelling about it and 2) introduce you guys to it since you'll probably be hearing me continue to yell about it in the near future.

I have no plans or outline for this post so it's probably going to be too long and rambly and make no sense at all but I'll just jump right into it. xD All pictures are from Pinterest.

FALL INTO TIME

(This title is not final, it's just a placeholder until I come up with something good. xD It really doesn't even make sense, I was just looking for something that had the word "time" in it and came up with that for some reason.)

So, basically Fall Into Time is about an almost-college graduate named Sophie Drake who gets sucked into the future and has to find her way back home. There's lots of sass, regret, mythical creatures (evil unicorns, anyone?), and there may or may not be a cyborg dragon who has more
personality than you and I do.

HAVE SOME AESTHETICS.

And here's the link to my Pinterest board, if you want to see more. There's not a lot to it, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. https://www.pinterest.com/bookwieldingemily/fall-into-time/

This story takes place in Alander. Alander is a fantasy world (I kind of maybe picture it as a planet? not too sure about some worldbuilding stuff yet) where people ride dragons and gryphons as commonly as we drive cars, everything runs on minerals from the earth rather than electricity, and a dude makes a mechanical dragon to take down unicorns. Basically I picture it as a fantasy world with
sci-fi elements. (Like time travel. Hehe.)

Aaand now I'd like to introduce you to Sophie Drake, my protagonist!

At the start of the story, Sophie is about to graduate college. (Or whatever the Alander equivalent of college is. I'm not really sure yet.) She likes to be in control and hates feeling like the passing of time is something she has no say over. At this point in her life, everything's changing too fast for her, and she's starting to fear what life may have for her tomorrow.

2023 isn't the actual year the story takes place... just the year I chose to keep track of time for now.

In the middle of all that lovely stuff, Sophie gets sucked twenty years into the future. So, that's fun.
Enter Asher I-can't-remember-if-I-gave-him-a-last-name-yet.

Sophie meets Asher in the future, because he accidentally brings her there. #rude

He's trying to figure out a way to time travel because he did something in the past that he seriously regrets and he doesn't think he can be happy until he fixes it.

Asher's smart, quirky, and lovable, although rather exasperating at times. He's also got a bit of a temper on him and tends to throw stuff when he gets mad. Behind his good-natured exterior he's deeply scarred by his decisions in the past.

Then there's Gemma.

The daughter of Sophie's best friend, she isn't born yet in the year Sophie lives, so it's a shock when Sophie meets her in the future. Gemma's selfless, loyal, and kind of ditzy. She's terrified of everything that starts happening around her when Sophie arrives (see dude below), but really wants to help Sophie so she tries to be brave and sticks with her.

Aaaand then there's Jax.

(this isn't exactly what he looks like, but you get the idea.)

Basically, Jax is a cyborg dragon with wayyyyy too much sass and a glitch that really gets on his nerves. He's actually super annoying and likes to burn holes in houses and stuff because he's #dramatic. His goal in life at the moment is to stop Asher from achieving time travel because it will keep Jax from ever having been created.

SNIPPETS

(keep in mind this is a first draft so these snippets are not perfect and some wording might be off or just plain bad but it will get better) (also these are not in order)

Okay, wow, so that was a lot of snippets and probably overkill. But it's fine. 

Also do you ever just go reading through your story and even though it might be a total mess you look at it and think "dude that's really good". xD

This story is still in the first draft stage. Yeah, I know. I've been working on it for almost three years and still haven't finished the first draft. If I've never mentioned it before, I reallyyy struggle with finishing first drafts. (Which is why I'm so stoked to be pages away from finishing Roots to Claim.)
I still have a lot of worldbuilding and character development to work on. I'm excited to get back into it! I love this story and my precious children and I've left them hanging way too long. (Poor Sophie's
been in the wrong year since November 2016...)

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed a sneak peek into Fall Into Time! Hopefully sometime in the next few months as I work on it, I'll come up with a better title. xD

Who do you think your favorite character from this story would be? Does Alander sound like a place you'd want to live? Do you have trouble finishing first drafts too, or does it come fairly easy for you? Chat with me!

Six Things I've Learned Since Graduating High School

Tuesday marked three years since I graduated high school.

Sometimes I still can't believe that I'm a high school graduate. That I went to Florida and walked down the aisle with approximately 400 other homeschool grads and had one of the best weeks ever.

This week I'm feeling kind of nostalgic. And since it's graduation season, I want to share with you a few things I've learned since graduating high school.

I read these books during my vacation to Florida when I graduated.

TIME GOES BY REALLY FAST.

Like, super fast. I felt that when I found myself walking across a stage in a cap and gown, and I feel it today, exactly three years later.

I barely felt like I was a teenager for five minutes.

I stop and think sometimes about the fact that I'm twenty-one, out of school, and have a job. It's still so surreal to me.

I WISH I WOULD HAVE TRIED HARDER.

The last year or two of high school was pretty hard. I had a hard time keeping up with all my work and still having a life. As a result of that, I put subpar effort into some things. Fortunately I didn't get bad grades my senior year, but I know I could have made them better. And if I could change one thing about my high school years, that might be it.

I TOOK IT FOR GRANTED.

It's natural; you spend all your school years longing for the day when you're out of school. Nothing wrong with that. But now I realize that I 100% took it for granted.

I was homeschooled. That means I got to sit at home all day in the comfort of my room and work at my own pace. I didn't get to sleep in every day, but I didn't have to get up early. I had the opportunity to spend more time with my family than kids in public school did. Now I'm gone all day five days a
week and I feel like I don't get nearly enough time at home.

And even off the homeschool spectrum... being a student holds a higher level of comfort than having a job and working forty hours a week. At least for me.

LIFE IS SCARY.

Once you've graduated, there are all these looming responsibilities in front of you. Get a job. Go to college (if you so desire). Learn how to adult. It's a lot of pressure and it happens really fast, and it's intimidating! Maybe even downright terrifying.

BUT NOT TOO SCARY.

Because once I learned how to cope, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Still scary, but possible. And that's
all that matters.

I CAN DO IT.

I'm not the only person who's ever had to do this before. I'm not incapable. And I'm not as awkward and uncertain as I thought. Am I still those things? Oh, yes. Absolutely. But hey, I didn't think I could do it and now I can. That's all I can ask for.

And now, when I'm at work basically running the place (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration) and working my way up? Yeah, I never thought I'd think this was so easy. But here I am, as if I was never afraid of getting a job at all.

So for all of you who maybe are still in high school, or getting ready to graduate, and are looking at the future like it's a big scary blackhole... take heart. It's not that bad. Take a deep breath, allow yourself to mess up, and trust God that He'll carry you through. Because if it wasn't for Him, I'd still probably be in the fetal position wishing I could time travel back to the age of eight.

Also, here are a few songs I listened to over and over during my senior year:

"Brave Souls" was kind of what I considered the theme of my graduation trip. I was ecstatic to be done with school, but terrified to move on. So I listened to this song and tried my best to be a brave soul.

I got through. I'm where I am today, and I pray you get there too.

A Tower and a Fantasy (Rapunzel flash fiction!)

Hey guys! So I'm sure you all know by now about the amazing Fairy Tale Central. Every month the lovely ladies over there (Arielle, Christine, and Faith) feature a different fairy tale. And not only that, but they're also sharing a writing prompt for each month, too, based on that month's fairy tale!

The prompts are posted on Arielle's blog Intuitive Writing Guide at the beginning of the month. Rapunzel is the featured fairy tale for May, and I was so excited to write some Rapunzel-inspired flash fiction!

This month's prompt has a little twist; you base your piece around this line...

And then choose one (or more!) of these lines to follow up!

I'll let you read the original post to better explain it. 

Now I'm sure you have some ideas stirring around in your head like I did! Stay tuned for my flash fiction based on these prompts!

I decided to create characters and use them in the future prompts, too, like the original post suggested. I don't know if I'll take part every single month, but whenever I do, the characters you'll meet in this story will be in those too! I loved that idea and I can't wait to incorporate Trentley and Jynnia into other fairy tale-inspired prompts. I don't know if it'll be kind of a series or a bunch of
stand-alone scenes, but I know it'll be lots of fun.

Aaaand... I also got some MAJOR plot bunnies for a series about Trentley and Jynnia as I was writing this. *hides* Yeah, that's all I need right now-- not only an idea for a book, but MULTIPLE books! 

Buuut such is the way of a writer, I guess. Maybe I'll share the details of said (currently nonexistent) books in the future, but for now, just suffice to know it has to do with fairy tales. ;) But you probably
could have already guessed that.

ANYWAY!  Enough of my blabbering. Here's my story! Hope you enjoy!

     * * *

 "Hey, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"
 Jynnia appeared at the window at Trentley's call, and stood there looking down at him with an eyebrow raised.
 "Show me some credentials. I don't let it down for just anyone."
 Trentley laughed, rubbing his neck as he looked up the steep wall of the stone tower. He put one hand on a hip, feigning irritation but unable to keep the big smile off his face. "I don't have any credentials," he said. "But what if I tell you I'll give you a kiss when I get up there?"
 Jynnia pursed her lips, tapping her temple with a finger. "I don't know," she said, her hand sliding up to run through her short, messy brown locks. "I literally just finished brushing it."
 "Oh, come on!" He sprinted up to the door at the base of the tower. Jynnia had used it moments earlier, but Trentley shook the handle as if it were locked. Backing up to look at her again, he called, "I'm locked out! How else do you expect me to get up there?"
 She had disappeared from the window, but Trentley heard her voice echo, "That doesn't sound like my problem. Do I look like a ladder to you?"
 Trentley could not stop laughing at the sheer childishness of their behavior. This was what finding a tower in the middle of the woods did to them. "Oh, come on, Jynnia, just let down your hair!"
 He heard her sigh, then footsteps nearing the window. When she appeared, she was wearing a vibrant purple dress, much different from the muted green one she had been wearing a moment ago. Strange that someone would abandon such a lovely dress in an old tower. He began to say something about her playing dress-up, but she spoke before he could.
 "Fine," she said, and flipped her hand in the air, pretending to toss a long mane out the window. "Now you can come up."
 He took off toward the door, this time throwing it open. "Hey, I like that color on you!" he yelled before entering the tower. A moment later he heard a muffled cry and shook his head with a grin. Jynnia had thrown herself into this role all too wholeheartedly; a damsel overtaken by his compliment.
 As he ran up the spiraling stairs, he found himself struggling to move as freely as he had been before. How curious. He looked down to see if something restricted his strides, and started a bit to see not the old worn-out pants he had put on that morning, but a new, pressed pair he had never seen before. And his shirt! Not the well-worn tunic he was so comfortable in and was sure he had just been wearing-- but a stiff coat with gold buttons. The costume of a prince!
 "Where in heaven's name did these clothes come from?" he said aloud, and briefly wondered if he was dreaming. He certainly had not been wearing this an hour ago! "Jynnia?" he called, remembering the dress she had donned moments ago. He heard her scream, and broke into a run.
 He skidded to a stop, nearly falling, when he stepped on something slick. He bent to look closer and clapped a hand to his mouth. Hair! Dark brown hair the very color of Jynnia's! Trentley followed it with his eyes; it went on up the staircase and underneath the door at the top.
 Jynnia cried his name. He bolted up the remaining stairs and burst through the door.
 Jynnia was standing with her back to the window, gripping the windowsill with white knuckles. She breathed heavily as she gazed down at the flowing purple dress she wore. Her old green dress was nowhere to be seen.
 But what really made Trentley's head spin was the hair that flowed from Jynnia's head, covered the floor in soft brown waves, and trailed out the door.
 The two looked at each other for a moment, having no words to say. Jynnia was the first to speak.
 "What... have... we... done?"

     * * *

And there you have it! It's not perfect, but I'm excited about the ideas it spawned. They might deviate almost completely from this scene, but that's okay! And I already love Trentley and Jynnia.  I never write such sappy couples, but these guys are going to be fun.

I hope you enjoyed my story! Now it's YOUR turn to go take part in this month's writing prompt!

What do you think of Trentley and Jynnia? (And what in the world do you think happened when they went into that tower?!) Are you participating in the writing prompt this month?

APRIL 2019

IT'S MAY! Which is kind of hard to believe, and kind of... not. April actually felt reallllyyy long to me. Which isn't a bad thing! But when I thought back to the first book I read this month, I was like... whoa, that was THIS month?? I don't know why, but April just went by really slowly.

Anyway! I did have a good April. Aaaand here's what happened this month!

READING

(Seriously, though, it feels like three months since I read Battlecry Forever. What even.)

My favorite book I read this month has to be Ella Enchanted. It was such a fun story and Ella and Char were great. I didn't love the direction the story  took toward the very end (I was just wishing the author had gone a less cliche route), but the actual ending was fantastic.

Season of Wonder was pretty good, and I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy. (I'm reading the second book now.) I didn't love it, though. Maybe I'm just not that into dystopian.

Battlecry Forever was just a fun reread from my days back in a horse book club. I LOVED it back then, but then when I read it this time I was like... that was it? Kinda sad. xD

WRITING

I won Camp NaNoWriMo!

Wherein you can see my usual pattern of starting out strong, then getting lazy and panicking toward the end. xD

My goal was 15k, and I just scraped by with 15,052 words. Unfortunately I did not finish my book like I'd hoped... but I'm literally SO close. And most importantly, I'm motivated again so I definitely feel like I can accomplish it in the next few days.

I also wrote a short story and submitted it to Havok! I haven't heard back yet, but whether it's accepted or not it's been fun getting back into short stories.

Words written this month: 15922

TV

I had a TON of episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic piled up on my DVR and I've been catching up on those. Eventually I really want to get the whole series and watch it from beginning to end. I forgot how much I loved those ponies.

Also, what the heck is this.

MUSIC

I've been enjoying a couple songs I randomly discovered on Spotify: Brother by Kodaline, and How To Save A Life by The Fray.

Brother is a really good song (with a heartbreaking music video-- go watch it), and it goes really well with Roots to Claim. And How To Save A Life I think I'd heard of, but I'd never actually heard it before (other than hearing Taylor Swift cover it hehe). But then I started listening to it and kinda couldn't stop. It's such a good song with such an important message.

I stumbled upon and bought the album, too, at a Goodwill. I haven't listened to it yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

LIFE

I had a good Easter, starting with church and then eating barbecue with my family. Then that afternoon I went out and got some Easter candy because I totally forgot until then and I really wanted some. xD

I get to wear this at work for the next few weeks:

I haven't seen it yet, though, or the last, like, six movies for that matter. So no spoilers. xD

At the end of the month I took a weekend off from work to go shopping for bridesmaid dresses for my friend's wedding. Me, one of her sisters, and our friend from Kentucky are all bridesmaids, and we had a super fun weekend. We went to a mall, and I had Starbucks for the first time!

Sadly, I didn't care for it. xD It was good, but wayyy too strong for me. The foam was the best part. xD I'll definitely still try more Starbucks drinks in the future if I get the chance though.

We also went to a frozen custard shop nearby. I'd never been there and really wanted to try it. I had a cappucino chip concrete, and it was sooo good.

Unfortunately I also got sick at the very end of the month. So I'm drinking lots of tea and just trying
to survive. xD

Oh, and I almost forgot:

this blog is now dedicated to my dog get used to it

He looks sad because I was eating an ice cream cone and not giving him any. xD

BLOG

On the blog this month:

Why I Love Bullet Journaling + A Peek Inside MY Bullet Journal
Voted Most Likely Tag!

And that was my April! As for May, well, my first priority is to finish Roots to Claim once and for all. (I am ready to be DONE with this draft, y'all.) Then I want to start working on Fall Into Time, my time travel fantasy with the awful name. Also take some more time out for reading.

Also! I want to add (even though this technically happened in May, not April, hehe) that I have a bookstagram now! You can follow me on Instagram @bookwieldingemily.

How was your April? Did you participate in Camp NaNo, and if so how did you do? What's your favorite Starbucks drink?

Voted Most Likely Tag!

HAPPY THURSDAY!

I've been so excited for this post. I was tagged by the lovely Victoria @ Wanderer's Pen for the Voted Most Likely tag. (Thank you, Victoria!) These questions were so great and I'm so excited to share my answers with you!

NOTE: I haven't talked about all these stories on the blog (in fact, I'm pretty sure I've only talked about Roots to Claim), so you're not going to know anything about most of these people. Hopefully someday I'll share more about each of these stories and characters, and you can get to know them a little deeper! For now, though, a quick description of each of the stories I mention:

Children of Matorelli// Narnia-esque fantasy
The Unchosen Ones// sci-fi trilogy
Fall Into Time// sci fi/fantasy with time travel
I need you guys to note and appreciate the fact that while I was writing about Fall Into Time, "Clock Don't Stop" by Carrie Underwood started playing and WHOA how fitting.
Roots to Claim// literally just read this and this and this

OKAY now that's done. Onto the tag!

THE RULES

Rule One: Thank the lovely blogger who tagged you. You know you want to.
Rule Two: Include this lovely link in your post.
Rule Three: Use your own lovely Original Characters (OC’s); don’t use a friend’s characters or characters from your favorite fandom. They can be from any project, so long as you created them. For more fun, try to use as many different characters as possible.
Rule Four: Tag at least five lovely blogger friends to play along.

1.) Most Likely to Be a Poet

Oh, this is definitely, definitely Quinard from Roots to Claim. He writes dark, depressing songs, so I think he'd slide into the role of poet real well.

2.) Most Likely to Dance in the Rain

Hmm... I have several that could fit this, but I'll say Adrian from The Unchosen Ones. She's a really positive, happy person and sees beauty in everything so I think dancing in the rain would be really fitting to her character.

3.) Most Likely to Look Good in a Kilt
Wow, what a thing to think about. Well, I have a Scottish villain in The Unchosen Ones, so I guess it would be him. xD He doesn't have a name at the moment, though...

4.) Most Likely to Get Punched in the Face

Ha. Well, more than one of my characters, probably. But for now I'll go with Ray from Children of Matorelli. He throws himself into whatever fights he and his friends get into, so he'd be probably be pretty likely to get punched in the face first by the enemy.

5.) Most Likely to Drop Everything and Become a Sheep Herder

Wow, that is an... interesting question. The first person I thought of was Rashid from The Unchosen Ones because he's Middle Eastern. xD I'm going to have to leave it at that because I really can't see any of my other characters herding sheep??

6.) Most Likely to Be Found in the Library

Ooh, this is a tough one. I actually don't have many characters who are big readers (shocker, I know!), at least that I've thought about. I'm going to say Sophie from Fall Into Time because she's just trying to graduate college, so she's probably doing a lot of studying. xD

7.) Most Likely to Sleep Through an Earthquake
I'll have to say Archlan from Roots to Claim on this one, because half the time he's causing extreme weather conditions and it's usually in the middle of the night, so he's used to it.

8.) Most Likely to Steal Food from Other Peoples’ Plates

Georgie from Children of Matorelli would probably do this, but only with her friends.

9.) Most Likely to Cheat on a Test
This would have to be Greg from Children of Matorelli. He's not the most responsible guy around.

10.) Most Likely to Say “Oops” After Setting Something on Fire

Oh, Asher from Fall Into Time, for sure. He's charmingly clumsy and awkward and... yeah, I can toootally see him doing this. xD

Asher doesn't wear leather, though...

11.) Most Likely to Open an Orphanage
Alyson from Children of Matorelli is very compassionate and motherly, so she would probably do fantastic in an orphanage.

12.) Most Likely to Run off with the Circus
Arin from Children of Matorelli. Not because he's a good juggler or anything. But his rich, important family expects him to adhere to a certain set of standards, and almost as an act of defiance, he sort of lives on the road half the time with his oddball-looking horse and dog. He might fit in with the misfits pretty well. He'd probably be the animal handler or something.

13.) Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse
Oh man, this would be Childin from Children of Matorelli. She's been on her own since she was a young teenager, and she knows how to fight and defend herself. She could definitely hold her own against a zombie mob.

14.) Most Likely to Fake Their Own Death

Probably Daiyu from The Unchosen Ones. She doesn't have a very bright outlook on life (because her life's been kind of awful) and lives pretty secluded anyway, so she might be inclined to pretend she was dead just so that nobody would bother her.

15.) Most Likely to Die and Haunt Their Friends
Oh man, this is a tough one. (Also kind of hysterical.) Maybe Kennet from Roots to Claim. He's a prophet who basically just sits around basking in magic all the time, so most people think he's crazy. Therefore, he would be the perfect person to haunt people.


Yay , that was so much fun! Answering random questions like that about your characters really makes you think about each of them as a person. (And makes you realize how little you know them, in some cases!)

All right, time for the tagging... (If any of you have already been tagged for this [and I'm sure some of you have], well, you've now been double-tagged. xD)

Nicole @ Legend of a Writer
Kara @ Scribbles of an Aspiring Writer
Melissa @ Quill Pen Writer
Faith @ The Writer's Song
Rakayle @ A Story Detective

Here are the questions:

1.) Most Likely to Be a Poet
2.) Most Likely to Dance in the Rain
3.) Most Likely to Look Good in a Kilt
4.) Most Likely to Get Punched in the Face
5.) Most Likely to Drop Everything and Become a Sheep Herder
6.) Most Likely to Be Found in the Library
7.) Most Likely to Sleep Through an Earthquake
8.) Most Likely to Steal Food from Other Peoples’ Plates
9.) Most Likely to Cheat on a Test
10.) Most Likely to Say “Oops” After Setting Something on Fire
11.) Most Likely to Open an Orphanage
12.) Most Likely to Run off with the Circus
13.) Most Likely to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse
14.) Most Likely to Fake Their Own Death
15.) Most Likely to Die and Haunt Their Friends

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed learning a little about my characters. Hopefully you didn't get the wrong first impression of those you've just met. xD

Have you done this tag? What's your favorite way of getting to know your characters? Which one of these characters would you most enjoy learning more about? 

Why I Love Bullet Journaling (+ A Peek Inside MY Bullet Journal!)

IT'S FINALLY TIME FOR MY BULLET JOURNAL POST. I've been planning this for months and actually meant to post it last week but it wasn't quite ready, so now HERE IT IS!

I first started hearing about bullet journaling from various bloggers three years ago or so, and it intrigued me but I wasn't sure exactly how to get started. It seemed kind of complicated, so I wasn't really sure how to make an "official" bullet journal.

But HEY. It was super easy. I think I first tried it after reading Katie's post (can we just admire her bullet journal for a minute?? it's so pretty), and I fell in love!

So basically, a bullet journal is a daily planner to keep track of all your goals, chores, appointments, whatever you want! I use it to organize my daily, weekly, and monthly goals, and to write down my plans, appointments, and work schedule. I also like to make a note of little things that happened in a day, whether it be something fun I did, or a new song I discovered.

The great thing about bullet journaling is that you can make it whatever you want it to be! I was hesitant about starting my own because I wasn't sure I really understand the actual definition of bullet journaling, so I doubted I would be able to do it "right". But once I got started, it was so easy and versatile. You can make it organized, artistic, both, or neither. Mine is a little of both; right now it leans more toward the organized side (which is shocking), but I'd like to find ways to be a little more creative and make it pretty, too. Check out Savannah's amazing bullet journal; how gorgeous are those drawings??

Now, allow me to introduce you to my bullet journal!

The inside cover, where I recorded the day I started this journal.

It's a super simple little book, which I love. I tried a couple different notebooks before I got super serious about it and they were okay, but I love the clean, classy look of a solid cover. And I found that I much prefer dotted pages to lined pages.

Ft. my fingers

Above you'll see my monthly layout. Just a simple calendar of the month. I don't really do a lot with this page (I tried writing my work schedule on each day but that got old), so it's basically just there for looks. :P

Lately I realized that I was leaving a lot of space blank on some pages; for example, I used to occupy a whole page for my monthly goals and I don't have that many goals. xD So, I decided to use the bottom half of that page to write down my blogging schedule. I'm not always prepared and sometimes decide on a blog post last minute so I might end up filling this one in as the month goes along, but it's nice to have there to look at later, and see what I blogged about in a month.

You guys will notice that some of the boxes in these pictures are not checked off. That's because I'm not perfect. xD Part of the reason I kept putting this post off was that I wanted to wait until I had a month of bullet journaling that was flawless, with all the goals checked off and everything looking nice. Well, that's not realistic, because the fact is sometimes you just don't get some things done. And that's okay! I'm still trying to accept that just because I might not get everything done that I write down in my bullet journal, doesn't mean that I'm failing at it. (And I'm still more productive than before, so it's already a win!)

Anyway, above are my goals and Bible reading schedule for one week. My weekly goals page was also using up a lot of blank space; and since I'm reading the Bible chronologically this year with this website as a guide, I decided to keep track of my week-by-week reading in this space. It may not be something I stick with, but for now I like it.

Also, I have a space to recap the past week, what goals I accomplished and what I didn't. I'm honestly not crazy about this space, just because it doesn't have much order and looks kind of sloppy. We'll see what happens there.

Here's my favorite part! There are so many ways you can draw out these pages, where I keep track of my daily goals and such. I had a hard time when I first got into bullet journaling figuring out how I wanted these pages to look, but when I got my dotted notebook I found a design I like. Simple and easy!

I really like drawing a box around each day; it separates the days from one another and makes the whole design look really clean and organized. In the top part of my boxes I write what I work that day, and a checkbox for my devotions and workout. The bottom half of the box is all my individual goals for each day.

These are the parts of my bullet journal that help me the most. Here I can make goals for each day and keep track of whether I complete them or not. My productivity level has gone up so, so much since I started bullet journaling! For one, it's a lot more likely that you'll get things done if you have a list to check those things off of. And, if you're genuinely enjoying making those lists, you're going to actually look forward to getting those things done and checking them off. There's something so satisfying about sitting down in the evening and preparing the next day's layout, and seeing your
pretty pages as you complete them.

Over to the side, I make a short note of things I did that day that were memorable or special, or things I've learned or enjoyed recently. I like this spot because I can write down little things that maybe I wouldn't write about in my regular journal, but are totally worth mentioning in a day-by-day thing.

I'm always trying something new with my bullet journal, testing little things out to see if they'll stick. I'd like to find a good way to keep track of how much I read a day, in hopes that it will motivate me to read more, because I've been having a little trouble squeezing a lot of reading time in. I'm not sure what I'll do with that, if anything. Sometimes it's trial and error to figure out a "system" that works for me. My bullet journal is always changing!

And that's about it! But before I end this (overly long) post, I want to share my three biggest tips for bullet journaling:

BE CONSISTENT.

It doesn't take a lot of time to draw out my daily pages, but sometimes I get lazy and wait until the next day to do it. Then I forget to do it in the morning and by the end of the day all I end up doing is writing down a bunch of fluff just so I can say I journaled that day. I encourage you to not let yourself get behind like I do on the daily (crossed out) have!

DON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH OF YOURSELF.
Seriously. And I'm talking to myself here, too, because I tend to be overzealous about goals. Bullet journaling is a huge help to me for making and accomplishing goals, but it's not magical! So if you make an unrealistic set of goals, it's still probably not going to get done.

HAVE FUN!
Take it seriously, or don't take it seriously. Be neat, or be messy. Do whatever you want with your bullet journal, because it's yours! Don't try to adhere to someone else's ideas or designs; feel free to be inspired by others (I definitely was), but make it your own! That's what's so great about it.

WHO HERE LOVES BULLET JOURNALING? What's your favorite thing about it? Tell me about your favorite page in YOUR bullet journal! Did you actually make it to the end of this ridiculously long post? HAVE A CUPCAKE! 

MARCH 2019

Okay, did March go by really fast for anyone else? Of course, I say that every month, but yeesh. Time does fly.

I had a pretty good March! We finally seem to have left winter behind (but shhh, I didn't say anything-- don't want to jinx it!), and spring weather is starting to settle in. Which means long walks at the park with my dog. (I love my dog a little.)

Well, before I just start rambling up here, let's get right into the monthly highlights!

READING

I only read two books this month, both volumes in the Golden Filly series by Lauraine Snelling. (Technically, though each volume has five books in it, so hey, I actually read ten books! *nods*) This was a reread, and I really enjoyed it. That first volume... man, it really hit me this time. I've read it twice before, but that ending just tore me up. The second volume was good, but I didn't like it quite as much as the first one. I think I liked the first half of volume two better than the second half.

In other book news, I bought the first book in the Out of Time trilogy by Nadine Brandes!

I haven't started it yet because I want to wait until I can get the other two, but I'm SO excited to read these!

WRITING

Unfortunately, I didn't write much this month either. (Although, more than last month, which is pathetic when you see my word count for this month. xD)

Words written this month: 891 (I had to update it because I forgot I wrote part of a short story this month, too)

HOWEVER! While I didn't do much writing in March, I did make an important decision: TO DO CAMP NANOWRIMO. I had literally no plans to do this until, like, three days before it started. But I've been dragging along in the last part of Roots to Claim ever since December, and I just couldn't motivate myself to finish it. (Hence the lousy word counts the past two months.) So, I decided to participate in Camp to give myself a boost.

I went into this thing 100% unprepared, but it's fine.

TV

This month, Power Rangers Beast Morphers premiered. I was really excited about this because last season, Ninja Steel, was, ahem... not amazing, and now that Hasbro has the franchise, I had high hopes that they would turn the show back around to the level it used to be. And so far, I haven't been disappointed! Already this season has so much more depth and is much more interesting than some previous seasons.

Also this month, I started watching Walker, Texas Ranger with my siblings. I've never seen it before (just bits and pieces), and they've been wanting to watch it with me for years.

LIFE

Earlier in the month I went to a coffee shop with my best friend. I've been wanting to go to this coffee shop for quite a while, and it was so lovely! When I walked in one of the first things I noticed was a group of ladies having Bible study together, and the whole place just had such a pleasant atmosphere.

They had a piano! How cool is that? And to be honest, I think this was the first coffee shop I've ever been to! I had a chai tea latte, which was spicy and delicious.

This month was my 21st birthday! (why do I keep getting so old) I didn't do anything huge, just had a homemade Mexican meal with my family and played a game with my siblings. But it was a good day.

On a completely random note, my mom and I made homemade Pop Tarts and they turned out super pretty, so here's a picture of that. xD

My favorite thing I did this month would have to be going to the spring musical at my local high school, where they put on Seussical.

Sorry for the awful photos, but I enjoyed this so much, guys. I've never been to a high school play before (#homeschooled), but after this I definitely want to try to go to more. Those kids just did such a great job. I had no idea there was such talent in my town. From the moment they started the first number, I was just captivated by their performance. Movies are great, but to be sitting there, watching real, live people put on a real, live show, playing a story out and singing right before your eyes... there's just nothing like it. And of course the message was fantastic too. I was sad when it was over and would have gone to see it again the next day in a heartbeat.

Also, have a new picture of my puppy.

You're welcome.

BLOG

Here's what happened on The Ones That Really Matter this month:

The Fantasy Favorites Tag!
Books I Really Really (Really) Want to Read in 2019
twenty-one.
April Fool's Pranks for the Reader/Writer in Your Life
Fairy Tale Central Blog Tour!

I wasn't really sure which section to put this in, but I also joined Pinterest this month! It's dangerously addicting but so fun to build boards around my stories, interests, and pretty much anything I want.
You can follow me here: https://www.pinterest.com/fantasemily/

So, this month was pretty good! I did a lot of fun things and now I'm ready to get on with April. I hope you all had a great month!

How was your March? Who's doing Camp NaNoWriMo? Any other big plans for April?