Spring Wrap-Up/Summer Goals

Welcome to my least favorite season of the year, y'all! I hope none of you died from seasonal allergies and that pollen is a thing of past where you are.

Anyway, it's been a full few months since I last updated y'all, so here we are with another wrap-up. Let's get right into it, starting with what I've done writing-wise.

~Writing~

1. I participated in Camp NaNoWriMo in April. That was super fun. Jules and I joined in with the Fellowship of the Keyboards this time around instead of being in a cabin all by our lonesomes. It was nice to get together with other writers that we maybe don't know as well.

Buuutttt... I didn't reach my Camp goal. I started the month off with a weeklong sickness of the flu immediately followed by allergies, which left me drained of energy for the rest of the month despite the fact that I did nothing but sleep and eat for that week. It also set me back quite a bit and I never caught up. So I decided that I wasn't going to worry about it.

I did do really well on my actual goals for the month, though, so not all was lost. I outlined my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel, came up with a battle plan for my next round of edits on The Dawn of a Hero based on feedback given by my betas, wrote a few flash fiction, and researched pitching to agents a little. So the time I did get in was well spent and I managed to do a lot with it.

2. My betas went through The Dawn of a Hero. They gave me lots of ideas of things to work on, mostly on world building and character development, which I'm hopeful will take my story to the next level.

3. I outlined my upcoming NaNoWriMo novel, which I may not end up actually doing... I sort of came up with another idea that I'm tossing around and I actually like it better. Sooooo, maybe I'll do that one instead?? I don't know. We'll see.

4. I started the GTW 100-4-100 challenge. I'm hoping that this will help me finish up my rewrite of The Fall of Chemmit. I'm going for 500 words a day, taking Sundays off, which will get me around 50k on top of the 20k that was already written.

It's been interesting being back in this story. I tried to rewrite it three years ago, but had to give it up for a while. That actually turned out to be a really good thing, as I'm loving how it's turning out right now. It's been emotionally challenging, but still really good. 

~Reading~

I actually managed to do a lot of reading, which totally surprised me. I'm usually a really slow reader and I get into reading slumps a lot.

Within These Lines by Stephanie Morrill. I've been waiting to read this since she first announced it. It's everything I would ever want in a book. I used to devour everything about WWII, so this was right up my alley. It did not disappoint AT ALL. 

As usual, her books show up in my life at the most perfect time. I've recently found myself speaking out more against racism and subtle disregard for life, so this book gave me courage to keep fighting the good fight.  

One part, in particular, stood out to me in this aspect. The MC, Evalina, was talking with one guy who was about to be shipped out for the war. He made a snide comment along the lines of "I can't wait to kill some Japs." I had to stop reading for a moment because it hit way too close to home. Recently, I've heard similar comments but with "Muslims" or "liberals" replacing Japs. And people are always shocked when I don't laugh along, but instead level a pointed glare at them. The mere thought that people actually think like that sickens me. Sure, they're always quick to follow it up with the claim that they didn't mean it like that. Like what, exactly? Like you're a sick, trigger-happy psychopath with no regard for human life? If you didn't mean it like that, then why did you say it like that? Answer: because you did mean to say it like that.

They'll also try to justify themselves by saying that "they're at war with us" or "but they attack us! Don't you want us to defend ourselves?". Yes, I do want us to defend the lives of the innocent. But there is a big difference between defending and murdering. The act of defense should be carried out with great grief that it is even necessary, especially if one claims to be a Christian. The fact that death exists in this world is a sad reminder of the reality of sin. It should never be used flippantly or with any amount of joy. War is not a good thing, y'all. It is a necessary evil. Treat it like such.

I value all human life, even the lives of people who are adversely opposed to me. I have a zero tolerance for such talk. ZERO. Just because they're hostile to us, doesn't justify us speaking murderously. That's a violation of the sixth commandment. If you're around me, you speak life or you don't speak at all. 

It's really challenging sometimes, because usually the people I'm speaking out against are dear friends and family who don't take kindly to me saying that they're wrong. They'll often criticize me for not being able to take a "joke".  Disregarding human life isn't funny and it never will be. And at the end of the day, I'm never going to apologize for upholding life in all its forms, even if it means someone is going to be ticked off at me. I'll stand with the dying, thank you very much.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy rant, but I'm just so very passionate about these things. Moving on.

A Time to Speak and A Time to Rise by Nadine Brandes. It's been a year since I read the first book, but thankfully I remembered most of the important things. These two were so great! I loved so many of the different characters (though some annoyed me so much). Anywho, I'm glad that I finally got to finish the series after such a long time. Most of my review is spoilery, so if you want to hear my thoughts, highlight below

*I'm thrilled that my ships sailed. Solomon (always Hawke to me) and Parvin were so great together. I loved watching them support each other throughout the books. I shipped them from their first meeting, not gonna lie. 

But, as much as I loved the two of them, nothing could beat the awkward adorableness of Kaphtor and Frenchie. Like ACK!!!!!!! They were so adorable!!! I loved how Frenchie just rolls with everything and Kaphtor just doesn't know what to do with all his *feels*. 

I didn't really get Skelley and Tawney's endings. Like, I sort of understand Tawney's, but Skelley's made no sense whatsoever. There was no actual redemption that would have caused it to make sense. He still was a jerk. He still killed Reid without remorse. He did so many other evil things and didn't repent of any of them. He just got to walk away without any repercussions. So that kind of made me upset.

But Wilbur Sherrod always has been and always will be an awesome character. *

The Cross-Centered Life by C.J.Mahaney. A reread. This was the devotional we used on our Belize missions trip last year. I love this book, y'all. Honestly, if I could shove it at every person in existence, I would. Like, go read it immediately. It's short, but so so so good. It'll probably be a yearly reread for me. I just need it's message constantly in my face.

Did I tell you to go read it?

Unblemished by Sara Ella. Honestly, this was kind of boring. Like, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't great either. I'm probably going to give Unraveling a chance at some point, but if it doesn't get better, I probably won't finish the series.

I did, however, appreciate the fact that the MC recognized that she was an annoying jerk at times and also pointed out the various cliches that happened. That was great.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Welp. This one hurt. I read it in two days, which is saying something coming from me. I almost considered staying up late to finish it, which is really saying something. I don't sacrifice sleep for anything.

Anyway, I loved it and I have many thoughts. First, Alfred was a first-rate scumbag. I loved Joana from the first page. Her passion to tend for the suffering was just so wonderful to read. Florian was a dream come true. Like, I need to find a dude like him. Honestly, the fact that he was still seeking to defend the honor of women even with all of the immorality around him was just so amazing. Heinz and Klaus were too good for this world.

While this book is not for the faint of heart, it is well worth the read. Definitely a picture of the depravity of mankind and the corruption of his whole nature. It really shows you the true horror behind the Holocaust and WWII. It wasn't just the vile men, like Hitler, that made it evil. It was the everyman, like Alfred, that made it the way it was. It was the neighbors turning in neighbors. It was the person on the side of the street turning a blind eye to the oppression happening to others. It was everyday people who chose to not think for themselves and to stand up for what was right, but instead got swept away by colorful words and passionate men who stood for evil and let those men think for them instead. It was the men and women who sacrificed other people's children for the sake of their own. It was people like us who made it all the horror it was. And this book perfectly captures that.

The only semi-negative comment I had was on the writing style. It was very fast paced and I both appreciated that and felt like it took away from the story a little bit. It was nice that the chapters were short because I think that's what contributed to me being able to read it so quickly, but at some points I wished that Ruta took a little more time in drawing out the plot points. I missed a lot of the details because it was so fast. I had to reread some parts just to figure out what had happened. But that's pretty much the only half complaint I had.

Forest Born by Shannon Hale. I feel like my initial reaction to this book is summed up in "I came out to have a good time and honestly I feel so attacked right now." I pulled it out hoping for a cute fluffy read to recover from all of the more emotional books that I'd been reading. Three chapters in and I'm texting Jules with all my feels.

I was immediately swept in by Rin's struggle with depression and emptiness. It's something I struggle with daily. Also, watching her family view her as "the quiet, helpful" girl struck home because that's what I've been ever since I was little. It's hard when you grow up and find yourself no longer that person, but feel as if you have to continue fitting into that role. So basically I was not okay and I was rooting for her to find her way in life from the very beginning.

I didn't feel like I got all the answers I wanted, but it was a cute ending. I really wish there was another book in the works, though, so I can really feel satisfied with how the characters ended up. Also, *spoiler alert* I wouldn't be mad if we got another book where Isi goes back to Kildenree. I'm kind of curious about how she and her mother would get along now. *

My mild compliant is with the family aspect. It may just be me, but I get really annoyed with grandparents taking on the role of parent while the parents are still there. It could be that my grandparents had zero say in how we were raised and it's just not a style I'm used to, but I feel like the parents should take responsibility in raising the children that they decided to have. It's not someone else's responsibility. Be the adult that you are and take charge. But no, it felt like all of Ma's boys (except Razo) and their wives were slackers and spent their time acting like children themselves.

Also, I got a little annoyed with the discipline happening there. Like, you get disciplined for pulling someone's hair in a fight, but you don't get more than a sharp word for manipulating and stealing from someone? Really? The only clean word I can find to describe that is stupid. Stealing is wrong. Pulling someone's hair in a fight isn't. In fact, it ended up saving lives. Mixed up priorities, much?

Romanov by Nadine Brandes. I knew this was going to be a hard book going in. I still remember the day I learned about what happened to Anastasia and her family. The grief I felt then is the same grief I feel now. I'm thankful my heart still feels the wrongness of it all.

Anyway, I spent most of the book anticipating *that* moment. It took longer to get to that point than I expected, but that's fine. The pacing was still great.

Stylistically, I don't think I liked it as much as I did Fawkes. The magic system seemed half-baked in comparison to the color masks. I think she said she had a nine month turnaround for this book and it definitely showed. I mean, it was still well written, but it could have used another round or two of revisions to really help it shine.

But I'll always have a deep relationship with Anastasia's story and thus this story has high regard in my mind. The fact that they could have had sources of joy, no matter how small, during such a difficult, horrific time brings me peace.

To Best the Boys by Mary Weber. I wasn't sure if I was going to like this or not because I recently started and DNFed The Evaporation of Sofi Snow because I didn't care for some of the content. I was worried that this would be more of the same, but because I liked the premise of the story and I wanted to give the author another shot, I decided to give it a go.

I'm so thrilled I did! I connected with Rhen so hard! Her desire to take care of her mom and make a positive difference in the world resonated with me. All of the other characters were so amazing in their own way. Seleni was HILARIOUS and just perfect in every way. Beryll was so bumbly and adorable. Lute was everything a guy should be. Overall, it was an excellent cast of characters.

I especially loved the part in the actual Labyrinth. That was so exciting and fun. I do wish that part was a bit longer, but alas it was not.

The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel by Rick Riordan and others. This wasn't great, but it was a quick read. It was choppy, left out a lot of details, and really didn't capture the book very well. I think part of the problem is that the best part of the books is Percy's sarcastic inner monologue and they didn't put any of that in there. I think if they just added a few thought bubbles here and there, it would have been much better. But I'm glad it was just a library ebook, so I didn't have to spend any money on it and it motivated me to go reread the Percy Jackson books. I can't be mad about that.

And I DNFed three books, which was not fun at all, but needed to be done.

The Evaporation of Sofi Snow, All the Light We Cannot See, and To Darkness Fled. The first one, I didn't care much for some of the content. While I felt like it was going to be dealt with pretty well, I just wasn't in the right place to read it at the moment. The second I just couldn't get into right at the moment. I had read some pretty long books already and wanted something shorter. Also, the writing style was much more telling rather than showing, so that got me bored real fast. And the last one I wanted to like so badly, but I was soooo bored with it. Like, I honestly think I would have rather had a root canal than read it. Which was disappointing, but whatever.

I may go back to all three of these at some point, but just not right now. 

~Life~

March:

1. We went to another Gardner-Webb game early that month. It was a good game, but not as good as the last one I went to. However, this time they did play an NF song, so obviously I was super excited. It's a good thing for the DJ, too. He was getting a D- from me for his music selections. Way too slow and soft.

2. The next week I went to cheer Joe on as he did a 10-mile race. It was a really great time and he enjoyed himself a lot. He came in first for his age group, which is super cool. We then went and got coffee afterwards, which you know I always am here for!

He always looks impressive in race pictures.

3. Joe, a few kids from our church, and I went for a hike in March. It was so beautiful, though I spent most of my time hauling one of the kids and Joe along the trail. Every time they saw a rock, they just HAD to climb it. I wish I had those backpack leashes to keep them on track.

But the weather was perfect and the waterfall was #gorgeous

April:

1. My siblings and I went to visit my older brother in VA Beach. One of my favorite things about being an adult is the ability to do the things our parents are too tired to do, such as somewhat spontaneous road trips.

We drove to VA Beach, spent a day there, and then drove back, making a quick stop in Asheville. So basically we did the sea to mountains tour.

A horse picture just for Jules!!

If you look closely, folks, you'll see crazy swimmers in their natural habitat.

It was wind-town, for sure. 

Asheville: My heart's home right there!

2. Jules and I had a spontaneous lunch date at the end of the month. We went for Thai and talked all things books and writing. I love getting to do spur-of-the-moment things like this. Definitely one of my favorite parts of adulting.

3. Some of my siblings, a friend from church, and I went to see Endgame at the end of April. It was one of the few movies I've ever cried through and probably one of the only ones where I've cried after the fact. So many emotions all rolled up into one massive movie. While there were many things I wished for in the movie, it was a worthy ending to a decade of greatness.

To each of the members of the cast, but especially the ones who've been there from the beginning: thank you for making the past 11 years of my life great and teaching me that I can be a hero even with a broken past.

I love you all 3000.

May:

1. Jules and I went and did a Ride and Tie at the beginning of the month. Evangeline came along and cheered us on. We had our epic "Castle", which exudes extra-ness. It's an 8-person tent that we put maybe two or three people in. And then we have a canopy tent for outdoor enjoyment because the camping tent gets beyond unbearable during the day.

I honestly was a little worried we wouldn't be able to do the race because I injured my knee two weeks prior. But after doing a lot of rehab, I got it well enough to do a walk/run for one of the races, which worked out fine. The rain sent us home early anyway, so we wouldn't have really been able to do two.

I got to meet Bree for the first time. That was fun. He did really well for his first RAT, so that was even better.

We also filmed our Q&A vlog there, which will be coming out shortly. I was very pleased with how well we did on that. I think y'all will like it.

Our "Castle"

Bree behaved so well for me!!
Also, I found a tanktop in our exact team colors!!

Those smiles faded pretty quickly...
LOL, Just kidding!

2. I put together a 28 day fitness challenge for myself and managed to complete it. After struggling for months to heal my body (more like 2 years), I'd kind of gotten slack on working out. I mean, I worked out almost every day, but not seriously. To give myself a bit of a kick in the pants, I put this together and challenged myself to complete it. Within a week, I noticed a huge difference. I stood taller and more confidently. My mood and energy improved a lot. My self-confidence went through the roof. I felt like I was literally dripping with swagger. In reality I was just as bumbling and clumsy as always, but we're not going to talk about that.

I did have to take some things easy because of my knee, mostly having to walk instead of run. And some things had to change because I forgot about the RAT and didn't include it.

Not everything is checked off yet, but you can get the basic idea...
Let me tell you: I nailed that first day.

3. My mom and I went and did some painting this month! I don't know if I've ever mentioned this here, but my mom has Parkinson's, so doing things of that nature can be a bit tough for her. She mentioned recently that she'd like to do a little art/painting. One of the ladies from our church is a retired art teacher and had offered to do some art with us whenever we wanted, so I was like: "I'm gonna set you up!"

We went over to her house one afternoon and painted some pears. It was so much fun! The lady is such a sweet, energetic soul who loves cats (so obvi, I connect with her) and made the whole process so relaxing for mom and I. I actually walked away not hating my work, which was awesome!

4. Mom and I finally designed the landscape for our garden beds. When we built our house years ago, we ended up having several very large, unruly garden beds by the house. I mean, they're HUGE and we were not prepared to fill them once the house was done.

After years of messing around with them, they just became a weed farm (not that kind of weed). We got tired of it real fast, so after trying a few things, we think we're starting to get more control. Anyway, we finally sat down and drew up a garden plan full of things that we brown-thumbs can actually keep alive (Lord willing). Now we just have to start implementing the plan.

~#Textchats~

Not exactly a text, but my mom sent it to me and I found it hilarious and so true.
From Amazon
My personal favorites are "Hell's Front Porch" and "The Pollening".

*facedesk*

My conversation with Jules about Forest Born

We're fitness addicts. Can you tell?

I may have been a little excited...

~Summer Goals~

1. Celebrate my blogoversary!! In two weeks, Jules and I will, Lord willing, put up our Q&A vlog that we recorded so y'all can watch!

2. Read through and (hopefully) start editing The Rise of the Prisoner and The Herbalist's War. *insert me screaming like there's no tomorrow* I may cry, y'all. There was a time I thought I would never get through edits on tDoaH enough to focus on anything else for more than one draft. But here we are and not only am I doing something else, I'm working on the last book of the series, plus something else entirely.

I hope to focus on these during July's Camp (reading through in June) but seeing as that's my busiest month for traveling, I don't know if I'll be able to work at all. I'm hopeful, though.

3. Participate in GTW's 100-4-100 and hopefully finishing The Fall of Chemmit by the end of it. Here's to hoping nothing drastic happens like last year and I quit halfway through.

4. GO TO REALM MAKERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited to road trip with Jules and Evangeline, meet several of the bloggers I've gotten to know over the years, and learn a TON! Let me know down below if you're going so I can keep an eye out for you when I get there!

5. Not a writing goal, but perhaps I'll actually read something that doesn't leave a hole in my heart?? If you have any suggestions for good, fluffy books with little to no pain, leave them down in the comments. Bonus points if they take very little brain power to read.

On to y'all! What were some of your highlights during the spring? What are you looking forward to this summer?