Summer 2018

Salutations everybody!!

Well, I have officially started school...

Has anyone else's summer gone by ridiculously fast!?

This summer has been different than most summers I've had. For starters, I got my first ever REAL JOB at the end of the school year, so a lot of these three months I spent working.

Secondly, my friends and I have all reached the ages where everyone is starting to head off for college. About 1/2 of my friends are leaving for college this year, several of them going to colleges that are really really far away. 

I'm still taking classes at our community college, so moving away isn't quite here yet. It will probably several years more for me. It's still weird though, to see a lot of really great friends head off.   

But all that aside, here is a basic summer recap :)

//Enjoying//

All the lovely things of Summer that there are to enjoy :)

Swimming with friends, backpacking trips, frozen yogurt stops, starry nights, bike rides, church picnics, and swing dances

Also, kinda been going nuts over aesthetics lately, especially aesthetic pictures. I don't know why, but they just make me unreasonable happy ^.^

//Watching//

Downton Abbey

So my sister and I are watching this series for the first time, and OH GOODNESS I LOVE IT!!!

It tends to be dramatic, and I definitely would not recommend it for younger viewers, but that aside, it is a lovely, lovely period drama!!! 

The costumes are stunning, the houses are gorgeous, and I love the characters, save for the nasty few *throws very large version of the dictionary at Miss O'Brien and Thomas* (I despise those two sooooo much)

We are halfway through season two now. And I must know, but does anyone ship Sybil and Branson as stinkin' hard as I do?? I mean, the two of them are just.... just...aslkjghsejrhglw!!!! I LOVES THEM AND I WISH THEY WOULD JUST GET MARRIED ALREADY AND THAT SYBIL'S FAMILY WOULDN'T DISOWN HER IF THEY DID!!!!! *sobs*

Christopher Robin

I just saw this in the theaters and may I saw that it is one of the cutest movies I have ever seen!!! I absolutely loved it!! It was sweet, it was endearing, and who doesn't love Winnie the Pooh?! If you haven't already seen it, then you should!

(also Haley Atwell is gorgeous and was born to play a woman of the 40's!)

//Writing//

So I'm super excited to say that I am a chapter away from finishing my first ever novel!! 

I'm still working on my Peter Pan WIP that I mentioned awhile back, and it's come so far since the beginning, and I couldn't be more excited, though rather sad at the same time, to be nearly done with it!

When it's finished I definitely will be doing a post about it, and perhaps I'll share some excerpts :)

//Listening to//

Thought I might as well provide the links to a few of my favorites!

For You to Be Here; Tom Rosenthal

Thiiiis sooooong!!! It's so lovely, do listen to it!!

Rain; Simply Three

Anything instrumental is lovely, and I love the sound of rain in the background.

This is Why I Need You; Jess Rubin

Such a sweet song!!

Also lots of Owl City, Ed Sheeran, Lindsey Stirling, Sleeping at Last, The Chainsmokers, The Piano Guys, and Coldplay.

So there you have it!! A basic recap of my Summer!! 

And so school begins. Despite being sad to have to leave the laziness of Summer behind, I'm actually excited about this new school year! I have friends in many of my classes, which is always a blessing, and it will be nice to see school friends whom I haven't seen in awhile.

Btw, in case you haven't already noticed, I've changed my blog look! I actually changed it at the beginning of summer, But I haven't posted at all since changing it, so I thought I might as well give it a mention ;)

I promise that I will try to be better about posting!! I've been terribly absent lately, but I hope to be more present here in my little corner of the Internet :)

But for now, I hope you are all having a fabulous school year so far!! Good luck to all of you who are heading off to brave college!!

Tell me what you've been up to!! How was your Summer? How is school going?

Camp NaNoWriMo Wrap Up: How I Did, What I Wrote, All The Good Stuff

I'm alive!!!! Guess who dissapeared for more than a month without being polite and informing ya'll...

I do have a good excuse though. I participated in Camp NaNo for the first time ever!!! It was so great! I actually for real got some writing done!!

So how'd it all go...

(Also please ignore all the purple words in this post, blogger is being schnibly unto me and won't let me change them back to black)

 What I Wrote 

I worked on my Peter Pan story that I mentioned in this post, and I'm really happy to find myself getting so into this story. I'm not a consistent write. I will usually get about two chapters into a story before I get discouraged and quit. I didn't want that to be the case with this book, because I really liked this idea, and I wanted to finally see myself finish a book.

At the beginning of the month I was in a real writing rut. I'd reached a point where I didn't know where to go. So after staring at the screen for forever, I finally had to tell myself that I was never gonna reach my word count if all I did was nothing. So I just started by putting one word down at a time. A lot of it sounded boring, and a little discombobulated, but at least I was writing. 

After that I was doing pretty well, until I realized that I had no idea where I was going with this story. I had absolutely. no. plot...

So after doing much of the above, I enlisted the help of a fellow writing friend, and my sister (who, by the way, is killer at thinking up plots), and we finally ended up putting together a plot that I think is a pretty good!! It's very intricate, and intricate plots are always the best!! :D Anyone else out there who loves writing really tricky, intertwined plots?

So a little advice ladies. Never, EVER, start a book without at least vaguely knowing what your plot is going to be. It will save you much toil and tears, and set you up for success in your future life! 

 How I Did 

So because this was my first year doing NaNo, I decided to start slow, and set my word count goal for 20,000. School was also a big factor for deciding this because I didn't want to get no where near 50k and then feel discouraged because I didn't make it. So 20k was a good in-between. 

I happen to be the slowest writer I know. So I was a little worried about not getting anywhere near my goal. Somedays I got lucky, and the words came, and ideas flowed easily, and it was just like...

And then other days are more like...

In the end, I finished with 9 chapters, 40 pages, and 15,181 words. That wasn't my goal, BUT GUYS, that is the largest word count I've ever had in any of my books!! I went back and looked at a story I was working on when I was about 14, and was my most worked in WIP yet. It only had 7,000 words. I've passed that up by more than 8,000 words!!! 

I'm pretty proud of what I completed, I hope to actually finish this book before the next Camp NaNo rolls around, so that I can work on another WIP. (I should say one of her Ladyship's WIP's, for there are several...) ;)

Also, THREE WEEKS TILL SCHOOL IS FINISHED!!! I'm soooo ready to be done and start my summer. I need to do a lately post sometime soon, so we'll see if I get around to that. Also I want to do a post on my Peter Pan WIP. Like character overviews, music inspiration, excerpts, stuff like that. Let me know if ya'll would like to see any of these kind of posts!!

Sorry I haven't been commenting on anyone's posts lately!! I do read them, I'm just a little bit too busy to take the time to comment right now. I'm going to try and catch up on it though!!

So did any of you do Camp? How'd it go for you? I've gotta go revise an essay now, but let us not say goodbye, but as the French have it, Au Revoir!!

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!!!! + Lately

It's that time of year again guys!!!

Only four days till Christmas!!! 

*Runs around like crazy in front of the Christmas tree belting White Christmas!!!*

Actually I am half super stressed, half super excited. Stressed cause after finals were over, Christmas just snuck up on me and so I'm still last minute scrambling to get presents for everyone, excited cause ONLY FOUR DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyone else feel the same way?

So I thought I'd give ya'll a little Christmassy themed update post! It's so nice to have time to write again, I've missed blogging consistently! *pauses to think if I ever really did that in the first place or if I've always been an inconsistent blogger*

LATELY I'VE BEEN...

// Reading //

Well, I am slowly working through the Fellowship of the Ring for the VERY. FIRST. TIME!! Yep you read correctly. The classically uncultured Miss Woodhouse is reading the Lord of the Rings for the first time ever.  

IT'S SO GOOD!!!!!!!

I'm loving it!!! You will be hearing more about this soon as I make my way through the books, have no doubt ;)

I'm also reading through the book of Romans. If you haven't read it, then DO SO. Just WOW.

// Listening To //

Christmas music of course!! Bing Crosby is playing as I write this (Love his voice sooooo much <3)

I've also listened to a lot of instrumental Christmas Music this year. Ever since my Christmas violin recital I've been singing The Seven Rejoices of Mary and I Wonder as I Wander non-stop.

Photo Credit: Me

  

Plus,  a few non- Christmas songs, mainly being story playlists. Also I just discovered Celtic Woman, and I LOVE their music!! I'm a sucker for anything that sounds remotely Irish or Celtic, so they're right up my alley!

// Watching //

WHITE CHRISTMAS!!!

THIS GOTTA BE THE ULTIMATE BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE EVER. We watch it every year, know every single song, and speak fluently in WC quotes. My sister and I are also a lot like Betty and Judy (at least we like to think we are) and we love to perform the Sisters Song :) We have long discussions over who's wardrobe is better and we just can't decide! 

Miracle on 34th Street

This movie. It's just so sweet and innocent, and so 1940s!! 

 Also Mrs. Shelhammer is hilarious!! We quote her so often XD ;)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

I know what you're gonna say. I was naughty for watching the movies before finishing the books, but I couldn't help myself!!

And Wow. Guys my little heart almost couldn't take all of the emotions. I am not a cryer when it comes to movies. I have been called heartless on more than one occasion. But these movies... I just... I mean I just... I pretty much cried my way through The Return of the King. ALL THE FEEEEEELS.

Nevertheless, the movies were a.ma.zing. 

I'm gonna try and write a review soon! (Ignores how many times I've promised a review with no results ;))

I'm also a sucker for Pippin and Merry. Love those two <3 <3

Little Women

We watch this movie pretty much year round, but it really has Christmassy feel to it, making it especially fun to watch this time of year.

This movie makes me feel so cozy and nostalgic. I love it to pieces :)

// Writing //

I've started a new story that I'm super excited about!!! I've been working pretty consistently on it, but I'm a slow writer. I'm hoping for this to be the first story I've ever finished. Yes, I have never ever finished one of my books. I'm up to 6,434 words, which isn't very many, but here's hoping. 

It's a fantasy novel set in the 1940s, about a girl who is magically swept away to Neverland. I have plans for what happens, but I don't have a definite middle yet, which is a problem. I have beginning and an end, but the middle is slow in coming. *exasperated sigh*

I've been thinking about possibly sharing a few excerpts! What say you?

// Loving //

Christmas Break has been soooooo nice!!! I don't think I've ever enjoyed doing nothing more! These days you can usually find me snuggled up in a blanket in front of the Christmas tree with a mug of either chai tea or hot cocoa, either writing, drawing, or reading.

Wrapping Presents! Depends on what mood I'm in, but I usually really enjoy wrapping presents, square boxes preferably ;)

Making cookies!! At least, I'm looking forward to making cookies, which is probably what tomorrow will be spent doing. Also eating cookies is great. I may like eating cookies best...

If only it would snow!!! We have white Christmas occasionally, but it doesn't look like we will be having one this year :( Oh well.

via Pinterest

But mostly, hopefully without sounding to cliche, I love the reason for the season. This verse really struck a chord with me this morning when I was reading.

For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. ~ Romans 5: 18

Ladies, God is so good. And Christmas is such a reminder of that. 

So, that's what I'm up to! Hope you have all been having a wonderful Christmas vacation!! Tell me what you have been up to! What are some of your favorite Christmas movies and songs? 

I'm glad to be posting again, and hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!