Goodbye February

February is my favorite month. Name, placement, number of days, weather, you name it. It's just the best. And I can't believe it's almost over, but at least we got an extra day of it's awesomeness this year :)

I may have taken this picture in January . . .

Life

The biggest thing that happened for me this month was my mom went to Mexico for a week. That left me in charge of holding down the fort, writing, and working. Thankfully, my awesome grandmother dropped all other engagements and came to help out. She's the only reason I cracked a schoolbook that week :)

On a less happy note, our oven went out. Since it's itty-bitty, we wanted to replace it with something bigger. We finally decided what to do, but the new oven's not coming in until mid-March and it's going to require cutting our cabinets up quite a bit. So it's been an adventure to come up with only crockpot and skillet meals.

The other super awesome thing was that an adorable little girl I babysit found two purple mushrooms in her garden bed and picked them for me! Isn't that awesome? For a girl who wouldn't touch snails (which were everywhere), I was very impressed. (Yes, we washed our hands afterwards). Aren't they beautiful?!

Words

~Vocabulary~

pablum: n. (also pabulum) bland or insipid intellectual fare, entertainment, etc.

I had never heard of this word, but I find it very fascinating. Doesn't it just ring of the days when everyone used big, fancy words? I mean, you almost need a dictionary just for its definition!

~Quotes~

"I believe in the proximate correctness of the date of our Saviour's birth. I believe he always comes in winter. And then let Winter reign without: Love is king within; and Love is lord of the Winter."

"Winter is only a spring too weak and feeble for us to see that it is living."

Don't those just sum up February? There's St. Valentine's Day which is all about loved ones. And then there is Groundhog Day; the day when we trust an animal to predict the weather, because February never can decide whether to be winter or spring.

Books

So the only book I started and finished this month was Adela Cathcart Volume 1 by George MacDonald. I started it on a whim and blew through it. That was the source of both my vocabulary word and quotes above :)

I started Proofreading Plain and Simple by Debra Hart May. But I haven't made it very far and the library will want it back soon . . . 

I also started Sentinel by Jamie Foley again, because I thought it would be a good one to read aloud to my hoard of brothers. The 12 and 9-year-old, in particular, are really enjoying it.

Writings

This is as much for my benefit as it is for yours, so bear with me :) 

~Words: 10,714~

I had no idea it was that many. I feel better now. Especially since I'm pretty sure that's about 1/4 of my book so far. *cheers*

~Chapters: 3~ 

Three. Not too bad, since I would ideally get out one a week. I'm rather impressed. *pats self on back*

~Progress Update: 65%~ 

I know I'm over half-way now. I just haven't outlined what happens next, so I'm not really sure on percentage or anything. (I know what you're thinking: but you put 65%. Well that was an educated guess.)

~Biggest Problem: Consistency~

Oh, consistency. I wrote a lot more words than I realized, but I know for a fact that I only wrote about 7 days this month. This is why I'm doing the 300 for 30 Challenge from Go Teen Writers. I can get a lot done if I just sit down and write. 

Overall, not as bad as I thought. But still not fantastic. I am determined to do better in March! And now that I'm actually tracking that sort of thing, I will pay more attention and hopefully be more productive. I will not let the fact that I will be extremely busy doing a choir tour over Spring Break deter me. Besides, Kansas is where my novel's set, so I can at least do some more research, right? :D

Goals

I have 5 goals for March.

1~ Write at least 4 chapters

Surely I can manage this? It's only one a week.

2~ Read at least 3 books

I'm taking suggestions.

3~ Finish editing Katie's book

(I'm not sure how practical this is, because she has to send me the last 2/3 still.) 

4~ Reach 25 followers

I'm counting on y'all to help me with this one.

5~ Blog at least 5 posts

Brace yourselves. If I get going, I may flood your inboxes.

Pretty simple, huh? Well, we'll see. I'll revisit these goals at the end of March to see how I did. And Happy Leap Day! Check out Google's adorable memento if you haven't. And also go read Katie's hilarious post to know how to celebrate. I'm ignoring her advice altogether and just eating chocolate :D

~~~~~

How was your February? What are your goals for March? Did you enjoy monthly wrap-up posts, or find them boring (be honest)? What writing and reading goals have you set (because I have no idea how I match up)?