taken by my sister after an April shower
Life
Well, April started with my entire family getting the stomach bug. But at least I didn't have to do school. (I mentioned this before, so that's all the detail you get.)
Then I I got to try out my new gun at Gun Club and managed to do okay, even though the sights were still awaiting adjustment. Now, they're all perfect and I can't wait to use it again (we can't shoot in our neighborhood). Pretty, no?
I got to attend one of my best friend's senior recital and go to the opera with my entire girls' choir. Both of these were so out of the ordinary for me and really fun! The only opera I had seen was a tragedy, so it was nice to do The Barber of Seville and get a happier end after 3 hours :)
Babies! I got to babysit a little bitty one (and she didn't even make noise!) who was all drooly and alert. I hadn't babysat my almost-1-yr-old in a while, and he was crawling, pulling up, eating, and very independent. But he still let me cuddle him, so I'm all good :') And my church friend/employer had her newest baby! I got to hold her and smell her sweet baby smell. Then I got to do some bookkeeping while holding the 10 day old child. I felt very accomplished :D
I also sent out graduation invitations and received my first gift! I'm getting very excited that I'm so close (so forgive me for mentioning this all the time).
I also signed up for Thriftbooks and promptly ordered 3 books (see one below). Then I went to the library and got 4. Then I went to a book signing and got another 1. I feel very prepared for a summer of reading once I get past this graduation business :)
Then I I got to try out my new gun at Gun Club and managed to do okay, even though the sights were still awaiting adjustment. Now, they're all perfect and I can't wait to use it again (we can't shoot in our neighborhood). Pretty, no?
I got to attend one of my best friend's senior recital and go to the opera with my entire girls' choir. Both of these were so out of the ordinary for me and really fun! The only opera I had seen was a tragedy, so it was nice to do The Barber of Seville and get a happier end after 3 hours :)
Babies! I got to babysit a little bitty one (and she didn't even make noise!) who was all drooly and alert. I hadn't babysat my almost-1-yr-old in a while, and he was crawling, pulling up, eating, and very independent. But he still let me cuddle him, so I'm all good :') And my church friend/employer had her newest baby! I got to hold her and smell her sweet baby smell. Then I got to do some bookkeeping while holding the 10 day old child. I felt very accomplished :D
I also sent out graduation invitations and received my first gift! I'm getting very excited that I'm so close (so forgive me for mentioning this all the time).
I also signed up for Thriftbooks and promptly ordered 3 books (see one below). Then I went to the library and got 4. Then I went to a book signing and got another 1. I feel very prepared for a summer of reading once I get past this graduation business :)
Words
~Vocabulary~
esoteric: adj. intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.
This one came from my Government textbook :)
This one came from my Government textbook :)
~Quotes~
Check out the ones I shared in the 3 Day Quote Tag if you missed them!
Check out the ones I shared in the 3 Day Quote Tag if you missed them!
Books
~Cover to Cover: 1~
My dad read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory aloud. Does that count? Hehe. Moving on >.>
~Middle to End: 1~
Jesseca's The Silent Blade, Lydia's Story, and Ivy's The Old River Road. I was editing/beta-ing all of these.
~Front to Middle: 2~
The River Girl's Song by Angela Castillo and The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.
Writings
"This should go a lot better this month since I know what I'm doing now." That's what I said last month. And I wrote three days. For the entire month. :(
~Words: 4,000~
The updated average. Not terrible, I suppose. Better than nothing!
~Chapters: 1~
Yep, one chapter the whole month. And it was already mostly finished in March. Oh dear!
~Progress Update: 83%~
Yeah, that's right. 3 more percent that last month. *cheers sarcastically*
~Biggest Problem: Creativity~
You have no idea how hard it is to make a single mom with a little baby living in an apartment and going to work sound interesting. It doesn't help when I forget to weave in the actual plot, either. -_-
Blogs
At least I blogged, y'all.
~Followers: 33~
~Followers: 33~
That's +4 with little to no extra effort from me. Sweet!
That's almost 6,000. And that's double what I had last month. It makes me very happy :D
Goals
I had 5-ish goals for April
1~ Edit my WIP
I actually didn't work on my book hardly at all . . . but I got 4-5 chapters edited . . . ?
2~ Finish at least 2 books.
Well, my Dad finished reading us Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I finished editing 3 books.
2~ Finish at least 2 books.
Well, my Dad finished reading us Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and I finished editing 3 books.
3~ Finish editing Jesseca's lovely story :)
I feel very accomplished in this area. I not only finished Jessecas, I finished Ivy's and Lydia's as well :D Which means I need new books to beta. *hint, hint*
I feel very accomplished in this area. I not only finished Jessecas, I finished Ivy's and Lydia's as well :D Which means I need new books to beta. *hint, hint*
5~ Do/host a guest post
I had the lovely Lydia do a guest post on my blog and I did one for Emily Mundell. I'm working on another the moment, but it's taking research, so I didn't finish it in time for this month :)
I had the lovely Lydia do a guest post on my blog and I did one for Emily Mundell. I'm working on another the moment, but it's taking research, so I didn't finish it in time for this month :)
Goals for May:
1~ Edit my WIP
Again. It needs help, poor little guy.
2~ Finish at least 4 books.
Because, this really is getting ridiculous.
2~ Finish at least 4 books.
Because, this really is getting ridiculous.
3~ Find another story to beta
Like I said, I'm open for options again. Please do not hold back if you have a book that under beta reader scrutination. And if it's not, I'd love to have the first look, too :D
4~ Finish writing my first draft
This is really ambitious :P But it needs to happen. This month was a dud. This means I'll have to write anywhere from 4-9 chapters and figure out where this thing is gonna end!!! If I e-mail some of you in tears, just send me virtual confidence, please.
5~ Reach 50 followers
Like I said, I'm open for options again. Please do not hold back if you have a book that under beta reader scrutination. And if it's not, I'd love to have the first look, too :D
4~ Finish writing my first draft
This is really ambitious :P But it needs to happen. This month was a dud. This means I'll have to write anywhere from 4-9 chapters and figure out where this thing is gonna end!!! If I e-mail some of you in tears, just send me virtual confidence, please.
5~ Reach 50 followers
You heard me. And this may require some work for you, too. But I have a new media outlet to explore, an upcoming guest post, and perhaps a giveaway. So with any luck . . . :)
Pray for me, because these are very ambitious. And May is gonna be cra-azy.
~~~~~
How was your April? You know I wanna know. And of course I will read all of your wrap-up posts, too :) Oh! And if you have a Twitter account, find me! Sorry this post was rather sparse. Gotta dash to a babysitting job!
Pray for me, because these are very ambitious. And May is gonna be cra-azy.
~~~~~
How was your April? You know I wanna know. And of course I will read all of your wrap-up posts, too :) Oh! And if you have a Twitter account, find me! Sorry this post was rather sparse. Gotta dash to a babysitting job!
Your April sounds wonderful and busy!! Ours was definitely busy, but good! I'll be posting it tomorrow if you want to see it. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I would love for you to beta-read my book! Except...there's nothing on there. =D Maybe in August though? :)
And having babysitting jobs sounds so fun!! I would love to have a job like that. =)
I love reading your posts, Abi!!
I will definitely check out your post, Hannah! I haven't been reading as many posts as I should have lately, but I'll get back to it soon.
DeleteYES! I would love to beta for you, whenever that may be :D
Babysitting is more fun than I thought and I have really good kiddos to watch. I wish you lived closer and then I could use you as a backup for me! I am literally the only person I know of in the county that babysits!!
Thanks! You're so sweet :)
Basically I wrote allllll April. *nods* Ack! Congrats on the followers!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! Hopefully that will be me in July . . . Thank you! I was very excited to see the number grow ;)
DeleteGood luck with both your writing and your editing! I can tell you had a busy April . . . but at least that means you probably didn't have time to be bored. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah! Very true, I was never bored, and that is ALWAYS a good thing :)
DeleteOops. Obviously, I forgot to update my word count. But it was probably somewhere around 3,000. *hides* I'll add it later
ReplyDeleteI love babysitting! T think it's so much fun that I volunteer every other week at church with the 1-year-old.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on all your progress! Even if you only made 3%, it's still better than last month, right? Getting ANY progress is what you shoot for. So *claps on back* good job :)
Yes, it is fun. I do much better with just a kid or two in their element than I do with a group, though. I did Sunday School for a semester and volunteer for Children's Church. There is always much less structure involved than I would like :P
DeleteThanks! You're right, that's still something. I would love to buckle down and wipe it out this month, but I'm afraid this month may wipe me out first, so we'll see!
Ah, I see :)
DeleteGood luck!! I'm hoping to get only 510K this month because I'm taking a small break from doing Camp NaNo ;)
LOL. 510K. Haha. No.
DeleteI meant 5-10K
Oh, I would LOVE to have you beta read my novel! But first I need to re-write the entire thing...so maybe in a month at the soonest? =) I am completely changing a major character right now, so we'll see how it goes. :P
ReplyDeleteYou are graduating?! You are that old? :P Lol!
How do you like The Mysterious Benedict Society?? I've heard of it today by a friend who is in the middle of it as well. =)
I hope you get 50 followers... =) Your blog is one of my favorites!! Especially because of the amazing writer. ;)
Yay! I will definitely plan on that. Don't you love major changes? *sarcasm*
DeleteYes, I'm graduating (but I'm only 17). I thought I'd be sad to kiss school goodbye, but I'm actually getting very excited about the new possibilities.
I really like The Mysterious Benedict Society so far. It was in the kids section at our library, but it's long for a children's book! It's protagonists are around 12 years old and the writer does an excellent job of writing from their point of view (which makes it really clever and funny). It's borderline bizarre but kind of plausible at the same time. I would recommend it as a curious read and will hopefully be doing a review on it before too long. :)
Oh my goodness, that's so sweet! Seriously, made my day. ^.^
Yeeaah. My May is going to be HECTIC. (And yes, it's going to be hectic in ALL CAPS) I have a senior recital in SIX DAYS!!!(!!!!!!!!) *promptly has a heart-attack*
ReplyDeleteAnd then we're going to the ocean down in Oregon (whoopee!) and having a VERY SPECIAL family over for a couple weeks. (More on that in future blog post...yes, I'm leaving you in suspense B-) After THAT, I'm also getting ready to graduate in June! (!!!!!!!!) Hey, that means we're graduating buddies! *gives high-five* Yay to graduating in 2017!! (Also a future blog post. :)
Ah, yes. The Mysterious Benedict Society books are all favorites of mine since discovering them a couple years ago. We own the series and read them A LOT.
Thanks for the post! If you ever need to vent your writing frustrations out in an e-mail, I don't mind bearing the brunt of it. Really. I know how you feel! ^_^ (It's been me for the last couple months trying to squeeze in all my senior recital practice. ;)
2016. I MEANT 2016. Grrrr.
DeleteHehe, I figured you meant 2016 ;) Yay for a senior recital!! I didn't have the nerve to practice that much :P Besides, I still get very nervous performing piano and am really not that advanced. Everyone thinks I am, but I have played out of the same books for years! :P Singing is more of a hobby for me, so that wasn't a good idea, either. Congrats, though! I'm sure you'll do GREAT.
DeleteI'm so jealous you get to go to the Oregon beach. I hardly ever go to the beach at all and I'm sure Texas beaches don't compare to a northern coast!
Oh good! I'm really enjoying it so far. I even got my dad reading it, so that made me happy ^.^
You're welcome! I may just do that. But I guess having writing frustrations actually requires me to write . . .
Sounds like you really did have quite a full April and while you might not have got a lot of your own writing done, it's really great that you did all that beta-ing, that's awesome!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of which, if you're looking for someone to beta for, I have two drafts that could use another set of eyes. One is only first draft and one is in the process of its third. The first draft one is also 60 long chapters and the other is just 18. XD Let me know if you're interested!
Woah! 60 chapters?! That's awesome! I would totally love to read them if you're willing to share :D While Google Docs is the only format I've used so, that usually goofs with people's formatting if they didn't write it there. So, if you could send it in Word or maybe a PDF, we shouldn't have any compatibility issues (I use only PC computers). No pressure on when you get it to me or anything OR what stage it is in. I'm sure it's fantastic either way. My only question would be how much detailed feedback you want? I know you might be looking for different things since your stories are in different phases :D
DeleteHaha, yeah, it took me two years to write. :P I have them both on Google Docs so that is very fine with me. Are you sure you're up for both?
DeleteFor the long one I need all the criticism I can get for future editing reference. It's really messy because it did take me two years to write and I changed various plot points a lot as I went along. The other could use more of a grammatical focus, as I've pretty well figured out how it needs to change as far as plot goes. But I love just general comments as well. :)
Perfect! I really don't care how you send them--both at once--one at a time. I'll get to it as I'm able either way. And I can totally do that as far as feedback goes. Thanks for being willing to share them with me!!
DeleteSounds great! I'll send you the links ASAP! Thank YOU for being willing to read. :D
DeleteOoo, it seems like you had an amazing (if not a bit hectic!) April! I'm glad you were able to accomplish most of your goals :). It's so exciting that you're graduating!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you're able to complete all your May goals, they sound awesome!
Yes, it was a really great month. I did quite a few things I hardly EVER do, so that was really awesome (even if that did include puking for 12 hours).
DeleteGraduating is much more exciting than I than I initially thought, for sure. Are you a graduate this year?
Thanks! They're a little more ambitious than before, but it's good motivation, right?
Wow, you are so busy! Thanks for reading my *little* book in the midst of all this!
ReplyDeleteIf you email me in tears, I'll send you some virtual chocolate in hopes of spurring your confidence. It's the least I can do after all those lovely bites you sent me. :)
Ivy
www.LakesidePublications.com
Who isn't in this stage of life? Of course I fit in your "little" book. It was totally awesome and I can't wait to own a pretty published copy for myself! Editing could not be nearly as fun as my life passion if it weren't for the amazing people I meet and the unique stories I get to read. And yours stands out to me because it's a true story. Very cool!
DeleteThat would be amazing, Ivy! Chocolate really does fix everything (even if it's virtual) :D
Again, I'm so sorry about that stomach bug you had. Ack. Not fun.
ReplyDeleteI had a great but busy April. This month contains a lot of new memories. :) We had a big event for the families at my dad's workplace, visited some dear friends, had more dear friends visit us, had cousins visit, and had lots of people-activities in general. :)
Yay for babysitting! I did my first over-nighter a few weeks ago, which was pretty fun. (Apart from jumping out of my skin several times when I heard the dog downstairs... it sounded like a person!)
Wow, congratulations on your soon-to-be graduation! :D
And don't feel bad about not reading much this month. I am a slooow reader who is constantly taking notes and highlighting (if it's a kindle; I don't like highlighting paperbacks). :)
Hope you have a great May!
Eh, that's okay. We get it once in a blue moon, so hopefully we're good for a few years!!
DeleteWow! It's so fun to see people you haven't in a while. But that is a lot of people-activities! :)
Ah, fun. I pulled the closest thing to an overnighter just last week where I stayed until 12:30 at night. It was really sweet to have the extra reading time late at night (I'm a night owl). But their horses were really loud and I could definitely hear coyotes in the front yard at one point! But the dog wasn't bothered, so . . . I just locked the front door and kept reading D:
Thanks! It's getting close!!! :D
Oh, yes. I like to leave myself notes and highlights, too, particularly if it's Kindle. :)
Thank you! May is always a whirlwind, but it will be fun and bring some different things this year.
Wow, you have been busy!!
ReplyDeleteRecitals are so much fun! I am going to attend one of my best friend's recital tomorrow!! :D I'm super excited about that!
And of course babysitting is awesome! And I'm slightly jealous that you got to held a 10 day old. I haven't held a baby that little in such a long time! They're so precious!!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my book!! It was very encouraging to go back through and read all your comments and suggestions. Thanks bunches!!
And you're more than welcome to email me anytime! Goodness knows I've done it enough times to various friends as I made my way my first draft. They were wonderful!!! Seriously, it was so good to email them even if I was frustrated, and they would always listen. Which I needed sometimes. ;)
I hope you and your family have a wonderful May!!! :D
Yay! I hope the recital went well. I really enjoyed attending my friend's :)
DeleteI know! It'd been a long time since I'd held an itty bitty one. She was so sweet ^.^
You're welcome. I'm so glad that it was beneficial. I really enjoyed it :D Yep, e-mailing my emotions away is very helpful every now and then, so don't be surprised if something shows up in your inbox ;)
Thanks! We plan on it, crazy or not.
My family caught the stomach bug as well, it really put a damper on my April productiveness.
ReplyDeleteOh no!! It was really making the rounds in Texas, so hopefully all of us will now be clear for a while!
DeleteOh wow! The gun looks amazing! I'm horrible at gun shooting (did it like only once), because I heard that some guns have that back effect thingy -whatever- that hits your shoulder. I heard that it hurts a lot sometimes, so that's why. Although I'm sure not all guns do that and also maybe there's some way to prevent it. But oh whale. Otherwise, I'd love to be a gun-shooting lady :P
ReplyDeleteBy the way, sorry for not replying earlier, but if writing a post is kinda hard (which it totally is) than do you want to do a interview? I do you, and you do me? I did that before and it was so fun!
Yes, I'm not crazy about the kick guns have. It throws off my accuracty because I anticipate it. But I was pleasanty surprised with .22s. Nothing bad at all, especially compared to a shotgun. I go home after a shoot without even being sore (from that aspect ;)).
DeleteTotally fine! That sounds really funand like a good solution. Why don't we do that. I'll let you lead the way since I've never actually done one of these before. At least I've read one! Do I just e-mail you questions? Maybe we should compile a list and answer the same ones? Feel free to shoot me an e-mail with your thoughts and the process :D
Great end-of-April post!! :D
ReplyDeleteUnbroken – awesome!! I'm going to read that one this summer too. ^_^ Can't wait! Sweet gun, lovely quotes, and a great word count. ;)
Good luck on your goals and have a wonderful May!!