Goodbye May

Well, May was just as busy as I thought it was going to be, but I felt very productive. So that counts for something, right? It was also notoriously not like May. Thank goodness summer is now upon us!!! :D

You all know how much I love mushrooms :)

Life

So in the first part of May we all went to Fort Worth/Dallas for State Convention. That consisted of Mom and Dad leaving us with grandparents for days on end (a big deal for my mom). I got to work in my aunt's chic flower shop which is always so much fun. While we were there, my sister and I also got to see Wicked with two of our aunts and a cousin. Let me repeat. I HAVE SEEN WICKED. It was my first Broadway and it was amazing :D How many of you have seen it? Or at least know enough about it to appreciate my lifelong goal? (Seriously, I've been wanting to go for 11 years now.)

I graduated!!!! Obviously, because I had a post about it :P I did a central Texas co-op graduation and it was well worth the small fee to be able to share the moment with so many of my friends. Not to mention actually going up on stage and receiving a diploma from my parents while friends and family cheered. I am so happy to be done with school forever :D I also got to graduation shopping and get a gorgeous charm bracelet from James Avery with bookish pendants :D

Also, my Dad finished serving in a local political position he's held for a long time, so that was a big deal. There's been some turmoil about his leaving and another woman having his job, but it's all good and we're excited to move on. There was a touching last meeting with acknowledgments and gifts. bragging rights warning As one of his gifts he received a flag that had flown of the Texas State Capital . . . in his honor. *uber proud, fangirling daughter moment*

I always think of May as being the beginning of our very warm and dry spell. I'm pretty sure we never even hit  90 degrees (F). *gasp* And not only that, it rained about two weeks of the month. We got 8 inches in an hour and a half one day. Just like last Memorial Day, our river flooded really bad again and people had to evacuate. We are always safe from water damage except for our garage, but almost every road in the county washed out in some way. Our side street has a nice sinkhole now. Craziness! Also, due to the unusual weather, I saw fireflies in town for the first time in my life. I even saw a bluebird! We never have those. Cool, huh?

I also made two amazing discoveries this month. The first was chocolate covered sunflower seeds from TJMaxx. Oh my goodness, guys. They were addicting! Sweet, salty, crisp, healthyish? Yeah, I may have to stalk the internet to find more :D

My second discover was Peter Hollens. I'm sorry, but his music is all I could ever ask for. Beautiful, inspirational, scenic, classic, multi-track, a capella. He's basically a one man Pentatonix unless he sings with his lovely wife. You have to check out his YouTube channel! I even gave you the link; you have no excuse!

Last but not least, I got a new laptop! My old one's been virtually dead for two years, but I've managed since we have like four other computers in the house. It was reaching a ridiculous level, though, since everything I do for work and fun is on the internet except reading. So, I bought a grey Dell Inspiron 15 with my graduation money. I have a poll running on Twitter for a name. The options are: Glyph, Alcott, Sterling, or Sir Percy. So far Sir Percy is winning. What do you vote?

Words

~Vocabulary~

flummox: verb perplex (someone) greatly; bewilder
peculate: verb embezzle or steal (money, especially public funds)
pariah: noun an outcast OR a member of a low caste in southern India

I read the first one, looked up the second one by accident (I was going for percolate), and was curious about the third thanks to Amiee Meester :)

~Quotes~

"Family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood." ~Mr. Benedict from The Mysterious Benedict Society

"She announced her age right away, for children consider their ages every bit as important as their names." ~The Mysterious Benedict Society

Any guess what book I read this month? :P

Books

~Cover to Cover: 0~

None. Oops. Maybe this month. *nods*

~Middle to End: 4~

The River Girl's Song by Angela Castillo

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl 

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Where Courage Calls by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan

~Front to Middle: 1~

Where Trust Lies by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan

Writings

~Words: 21,446~

Definitely a new record for me! I may or may not keep working on Chapter 30 tonight. 

I'm still blown away by you people that can write 50k in a month. Are you human? I didn't think so.

~Chapters: 8.5~ 

My jaw dropped when I calculated this. How in the world?! I'm so happy :D

~Progress Update: 95%~ 

I had hoped to finish the first draft this month, but it keeps getting longer! I did reach the 30 chapter mark I wanted to. I just think the book is going to be more like 32 with an epilogue :P

Then there's the rewrite/edit which stands at about 10% D:

~Biggest Problem: New Ideas~

There are some things I need to be able to weave into the book on this rewrite and some things I should take out. And then there are areas that are heavily lacking something. And I need to be able to invent something to go there that fits, interests, and adds. What a delightful task . . . -_-

Blogs

~Followers: 39~

That's still +5, so I'm content :) Thank you to all the lovelies who joined me and to the bloggers who continue to mention me here, there, and everywhere. You are all the reason I'm still here :D

~Views: 7,992~

This is rather scary, really. But thanks, guys! Just for the fun of it I looked at which countries all my traffic was coming from. The U.S. was the top, of course, but Poland was second with 12 views. Cool, huh? I had a total of 10 countries people have visited my blog from. (If you've got Blogger, they tell you under Stats.)

Goals

My goals for May were:

1~ Edit my WIP

I got a smidge of this done, so I guess I pass?
2~ Finish at least 4 books
I finished four and began one, so that was something. I have so many good ones I just bought that are calling to me from my shelf!

3~ Find another story to beta
You guys are so awesome ^.^ I got two stories to edit from Emily Mundell and one from Gloria, a friend of mine. They are all SO GOOD! I'm just saying, the world had better watch out because we've got some killer books coming.
4~ Finish writing my first draft
This was extremely ambitious. I did not email any of you in tears, so I am proud of that. However, I was a few chapter shy of finishing, still. But it's so close!!
5~ Reach 50 followers

Weeeell. Yeah, I didn't hit this. But I only spent one day working on it, unless you count being on Twitter. But that's okay. I am perfectly happy with who my followers are. I don't need a bigger number to feel good about blogging, because all of you are so encouraging and awesome!

Not my best month as far as reaching goals :P

My June goals are:

1~ Edit my WIP
I know, I know. This has been one of my goals for months now. But it's a process and now that I'm actually done writing my story, it's time to tweak and rewrite. *shudder*

2~ Read 3 books from start to finish
It's about time I get to some of these on my shelf. Can't wait to absorb some more great writing. Why can't reading by osmosis be a thing?
3~ Finish Emily's The Sorceress and the Squid
Have I mentioned that this story is COMPLETELY ADORABLE yet?! Because it is. I love it and I can't wait for all of you to have a chance to read it, too.

4~ Research self-publishing
I'm pretty certain that I want to self-publish my first novel, but I still don't have any idea what that entails, exactly.
5~ Host a giveaway
You read that right. I want to do a giveaway for a whole bunch of reasons, but mainly because it's almost SUMMER and that means we'll all be reading more in theory. So you deserve a chance to get something awesome. I just haven't decided what yet. :P

~~~~~

Phew! End of really long post :P What do you vote for my laptop's name? Was May insane for you as well? What am I asking, May's always crazy. What are you looking forward to most in the summer?