Goodbye July

Obviously the pressures of life have cured me of the need to post wrap-ups on the last day of every month. I hung out with my family this week instead :)

Life

First came Camp NaNoWriMo. I thoroughly enjoyed it and hit my 30K word goal! I had some very awesome people in my cabin (you know who you are) and really valued getting to know them all better. I have such amazing internet friends! I would not have hit my goal without them :) I'll hopefully have a whole post in detail at some point.

My family went out of town for the 4th of July as usual. We spent the 3rd hanging out with even the most distant of epic cousins and shooting fireworks off a dock over Eagle Mountain Lake. Thank goodness there were very few mosquitoes, and it was hot enough that nobody was outside for too long. The same thing happened last year, so we came prepared with Scrabble this time and at least 8 of us were playing at once . . . on a bed. Yeah, that's how it goes around the two room lake house ;)

The next weekend my wonderful mother drove me to Tyler for a writer's conference. I've already managed a post about this one. It was so refreshing and encouraging. Besides all the lessons I mentioned in my post, I also learned that it's never too late to begin writing. I have actually felt like I could/should have started earlier before. I mean, I've always written. So why didn't I try to finish something sooner?! But I shared the room with primarily senior adults, so it was a cool experience. I may have to reread my notes to get some energy for the great editing project that awaits me :) As part of this trip, I got to meet my pen pal again and do lots of catching up. Late nights, Barnes & Noble, DSW, going to church with her. It was all super awesome. And her mom makes incredible food.

I'm taking guitar lessons! I tried once years ago, but my grandfather bought guitars for the kiddos 10+ and is giving us lessons every week. We just had our second lesson, and it's been so much fun for all of us to figure it out together. In some ways, it's so much easier than piano (duh, chords). But playing individual notes is so much harder! But I'm loving it nonetheless. Even if it does kill my fingers, making typing painful.

I won a giveaway this month! This was my first time to ever win . . . anything, really :P That sounds silly, but from birthday parties to drawings, I've never won anything except spam. So this was super exciting. Check out the goodies from Cara Putman!

On a random note, it rained (what?!) which was great relief from the 100+ heat index. Our front courtyard was so much perkier after the deluge! And I also got contacts. I'm still adjusting, but I'm sick of wearing glasses, and my eyes show no signs of improving! Besides, I want to be able to wear sunglasses when I drive :) My littlest brother also turned two and totally soaked up the attention like he was special or something.

Words

~Vocabulary~

chanterelle ~ noun: an edible woodland mushroom with a yellow funnel-shaped cap and a faint smell of apricots, found in both Eurasia and North America.

Is that word not awesome?! It was new to me in July and I adore it! It is a goal of mind to smell one of these at some point ^.^ If there were other words new to me this month I failed to record them.

~Quotes~

That first one isn't from a book (that I know of), I just love what it says about books :) 

Books

~Cover to Cover: 3~

Purple Moon by Tessa Emily Hall
A Solitary Romance by Violet Sparks

Where Do I Start by Molly Evangeline

~Middle to End: 1~

Choosing Gratitude by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

~Front to Middle: 2~

The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria Augusta von Trapp
An Old-Fashioned Girl by Lousia May Alcott

Writings

~Words: 30,010~

Editing was on hold for this month. So I did Camp NaNo and wrote an entire short story. I also hit my word goal, which was 30K.

~Chapters: 6~ 

My short story I believe is going to consist of chapters and a prologue. It's all written, I just haven't divided it up yet. I was surprised when I heard people write this way, but it worked really well.

~Progress Update: 100%~ 

I finished the entire story!! This was a secondary goal and I had no feel for how long it was going to end up being. I hoped it would end under 40K and lo and behold, it did. It feels so great to have written something that fast. Quality can come later.

~Biggest Problem: Life~

What, I can't just whole away and write 30K? I can't just wave my hands and my novel will be edited? Lies!

Blogs

~Followers: 53~

That's +6 without any effort on my part. It's so nice to see people joining the crowd ;)

~Views: 12,234~

That's +2K. What? That's so cool to me. I mean I know I post a lot, but still. Two thousand views in a month? Not bad, you guys. Thanks :)

Goals

My July goals were:

1~ Edit for myself and others
I did spend some time reading through my first 3 chapters again and formign a checklist. And I kept up with Gloria's story.
2~ Read 3 books
I actually had no idea that I hit this. Thank goodness Goodreads is keeping track of my reading life XD

3~ Win Camp NaNoWriMo
CHECK! I'm so proud of this ^.^
4~ Go to a writer's conference
Totally happened. And I wrote an entire post on it here.

5~ Remember to post at least once a week
Doubled!

My August goals are:

1~ Completely edit my novel
Ambitious? Yes. But it must be done!!! That averages out to about a chapter a day. Or more D:
2~ Complete Jesseca's "A Question of Honor"
I'm really enjoying this story so far, and I want to knock it out before September comes. Because I have no idea what it's bringing.
3~ Read 3 books (cover to cover)
I'm doing a Twitter Readathon and have pledged two books while it runs this weekend. So I should be able to reach this, especially since I just got 5 library books.
4~ Share a bad review
People only ever share good review on blogs. The bad ones just go on Goodreads. So I'm gonna share a more negative review on Thursday :)
5~ Do a Camp NaNo post
You all want to hear about my ventures, right?

~~~~~

Did in rain in July for you? Did you win Camp NaNo? Has school begun for you? Have you ever read An Old-Fashioned Girl? I highly recommend it! I'm learning so much, even on my 5th read :) I hope your Julys treated you kindly and August doesn't cook you!