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?

Class of 2016 ~ A Reflection on My High School Years

Yep, you read that right. I graduated! And I learned so much from high school. Why isn't that one word?! ^.^

~Grades Matter~

I'm a straight-laced, firstborn girl, so grades have always mattered to me. Like, don't tell me I got a 99% on that pre-K Math test. It should have been a 100%. But, still. Even without college in my future, I learned the importance of making good grades.

The largest and most influential part of my high school education were the World View classes I took at a co-op with my pastor as teacher. They were college-level, multi-credit classes that covered everything from history to philosophy and required a great deal of reading. Everything was filtered and examined through a Christian world view and required a 3-5 page essay. I totally soaked it up. ;)

All of that's to say, good grades were sometimes a little hard to get in that class, but if I really put myself to it, every week, I could be an A student. And I was. The grades mattered to me, my parents, my teacher, and my self-esteem. It made me feel good to get just as much positive feedback as critique. You can only do high school once. Doing it well counts, especially if your future career depends upon you having made good marks.

~Sleep Matters More~

Being a pretty driven personality, I had to learn to draw the line. I would stay up through the night finishing a book that I procrastinated on, just so I could finish my syllabus pages and get a 9 instead of an 8. It took me two years (half of my classes) to learn that it's not always worth it. Sometimes, you need the sleep and the energy to just start over again the next morning instead of one grade higher and circles under your eyes.

Trust me, all-nighters are not all their cracked up to be. Especially when you have a speech you have to give the next day after a full day of classes. (I do not know from personal experience.) Don't do that to yourself. Sleep for a few hours and get up early. And start on it earlier next time. ;)

~Classes Are Awesome~

They're not everybody's thing, but I adored being able to go to co-op for those four years, one day a week. I abused my freedom somewhat the first year, but that taught me a lot. I became more comfortable with who I was and loved having the competitive atmosphere that I wasn't getting at home, with siblings only in grades below me. At the same time, they made me really thankful that every weekday was not spent zipping from one class to another with deadlines and teachers and annoying or really hilarious classmates. It was great to be able to come home, eat a ton of food, watch movies, and sleep in.

~Friends Are the Best~

I made the mistake of never spending very much time with people at school. I carpooled with my teacher's family, so I always hung with their daughter (my best friend). But I do wish that some weeks I would have set aside the textbook and said hello to my classmates. Because, looking back, it's the conversations and fellowship I had with people that stands out to me. Thankfully, in spite of my reclusive habits, I still have friends I took away from those years :)

~Pray When You're Stressed~

Stress is just part of growing up. It doesn't go away after high school. (Trust me.) And no matter what I did to try and de-stress myself so I could go right back to stressing, only one thing ever worked: stepping back and praying. Sleep was great and all, but sometimes I couldn't even sleep, I had so much I needed to be doing. Prayer was literally the only thing that could calm my mind enough to keep going and try to enjoy what I was doing. God knows what He's doing people. Don't forget to cast your cares upon Him. He really does like to listen, but unlike parents, He can renew your strength, too.

~Netflix Is Therapy~

Again, stress is gonna happen. Know how to cope. There is nothing wrong with watching an episode of your favorite show even when your to-do list is full. I repeat. Netflix is therapy. It can also be a trap, so maybe don't binge watch with a full to-do list, but a break is deserved. Sometimes the only way I could get back to the grind was to step away. 45 minutes of your life is not the end of the world. And, let's face it, it's much less of a trap than social media ;) But dude, I kept up with Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, and multiple detective shows through those four years, so I was watching plenty of TV.

~I'd Do It Again~

If it came down to it, I'd do it again. I would. And I know this is probably unique to me, but I'm that kind of person ;) Even though it was largely a sleepless, stressful time, getting up at 5 am and reading people who wrote hundreds of years ago was incredible. Falling asleep while reading was marked off my bucket list. I actually saw sunrises back then. I had hours more in each day and I was using my time well. It was one of the most formative and reading-filled times of my life. It was, in a word, awesome. Oh, yes, I'd do it again.

~~~~~

How close are you guys to finishing high school? If you're done, HOORAY! What have you learned? Are you a driven personality like me? I have to say, no matter how much I loved school, I am very glad I don't have four more years ahead. I'm done. Experience is the route for me (so thank you, awesome friends)! :D

And I am typing this from my shiny, new laptop!! (He doesn't have a name yet.) Graduation presents are awesome, y'all. Take advantage of them. It was totally worth 100 invitations, to get 50 cards back with money. *nods*