August 2019 Recap

August has been an interesting month for me. I've been working tons, but I also got to go on vacation, so that's something to be thankful for. And my 22 birthday is tomorrow! I'm having a Taylor Swift theme this year, because of her song "22". I'm even dressing up in an inspired outfit.

What I Did

• The biggest thing I did this month was go on my first ever road trip without a parent to North Carolina for a young adult retreat. While I was mildly terrified, I pushed myself to go and I'm glad I did. I met so many other great Christians my age and had a great time going to the beach, making new friends, and spending time with God. I don't have a lot of people my age at my church, so it was a different experience for me.

Bethany and I at the Boise Island Lighthouse

Us and some of the other girls at a coffee shop

More of the kids from camp. Only a small number of the 43 that were there

• Listened to Taylor Swift's new album several times through. I adore the sound of all the songs. It's probably one of my favorites of hers.

• There was also a lot of great movie news from D23 this month. All the Disney+ streaming stuff is so exciting. I can't wait to watch all their new content. I was especially excited about the announcement of Ewan McGregor doing an Obi-Won series! Woo-hoo!

• It's a small thing, but I got myself a book cart (pictured below). I plan to fully set it up this weekend, but I'm already in love with how pretty it is. And I got it on sale for $35 (it's normally $60).

Read

I didn't read a lot of books this month, partially because I've been busy, and partially because I've been working through the Inheritance Cycle and those books are huge.

The Hollow Boy- Jonathan Stroud (4 stars)

The Supernaturalist- Eoin Colfer (3 stars)

How to Fracture a Fairy Tale- Jane Yolen (4 stars)

Last Pick- Jason Walz (4 stars)

Eldest- Christopher Paolini (4 stars)

Brisingr- " (4 stars)

Watched

Independence Day (a pretty good sci-fi movie)

Independence Day: Resurgence (a less than stellar sequel. I see why it was so hated)

Avengers: Endgame (yes, I finally watched it. And yes, I cried.)

Dumbo (a very different take on the classic movie that I liked)

North and South (a mini-series that reminded me of Pride and Prejudice)

On the Blog

My most popular post this month was my post on writing about large families. Hopefully it inspired people to write more big families in literature.

On Instagram, I hosted my own bookstagram challenge and I actually had a few participants other than myself. I've had a lot of fun doing it and I'll probably do it again.

Writing

Out of the Shadows- I've been working through my beta reader notes, figuring out which things to use and what needs to be done in my novel. I think I got a lot of good feedback and I'm looking forward to using it in my writing. It's been slower than I would have liked, but I did go away for a whole week.

NaNoWriMo- Yes, I'm starting prep for it. Currently, I'm trying to decide between writing a story about a superhero or two candy-maker siblings. It's a tough choice, although I'm leaning towards the superhero.

Art

I know I said I wanted to do Sam and maybe Gandalf this month. *coughs* Well, I started Sam, at least. But I didn't quite get around to finishing him. I did do some other sketches, which I shall show you.

I call this Doctor Benedict Sherlock

Kind of weird, but it's inspired by the lyric from We Are Young by fun! (Look it up if you want to know)

September Plans

• Apply my beta edits to Out of the Shadows and start pre-writing on my NaNo project (whatever that will be).

• Actually finish Sam and start Gandalf.

• Finish Inheritance and get through some of the library books I have out.

How was your August? Did you get to go to the beach? Tell me in the comments.

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