Goodbye to June

 

Hello everyone!

 

I hope you enjoyed your June as much as I did, and are ready for July.

 

June was really busy over here, and had all kinds of crazy extremes going on. As enjoyable as most of it was, I'm crossing my fingers that July might be a little less hectic. (But I'll admit I'm not holding my breath.)

 

Here's a quick look at what was taking up my time this month.

 

What's Playing?

 

June was the 20th anniversary of our local Christian radio station, so they played a lot of music from twenty years ago. Some of it was pretty crazy, and some of it made me nostalgic, so I've got some oldies on the list.

 

In the Ghetto- Elvis Presley

Neon Steeple album by Crowder

Anything by Celtic Thunder

Summer Storm- Joel P. West

The Heat album by NeedtoBreathe

Awake album by Skillet

Taylor Swift, back when she was country...but not country enough...but not pop.

The End is Where We Begin album by Thousand Foot Krutch

Castle-Halsey

Old school Newsboys. Like, back when they looked like this...

 

What's on the Kindle?

 

I read so much this month. So much. Besides the books I've reviewed lately, I've also read:

 

The Beautiful Pretender, and the Regency Spies of London trilogy, all by Melanie Dickerson.

The Lost Girl of Astor Street by Stephanie Morrill

I'm currently reading The Noble Servant, also by Melanie Dickerson.

All of which were absolutely fantastic and will be receiving reviews later on.

Besides those, I'm also reading fellow Apple Gang (also known as the five winners of the Five Poisoned Apples contest) members' stories Snowbird by Rachael Holt ,and Falling Snow by Skye Hoffert. You guys, they are so good. I cannot wait for this collection to come out in December so you can all read the in their beautiful finished glory.

 

What's on TV?

 

Veggie Tales.

 

No, but seriously, that's what's on.

When Henry isn't watching however, I've been watching Heartland, and When Calls the Heart.

Heartland is probably my favorite of the two, even though When Calls the Heart is good. I do feel like it is my duty as a reader to point out that it is nothing like the books, but I mean, when are they ever?

 

What I'm Writing:

 

Bad Boy is probably about 60% done with its first draft and sitting at about 70K words.

Red as Blood is 99.9% done. There is one more line I want to add to it, and then I will think its officially done.

1868  is now completely outlined and ready to go for Camp Nano.

Blood and Dust is currently in search of an editor. I've got two that I'm getting sample edits from so I can decide who to send it to. Another Apple Gang member, Jenelle Hovde introduced me to #Faithpitch on Twitter. You can pitch your stories to literary agents via twitter, on certain days (tomorrow, or later on in November) and if they heart it, you can send them your query. So, now I'm on Twitter. I'd like to have Blood and Dust  ready to pitch by the next date in November.

Code White is currently at the editor. EEEK!

 

 What's Been Happening?

 

It has ranged anywhere from the 60's to 100's temperature wise, with really high humidity.

Lots of thunderstorms, roughly eight inches of rain, and a really nasty swimsuit sunburn. Can anyone say "racer back"?

June involved a lot of road trips with Jarod, that were super fun, even though they were work related. There's also been a lot of swimming, as implied by the swimsuit tan.

And I've been doing a bunch of crafting. I'm currently working on building myself a patio table, and if it works I'll share pictures. I also just finished a barn quilt, which I do not have a picture of, and this little guy.

 

He's not quite done in this picture, but this is for Jarod. He designed it, and plans to put it out in his field where he's been experimenting with cover crops.

 

Quotes of the Month:

 

I have a little chicken shaped chalkboard in my kitchen, and I try to change the quote on it every week or so.

 

This month these were featured:

 

"I have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, sound mind."

 

"Tell yourself a good story"

 

"Earn every smile and shared moment."

 

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him" 1 Cor. 2:9

 

I confess, I don't actually know where I picked them all up, so I can't properly reference them. I may have picked them up in a book, or online, or maybe on a piece of junk mail. I don't know.

 

What's on the Agenda?

 

The end of this month/beginning of next, my hometown Ashton, hosts Ashton days, so I plan to head there. There will be a ranch rodeo, and turtle races, so me and Henry plan to see of fast our little EEM can move.

 

City wide garage sales are also next month, and I can't decide if I should go shopping, or have one of my own. The struggle.

 

!!!FIREWORKS AND FREEDOM!!!

AKA, Independence Day.

 

Our 2 year wedding anniversary. (as well as my friend Victoria's birthday. She's a true friend. She sacrificed her birthday to be my bridesmaid)

 

Camp NaNo.

 

So that's what my month has looked like.

 

What about yours? What are you looking forward to next month?