Monthly Recaps

November 2019 Monthly Recap

Greetings! I hope your November and Thanksgiving was wonderful! Today, I’ll be giving my November Monthly Recap.

Writing

My goal was to start going through my book, but I got no writing time in last month. None. I suppose I could’ve spent less time reading… but Legacy came out last month! I just HAD to spend every spare second reading it!

So, on the less desperate side of things, I plan to spend less time reading and more time writing this month.

Blogging

Well… I think we all know how blogging went for me this month, if you read my update post. No posts. No time to write.

But, this month will be better. I plan to get at least two posts out that will continue our bullet journal series.

Goals

My goals last month were:

  1. Drink more water. I did start on my water goal, which was to get to the point where I drank three cups of water each day. I got up to two cups, but not three.
  2. Read three books. I did reach this goal.
  3. Study driving book. Nope. I didn’t. Not even once. I have a driving guide that I’m trying to get through, but I just haven’t had time to study it.
  4. Work on going through your book. This is referring to the book I’ve written. As I said before, I didn’t have any time.
  5. Do a devotion every day. I did not do very good on this goal.

My goals this month are:

  1. Study driving book at least three times a week. Be finished with it by the end of Christmas break.
  2. Get at least two blog posts out.
  3. Work on going through my book.
  4. Get to the point where you drink three cups of water a day.
  5. Read at least two books.
  6. Do daily devotions.

Books

Last month, I read three books and started one.

  1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix. This is the fifth book in the Harry Potter series, and I loved reading it for the second time. The first time I read this series, my mom read it out loud to me; so this is my first time reading the books for myself.
  2. Legacy. Okay, I have a lot to say about this book, but I’m going to save it for a different post. I got a request to post about this book when it came out, so that can definitely be expected this month, for all of you KEEPER fans. This is the eighth book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series and I enjoyed it. So. Much! Whenever I had a break in my school work, I buried my nose in this book. I CANNOT WAIT for book nine.
  3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I finished this book for the second time, and had just too. Many. Feelings. Of course, I loved it all the way through and I started book seven the moment I finished it. 🙂

My goal next month is to read at least two books (this is less than last month because I want to focus more on writing and studying my driving guide). I plan to finish book seven of the Harry Potter series, and start another series of books (I’m not sure what I’ll read next).

Bullet Journal

I think I’m finally getting the hang of bullet journaling (says the girl who’s been bullet journaling for over a year). I’ve figured out a system that works for me, and I didn’t miss very many days of filling out my journal this month. That might sound kind of discouraging, given that I’ve been bullet journaling for over a year, but it has truly been an amazing journey. It has been so fun to figure all this out, and I am so happy that I decided to try it.

This month, I did a Christmas-y theme, given that it is December.

I used stencils to create this page, and I’m not thrilled with how it turned out. But it’s only the title page. I don’t really look at the this page a lot.

This is my monthly overview. I have my calendar, and a section for events and another section for goals underneath it. On the right page is a page for reviewing my month. The first two sections are for writing out the positive and negative things that happened during the month. The next two sections are for recording the books that I read and my water goal. Finally, I have a place to record memories and and a drawing of a snowman. Isn’t he just so cute?

Next is my mood tracker. This is a simple tracker. Each day, I’ll choose the snowflake that best shows how I felt and draw it in the empty space.

This is my December Brain Dump, where I can write down anything I want to remember.

Here is my Habit Tracker for this month. It’s the same as always: dates are written at the top, and on the side of the green line is where I will write my habits.

Finally, here is my weekly layout. I did this in gel pen because I couldn’t come up with any color schemes that I hadn’t used on my regular pens and I had a lot more colors to choose from with my gel pens. The left page has all of my extra information and the right page contains all of the daily sections. At the top of the left page, I have a section for my goals. I’ve decided to start doing three goals for each week as well as the ones for the entire month. Underneath that is a section to record all of the exercise that I do during the week. The section below that is divided in two- one for extra notes and one for my water tracker. Finally, I have my to-do list at the bottom of the page.

Life In General

Life in general last month was hectic. We just moved in to our new house last October, and this month was full of unpacking the house and going out. Then came Thanksgiving, and it was from house to house, dinner to dinner, family to family. So now, I’m glad to be back home, writing this post in front of my Christmas tree.

Next Time…

That’s it for today’s monthly recap. My next post will be about Legacy, so if you’re a KEEPER fan, stick around!

How was your November? Are you all set for Christmas? Are you a KEEPER fan? Tell me in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Happy writing!

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Matthew 6:3 ESV

Monthly Recaps

November Recap

Time for another recap! It seems like this month has passed so fast for me! We were very busy this month as we have been preparing for Thanksgiving and then Christmas.

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Books

The first and only book I read this month was Flashback by Shannon Messenger (the seventh book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series). I have been waiting a year for this book to come out, and I was so excited! I literally read it in five days!

I didn’t read any more books because I was really busy with a research paper in school (ugh!). Plus, I am re-reading Flashback- because why not?

 

Bullet Journaling

I got to try one new weekly spread that I saw on Pinterest this month. Everything else is the same old, same old.

  1. At the top, I have a space for every day- Monday through Wednesday on the first page, and Thursday through Saturday on the second page. At the end of each day, I use this space to list three things I’m thankful for.
  2. Underneath those is my Fitness Tracker. That is where I track my steps, how much water I drank, and the days I got some exercise.
  3. To the right of that, I have a calendar.
  4. Underneath my Fitness Tracker, I have my Weather Forecast. On Sundays, I look ahead at the weather and write it out so I can know what the best days to go outside are.
  5. To the right of that, I have my Habit Tracker. Usually my habits are to just clean my room and write.
  6. On the next page, underneath the daily boxes, I have a section for my goals. One of my goals this week is to have a clean room by Saturday.
  7. Beside my goals, I have a section for notes.
  8. I still had room underneath that, so I decided to do a fun drawing: It’s Sweater Weather!

 

TV Shows and Movies

I decided to add this in because there is one show that I just can’t live without: Doctor Who!! This is really one of the best shows that I have ever seen, and I’ve been watching the season eleven episodes. Go Jodie Whittaker!

Also, I just watched a movie on Netflix called The Princess Switch. It was about two identical girls who meet and decide to switch places. I really liked it!

Writing

This month I was really productive in my writing. I wrote consistently every day, and guess what! I actually finished my book! Just the first draft, of course. I definitely have not published it- yet.

In all, it took me one year, two months, and one day. I started on September 16, 2017, and wrote about two pages a day. Then I got busy and forgot about it for about a month. Then I started writing again and then got busy again- this time for about three months. And then, I switched from writing it on paper to typing it, and then I finished it on November 17, 2018. Yay! So, now I’m going through and editing it so that maybe one day I can publish it.

 

Goals

I didn’t really know exactly how close I was to finishing my book, so my goal was just to write every day. I had no idea that I might finish it this month. So, I mostly accomplished that goal, but like I said before, we were really busy.

 

Thanksgiving

Since Thanksgiving has passed, I thought I might list a few things I’m thankful for.

  1. Family

I’m really thankful that I have family that I can share my Thanksgiving with. I really enjoy the fun games and stories that we tell at the table. I also enjoy playing with my cousins on both sides of the family.

  1. A Good Education

I know some kids that really don’t like going to school. I know its hard work, but you know what? I’m thankful for it. Because where would we be today if we didn’t have any education whatsoever? I’m pretty sure we’d be cavemen. How do you think Thomas Edison came up with the light bulb? He didn’t just sit there and all of a sudden come up with the idea. He had to know a lot of science-y stuff so he could be able to test his theory. And all that science-y stuff came from a good education. So, be thankful for your education- even if you really hate a certain subject. You’re actually really lucky. Some kids don’t get to go to school.

  1. My Talent

Finally, I’m really thankful that I have a talent for writing. It makes me happy when I’m feeling down or upset.

 

Talk to Me!

So, what are you thankful for? Tell me in the comments! My family just started decorating for Christmas last week. Have you decorated yet?