Writing

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

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:

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.
Read three books. I did reach this goal.
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.
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.
Do a devotion every day. I did not do very good on this goal.

My goals this month are:

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

Books

Last month, I read three books and started one.

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.
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.
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

Hello, everyone! How’s it going? Today I’m going to talk about how to start a bullet journal- complete with pictures from my own new bullet journal!

What is a Bullet Journal?

What is a bullet journal? A bullet journal is a daily planner that you create and use to plan and track your life. So, what’s so great about it? The fact that it’s created by you for you. This means you can use it however you want. Need a diary? That can be your bullet journal! Need a sketchbook? That can be your bullet journal! Need a place to track your vitamins? That can be your bullet journal! A bullet journal is so many things. Here are a few ideas:

a place to make sketches
a place to write down appointments
a place to write out what happened today
a place to track your habits, feelings, and even sleep hours
a place to let your creative side flow!

That’s another thing about bullet journals. If you are creative, then this is definitely for you! You have plenty of space to be creative and fancy in here. But don’t get me wrong! Even if you feel like you’re not creative, you can still bullet journal!

The Bullet Journal System

The bullet journal system is pretty easy to follow, but if you’re new to bullet journaling it might seem a little bit confusing at first. I’m going to use this post to show you my system of bullet journaling so you can get a general idea. Of course, it’s your journal so you can use it however you want.

The first page in your bullet journal should be your title page. You can see mine below; it says “Lil’ Flora’s Bullet Journal”. My great grandmother’s nickname for me was Lil’ Flora, so I thought it would be neat to incorporate it into my bullet journal.

The next pages you will want to dedicate to your Index. This is where you will write down where everything is. That way, if you need to go back to reference something, you can just look it up in your Index.

The next page should be your key. The bullet journal system uses a specific key created by Ryder Carroll.

a dot signifies a task
a small circle signifies an event or appointment
a dash signifies a note
a right arrow signifies a migration
a star signifies importance
an X signifies when a task is completed

But, as you can see in the picture below, I have created my own key. It is as follows:

a small circle for an event
an arrow inside the circle for a migrated event
an X inside the circle for a canceled event
an ! beside the circle for an important event
a small square for a task
a small dot inside the square for a started task
an X inside the square for a completed task
an arrow inside the square for a migrated task
a filled in square for a canceled task
an ! beside the square for an important task
a small red balloon for birthdays and anniversaries
a blue star for holidays
a blue triangle for things pertaining to school
a pink dot for special dates
a dot for notes

The key is to reference if you forget what a certain symbol means. It may take a while to get used to using this system, but you will get it eventually.

The next spread you want to do is your Future Log. Your Future Log is where you put down birthdays and appointments for the upcoming months. I didn’t have room to do the next twelve months, so I just did the next six months. When those six months are over, I’ll just do the next six.

Now, we have done the Future Log, but it’s time to get more specific. You’ll want to start each month with a cover page. This month’s theme was Harry Potter, since it is the month of Halloween.

Next, you have your Monthly Log. Here you make a calendar and have a list of the events happening during the month. You can also add extra things like memories and books you read. Down the left side, I have a place for writing the positive and negative things that happened this month and books that I read. At the top in the middle, I have lists of the traits of the four Hogwarts houses as added decor. Underneath my calendar, I have a place for events and notes. Down the right side, I have a place for goals, a special tracker, and a place to record memories. My monthly layout has changed because my new journal is smaller than my old one.

Next I have my Mood and Step Log. The trackers I usually include after my Monthly Log are my mood tracker, step tracker, sleep tracker, dream tracker, and gratitude log. I don’t do all of those, I usually choose a couple to do. This month I did a Mood and Step Log combined as one tracker. Since the theme is Harry Potter, there are shelves, and during the month I will draw potions on them. The shape of the bottle depends on how many steps I took that day, and the color of the potion depends on my moods.

A tracker I always include during any month is my Habit Tracker. This is where you keep track of all of your habits. My Habit Tracker this month is quidditch-themed, as you can see with the quidditch hoops, broomstick, and snitch. Down the left side I have my habits listed and across the top I have numbers one through thirty-one listed. In the bottom right corner, I have a place to fill out my best and worst days and my best and worst habits.

Next is my Gratitude Log. This page is based on the Marauder’s Map with all the footprints labeling the days that I write down what I am grateful for.

Next, I dedicated two pages to brain dumps for October and November. A brain dump is a place to just dump. Whenever you think of something and say, “I really need to write that down,” then you can do it here. Grocery lists, books to read, or even happy memories can go here.

And here is my first weekly layout. I have a place for general information just under the week title and a mini-calendar off to the right. Below that are two boxes for a to-do list and notes. On the right page I have two more boxes- one for my exercise plan for the week and my Water Log. Beside those is a doodle of Luna Lovegood and a quote that says, “Being different isn’t a bad thing. It means you’re brave enough to be yourself.” And at the bottom of the two pages are my daily sections. I chose Luna Lovegood and blue and gray colors for these pages because they all have to do with Ravenclaw. Seeing as how Ravenclaw is my Hogwarts house, I thought that would be fitting for the first week. For the rest of the month, I’ll do the same layout but with different Harry Potter characters and the colors of the rest of the Hogwarts houses. I wanted to have them done to show you, but I just didn’t have time.

That is your basic bullet journal. Those are the things you need to start with in a new bullet journal, and I’ll be back soon with other things like trackers and extra pages you can add to your bullet journal to spruce it up a bit.

I hope all you Harry Potter fans enjoyed my bullet journal this month! I thought it fitting since I am currently rereading the series.

One more thing before I leave. Happy late National Writing Day! National Writing Day was on October 20th, and I meant to get a post out but I didn’t have time. I’m sorry I missed it, but I hope you other writers out there took some time to write that day!

Do you bullet journal? Was this post helpful? Do you plan to start a bullet journal? Talk to me in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Happy writing and bullet journaling!

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

Tag: Writing

November 2019 Monthly Recap