Tag: Writing

Monthly Recaps

July Monthly Recap

floraj5604

Hey, everyone! July is officially over, and August has begun! School is about to start back, and I am super excited! Let’s get started!

Reading/Books

This month, my goal was to read four books. Unfortunately, I only read three.

  • A Common Life (The Mitford Years book six)
  • Neverseen (Keeper of the Lost Cities book four)
  • Lodestar (Keeper of the Lost Cities book five)

I was supposed to have finished two more books by the end of this month, but I just didn’t have enough time.

Writing

Unfortunately, I didn’t get much writing done this month either. 😦 We’ve definitely had a busy summer! My goal was to do twenty minutes each day, two hours each week, and ten hours for the entire month.

  • July 1-6: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • July 7-13: 2 hours
  • July 14-20: 45 minutes
  • July 21-27: 1 hour 10 minutes
  • July 28- August 3: none
  • Entire Month: 5 hours 5 minutes

My excuse for the last week is that I didn’t have access to my writing since I was staying at my grandmother’s house. 😉 Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking with it and getting it done.

Bullet Journal

I was super pleased with July’s pages! They were exactly what I needed, and I’m probably going to stick with the same design for next month. If you missed the pictures for July’s bullet journal pages, click here to see.

I am very proud of myself because I bullet journaled almost every day this month! It’s been a struggle for me to find the time to fill out my journal, and keep up with all the habits and trackers, but this month, I did pretty good!

Now, onto August’s pages.

I didn’t really have a theme this month, so I decorated the title page with school supplies, as seen at the top of the page.

I did end up changing the layout of my Monthly Log a little. Of course, first I have my calendar, which is on the top of the left page. The space under that is divided into three sections: Events, Goals, and Notes. I also did a quote underneath the Notes section.

On the right page, I have a section for Books (to write down the books I’ve read), Memories (to write down memories and fun times to remember), School (to write down the subjects I’ll be taking this year), Blogging (to write down my blog plan for this month), Bullet Journal Ideas, and Writing (to write down how much time I spent writing/editing each week and for the month).

I decided to go back to my original Habit Tracker layout. The one I used last month was too time-consuming and confusing.

This month, I had time to take a picture of my first weekly layout. This is not how I usually do my weekly layouts; I just did a simple layout last week since I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time to work on it.

Blogging

This month I did not do as many posts as I would’ve liked to have done, but like I said before: it’s been a busy month.

These are the two other posts I did this month.

Goals

My goals for July were:

  1. Write for twenty minutes every day. I did miss a few days, but other than that, I did pretty well.
  2. Drink more water. Sadly, I didn’t do very well in this area.
  3. Bullet Journal every day. Yay! I did do this almost every day!
  4. Be on phone less. Oops . . . I did ok the first part of the month, but the second part is another story.

My goals for August are:

  1. Be on your phone less.
  2. Don’t stress about school too much.
  3. Drink more water.
  4. Write every day.
  5. Bullet Journal every day.
  6. Pre-plan blog posts and work on them in advance.
  7. Practice piano every day.

Life

July was a pretty busy month, and I have enjoyed my last month of summer. I filled the time with binge-watching Netflix, taking morning walks, writing/editing, bullet journaling, and reading. I spent a lot of time at home this month, but I also stayed at my grandmother’s house last week. That was definitely awesome, because she has a pool!

Just a few days ago, my mom and dad presented me with a new laptop! I’ll mostly use it for school this year, but I can also use it for my writing and blogging.

I start school next week, so this week I’ll be getting school supplies ready, setting up my new laptop (yay!), and watching orientation videos (I do online school). That means I probably won’t get posts out until Saturdays or Sundays during this first month of school- but I promise I’ll try to work ahead.

That’s the end of today’s post! If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments. Also tell me: how was your July? Are you looking forward to school starting? Also, if you have any topics you would like me to do a post on, please let me know!

Thank you so much for reading! Have a wonderful week! Happy writing!

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26 ESV

Books!, Sharing Your Work

Update on Reading and Writing | A Few Writing Tips

floraj5604

Hello, everyone! Today I’m going to give you an update on my writing and book reading, and then share a few tips that will help you keep going on your writing.

Reading

So, right now I’m reading book five of Keeper of the Lost Cities (Lodestar) and book seven of The Mitford Years (In This Mountain).

I’m going along with other Keeper fans and rereading the series- one book each week. Last week was catch-up week, since we were in the middle of the series. I used the catch-up week to take my time finishing Neverseen and spend more time writing.

Here’s my reading schedule for the rest of the month.

July 14-20: Lodestar (Keeper Book Five), start In This Mountain

July 21-27: Nightfall (Keeper Book Six), and continue In This Mountain

July 28- August 3: Flashback (Keeper Book Seven), finish In This Mountain

My goal was to read four books this month, and if I follow that schedule, I should succeed, since I have already read two other books this month. August will probably be less books to read, since school will be starting back. I do online school, and this year we’re trying a different one than we did last year, so I’ll need plenty of time to adjust.

Writing

Right now, I’m revising my book. I’m just rereading, looking for mistakes, and changing what needs to be changed. This definitely isn’t my favorite thing to do, but if I eventually want to publish it, I need to keep going and push through.

My goal this month was to spend twenty minutes each day revising, which means about two hours each week, and about 10 hours for the month.

Here’s how I’ve done so far.

June 30- July 6: 1 hour 10 minutes

July 7-13: 2 hours

July 14-20: So far, I haven’t had any time to edit this week- I’ve been super busy. I haven’t been home much at all. So this week, I’ll probably only get one hour in.

Hopefully I will get my hours in this month!

Tips on Writing

  1. Don’t think of it as “work” or something that has to be done by a certain date. Think of it as doing something you enjoy. Let your creativity take over and just write.
  2. If you notice that you’re having trouble focusing and coming up with ideas, don’t force yourself to keep going! In fact, that will just make your writing sound bad. When this happens, it probably means you’ve been at it too long. Take a break! Or just be done for the day, if time allows.
  3. Do it when you have no other distractions. No TV, loud music, or other distractions. It’s best to be just by yourself. Music with lyrics distracts me, so I usually just listen to soft piano music.
  4. Think of the joy you’ll feel when sharing your work with others. You may feel a little freaked out about sharing your work at first, but after you get going, you’ll find that you’re excited to know what others think. Trust me, I’ve been there. If it helps, give them the paper, computer, or whatever it is your story is on, and leave the room. That way you won’t have to see their reactions until they’re done.
  5. Only share it on two conditions. One, you’ve gone over it a couple of times, and you feel confident about it. Two, you trust the person you’re sharing it with. Like really trust.
  6. Don’t kill off characters just to get your readers hooked, or to make them sad or shocked. Do it only if it is necessary for the story. You don’t want your readers to get mad at you for killing off their favorite character for no reason.
  7. The best people to share your work with are your family and your close friends- especially if you’re sharing for the first time. They’ll be proud of you for trying and finishing what you started. This will make you ready to share with others as well.
  8. Consider the feedback you get. You may not like it, but you have to consider it. Think about it, and if you think it makes sense, you can change something in your story if need be.
  9. Ask for feedback, and don’t be upset when they give it to you. Feedback helps you improve your story, but sometimes it can also get you down and feeling like you shouldn’t have started writing in the first place. Don’t let that happen! Remember, they’re just giving you what you asked for!
  10. Don’t give up after your first try. If you’re rereading your writing, and something just doesn’t feel right, try again. Rewrite the scene or sentence.

Well, I hope this was helpful! I know it helped me to come up with a plan for my reading and writing. Did you find the tips helpful? Can you come up with any tips? What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading! Happy writing!

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13 ESV).