February Wrap-Up

Well, there goes February and the first two months of the year. . . It's kinda hard to believe that we're this far into 2018 already. Not to mention, this is my first wrap-up since. . . August. *coughs* But here I am, wrapping up February. :)

Writing

I actually haven't been doing any writing recently. I took a much-needed break, and I'm currently working on a new outline for Lowlife (because the first one wasn't that great :P). And, just the other day, I got a potential novel idea. :D Although I don't know much about it yet, I'm interested as to where it'll go.

Also, I'm sure all of you (or at least most of you) know that Camp NaNoWriMo is next month! I know it's crazy!! And yes, I am going to be participating. ;D I decided awhile ago that I will be working on the second draft of Strangers. So this month, I'll be getting that ready. :)

Reading

I haven't done a whole lot of reading recently. Well, I kinda have, but it's been over several books at once. :P Since I missed last months wrap-up, I'm going to list all the books I've read so far this year. :)

       

So yeah, I've only read five books. My favorite (not including Dare because that was a reread ;) was definitely Scarlet by Marissa Meyer! <3 I loved that book so much, I could hardly put it down. :D
My least favorite was The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan. It was actually a DNF (my first). I was really disappointed with it. I may try and read the whole thing in the future though, we'll see.

Along with those, I also read nine books of the Bible! :D

       

                                                   

Other News

I went on a trip! :D I flew out to visit my older brother, his wife, and two kids. We had a blast, and it was definitely a trip of "firsts". ;D If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that I flew in an airplane for the first time ever, and it was so. much. fun!

I also went to Starbucks and Barnes and Noble for the first time! I know, some of you are probably wondering how I've lived this long without going to those but I live in a small town okay? The nearest Starbucks is like an hour and a half away. And the nearest Barnes and Noble? I don't even know. I got six books there though, and they were:

The Kingkiller Chronicle: The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Star Wars: Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

Ranger's Apprentice: The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan

Brotherband: The Outcasts by John Flanagan

Scythe by Neal Shusterman

The Lunar Chronicles: Winter by Marissa Meyer

I went to this coffee shop call Scooter's and, dare I say that I think their coffee was better than Starbucks? But then, I did only go to each of them once, so I haven't had enough of their coffee to confirm that. Although I did like the coffee I got at Scooter's a little more. After we went to Scooter's, we went to this ice cream place called Cold Stone. Absolutely. loved. their. ice. cream. <3 Guys, I love ice cream and that was probably the best I have ever had. 

The last first was that was the farthest from home I have ever been. :)


What about you? How was your February? :)

ONE MONTH LEFT! // 5 Things To Do

Guys guys guys! There is only ONE MORE MONTH UNTIL NANOWRIMO!! XD Like, how are we so close I'm not ready!

But I will be. . . hopefully. :P Although I still have a lot to do, I think I've got myself pretty organized for this month. Just yesterday, I bought a dry erase board (because apparently, these things are helping other writers?). I drew up the month of October and figured out what I'm going to do, in the writing department, each day. I already feel better about this month. :)

So I, myself, have five things to do before November, and I figured I'd share them with you all. :)


1. Outline

Yes, I still have to outline. I'm going to be writing three novels, possible four, for NaNo. Right now, I only have a few notes for each of them, and I've started making Pinterest boards for them too. I don't even have characters yet, except for one, and that's only because it's a sequel. :P But I'm not going to do what I did last year, and not even start outlining until two week before NaNo. There was a good reason though, and that was because it wasn't until two weeks before NaNo that I decided that I was going to do it. :P

You may be wondering why I'm writing three novels for NaNo, so I'll tell you. Last year, I didn't think I would make the 50k, especially since it was my first year/time doing something like that. But I finished the novel I had outlined by the 14th, and then had to find other novels to write. My final word count total was 105,501. This year my goal is 150,000 so I'm trying to make sure that I have enough novels outlined. It's also helpful because if one is giving me a hard time, I can switch to another one and keep my word count going up.


2. Playlists

You probably already know that I'm one of those writers who listens to music while I write. So I need to make playlists. Trust me, you don't want to in the middle of NaNo trying to make a playlist or figuring out what you're going to listen to. It takes time, time you could be using to write. So if you're a writer who maybe needs music to write, I highly suggest making playlists before November. I have an idea of how I'm going to create playlists, I just need to do it now. :P

Also, I'm now on Spotify! :D


3. Caffeine

In case you didn't know, I loove coffee. ;P And I need to make sure that I am all stocked up for November. Creamer too. Why? Because I don't plan on sleeping. Sleep is for the weak. Just kidding, I'll be sleeping. :P But anyway, if you have something that you drink or eat while writing, I suggest stocking up so that you don't have to make a run to the store in the middle of the month. Because if you are behind on your word count, then having to go to the store is just going to waste the time you could spend writing your novel.


4. Word Sprints/Wars

Between now and November, I am going to be doing word sprints, and hopefully word wars too. I want to practice writing large amounts at a time, and limber up my fingers for NaNo. It wouldn't be a bad thing to do if you want to practice too. Or you could be like me and practice writing a whole novel in a month. :P Yup, that's right. I have to write 41,500 words of Strangers this month before I can give it to my alpha readers in November. (Don't worry, my alpha readers aren't doing NaNoWriMo so it's not going to cause any problems.)

So I encourage all of you to do word sprints every now and then. I'm actually looking for someone, or multiple people, who would like to do word wars with me this month (and possibly in November too), so if you're interested let me know! :)


5. Panic

Hahaha! Yeah, I added this one partly because five is a nice number. :P But to be honest, it's not necessarily a bad thing to add to this. May as well get it out of my system. Besides, I plan on having this one done by the 15th. After that, I am not allowed to panic. The two weeks before NaNo starts I want to spend getting myself hyped and excited for November, not panicking.


So those are the five things I'm doing this month. At some point, I'm thinking I'll do a post on the novels I'll be writing for NaNoWriMo this month. You guys don't know anything about them yet, and I'm kind of excited to share them with you. :)


So what about you? What do you have to do this month to get ready for NaNoWriMo?