Life Update and December Goals

As we just finished Thanksgiving and are just barely edging our way into December, I thought now would be a great opportunity to reflect on the past month, update on life, and talk about some December Goals!

Look Back at November

I can honestly say that this past November has been the busiest month of 2022. So many things happened, but to save you trouble, I'll just give you the highlights ;)

Reading

I read some pretty amazing books! Here are a few of them:

-The Debutante's Code by Erica Vetsch Oh man, this BOOK!!! It is so hard to find clean mystery books (let alone MURDER), but this book knocked it out of the ballpark! It was intriguing and captivating, while at the same time giving you a taste of life in London in that time-period. If you like Sherlock Holmes and Jane Austen, this book is for you

-We Could be Villains by Megan McCullough

This book. THIS BOOK Y'ALL!!! Oh, it was amazing! Superheroes and spies meet found family and fandoms coming to life. You absolutely must read this amazing book! (Yes, I used amazing twice—can you tell I love this book?)

-The Coronation by Olivia Lynn Jarmusch

No, I wasn't sobbing through the last half of this book... I'll be honest with ya, I've never read a contemporary royalty before. But I really loved this one. Like, I need the rest of this series on my shelf PRONTO!

-The Wonderland Trials by Sara Ella

If you know me, you know I looooove Alice in Wonderland. So, when I heard that the lovely Sara Ella was coming out with an Alice retelling... I pre-ordered it on the spot XD. Did I love this book? YES! Will I read it again? YES! Will I hunt you down if you don't read it? ...

-Dearest Josephine by Caroline George

This was another first for me. I've never read a dual time-period book before. But this was so good. Think, modern-day Pride and Prejudice. I've read this book twice, squealed over it with friends, and totally did not force my sister to read it too 😎.

-Dust by Kara Swanson

Looky here, a reread! Or, actually, a re-re-re-read. (Yes, you read that right.) Right next to Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan has always intrigued me. I loved the idea of a boy who never grew up. And I didn't even know that you could do a retelling off of it! This was my first Peter Pan story, and my first retelling. (I even loved it so much, it was the first review on my blog! You can check that out here)

Oh, and along with the whole reading bib, I have read over 270 books this year! Like, what?! My goal was 200, y'all 😂. That's what happens when you're a fast reader, I guess.

Writing

I wrote 50,000 words in 25 days, thus completing (unofficial) National Novel Writing Month! I was so unbelievably stoked to write that last sentence and close the notebook on the story. It's been draining for sure, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

The Blogging Stuffs

I sent my very first newsletter! (So, for those who read it, so sorry for the inconsistencies XD) If you aren't aren't apart of the family, and would like to be, the here's the link to sign up! :D I'd love to see you there!

Still on the topic of newsletters, I got my first 20 subscribers this month! *Dances around the room and tosses confetti everywhere* I was trying to get 10 before the end of the years... yeah, now I'm going for 50! 🤣 But I am by no means complaining!

I wrote 7 blog posts! (Which isn't a huge accomplishment, but still. I'll take it 😉) And I also fixed the notifications so you actually get notified when a new post comes out. Yeah, kind of forgot about that... 👀 But hopefully, it should all be cleared up now!

Peek into December

Phew, I have lots of goals for December! Here are some of them:

- Post 7 times on my blog!

- Plot at least 50% of my next novel, which is a retelling! Which, if there's enough interest, I may do a post about it... 👀 (What think ye? So far, all I can tell you is that it may or may not be a retelling off of a fairytale mentioned in this post... *cough* 😇)

- Read 15 books! I actually have 23 I'd like to read before the end of January, but I'm starting small 😉

- Create a vision board for 2023. I've really wanted to do this for a few months but decided to wait till the year ended XD (I will more than likely do it on New Years' Eve).

- And finally, stay up till midnight on the 31st! (I have done this two years in a row, and it was quite fun!)

Well, that's about all for today, folks! Sorry for the, uh, length of this post *cough*. But I do hope you enjoyed it! <3 It is such a blessing to me that I'm able to have y'all as my blog family. You mean a lot to me. Praying for each and every one of you :D

Tallyho!

Deigan