Friday, September 2, 2016

August Review!

*creeps in two days late*
Hellooooo!! How are y'all doing today? (Do you get tired of me asking you that? xD)
Can you believe it's September?! August went by so super fast! And I have a feeling September will as well. I can't believe there are only four months left in this year!




-Life-
August was a very relaxed month for us, which, after the busyness of June and July, was so nice! To start off the month, we headed down to the lake for swimming and a barbecue. There was no one else at the spot where we parked, and it was so pretty and peaceful! We ended up staying there til around 9pm, meaning we didn't get home til 10. Oh well, it was fun. ;) 



--My "little" brother celebrated his 12th birthday! All my siblings are growing up. It's a lot different having half of us twelve or older. ;) 

--Our great aunt and uncle came to visit us!! And we had sooo much fun with them! They were here for three days, and I think everyday they were here we were up until after midnight playing games. (And even then we only got through phase 5 of Phase 10. ;P) Wayyyy too much talking and laughing to focus on a card game!



--I got tickets to fly to Spokane! (Yes, this totally amounts to something worth mentioning. ;)) You can read the entire post here. 

I think that was pretty much all that happened this month. Besides my siblings starting school. :) I get to teach two of my younger siblings now that that's been a lot of fun, although it involves quite a bit more work than I expected

Oh, and there was also this random airplane that kept flying so super close to our house! It was kinda weird, but I got a few cool pictures!




-Reading-
*heads over to Goodreads to see what I read* 

The Lady of the Vineyard by Kellyn Roth. 
The Apprentices by Sarah Brazytis 
The Homegrown Historian by Sarah Brazytis 
This Hostile Land by Willowy Whisper 
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine 
Truth by Molly Evangeline
An Album of Memories  by Tom Brokaw 
The Sherwood Ring by Elizabeth Marie Pope
Shadow of His Hand by Wendy Lawton 
By the Light of a Silvery Moon by Tricia Goyer 
 The Lamb and the Fuhrer by Ravi Zacharias 
George Washington by Janet and Geoff Benge 
Fitting In by Rebekah A. Morris
War memorial by Elizabeth Grace Foley 
Letter of love by Amanda Tero
Journey of love by Amanda Tero 
The Princess and I (alpha read) by Rebekah Eddy

So I read 17 books this month. That makes me really happy!!! ^_^ My reading has been dreadfully suffering the past few months. :) 

I also added a few books to my collection . . .


The top three are review books, the others I picked up over the course of this past month. Guys, I paid a total of $3.27 for the not-review books. Not each, that's what they came to all together. I was sooo happy ! :D Thrift stores and library book sales are my favorite things EVER! 
The one I'm looking most forward to reading is Avenue of Spies. It's set in Nazi-occupied France, which is where the story I'm writing is set, so . . . yes. Very excited to read it! :) 


-Writing-
I'm actually quite pleased with myself here. I got the first 5,000 words written in A Question of Duty, Which is the book that comes directly after A Question of Honor, which my editor is currently editing! 
Now, I know, 5,000 isn't a lot, but the first couple thousand are always the hardest for me, so now that I've gotten those down, I'll hopefully be able to write quite a bit more this month! :) 

Here's a snippet from A Question of Duty. 

Micah clenched his jaw, doing his best to keep his breathing even. “Arnold, a second ago you asked if I would turn you in.” His expression changed to pleading. “I beg you, stop what you are doing. Don’t force me to make that choice.”
For a moment the night was silent as the two brothers stared at one another.
Then, Arnold gave the smallest perceptible shake of his head. “I will not stop.”
Micah felt as though someone had pushed him off the bridge and into the icy water below. He was sure that if they had, the shock of the water would be welcome compared to the pain and helplessness he was feeling now.
Arnold met his gaze, eyes that had been filled with life only a moment before were now emotionless. “There will be no compromise on this issue, Micah. Will you be loyal to your country, or to your brother, your own flesh and blood? The choice is yours.”


-Random-
I had some very weird conversations this month. This one was during a chat with two very dear friends. I used only initials, since I promised I wouldn't use names. ;) 

Keep this in mind as you read the conversation below. ;) 


Me: F! You did NOT get another story idea!

K: What, Jesseca?

F: HOW DID YOU SEE THAT THAT FAST???

Me: I am smart.

K: I know.  Your smart except for killing --- in your story.

F: No, you're not smart.  You're a stalker. Y'all aren't allowed to strangle me...Kay?

Me: I'm Not a stalker. I just like randomly checking blogs

F: Remember, I am the only one who really knows all of WT. You can't kill me. 

Me: Hahah, I've already started the plan, F. Too late to stop me. And . . . you've written enough of WT that hopefully after your death we can piece it together fairly well.

F: Doubt it. My notes are a mess. don't understand half of them...

K: I might be tempted to strangle Faith all over again.

F: Tempted to what??

K: Even though she'll already be dead.

F: You're going to strangle me for dying??

Me: Oh goodness. This conversation is making no sense, and if you start at the beginning and read it, it sounds awful!! xD

K: We're rather random.

Me: Yes, we are. But at the end of the day, we're talking about killing F. I need to use this conversation for something.

K: Uh-oh...Use this conversation for what? 

F: My obituary ...

Me: Not sure yet. It's just so random it must be used for something! XD 

K: Not a blog post.

Me: I was thinking about a blog post...

K: And why a blog post, Jesseca??? 

Me: I wouldn't use names. 

K: Hmm. Are you sure you want death threats on your blog??

Me: Death threats are awesome. As long as they're only by friends. ;) 

Did that make any sense? Our conversation tend to not make sense. ;P And just to clarify, we would never kill anyone. EVER! We were teasing one another. (I hope that was clear xD) 
So yes. My month was awesome. I hope yours was as well!!! Are you excited for September??

10 comments:

  1. Wow, sounds like you had a full and fabulous month, Jesseca!!
    Visiting with family is always fun. :)
    Oooo, that plane is cool lookin'. ;)
    YOU READ SEVENTEEN BOOKS?!?!? This. Is. Not. Fair. I read 5... I have read a few of those, though! Ans I'm looking forward to An Album of Memories, War Memorial, and The Princess & I. :D
    Oh, oh, OH!! Don't you love cheap books?! XD I also got One More Sunrise this month! It sounds so good -- Eeps!
    Congrats on all da writing!!! ^_^ That snippet though...
    That conversation...as soon as I read 'weird conversations' I knew what was coming. xD Hahaha,the initials make it all the more fun to read, but most/come can probably guess who it is. ;)

    Great post!

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    1. I did!! And yes, it is. ;)
      Isn't it? I was thinking of making it black and white and using it for the back cover of AQoH. Since David lives on a farm and all... ;)
      I do love cheap books! They're amazing!
      Thank you! And yes, I think that is my favorite scene that I've written so far. glad you enjoyed. ;)
      Haha, I knew you;d recognize it. B-) And yeah, it is much more fun in initials, though I'm sure I probably lost everyone else. xD

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  2. It sounds like you had a great month, Jesseca! :)
    That picture of the lake is super pretty.
    That’s so fun that your great aunt and uncle came to visit! Having family over is always fun. :)
    Wow, you were able to read a lot of books! :D
    Buying books is so fun, especially when they are cheap! :) Oh cool, I have “Dana’s Valley” too. I got it at a library book sale a while back, I just haven’t read it yet. ;)
    I really liked the sneak peak at “A Question of Duty”! It sounds great!

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    1. It was awesome. Buys, but awesome. ;)
      Thank you! We had so much fun!
      Yes, they are, and books are always the BEST! :D
      I haven't read it yet either... I need to soon, though!
      Thank you! I'm excited to finally be working on it!

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  3. Sounds like a great month!
    Congrats on starting A Question of Duty! I can't wait to see how it turns out! :) The snippet looked great! And 5,000 words is still an awesome accomplishment, especially (like you said) when you're trying to get down the first few chapters. Getting started is sometimes the hardest thing about writing a story!
    Hope you have a great September, Jesseca!

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    1. It was! :D
      Thanks! I can't wait for you to read it. ;) Yeah, WHY IS THE BEGINNING SO HARD?!
      Thanks, you too!!

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  4. Loved reading about your month, Jesseca! Happy belated birthday to your brother! :)
    Wow! 17 books! Awesome job! Ohhh….how did you find Ella Enchanted? Was it a good book? I’ve never read it before, but I’d love to try it sometime :)
    Oh dear. Death threats? Strangling? Yeah, don’t kill Faith yet. She’s gotta finish her ASL course first ;)

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    1. I'll tell him you said so! :)
      Haha, I have o idea how that happened. I was surprised when I added them up and found out how many I had read. ;) I really enjoyed 'Ella Enchanted', it was a great book!
      Hmm, i'll try to refrain. But I have to point out, they've both threatened to kill me before I ever did so! B-)

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  5. OK OK: I just started the O'Malley Series by Dee Henderson... I am HOOKED. ;D She is such a great author. How did you like Undetected? I haven't heard of that one- I only just found this wonderful person, haha.
    A Question Of Duty sounds intriguing... I'm very curious. :)
    YHVH bless!
    -Angela | thepeculiarmessenger.wordpress.com

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    Replies
    1. YESSSS!!! That series is amazing! *hugs books* I love it so much! I actually haven't read "Undetected" yet. Hoping to get to is soon, though! :)
      Thank you! It's actually the 2nd book in a series.. and I'm having fun with it. ;)
      Thanks for commenting!

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