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March Monthly Wrap Up

Happy Wednesday everyone!
We're officially on a stay at home or shelter in place or whatever you want to call it order. So, no going out somewhere unless its for food or medical reasons. Really, the whole order didn't really change much of how we've been doing things at my house the last week. The only stores we go to, and by we I mean one person leaves the house and comes back with groceries, are grocery stores. I can understand why they're doing that though. So many people are going to Lowes and Hobby Lobby and all these non-essential places. Hopefully this will deter them, and I think those stores might actually be closing for the time being.

March Writing: This month has been an interesting one writing-wise. I've been getting in a little bit of writing the sequel to Golden Touch here and there. I'm writing at least a page in it every week or so, which is progress. Actually, it's been really nice to have a WIP that I can work on at my own pace. There's no rush. No one is waiting for a sequel, there's no pressure to publish it at all. I could literally take a year writing this book and no one would care. It's a very freeing feeling.

I've been working almost nonstop on getting Cursed ready to be published. It's a week away and I'm freaking out a little bit. There's some minor, cosmetic edits to finish. I'll definitely have them done and have Cursed ready by next Tuesday.

Also! The cover for Cursed is finally finished!
Isn't it gorgeous? Seriously, I love it so much. 😍 Unfortunately, it is not for pre-order. Next month I think I'll write a post about the pre-order situation that happened last year, but for now feel free to add it to your Goodreads shelves! It'll be out March 31st, next Tuesday!

March Reading: My reading this month has been dismal...

On my birthday I bought When The Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry. That was seriously the last time I went to a place that wasn't a grocery store since everything happened. I just finished it the other day. It was a very intriguing and interesting book. I loved the characters. I loved the arcs and the journey those characters went on. But, honestly, the ending was a little disappointing. The cover is very misleading. I went into it expecting a contemporary story with a dash of sci-fi. I didn't expect any super heavy alien stuff, but just enough to keep me entertained. And for almost the entire story it did. It kept me guessing. I kept waiting for answers, I kept waiting for the spaceship to be exposed or whatever. It... never did. The end of the book was not what I expected at all. I think I would have been Okay with the ending, even really liked it if the cover and the rest of the book hadn't been so misleading about the whole alien thing...

Also, just a head's up, there was a bit of language sprinkled throughout the book. Not enough to make me stop reading it, but enough for me to be kind of annoyed.

And that was literally all I read in March (so far anyways), besides the many articles and scholarly papers and the biography for my college classes. I'm hoping to start another book before the month is through. Possibly Chosen by Kirsten White.

March Life Stuff: Haha! What didn't happen in March?? I will never forget the March I turned 22. I'll never forget the week I turned 22. Literally the day after my birthday the world went nuts! I'm thankful that the world waited until the day after my birthday to freak out about the coronavirus, but still... it will go down as one of the most - if not the most - memorable birthday week I've ever had. There was a toilet paper shortage, grocery store shelves were barren, everything slowly closing, corona virus memes and funny videos galore. I've been shut up in my house with my dad, who is usually gone for most of the day working and both my brothers who usually work home along with, of course, my two littler brothers. Let's just say, the house is feeling a little bit crowded haha

But anyways, in March, the world turned upside down. A pandemic was called. The president called a nation wide emergency. It's been raining almost the entirety of the month. I turned 22 and finally got to use the I'm feeling 22 Taylor Swift gif. I read through all of Joshua. I'm publishing the sequel of Wayward at the end of this month. Ahsoka made her first appearance on the final season of The Clone Wars. It was also announced she's going to be in the next season of The Mandalorian and played by Rosario Dawson (I rejoiced when I heard that she was not going to be played by Brie Larson). I've started prayer journaling every morning again. I got a whole bunch of awesome research books on assorted mythologies and mythological creatures for my birthday that I can't wait to dig into. And seriously, the memes and funny videos that have come out of this month have been the literal best. I've said this so many times, but I really am so thankful that I live in the era of meme-making. It makes the hard parts of life so much better when you can find humor in them. You know, though, other than the virus... not much has happened for me this month. I had my birthday, I wrote, I edited, I worked on class stuff, talked with friends... and that's about it.

Looking Forward to April: If I'd written this post last week, this portion of it probably would have been pretty bleak and depressing. I was having a really hard time. I thought this is it, my whole year is ruined because of this. My March and April will be ruined. I won't get to do anything or look forward to anything. When I thought about the future it looked blank. But after talking about it with a friend, I realized I've been living in the future a lot lately. There's been a lot of future planning, lots of daydreaming going on in the past few months. And I think, even though it is really hard to accept this, I need to pull back and be more present. That's what this whole crisis has shown me. That I need to rein myself in a little bit. I need to enjoy the little things, look forward to future plans while also focusing on where I'm at right now. That's really hard for me, but something I'm trying to learn to do.

With that said though, I do think it's important right now to look forward to things and not fall into the mindset of the future is bleak and I won't be able to do anything. I'm excited to go to my grandparents' and celebrate Easter with them. I'm excited to start writing book 3 in the St. Croix Falls series. I'm a little bit ready for classes to be finished at the end of April. I'm actually looking forward to it a little. I could use a few weeks' break after this crazy semester haha I'm excited to read more books, to write more of Emerald Phantom (the sequel to Golden Touch). I'm excited to get to see my best friend again and to hang out. We've been talking on the phone last week and this week and I'm ready to see him in person. Most of all though, I'm ready for all this social distancing and quarantining to be over. I don't know if that will happen in April or not, but I'm holding out hope that April goes better than March.

A few things I'm excited for that's coming throughout the rest of the year (because I'm determined to believe that this virus won't ruin my entire 2020):

Our local comic con was rescheduled, so now my best friend and I can go later this year!
Shannon Messenger is releasing an annotated and illustrated special edition of the first book in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series in August. I am so psyched to get that book!
The first place I'm going once this is all over is Target. I can't wait to go to Target again. I miss it.
Getting to go to the library again.
Going to Barnes and Nobles again.
Just going out in general without worrying again.
One of my closest friend's wedding in August!
Going to the zoo.
Going to the children's museum.
Publishing St. Croix Falls #3.
Finishing writing Emerald Phantom and starting on book 3.
Getting to go see Morbius with my mom in theaters (and hopefully, Venom 2 as well).
Seeing how Clone Wars season 7 ends.
Going to the mall!
I can't wait for The Invincible Life of Addie Larue by Victoria Schwab to come out!
Reading through Judges and the rest of the old testament through 2020.
Maybe going to a concert or two this Summer and Fall.
Get my driver's license this Fall!

There's so much more I'm sure that I can't think of right now. But that's my list of things I'm doing in 2020, things I'm excited for. Because 2020 is not ruined. I will get to do all those things this year. You'll get to do the things you had planned or are excited for too.

What are some things you're looking forward to next month/throughout the year? 

Comments

  1. Okay, but YES, living in the age of memes is the best. XD All the memes coming out of this month have been AMAZING. *dies*

    Happy (belated) birthday, Melody! And I hope your April is fantastic! <3

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes!! I so agree! XD

      Thank you! I hope you have a great April too! :)

      Delete
  2. It really is great to be in the meme culture. Like, I'm sooooo thankful for that.

    I really liked your list of things to look forward to. It's been so easy to get wrapped up in the fear and uncertainty, that it's important to look forward and get excited about things and not constantly bogged down by every little fearful thing.

    I'm really looking forward to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier coming out. Like, I think it's going to be one of the greatest things ever to exist (as long as they don't go for certain content, which I guess is a possibility).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Me too! XD

      Thanks! I definitely agree, it's important to find things to look forward to.

      Yess! I think The Falcon and Winter Soldier has a little of potential. I'm especially excited for Loki!:b

      Delete
  3. Thank you for your encouraging words. *hugs* I've had a really rough time with this whole catastrophe and I'm praying that things improve soon. It's tough to live among all of this stress. I'm happy you and your family are safe!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry you've been having such a hard time! :( It's rough right now, but it won't last forever. We'll get back to normal and everything will work out... it'll just take some time. Stay safe! :)

      Delete

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