Country Music, Tired Selfies, and Spring Weather || February Recap

Holy cow...what just happened?

January flew by, but February? It flew by, y'all. As a wise human on Instagram said, "january took a whole thirty-six years to go by but february only lasted as long as your last meaningful relationship."

Which is basically true.

|| Life. || 

>> I went to a Zach Williams/Citizen Way concert with my mom on the first Saturday of the month. The bro got us tickets for Christmas. It was so awesome! :D

>> When you're watching WCTH and they're talking about past presidents... But like, y'all are Canadian... *scratches head*


>> Someone told me that the song Nothin' Like You reminds them of me and that totally made my day. ^-^


>> The When Calls the Heart blog party gave me the notion to re-watch the entire season. We're currently in season 4, and I can hardly wait to start season 5. :D


>> Weather around here has been so weird lately. It's rained nearly all month (okay, so that part isn't so weird. We practically live in a rainforest ;P) and it's been really warm! It's quite a bit cooler now, but for awhile it felt like spring. Which—as much as I like winter—was kinda nice. ;)

>> I didn't mention this in my January recap, but I made an unofficial resolution to exercise more this year. In January, I...didn't do so good. I took short walks pretty often, but I only biked like two days. This month, I did a bit better, and I've started running with my mom a couple days a week...which is harder than I expected it to be. Someone is in much worse shape than she thought. *cough*


>> I listened to music this month—a lot of which was country music, thanks to a certain human whom I stayed up to midnight to write with. Some favorites are... Pray With You - Mallary Hope. Looking Back at Me - Mallary Hope. Water Tower Town - Scotty McCreery. Marry Me - Thomas Rhett. Satisfy - Tenth Avenue North. I Am Sure - Dan Bremnes. Five More Minutes - Scotty McCreery.


>> I took a lot of tired selfies this month...? According to my phone photos, I did. xD Here's a fav, which made it's way to Instagram on Saturday night...

|| Books. || 

Sooo...reading didn't go that well this month. (Not sure what was up with that, other than I've noticed that I rarely have two good reading months in a row. :P) But the books I did read? AMAZING. <33

// Reads 

A Marriage of the Heart by Kelly Long -- 5 stars
At the Edge of a Dark Forest by Connie Almony -- 4.5 stars
Sleeping Handsome by Rebekah Eddy -- 4 stars -- Review HERE.
Meet My Boyfriend by Willowy Whisper -- 5 stars -- Review HERE.

I also read the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua. Loving this Old Testament history! :D

// Books Bought 

I got two darling little books this month. <3 And took less than $10 from my reading challenge!

Kindred Souls -- Thriftbooks
Andora's Folly -- bought from author

|| Writing. || 

Writing was kind of interesting this month. Sad too, as I made the decision to set War Tears aside for now.

Yeah, you read that right. After tottering back and forth since shortly after the holidays, I finally decided that it just wasn't working. I literally dreaded having to sit down to work on it. I was improving it in many ways, sure. But it didn't feel like enough.

I finally came to the realization that my heart wasn't in it. I was no longer passionate about the story that I poured two years into, on and off. It still holds a special place in my heart and it always will. I have no doubt that, someday (probably sooner rather than later ;P), I'll dive back into it. I'll cut all those unnecessary rambles, strengthen the characters, and discover the book's theme and purpose.

But now is not that time.

On the other hand, I'm making great progress on A Soldier's Freedom. I finished my read-through of the first draft, left a ton of sticky-notes throughout (you can take a peek at the notes here, if you're really bored...pardon the background noise), and brainstormed a few things that didn't add up. I'm looking forward to starting the actual edit soon! :D

I got Love Needs No Words back from beta-readers, and I'm currently working through edits. Everything is on-track for a March 20th release for the story that's in that awkward spot that's kinda a short-story and kinda a novelette...whatever that is. ;P

Also, #sidenote. Lisa from Inkwell posted about her top anticipated releases and she included Love Needs No Words, y'all!! :D *happy author squeal*

And while we're on the subject of squeals... I won a short-story contest!! I entered the Circle C Short-Story Contest back in January and found out this month that I won. The winners were posted here. :)

|| Blogging. || 

// Favorite Posts

The Peculiar Messenger ~ Every Breath is a Gift

The Ramblings of a Bookworm ~ Me

Merikthorne Library ~ Dandelion Dust by Faith Potts

Nadine Brandes ~ Dear Singles, It's Okay to Be Picky

A Purpose and a Promise ~ Right Here

// Blog Party

My friend, Rebekah, and I co-hosted a When Calls the Heart blog party this month. It was so much fun! :D 

Day One ~ Day Two ~ Day Three ~ Day Four ~ Day Five ~ Day Six 

// My Posts

|| Goals. || 

~ February Goals 

>> Read 8 books.        *sobs* nooo...

>> Finish editing War Tears pt.2 and send it to alphas.        Nope. For #reasons

>> Stay caught up with emails and blogging.        Nailed it. xD

>> Post on both blogs once a week, plus a couple posts on the group blog.        Yep. But only one post on the group blog. ;D

>> Start applying beta-readers feedback on Love Needs No Words.        Yup!

>> Finish my read-through of A Soldier's Freedom.        Yes!

~ March Goals 

>> Read 8 books.

>> Stay caught up on emails.

>> Publish Love Needs No Words.

>> Edit 9 chapters of A Soldier's Freedom.

>> Finish my Grammar, Bible, and History courses. (Finishing these subjects for the last time as a high schooler is like.... o.o)


How was your February? What are you looking forward to in March? Let's chat!

~Faith