Noveltea

What I Focused on in October: 

1. The half marathon & Celebrating Life 

2. A busy week with my non-writing job 

3. Catching up on my books-to-review stack 

Birthday Challenge and Dream List Update 

Birthday Challenge: 

Dream List: 

Run (or walk) a half marathon 

Reading Update

Non-Fiction: 8

Fiction: 4

Reviews: 12

Audio Books: 0 

Traveling

Nights gone: 1

New States or Countries: None 

September Goals 

1. Read and Review 4 Non-fiction books – YES

2. Run at least the half marathon on the 16th – YES

3. Decide if I want to do the 25 Before 25 Challenge, and if so, choose them – YES

4. Do great with the MWR (week-long non-writing job event) – YES

5. Work on getting everything in place to query for an agent for WLHYL – YES (just worked on it, didn’t complete it)

6. Write weekly goals each week and track them – YES

7. Get to bed by 10:30 10 times & Eat paleo at least 25 days – YES and YES

8. Get caught up with tracking and figuring out my budget – YES

What I’ve Been Learning

October was a great month for learning. I read eight nonfiction books that ranged from how teenage brains work, to how to market yourself as a writer, to how PTSD effects people, to how to balance creativity with the rest of life, and the list goes on. Three of the books were 5-star reads, which makes this little reader happy.

Running the half marathon was also quite the learning experience. I had no clue what it was like to take part in such a huge athletic event, and I was pretty much hooked by the end of the first mile. There were over 100,000 people involved in the day overall, and I learned that I 100% thrive on all the excitement.

One thing I’ve been learning with life in general is to try not to freak out or stress out over “little” things. This is something I’ve been working hard to apply in my non-writing job. It doesn’t always work (haha, not by a long shot), but I did have several people on my team comment on how nice it was that I was more relaxed, so yay.

During my devotions I’ve spent a lot of time really pondering Proverbs, and I’ve gotten some cool thoughts from them. I’ve also learned how good it is to be back in the habit of journaling my thoughts. (Especially when I use different color pen/markers and everything is all nice and pretty.)

Other

Oh me oh my. Where do I even start? This month had some fantastic elements. One of the best was getting to go camping with some of my friends. My best friend Sarah was extremely sweet and planned out everything for us to go camping along with some other friends for a late birthday present. Camping is one of my most favorite things to do ever, so obviously that was a huge treat. I also went off paleo for most of the camp-out, so that meant I have delicious memories of white chocolate s’mores, grilled cheese sandwiches, pot-pies, and pretzels, cheese, and dill pickles. It was a mouth-watering few days. Plus, camping in October? What could be more beautiful? There were lovely sunrises and falling leaves and gorgeous weather all around.

To keep things balanced and real, I will mention that I had some health issues that I dealt with in October that left me spending multiple days in bed (hence the 12 books I read). I’m continuing to learn a lot through everything, and even though it’s hard at times, I’m very thankful for recourses and God’s grace.

October was also a bustling-full month with lots of friends and family and rushing around the kitchen trying to get everything done in time. I got behind in some things, made memories, laughed a lot, thought about becoming a recluse, drank in the beauty surrounding me, drank apple cider, and cuddled up in warm, fuzzy blankets.