What I Focused on in December: 

1. Preparing to Query

2.Family time, Traveling, and the Holidays

3. Finishing end-of-year list and preparing for 2017

Birthday Challenge and Dream List Update 

Birthday Challenge: 

Reading Update

Non-Fiction: 1

Fiction: 7

Reviews: 8

Audio Books: 4

Traveling

Nights gone: 12

New States or Countries: None

December Goals 

1.Write the synopsis, target audience, blurb, genre, and author bio for When Life Hands You Lymes (pretty much be prepared to query): = {YES}

2. Blog by 9:30 Fifteen times = {NO – 11 or 12 times} Answer all comments during the week within 24 hours {YES} and Vlog twice {NO}

3. Read and Review 4 books = {YES – 8}

4. 40 hours of learning = {YES}

5. Eat Paleo 20 days = {YES} Be in bed by 10:30 Fourteen times = {No – 12} 15 Walks = {YES}

6. Quality family time without phone, computer, writing work, etc…. {YES}

7. HIS (non-writing job) hours = {NO}

8.Research for Agents, etc… 15 hours = {YES}

9. Write Year-Long Review = {YES}

 

What I’ve Been Learning

Oh, the amazingness of being able to learn and grow! I started out the month completely overwhelmed by the querying process. Skip to the other side of a couple dozen hours of researching, coffee, and notes taken with colorful markers and I was still overwhelmed, but at least now I knew what to be overwhelmed about. Really, I’m a bit amazed with all I learned about being a writer during December. The fact that I actually had my query letter completed, polished, and ready to send out by the end of 2016 made me sigh huge sighs of happiness. It was a good lesson in learning how spending dedicated learning time really does help. (Plus having people help. Cause I had a lot of really helpful help.)

I listened to the audio book Killing Lincoln during my long “weekend” at the Creation Museum. History is something I’ve always been interested in, and this book was no exception. Finding out more about what really went on during one of the most important time periods in American history was fascinating. I may or may not have spent an entire mealtime after I got home regaling my family with some of the facts I had learned.

Being away from home over Sunday meant several missed times at church, and, although I really missed my church family, I enjoyed listening to sermons on-line. There are several different churches who’s sermons I listen to semi-regularly, so that is a blessing. I enjoy learning from different people’s perspective and research.

During December I also learned a fair amount about how I deal with different situations in life. It’s good for me to take time to stop and ponder and review and reflect and really pay attention to what I need to work on changing. Like, I totally surprised myself one day by getting extremely frustrated at something that was incredibly simply. That signaled a growth time for me which, so yay.

Other

December was wonderful, but also had some really expected elements to it.

Near the beginning of the month I spent nearly a week in Florida with my grandparents where I played games, talked, went swimming, and spent hours working on the query letter for WLHYL with amusingly cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies playing in the background. Then instead of going home I headed straight to the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum where I spent several fantastic days with my adopted parents and delightedly seeped myself in the ambiance of the Museum. (If y’all haven’t figured out by now, the Creation Museum is one of my most favorite places on earth.)

As always December was the most gameish-month of the year for me with hundreds of rounds of cards, boardgames, and snatching random breaks for family time. I also learned several new games which were So. Much. Fun.

When I was home during the month I made good use of my time by randomly deciding to go through all my stuff and organizing it. Before I left for Florida it was my office and closet, and after I got home from Florida it was my library. It was rewarding knowing I could start out 2017 with a sparkling clean workspace.

My brother and I used to have a heard of dairy goats. I bowed out of the business several years ago and we sold most of the goats. This December my brother sold the remaining few goats, which meant that our livestock guard dog, Medallion, was now out of a job. My brother generously gave her to the person who bought some of the goats. Although I hadn’t been to the goat barn for a while, I visited so I could say good-bye to Medallion, because even though she was a work dog, she was also a very friendly, big, teddybear-ish type animal. During the eight years we had her I spent hundreds of hours up in the goat barn with her hanging around.