What I focused on in February 

1. Working on the first draft my new book
2. Getting into a good routine that I can consistently stick to
3. Paying attention to and developing a healthy day-to-day regime

Reading Update

Fiction: 8
Nonfiction: 6
Audiobooks: 4
Books for Review: 6

Traveling

Nights Gone: 1
New Places: 0

Goals

What I’ve Been Learning

This month was an eye-opening one for me when it comes to realizing how and what I believe. Among other things, I’ve been studying cultures and I’ve realized over and over again how much my worldview is affected by the overall American mindset. There have been multiple times recently where something has really bothered me and then I make myself sit back and think through the fact that what I want is the American way – not necessarily God’s way. I grew up knowing that I should check everything I read, hear, etc… against the Bible, but over time it’s easy to get lulled into a sense of entitlement or mix up priorities, or any other number of things. 

Through a mixture of books, people, and circumstances, I’ve discovered a lot about who I am as a person during the last few months. It’s easy for me to try and gloss over my negative traits and focus on my positive ones…But, I’ve been slowly realizing that most of the time even negative traits can be turned into good ones with the right work and that sometimes even positive traits can be turned into bad ones without proper balance. So, the reoccurring theme of my life – aka balance – has popped up again, but this time in a different setting than normal. And it’s actually been really good. And fun. And kinda scary. 

Spontaneity is a word I’ve always wanted to describe me, but I’m rather horrible at. This month I worked at being spontaneous. It was fun. And sometimes not so fun. And I poked some holes in my comfort zone so that was good. 

Mysteries. Who would have ever thought I’d be delving into the world of mysteries? The book I’m working on writing has a mystery in it, although I’m not sure I would consider the book a mystery per se. Therefore, I’ve been working on reading and listening to mystery books and paying attention to how everything is pieced together. It’s been helpful and I’ve learned a lot. 

I’ve been learning a fair amount with just writing as a whole. After not working on a first draft for a long time, I’ve been learning about how to get back into the groove, what is really important to me when it comes to books, and how to make it happen.

Other 

This month was a very bookish one for me – in just one week I bought or received 21 physical books, got four more ebooks for review, and got a library card for a new (to me) library system. I also went to two bookstores, several coffee shops, and had a generally delightful time immersing myself in the world of words. Although reading fourteen books and listening to four more this month was fun, it was also entirely unplanned, wonderful, and not something I hope to repeat any time soon.

I’m not sure how so much was fit into a mere 28 days, but February will go on the shelf as being exceedingly full, fun, accomplishing, bookish, and checking a lot of things off my list. 😉

And now for March, a month that I plan to fill with memories, hard work, and hopefully one or two five star reads. 🙂

What was your favorite thing about February?