Summer 2019 To-Do List Wrap-Up

Friends, I had SUCH a good summer.  The first two months were crazily hectic and busy, but busy with good stuff like family visiting me, us going on vacation to visit family, friends visiting me, more family visiting me -- it was busy and sometimes exhausting, but fun.  And then life calmed down again at the end of July, and our August has been lovely.  We started school back up on August first, and my kids are doing so well this year!  It helps they're all in even-numbered grades, as those really do tend to be smoother sailing than the odd-numbered grades.

Yes, we start our homeschool lessons back up in early August.  No, I don't hate my kids.  The reason we do this is that it's so horribly hot and humid by August that none of them want to play outside anymore.  So we start school in August (or sometimes late July) when we all are just sitting around inside enjoying the air-conditioning anyway.  And then we're done in early May (or sometimes late April) when the weather is glorious outside, and they can play in the sunshine to their hearts' content.

ANYWAY!  Time to see what all I got checked off my summer to-do list this year.

~ Finish the first draft of my western Snow White retelling or bust!  CHECK!!!!!  My editor has the first draft right now, and once I get revision notes back from her, I'll dig into rewrites. Still aiming to release it in February, 2020.

This book has been such a challenge to write.  It needed more research than my last two, and it's overall a more complicated story.  But I think all that means that the final product will be more complex and rich than the last two books too.

(From my Instagram account.)

~ Read 3 titles from my Classics Club list  Fail.  I read two, By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and The Racketty-Packetty House by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  I also read most of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, but not all of it, so it doesn't rightly count. 

~ Read 6 books off my TBR shelves Check!  I read exactly six: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, Curtains for Three by Rex Stout, The Adventures of the Woman Homesteader by Susanne K. George, The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini, Curse and Consequence by Savannah Jezowski, and Shakespeare's Guide to Parenting by James Andrews.

(Also from my Instagram account.)

~ Read the 3 books for judging the YA section of the INSPY Awards Check!  It was a pleasure, as always.

~ Watch 3 movies off my TBW shelves Check!  I killed it in this category and watched TEN.  They were Dodge City (1939), 17 Again (2009), Becoming Jane (2007), Song of the Thing Man (1947), Heaven with a Gun (1969), Lawman (1971), Cry Wolf (1947), Strictly Ballroom (1992), The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017), and Shepherd of the Hills (1941).

~ Co-host a blogathon in honor of the 75th anniversary of the D-DAY invasion Check!  You can read the master post here, with links to all the entries.

~ Co-host a very exciting blog event that we will be announcing later this month Check!  That was, of course, Legends of Western Cinema Week.  It was so much fun that Olivia and Heidi and I hope to make it an annual event again.

(The Shenandoah River, which we canoed on this weekend.)

~ Go see Dark Phoenix Check!  My thoughts on it are here.

~ Go see Men in Black: International Fail.  I'll see it on DVD.

~ Go see Toy Story 4 Fail.  I'll also see this one on DVD.

~ Go see Spider-man: Far From Home Check!  I liked it.

(I was holding my camera above my head to take this.
These sunflowers were truly magnificent.)

~ Go see Hugh Jackman's The Man, The Music, The Show Check!  Not only did I go see my favorite living actor sing and dance live, I took my best friend along, and it was a perfect evening.  Read more about it here.

~ Visit the Green Valley Book Fair again Check!  I took my mom and my kids along, and we had a blast.

~ Visit the National Frontier Trails Museum Check!  It is TOTALLY worth stopping at, if you're ever in Independence, MO.  I confirmed a lot of details for my Snow White book AND got inspired to set my upcoming Cinderella book in Santa Fe.

~ Make pie more than once Check!  I made a pear pie and an apple-rhubarb pie.

~ Do four jigsaw puzzles with my kids Check!  Hahaha, we did eight.  Here's a collage of them:

All have those are 750-1000 pieces.  My kids are getting so good at doing long puzzles!  Though all those book-cover puzzles are kinda easy because you can just work on one book cover at a time.

How was your summer?  Did you have any goals or plans?  Did you accomplish things?

I'll post my autumn list soon!  But not tomorrow, because tomorrow is Alan Ladd's birthday, so my blogtime must be dedicated to him :-)