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Monday, September 02, 2019

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 :-)

13 comments:

  1. Glad you had a good summer. I can't wait for your western Snow White to come out. Anna bought Dancing and Doughnuts and greatly enjoyed it! Oh, and I almost forgot about the Alan Ladd blogathon starting tomorrow. I'll have to wright something special for that!

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    1. Anna & Irene, thank you! I'm so glad you enjoyed Dancing & Doughnuts, Anna :-) I can't wait for this Snow White retelling to be done! And for it to have a real title, hee. Meanwhile, I do have a Red Riding Hood retelling out, if you need something to tide you over -- it's called Cloaked.

      Looking forward to whatever you write about Alan Ladd! :-) Obviously.

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    2. You're not just gonna call it'Westerny Snow White?' I think that's a great name! ;) Oooh, I would like to read Cloaked. Sounds really good. I'll have to get it sometime.

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  2. Go you! Sounds like you accomplished quite a lot on your summer to-do list. Lists are the best, but sadly, I don't always follow them. Still... I like to make them because crossing things off is THE BEST, and it makes you feel better for having accomplished things that need to get done, and I do like to feel productive.

    Oh, and smart school year planning, too; who doesn't prefer to be outdoors when it's cooler and so glorious outside? :)

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    1. Rissi, I thought it was going to be a lame summer where I get nothing done because of all the travelling and visitors, but nope, kept chugging along. I fail at my lists a lot too, but they DO help motivate me, even when I don't do everything (or sometimes anything) on them.

      Yes, Virginia doesn't specify what dates school should be, just that we need to get 180 days in, so why not make it work better with the weather? :-D

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  3. Hamlette, you're amazing. Homeschooling, and reading lists, and blogging, and writing books? Wow! Can you share some productivity tips? I sure could use them!

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    1. Awww, thanks Blakeney! Yeah, I am very busy. Always doing something. My TV doesn't get any channels, not cable or satellite or broadcast, and I think that helps a lot -- I can watch stuff on Amazon Prime or on DVD/VHS, but that requires conscious effort, not just sitting and vegging. The other thing that keeps me on task is lists. Lists on my blog, lists in my bullet journal, lists on the calendar on the wall. :-) Find what works for you and do it!

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  4. Cool homeschool plan! I've always "switched grade" on July first. That is so awesome that you finished your draft of your Snow White retelling!! Way to go!

    What did you think of The Song of the Thin Man and The LEGO Ningago Movie? I really liked the mystery of the Thin Man movie, and I was not expecting to love the Lego one as much as I did!

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    1. Thanks, MC! That makes sense with switching grades mid-summer. It was always weird when someone asked me during the summer what grade I was in, because... I was between grades, hello? Hee.

      I REALLY liked Song of the Thin Man -- better than the last 1 or 2 Thin Man movies, actually. I love that series as a whole, though. Nick and Nora are relationship goals, tbh. They're so comfortable with each other, and so supportive. I didn't like Lego Ninjago much, though. Not nearly as fun as The Lego Movie, and it felt like... kid-tainment. Oh well. Can't love everything!

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  5. My sisters are so excited that your next book is releasing so soon!!!! :D They kept asking me and asking me, "WHEN do we get to read Rachel's next fairy tale book?" *grins*

    I can't wait to read it and SEE THE PRETTY COVER WHICH I KNOW IT WILL HAVE BECAUSE YOUR BOOKS ALWAYS HAVE PRETTY COVERS :D

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    1. Katie, awww, that's so cool! I'm shooting for a February release, okay?

      I can't wait to see the cover either! I haven't sent a draft to my cover artist yet because I knew it was going to be changing a lot, but... hoping to get her started on it this fall. We'll see.

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  6. I'm glad you had a good summer and that you finished the first draft!!!

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    1. Thanks, Skye! As you know, this first draft kinda kicked my butt, so I'm really glad to have it finished. Just got revision notes back from my editor this week and... I'm going to be adding a lot to it. Not changing what's there so much as adding and deepening and enhancing, which is exciting.

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