erika_nightingale

I've been away for awhile and haven't really posted much. This summer has been a bit crazy and I've been so busy. Time certainly flies. This summer I've been slowly working on my novel and if I keep this pace up I'll have it finished before November. I know myself and I know it won't happen.

I'll probably post snippets here to be reviewed. My goal is to have it ready for peer review by the end of the year. My Dad wants it by January 1 so that's my current goal.

The weather here is gorgeous. It's at a nice enough temperature to have the windows open and the air smells so nice. It has a bit of nip to it which I like. It's been great for writing. I hope it stays that way.

Anyway here's some fun Snow White stuff I got early for my 30th birthday. Thought it would be cute to look at.

So I've decided that I'm taking a two month vacation from Tumblr. I was getting way too irritated with the website and clearly needed a break. It was also starting to feel like an addiction and I felt it was taking away my motivation/discipline to do other things besides scroll through Tumblr. I want to also revamp my Tumblr and have for some time. I want to make my tumblr focus more on my writing, so instead of Tumblr being a blog where I just reblog random things I want to make it into a blog where I will post links to my fic/original stories and maybe meta/thoughts on what I'm currently watching and enjoying on TV or reading. I feel like my blog on tumblr lacks direction and focus and I'd like to change that.

I'm going back to school, taking some summer classes from mid-May to the end of June. I'm pretty excited to start school back up and have a schedule again. But I know the classes I'm taking will require my undivided attention. One is an online class and the other I meet MTWRF from 11:00-1:50pm in a classroom.

Not to mention that I have writing projects to work on and I can't be distracted by Tumblr. I'm trying to get a story set up for Wattpad/fictionpress. Links will be posted here as well as my Tumblr when I go back on. I have the first series of stories planned out. They will range from short story to novella length. My initial estimates of a May or June release aren't going to happen. Likely won't start posting the story until July when I have enough of a buffer ahead of chapter releases to make up for any times where I will inevitably have to focus on something other than writing. Also since I'm writing two stories at the same time it just makes sense for me to be able to be ahead of the game.

Also working with Serenity, my horse, on a regular basis trying to get get her ready for fall. I plan to do some fun shows with her and some clinics. I'm trying to get out to visit her at least MWF. So far things have been slow going and I expect since I won't be in town next week that I'll have to start things over. She's a nervous horse and so I have to be careful and prevent her from being overwhelmed by the things we are doing. She's is dead set against change but I want her to be comfortable with it.

I'm also working on our landscaping/garden. It's in terrible condition and its really bothering me. I plan to do most of it myself since my husband is completely uninterested. Basically taking out one bed at a time, removing all the weeds and plants that I don't want, mulching, planting any new plants, and redoing the bricks around the edge of our landscaping which are sinking into the ground. For now everything in the backyard will be pulled out and I'll mulch it but not plant anything. I also want to fix our fences and our porch and get everything nailed back in properly and maybe even powerhouse/paint the porch again.

Also my mother-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer yesterday. We are going to go visit them all of next week. It's a really shocking thing to find out. She is an incredibly healthy person. We don't know the stage yet but it's looking like stage 3. I lost my grandma a few years ago to lung cancer and so I'm familiar with this brand of hell. So obviously over everything else I'll be focusing on my husband's family. It doesn't feel real yet. I'll update what her prognosis is when we get the test results back. My husband is doing okay but I think he'll have a different reaction when he sees her Sunday.

I will try to stay active on here since it's unfortunately very easy to spend only 30 minutes on this site a day since activity is slow. But don't expect much except for updates on what I'm doing for awhile.