Still Good

February is my least favorite month of the year. It’s cold, dreary, and winter has definitely overstayed its welcome. . . . Not that it’s welcome past New Year’s Day! ;P

But at least this February is not as bad as usual. Why, you ask? Well . . .

​1. I have three books lined up to proofread—three AMAZING fantasy books* to help keep my mind off the gloom. Yay!!! I usually get one manuscript at a time, but things worked out differently this year, in a good way! I’ve got plenty of other work keeping me busy as well.

2. I have tons of awesome books to read for leisure; I will never exhaust my ever-growing TBR pile! This includes the books I got for Christmas, which are stacked on my coffee table, along with some I got for the previous Christmas that I didn’t get around to last year. Check out the picture below to see what I’ve got lined up!

3. My sister is getting married! <3 <3 Next month, but the bridal shower is later this month. Dress- and shoe-shopping (done; yes, I’m a bridesmaid), wedding gifts to buy, people to be happy for—all great distractions!

4. Thinking of people to be happy for: One of my youngest cousins and his wife are having a baby! <3 <3 I call these kiddos my nieces and nephews since those terms are much more efficient than “first cousin once removed,” heh. I already have seven: five girls and two boys. So I’m hoping this one’s a boy, but either way, I’m so excited!! It’ll be a firstborn, which means a baby shower later this year! I think the little one’s due in September. Now, my sis needs to have a honeymoon baby so they have a cousin their age to play with! ;)

There’s still a month of winter left, and my health hasn’t been great; the cold air certainly isn’t helping me breathe very well. My lungs are pretty bad right now, and I’m exhausted (on top of the autoimmune BS, I have Long C*vid again, oh goody). But I still have to walk the dog twice a day, at least M–F. Can’t afford to pay someone to do it, and I need to exercise anyway since I sit at a desk most of the rest of the day. But those walks take a lot out of me right now. Just praying I can make it through this final stretch of cold ickiness, and that the LC goes away soon. . . . (The doc basically told me there’s nothing they can do for it. Won’t give me steroids—which aren’t evil in small bursts—because they’re immunosuppressants. Argh.)

I didn’t mean to start complaining. I’ll stop. Best get back to the wonderful book I’m proofreading.

“Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely . . .” etc., I’m trying to focus on those things—and I’m glad there are so many of them right now! God is good, all the time.

Even in freakin’ February.

A good chunk of my TBR pile, along with two little treats Oscar got me for Valentine's Day!

​*Yes, they’re all Thinklings books. The one I’m going through now is by Remy Apepp, a sequel to Sand to Glass—but it can stand alone; that series can be read out of order. It’s a heartbreakingly beautiful work of literary fantasy called The Blessed. The other two are Katherine Vick’s—I’m not sure if I should make any formal announcement yet, so stay tuned . . . and you can always check her website for news on her hilarious epic-fantasy books!

P.S. - Word count update: the sequel to Hunter's Moon​ is currently 67.2k words long. Despite my large workload, I'm sneaking in some writing time almost every night. Target length is ~100k words (HM is 98k), so that's about 67% done.