April Resolutions

The weather here today is incredibly nice for this time of year.  It makes me so excited for spring.  I don't plan on making any super ambitious resolutions for this month, however, as life has been pretty busy lately.  Here's hoping that I can be lenient with myself and still get some things done. 

Funny enough, this picture was taken last September.

 

Organize Recipes

We have a corner of our kitchen where those loose printed recipes just get tossed.  Some of them are great and we're saving the sheet so that we can make them again, others we have yet to make, but it's quite the mess.  I'd like to sort through these and find a better place for them to be or a better way to store them.  

Pinterest might not help this problem much, but there are so many great recipes!

Read At Least 4 Books

I plan to read 50 books during the course of this year, so I'd like to stay on track for that.  Knowing me, four books shouldn't be too tough.  Plus, the weather's nice enough that I can sit outside and read!

 

Keep Writing/Editing

I'm not going to make myself crazy and carry over my goal of finishing my first draft, but I'd like to at least keep going, no matter how slow the pace.  If I stop and put my novel down for a month, I know that I may never get my momentum back.  

Watch What I Eat

I know this is a very general goal, but I'd just like to remind myself to be aware of what I'm eating.  I'm not going to be too hard on myself, just smart. 

 

Yoga 4 Times a Week

This worked out pretty well last month, so I think I'll try it again.  I like the freedom to skip a day or two if I want to get to bed earlier, but I want to keep myself accountable and at do it at least some of the time.  

All in all, it looks like April will be a busy and (hopefully) productive month.  What are your resoultions?

March Report Card

Sorry that I haven't blogged much these past few weeks.  Between having family over and staying with a friend for a few days, I haven't had too much computer time.  There's also the warmer weather, which I've been out enjoying.  Even though I didn't get everything done that I set out to do this month, it was still quite lovely.  I hope you're enjoying your Easter as much as I am!
 

Quiet Time With God

Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for this goal kind of tapered off towards the end of this month with everything else that was going on.  I did my study still, at least, but nothing that required too much effort.  

Grade: B+

Finish First Draft of My Novel

Yeah, this didn't happen.  There's been progress, but I basically haven't written or edited anything since the middle of the month.   

Grade: C+ 

Read At Least 5 Books

I read a total of six books this month, so I'm pretty proud of that.  

Grade: A+

Take A Course Through The Christian PEN

This is in progress, so I suppose that I could count it as complete.  I haven't put as much time into it as I probably should, however.  

Grade: B+

Clean Up Closet

This wasn't nearly as hard as I expected it would be, so that was neat.  I even got it done early in the month, so hooray for me!  

Grade: A+

Yoga 4 Times a Week

There was one week where I only did it three times, but there were other weeks where I made up for it, so I think I did pretty well. 

Grade: A

Overall Grade: B

 

How did your resolutions go this month?  

Mid-March Progress Report

Quiet Time With God

Doing well on this resolution.  I've been reading through Ezekiel lately, which is a really interesting book.  I've also been doing a great Bible study with the youth group at my church called Making It Real.  It's a really neat study that focuses on making your faith your own and knowing what you believe.  

Finish First Draft of My Novel

I've already written almost 4,000 words since the beginning of the month.  A lot of work to go yet, but I have a good start.  I get to hang out with my co-author tomorrow so that we can try and hammer out the details of the story and come to agreements on what still needs to be done.  I'm really excited.

Read At Least 5 Books

I finished Drew Karpyshyn's Star Wars: Annihilation this month, though I read the majority of it in February.  As for books that "officially" count:  In the Company of Secrets by Judith Miller, Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn by Philip Athans (read my rant here), and Whispers Along the Rails, also by Judith Miller.  I'm currently reading Bitterblue by Kristen Cashore.  

Take A Course Through The Christian PEN

My course on e-publishing started on the 11th, and I'm already really excited to take another as soon as one is available.  It's been really interesting.  

Clean Up Closet

Yea!  A goal that's already completed!  In fact, it didn't even take me that long.  Mostly, it was just picking things up, consolidating boxes and rearranging.  My shoes are now on my shoe rack and Pikachu is no longer sitting lonely on my shelf.  Although, in cleaning my closet, I found out that I have four extra pillows in there.  Four.  How I amassed that many pillows in my closet without knowing is a mystery.  Perhaps they played a part in Pikachu's plans for world dominion?  

"Bwuahahaha!"

Yoga 4 Times A Week

Since the beginning of this month, I've done yoga seven times.  That's a little bit less than I'd like, but not bad.  Hopefully I can be more consistent over the rest of the month.    

On Redemption Stories

Today, I'm going to take a look at some of my favorite games, movies and books to find those characters that had a rough start, but ended up redeeming themselves.  Sometimes, I find that it's these characters that I have the deepest attachment to because I know what it's like to be in a pit of my own making and be pulled out by the Redeemer.  Of course, not all of these characters are from Christian media, but even secular entertainment can have good themes.  Some spoilers will undoubtedly follow.

Darth Vader

This is an obvious one.  Anakin Skywalker was supposed to bring balance to the Force, but instead fell to the Dark Side and became obsessed with power.  Because of this, he ended up killing a lot of people (even the soldiers under his command), and stopped at nothing to get what he wanted.  Still, when he saw his son nearly killed, he realized that there were some things more important than power.  

 
It's a bit harder to see in the movies, but in the book, there's a few fantastic paragraphs of Vader's thoughts after Luke removes his mask that details how much he regretted his mistakes.  It may have only been in his final moments, but in my eyes, Vader redeemed himself.    

Edmund

 

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is probably one of the most popular children's classics of all time.  And though the talking animals and battles and stuff are cool, the best thing about this book to me is Edmund's redemption.  He starts off as the bratty brother, teasing Lucy that Narnia isn't real.  When he finds out that he's wrong, he ends up talking to Jadis, the witch who has caused Narnia to be forever in winter.  She tempts him with sweets and the chance to be a prince, and he readily accepts.  It takes a while for Edmund to realize that he was in the wrong, but once he does, he makes a 180.  Not only does he help defeat the witch, he also turns into a really great character through the rest of the books.  

Alastair Coldhollow

This character comes from The Dark Sea Annals books by Wayne Thomas Batson and he's one of my favorite characters  because of his redemption story.  We're told that in his early life, Alastair was a member of the Wolfguard, the evil king Morlan's secret army.  It's when he's nearly killed and shown mercy by a woman whose husband he murdered that he decides to turn his life around.  

Loghain 

 

Loghain Mac Tir is a good commander, so the characters of Dragon Age Origins will tell you.  It's not too far into the game that you find out that he's not exactly the nicest person, though.  In the battle at Ostagar, the first large scale battle of the game, Loghain is supposed to lead a flanking charge so that King Cailan's army doesn't get overwhelmed.  Instead, he orders his people to retreat, causing the death of Ferelden's king (whose name is pronounced the same as mine, so I took it a bit personally) as well as many others.  Much of the game is spent looking forward to bringing this character to justice, but in true RPG form, you actually have a few choices as to what to do with him when you defeat him.    

   
You can, of course, just kill him for what he's done.   If, however, you take the route of letting him help you in the final battle of the game, he sacrifices his own life to redeem himself in the eyes of the country.

These are just a few of the many redemption stories out there.  What are some of your favorites?

March Resolutions

Poor Pikachu...

 

 

Quiet Time With God

This was a great exercise in February, and something that I need to continue in.  Thus, I'm going to continue it into this month.  Even if it's just reading a chapter of my Bible and saying a prayer each night, it's been great to take the time for God.  

Finish First Draft of My Novel

This may be a bit of an ambitious goal.  There's a lot of work to do yet, but I'm going to challenge myself and see if I can't get at least a rough first draft finished by the end of this month.  Current word count is 85,374.  

Read At Least 5 Books

Surprise!  Another reading goal.  Considering that I just finished a book this morning, I don't expect to have any trouble reaching this one.  Always nice to have something to shoot for anyway, I guess.

Take A Course Through The Christian PEN

I recently found a great website full of resources for Christian freelance editors and proofreaders.  It looks like it will be really helpful as I pursue my career of choice.  They even offer courses to better educate editors and proofreaders, and I plan on taking the upcoming one about e-publishing.  I can't wait to get started on the 11th!

Clean Up Closet

I'm sad to say that my closet looks a little stuffed.  This may mean that I just need to organize things better or it could mean that I need to take some stuff to the local Goodwill drop-off.  Whatever the case is, I want my closet to look neater by the end of this month.  

Yoga 4 Times A Week

I've still been doing yoga even though it hasn't been in my resolutions for the past couple of months, but not as much as I should be.  I don't expect to do it every day, as there are some times when it can be hard to fit it in between other more important things, but at least four times a week would be good.   

What are your resolutions for this month?

This post inspired by Kelli at She Learns As She Goes.