Hello, everyone! I hope all of my American readers had a great Independence Day! Today, I am going to be sharing about how my June was!

Life Updates

• I went on a weekend getaway with some of my family. We had a lot of fun shopping, spending time in nature, and spending a lot of time at the beach! We even got to watch some beautiful sunsets on the beach.

• I started my summer job with my local parks and recreation department, which is always so much fun! I love getting to be outside in the summer and working with kids.
• I have been enjoying spending a lot of time outside lately! Not only am I working outside a lot, but I also have been enjoying going on bike rides, taking sunset pictures, going on walks with friends, or even just bringing a book or my laptop outside for a while to get some fresh air.
• I finished drafting and editing my WWII Maine short story, which also has a title now, A Shelter in the Storm! There will be more about that down below!

Writing Updates

June was a huge writing month for me as I was working to meet a submission deadline for the anthology for which I submitted A Shelter in the Storm. I finished the first draft of the story, did several rounds of edits, had it beta-read, and submitted the story! I will hopefully hear back about it soon; I will be sure to keep you all posted. I can’t wait to share the story! I ended up making a lot of big changes to the story, but I am happy with how it turned out. The characters were a lot of fun, and I love the themes of trusting God and accepting changes in our lives. I also greatly enjoyed diving deeper into the history of Swan’s Island, Maine and the changes it went through during World War 2.

I also started planning another short story, Something, that I am also hoping to submit for an anthology! It’s still in its early stages, so I don’t have a lot to share, but I can say that it will be about a college student who learns about the importance of rest. I’ve been enjoying learning about rest from a Biblical perspective lately, so I think this will be an interesting project to work on as I incorporate those themes in the story!

Because of the deadline with A Shelter in the Storm, I haven’t done much with The Sullivan Six lately. However, I did sign up to participate in King’s Daughters Writing Camp again in July, so hopefully I will make some good progress on the second draft then!

At some point, I forgot to keep track of my writing progress, so I don’t have a total word count to give this month. I also have yet to figure out a good way to track my progress while editing… If anyone has any suggestions, let me know!

Etsy Updates

I added twelve new items to shop this month! Some of my favorites include the Printable Summer Bucket List and these Printable Words of Jesus Scripture Cards. I am also working on adding more state park checklists, and I have most of the Midwest states done, so if you live in the Midwest or want to travel in the Midwest, check them out!

Books I Read

Somehow, I didn’t end up reading as much as I thought I would in June, but I did finish 6 books! These are:

• The Heart of a Cowboy by Jody Hedlund (1.5 stars)
• The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter (3.5 stars)
• Miss Newbury’s List by Megan Walker (3 stars)
• Dragonfly Summer by Valerie Howard (4.5 stars)
• Letters for Victory by Kate Willis (5 stars)
• The Open-Air Life by Linda Akeson McGurk (2 stars)

My June reading wrap-up from The Storygraph!

Favorites This Month

Book: My favorite book from June was Letters for Victory by Kate Willis! This was a really sweet story about four siblings on the WWII homefront. My favorite part was that it is semi-epistolary; the siblings write letters with a soldier (hence the title Letters for Victory), some of which feature in the story. Read my review here!

Blog Post: I was greatly inspired by the article “Write a Story That Heals Humanity: A Guest Post by Madison Rachel,” on the blog Faith, Fiction, and Fairytales. It has encouraged me to think deeper about why I write and how I can better fulfill that purpose! If you are a writer, definitely give it a read!

Bible Verse/Passage: I have been reading a lot from the Psalms lately. I appreciate the poetic language and the encouragement of Psalm 91. I love the beginning of the psalm:

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. . . . He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be they shield and buckler.” Psalm 91:1-2, 4

Blog Post Round-Up

If you missed any of my posts from June, here they are!

Let me know in the comments how your month was! I will be back next week with a book review!