Happy August, everyone! Today, I am going to be sharing a recap of how my July was!

Life Updates

• I participated in the King’s Daughters Writing Camp again in July. My goal was writing/editing 30 pages, and I did end up achieving my goal! I will share more about what I worked on in the “Writing Updates” section. 😉
• I went to a drive-in movie theatre for the first time with some family! It was a lot of fun! We saw Toy Story 5 and The Breadwinner, both of which I enjoyed.
• I had a great time celebrating Independence Day and America’s 250th! The day before the 4th, I went to a parade with some family and friends. On the 4th, I had a great day going to a community festival, hanging out with family (playing games, having a bonfire and s’mores, and lighting fireworks), and watching the community fireworks!
• I also went to a fair! It was a lot of fun going on a few carnival rides, watching an animal show, touring the animal barns, and eating good food! There were a lot of cute rabbits and baby goats there, too!

• Other than that, I mostly just enjoyed my normal summer activities! I have still been working my summer job, and I have had a lot of fun planning and doing crafts and activities with the kids in the program. I have also been enjoying a lot of bike rides and walks and playing yard games with family (croquet is a favorite of ours!).

Writing Updates

July has been another busy writing month for me! As I already mentioned, I wrote/edited 30 pages for my King’s Daughters Writing Camp goal. Most of that work was on my short story, “Something,” which I plan to submit for a KDWC anthology (in which all of the stories have the title and theme of “Something”). My story is about a busy college student, Mikayla Spranger, who learns about the importance of rest (and, fitting with the theme, that resting is doing “something”). I finished the first draft, did a couple rounds of edits, and now have my story with beta readers! I am looking forward to getting more feedback on my writing and incorporating it in the next round of edits.

I also made some progress on the second draft of The Sullivan Six. I am already excited about how things are turning out in the second draft! I am working a lot on fleshing out the story as the first draft was rather short and developing the characters further. I’m learning a lot of new things about my characters, and it is rather fun!

Words written: 5,368

Pages edited: 23

Etsy Updates

July was also a busy month for my Etsy shop! I listed 13 products. A few of my favorites include the Editable and Printable 2027 Bible Verse Calendar and Printable Promises of God Cards. I also added some new state park checklists (all of the Midwest checklists are now available, individually or as a complete bundle!) and several homeschool resources.

I also started a new project with my Etsy shop. I am working on creating a more cohesive brand for my products, so I am updating all of the listing images and also adding promotional videos. I expect this project to last through the month of August, but I am looking forward to the finished result!

Books I Read

Since I was more focused on writing in July, I didn’t do as much reading, but I still managed to finish 6 books (only one was from my July TBR list, but oh well 😂Most of the others from that list are either in progress or will be read soon)! Here’s the list:

• To Tame a Cowboy by Jody Hedlund (1.5 stars)
• The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and A Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall (4. 25 stars)
• The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall (2.5 stars)
• The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall (4 stars)
• The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall (4.5 stars)
• The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer (4.25 stars)

My July reading wrap-up from The Storygraph!

Favorites This Month

Book: My favorite book this month was The Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall. While I have enjoyed most of the books I have read so far in the Penderwicks series, I especially appreciated the old-fashioned writing style, strong characters, and the deeper themes of handling grief, finding your passions, and navigating family relationships, which I thought were handled very well for a middle grade book. I am looking forward to reading the next (and last) book in the series, The Penderwicks at Last!

Blog Post: I enjoyed reading Katja H. Labonté’s review of the anthology A Very Bookish 4th of July. While I didn’t read the anthology this year, I also enjoyed it a couple years ago; it is a very fun 4th of July read!

Bible Verse/Passage: A little while back, I was just reading random passages in my Bible, and Psalm 63 really struck me, especially the beginning verses.

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.” Psalm 63:1-6

While there is too much good stuff there to comment on it all, I especially liked how David described how he “thirsteth” and “longeth” for God, seeking Him early. I found it challenging: Am I having the same attitude towards God, always seeking Him and longing and thirsting to know Him better? I also noticed the importance of praising and meditating on God, something I also would like to work on doing better with!

Blog Post Round-Up

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

I will be back again next week with a special book review of I Love to Tell the Story by Faith Blum! In the meantime, let me know how your month was in the comments!