What I'm Reading Wednesday - Tell Me and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Tell Me by Joan Bauer

One of my students bought this from the book fair for me and I'm finally getting around to reading it. Even though it's middle grade I'm liking the voice a lot. I'm interested to see how the book handles the serious topic of human trafficking. 

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

Some reviews of this book call the author crazy, but I've only gotten a hint of that so far when she mentioned thanking items before discarding them. I guess I'm not far enough in yet to decide whether this method would work for me. 

2015 Resolutions - Update 3

It's been 6 months (27 weeks) since the New Year! Halfway there :). Time to check in on my resolutions and see where I am.

Resolution #1: Finish the first draft of TGITP

I have 5 scenes left until I finish the first draft! I will DEFINITELY, FOR SURE, be finished by this Saturday. I'M SERIOUS THIS TIME. 

Resolution #2: Read 70 books

I have currently read 35 books, so I'm halfway there! Goodreads tells me I'm one book behind but I'm halfway through quite a few so I should catch up easily. 

Resolution #3: Write at least 1,000 words a week

In the past 2 months I've missed twice, once for no reason and once because I was at a teaching conference. I'm not sure how this resolution will look once I finish the first draft. I guess it will be 1,000 words a week still, but unrelated to TGITP, kind of like my Camp Nano project. 

Resolution #4: Play an instrument once a week

I only missed once this time, for the teaching conference. I've started working on exercises to increase my hand independence (so that I can play a different melody on each hand at the same time, which is necessary for the song I'm learning) and I'm excited to say that I've already seen some improvement!

Resolution #5: Do 5 pull-ups a week  

Yikes. So I've only missed once, which is good. However, for awhile there I was doing 5 pull-ups a day. I had a routine down, but school ended and that routine died. I need to make a new routine for the rest of summer and stick with it, because I've already seen a loss of muscle definition!

Here are my spreadsheets for May and June. 

That's it! I'll check back in at the end of August, where I may re-evaluate my resolutions. 

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Ash, Throw Out Fifty Things, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Ash by Shani Petroff and Darci Manley

I actually haven't started this one yet since I finished UNTOLD this morning. My coworker's daughter recommended it to me and I'm a sucker for dystopian. 

Throw Out Fifty Things by Gail Blanke

Haven't started this one either! I'm kind of bored with THE ART OF NON-CONFORMITY so I'm switching to this for now. 

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis by Isabella Wentz

I've put this book down for way too long, it's time to finish. 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (audio)

As I said a few posts ago I've been craving Harry Potter, and the movies just weren't doing it for me. Back to the books it is!

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Untold, The Art of Non-Conformity, and Death by Food Pyramid

 Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan

Onto the second book in the series! We discuss this one at my book club next week so I needed to get on it. It's started off a little jumpy, but I'm intrigued to see where it goes. 

The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau

Just started this one yesterday so I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. The author is very blunt, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. 

Death by Food Pyramid by Denise Minger

Haven't read much of this one this week but I'm still working my way through it. 

Update: Paperclip Visual

Last month I tried out a new method to visually track my word count each week as motivation. It's worked really well, so I decided to make it prettier and a bit more permanent. 

I went out and got a set of clear shot glasses, and beads in two different sizes. 

The little green beads each represent 100 words (there are ten of them) and the larger red beads represent 1,000 words (I only have seven of these, since I don't typically write more than 5,000 words a week). 

I move a green bead over every time I write 100 words, until I reach 1,000. Then I reset them and move over a large red bead. 

Only 10 more scenes to go until I finish the first draft of TGITP!

What I'm Reading Wednesday - Unspoken, You Can Buy Happiness, and Death by Food Pyramid

I'm writing to you from CAMT 2015 in Houston!

Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan

I joined a book club and this is the first book we're reading. I don't think I would have heard of it otherwise! I am LOVING this main character's voice. She's funny. Not only do I laugh at her weird jokes and phrases, but the other characters laugh and it feels totally natural. Plus there's some great mystery and bad boy tension, as well as a little dab of supernatural. Mmmm. 

You Can Buy Happiness (and It's Cheap) by Tammy Strobel

Not the best how-to minimalist book, but the anecdotes keep me inspired and in the minimalist mindset. 

Death by Food Pyramid by Denise Minger

I'm not reading this one as much as the minimalist book, mostly because it's a little heavy on the technical side for me to read before bed. However, I've already learned a lot of fascinating facts about the politics that went into creating the food pyramid. 

No audio book this week because I've had a sudden Harry Potter craving and put the first one on hold at the library. Now I'm waiting...

My Pocket Notebook

Yesterday I read "How to Use a Simple Pocket Notebook to Change Your Life" by Trent Hamm. I've been thinking about starting a pocket notebook for awhile, especially for those times when I hear a particularly beautiful sentence or good bit of dialogue and want to remember it. His post finally convinced me. 

Today I ran out to the office supply store and bought a pack of little composition books and a pack of little pens. Here's a picture of my notebook, next to a regular pen for size. 

I labeled it June 2015 (I'm thinking that when I finish it I'll add another label for the end month) and taped a straw to the side to hold the pen. 

In the back, I taped an old bracelet I don't wear anymore to use as a bookmark. I also added a few paper clips in case I have any separate papers (receipts, business cards, etc) I'd like to hold onto until I can do something with them or glue them into the notebook. 

I'll update in a few weeks to let y'all know how it's going (and if it really did change my life).