Adventures and Nightstand Books May/June 2019

Trying to stay on top of the whole Adventures and Episodes thing, as well as getting in my Nightstand Books post, but since I'm a bit late for both of them, I'm combining the two posts into one!

Writing

I wrote rather a ton in May. I wrote 12,776 words in Towers of Might and Memory before I had my complete change in plans.Then I wrote approximately 17,000 words in Summer Princess (I'm not sure exactly because I apparently wasn't keeping track. But I was at 14,000 on May 30 and 20,000 on June 3, so I'm going with a number between there) for a total of 29,000 words written in May! A pretty enormous month, all things considered.The Summer Princess is rolling along nicely and I'm planning to hit 30,000+ words on that this week, reaching the halfway point (or as near as I can figure, I believe this rough draft is going to clock in somewhere around 60k, but it could be a bit more than that, depending). As of right now, I'm still easily on track to finish this project by the end of July and then I'll get back to the Turrim Archive! The time off from Turrim Archive has been good for me, so far, and I am excited to get back to that story when this new one is finished, so that is good.

Reading

Didn't get a ton of reading done just for me this month. Except for North! Or Be Eaten, all of these were books I read with the kids, either for school or for fun. N LOVES the Spirit Animals series, so we've been reading it alongside our school-reading books. Personally, it's not my favorite series, but it's kind of adventurous and has some interesting story telling. I think part of my issue is that every book is written by a different author, so style and voice become a major component of which ones I've liked/disliked. Books 5 and 6, which we read in May have actually succeeded in drawing me into the story more, so that's been nice.I really enjoyed North! Or Be Eaten a lot more than On The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Not as many footnotes, which was nice, and the story just kind of picked up more and the characters seemed to develop more, so that was nice. I felt like the bridge scene and the running away from the Fangs bit went on for a while longer than it really needed to, but other than that, it was an enjoyable read.Gladys Aylward was a great read (and not everybody died, so that was a nice change), love reading this series with my kids.The Little Riders was absolutely beautiful and made me cry. It's a tiny little book, but packs a wallop.

Watching

Let's see. Didn't go see anything in theaters in May. But we did watch a few movies:New to Us Movie:Mary Poppins Returns - this was kind of cute. However, it was not as charming as I'd hoped it would be, and I really didn't love Emily Blunt's version of Mary herself, and I thought the music and dancing was severely lacking.  "A Cover is Not the Book" in particular  was a song I could have done completely without. And Topsy Turvy was nowhere near as dear and charming as Uncle Albert from the original. The children were sweet, and I liked them a lot. Bert's nephew, the lamplighter did a good job, but how do you follow a class-act like Dick Van Dyke? I have NO idea. The lamplighters song was cool and we got a moment of choreography that felt a bit like the original, but still fell far short. Trying to recreate the feel from an era where all actors ALSO had to be able to sing and dance in an era that relies so heavily on CGI and special-effects-trickery had to have been difficult, I'll grant them that... but I think they could have managed to make up for that with sweetness and charm... (e.g. Christopher Robin). For my opinion, the writers and directors simply didn't understand what made Mary Poppins so dear in the first place, and they missed the mark. As a tribute, it did okay. As a movie on its own or even a sequel... I found it disappointing.Rewatching Movies:Monsters University - always fun and one of those magical Pixar sequel-is-almost-better-than-the-original momentsStargate - so love this movie.Television:Derek and I have begun rewatching Stargate SG1 and I'm loving it every bit as much on this go-round as I did the first time. I've missed these characters, so!We're still watching Star Trek: Voyager with the kids, and they seem to enjoy it. Well, okay, Leiana likes it the most... the others more tolerate it. heheBeen watching the Netflix She-Ra with the kids... which up until the last episode of season 2 was cheesy and cute. However, we turned off the last episode of season 2 because they did the thing Netflix seems to think is okay in a kids' show and we will not be watching that anymore. So disappointing. I am DONE with Netflix originals.We've also been rewatching Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes as a family and Gracious, I love this show so much! Definitely recommend if you're at all a fan of the MCU. I actually think I like this cartoon more than most of the MCU movies, so that's saying something!Road to Avonlea season 3. Love this series. Set in the same world as Anne of Green Gables, with some of the same actors/actresses playing the same roles, but new kids and new stories... it's so much fun and so sweet and dear and wholesome and charming. We love it.Started watching Miraculous Ladybug with the kids based on a couple of recommendations from some of my blogging friends and so far it's entertaining and fun. Kind of feels a little bit like PJ Masks meets Littlest Pet Shop.

Life

Finished up the school year and looking forward to summer and all things summer. Just hoping it doesn't fly by too fast!

NIGHTSTAND BOOKS

This is my summer-reading stack.Based on various recommendations, I've started reading Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. I started reading it out loud to Derek and we were having such fun with it that I've decided to continue reading it out loud to him. However, it did mean I had to buy a copy of the book, because I've already maxed-out how many times I can renew it and we're only 1/3 of the way through!Don't know if I'm going to get to Merlin: The Lost Years. I read this series many years ago and remember liking it, even though I did read it all out of order and somewhat backwards.Spirit Animals -- technically, I've already finished this one, but we've started in on book 7, so we'll pretend that's what is in the picture. mmmkay.Crocket and Crane: Horseman by Kyle Robert Shultz is the June Fellowship of Fantasy Book Club read. I'm looking forward to that one!Lady Dragon, Tela Du by Kendra E. Ardnek is the sequel to Water Princess, Fire Prince, and so far I am enjoying it.Spindle by W.R. Gingell is another book club book that I want to catch up on, and I'm looking forward to diving in.

Summer Plans

Lots of time at the pool.We're also getting a yard put in so that our house will no longer look as though it's in the middle of the Sahara Desert.My kids are signed up for swim lessons and art classes and camp, oh my!Derek and I have plans to spend our 15th anniversary celebrating in Chicago and catching a Cubs game at Wrigley Field, as well as going to a couple of my favorite museums and enjoying lots of Chicago-style pizza we don't have to make ourselves!And writing! Lots and lots of writing!Here on the blog I have some plans to do a a super fun summer series on indie publishing, marketing, building your author platform, and whatnot! I've got some awesome guest-bloggers who are further along on the authoring-path coming in with posts on the subject, so I'll be soaking up some of their words of wisdom right along with you!What have you been watching, reading, writing, and doing here at the end of spring? Do you have any fun summer plans in the works?