Reading Plans and Planning Plans (Ha!), week of 06-24-18

Hi everyone!

I'm sorry. I haven't updated here in a long time, and I haven't read much recently. This is because this month, I took a prelicensing course for the Florida Life Insurance exam. At the end of last month, I joined Primerica, which is a company that sells life insurance and investments. Now, if I study, I'm on track to have my life insurance license by the end of this week, as long as I can pass the state exam! That would be so exciting. My mom is taking it, too. So, since I have lots of studying to do this week, finding reading time may not be easy, but it is possible.

I have reading to do for my main job, things to do for Primerica, and I'm definitely planning to do some writing. I'm also judging a contest called Query Kombat. The last two rounds of it are this week. Here's more info: http://www.michelle4laughs.com/2018/06/query-kombat-2018-round-4.html

Then, there's church on Wednesday night, and I'm planning to make a custom planner for July, which will be fun. Finally, there's something called #FaithPitch on Twitter on Thursday. It's a pitch event for Christian fiction, and I feel like I should do it, because I edit Christian fiction, but I might just skip it to avoid additional stress. Things are not likely to slow down going into July, so it's good to be on the offensive this week. So I'm going to plan in a way that's more detailed than I did before.

With that said, I want to devote 1-2 hours to reading each day. These might be right before bed, but recently, I've tried that twice and fallen asleep after less than ten pages, hahaha. Maybe some in the afternoon and some at night. I'll have to try to block my calendar and see what seems to work best.

Today, I've read for about 1 hour and 21 minutes so far. That was split between two audiobooks: Defending Jacob by William Landay and If Not for You by Debbie Macomber, an author my mom likes. It was't split evenly; more than an hour of it went to If Not for You. I've only read bits of Debbie Macomber books before, but this one is nice. I started it today because I wanted something light to balance out the darker tones of Defending Jacob and my other current read, Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton. My main reading goal is to finish Social Creature by Wednesday night.

So, that's it for this week, at least up to Thursday. Depending on how things go, I might plan to participate in the Tome Topple readathon, which starts this Friday or Readehthon (the Canadian readathon), which starts next Sunday. Readehthon is a good opportunity to finish Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, which I started months and months ago and returned to the library unfinished. But I'm trying not to overthink those readathons, so I can use my energy on things that are current.

What about you, readers? Any exciting reading plans, planning plans, or other plans this week? :) Let me know in the comments.

Exciting News! My Story is In An Anthology

Hi everyone!

I just made a post about my reading goals for this week. The funny thing is, I forgot about one thing I'm definitely planning to read this week. It's an anthology called Flicker, and I HAVE A STORY PUBLISHED IN IT! WOOHOO!

Flicker is from Filles Vertes Publishing. Digital copies are currently available, and physical copies will be available starting June 8, 2018. You can order it here: https://www.fillesvertespublishing.com/product/flicker-stories-of-inner-flame-short-story-anthology/

Let me know if you have any questions, and I will come back with more detail about this later this week.

Reading Wrap-Up (sort of) for the Week of 05-20 and Goals for the Week of 05-27

Hi everyone!

It's Cimone Watson. Last week, I did not do any updates here about my reading time. I wasn't doing much leisure reading last week at all. I focused a lot on writing and on reading for CPs. I did sort of track my reading time, but in a disorganized way. I think it was less than two hours total; I listened to a small amount of IQ by Joe Ide, and I read about 26 pages of The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk.

I have two reading goals this week. The first is to finish The Beauty That Remains, of which I am currently on page 42 of 324. The second is to finish Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton. I've barely started that one, and am on page 5 of 282, but I'm a fan already. It's written in third person present tense, which gives it a bit of a creepy-but-not-too-creepy feel, which I like. Plus, it's in Adobe Digital Editions, and I'm able to read it in a mode where it's a black background with white writing. That also adds to the atmospheric feeling.

So, these are my goals. I won't be upset if I don't reach them, since it's shaping up to be another busy week of reading for CPs, reading for work, and writing. But what are your goals? I'd love to know in the comments.

Happy reading!
Cimone

Scallywagathon TBR! Week of May 20, 2018

Ahoy!

It's been a while since I've updated here, and my reading has been a bit sporadic. This week, there is a readathon called Scallywagathon. Here's a link to the website with more info: https://sites.google.com/view/scallywagathon/challenges

This is a pirate themed readathon.

This month, I have challenged myself to only read books by authors who are either black or Asian American, or both. This is because my original plan at the beginning of this year was to make May one of four months in which I would do #Blackout2018, a mission to read only black authors. Here is my video about my 2018 reading goals, in which I explain this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAizZE563og&t=203s

However, I found out earlier this month that it is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, so I thought it would be cool to challenge myself to read both black authors and Asian American authors.

I haven't finished a book yet, and it's May 20, but I'm hopeful. Also, I'm making exceptions for digital ARCs that I already have, because I got really anxious in January when I tried to finish all my non-black-authored digital ARCs before February started. I didn't succeed at that, and I was sad. So, I'm trying to relax a little. I'm also not extending this rule to ARC requests this month. I can request any ARCs.

So, without further ado, here is my TBR. Note: Scallywagathon has many challenges, but they are on a treasure map, so you only have to choose a path with 4.

First, challenge #5: The first book in a series

IQ by Joe Ide OR Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan


Then, challenge #6: A book with a map in it

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir


Followed by challenge A: A standalone

The Beauty That Remains by Ashley Woodfolk

And finally, challenge #9, a book by a woman author, or #10, a book with a character who is different from you (me). Any one of these options can count for either challenge.

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon

OR

The Final Six by Alexandra Monir

OR

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton


I'm hoping I'm not required to read these in order. Probably not, since it wasn't stated anywhere. I've already started IQ, The Beauty That Remains, When Dimple Met Rishi, and Social Creature (the last of which I've read only about 2-3 pages), but I've made a new rule for myself, at least this time, that I don't have to only start new books for a readathon. I can read books I've already started, if I've read less than 10% of them.

And you'll notice that I've mentioned Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton. I meant to tell you earlier, but I was able to obtain this digital ARC toward the end of April, and I'm super excited, because this is my most anticipated book of the year!

So, I'm planning to do an update here soon. If you are participating in this readathon, please feel free to let me know what you are reading in the comments. Thanks for reading, and have a good week!

Reading Plans for Today!

Hi everyone,

So I found out yesterday that today is another #ReadYourFaceOff readathon. It's currently 8:52 am, and that will start at 9:00 am. I've been really stressing about coming to this blog to make a monthly TBR post. Since it's been stressful, I'm officially giving myself permission not to do it. :) But I do plan to tell you what I'm reading soon--maybe just current reads. I know that TBRs are not the only kind of bookish content possible.

I've been undecided about the readathon today. For my physical wellbeing, I need to rest. I'm just not sure what that looks like. Is hardcore reading restful? Is writing restful, if what I'm writing feels cathartic? I'm uncertain right now, so I might spend a lot of today writing.

If I do decide to read a bunch, it would be nice to beat my page count from last month's readathon, which was 286 pages. I'm just in a dilemma, because I'm trying to think of a way to set a goal and not stress about it. I don't know.

Anyway, see you soon. I have 4 more minutes to figure something out, haha.

Reading Plans and Progress for the Week of April 22

Hi everyone!

It's 1:41 am on Monday, April 23, and I am just now getting to the post about my plans for this week. As you may know from last week's post, I have finished reading The Art of French Kissing. On Sunday, I read for 3 hours and 51 minutes and reached 67% on Camino Island. (Based on an error in the clarity of my logging, it's possible that I actually read for 4 hours and 24 minutes instead, but I doubt it.) I also started reading You Me Everything by Catherine Isaac, for which I am at 1%.

I'm listening to Camino Island while typing this, and I'm at 68%. I plan to finish Camino Island and reach at least 50% in You Me Everything. Once I'm done with Camino Island, I might do more activities that allow for audiobooks. If that's the case, I'll probably continue with Three Dark Crowns.

This week, I really want to finish as many books as possible, because I'll be doing Blackout 2018 in May. That means that I'll only be reading books by black authors. This is a good thing, of course. However, none of the ARCs I currently have are by black authors, so I'll have to either finish them this month or wait until June.

I'm not sure which ARC I plan to pick up after You Me Everything. There's a good chance I'll go with Good Luck With That by Kristan Higgans. On Saturday, there's a 24-hour readathon, which is a good chance to get as much reading done as possible.

I'm excited for this week!

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12:46 am, April 24

Monday the 23rd was a great reading day. I mostly listened to Camino Island, and I read a bit of You Me Everything. My total reading time was 6 hours and 3 minutes. Unlike my last digital ARC, You Me Everything has a page count in Adobe Digital Editions that is close to the page count listed on Goodreads. So I'm going to use real page numbers to track it instead of percentages. I still haven't finished Camino Island, but I'm very close! Current positions:

Camino Island -- 96%; this is an increase of 28%

You Me Everything -- page 16; this is an increase of 12 pages, or approximately 3%

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2:58 pm, April 26

Hi! It's been a little while since my last update. I'm looking back at my notes from Tuesday the 24th, and it looks like I didn't read at all that day. I ended up going to sleep around 9 pm and waking up at 9 am the next morning, because I'd been sleeping little bits for a while, so I was tired. That night's sleep was great for me. Yesterday was Wednesday the 25th, and I read for about 36 minutes and 58 seconds. Camino Island expired, and I started a new audiobook. Today, my reading tracking hasn't been quite as tight as usual, but I think I've read for about 1 hour and 42 minutes. Now, I need to do some writing and writerly things. :)

The way I see it, Monday was a leisure reading day, Tuesday was a day for work and CPing, yesterday was a day of pitching in #DVPit, and today is mainly a writing day, with a substantial amount of reading, too. I'll try to update again later today. Right now, I'm not putting page counts in this part of the post, because I want finish blogging for the moment and put my writer hat back on. :) See you soon!

Reading Progress: Week of April 15, 2018

Hi, everyone!

I mentioned in my previous post that I'd like to get a good amount of reading this week. It's currently 6:12 pm on April 15. I'll tell you my starting point and then come back with updates throughout the week.


I am actively reading 4 books. For this post, I'm defining "actively reading" as follows: any book I'm currently reading, andhave read some of within the past 10 days (modified 04-17, because this originallly said "7 days"), is a book I'm actively reading. I'm clarifying that because I have other books you might call "current reads"-- books I started at some point, but have stopped for some reason, and I know I'd like to pick them up in the future.

Here are the four books, and my position in them, by percentage:

The Art of French Kissing by Brianna Shrum -- 62% done

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake -- 41% done

Camino Island by John Grisham -- 28% done

War Cross by Marie Lu -- 18% done


Both Three Dark Crowns and Camino Island are audiobooks, while the other two books are ebooks. As soon as I finish The Art of French Kissing, I plan to pick up The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan. I'll try to add an update before I go to bed.

Thanks for reading this!

Cimone

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1:13 am, April 16

Even though I'm typing this at 1:13, this is an update for the end of April 15--i.e. everything up to and including 11:59 pm.

Before 9 am, during #ReadYourFaceOff, I read for 1 hour and 9 minutes. After 9 am, I read for 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 23 seconds. So, my total reading time for the day was 3 hours, 26 minutes, and 23 seconds.

Since my last update, I have made progress on 2 of my books. Here are the current positions:

Camino Island -- 37%; this is an increase of 9%, or approximately 26.1 pages

The Art of French Kissing -- 71%; this is an increase of  9%, or approximately 23 pages

So, I've read about 49 pages since my last update.

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11:21 am, April 17, 2018

This is my update for yesterday, even though I'm typing it the next morning, haha. Yesterday, I read for 11 minutes and 13 seconds, all of which took place before going to bed Sunday night. I was listening to Camino Island. The main reason I stopped is because I was sleepy and had trouble concentrating. After waking up yesterday morning, I didn't read any published books at all.

Camino Island -- 39%; this is an increase of 2%, or approximately 5.8 pages. Admittedly, I'll probably listen to these pages again today, since I was so sleepy.

So 5.8 pages is my total for April 16.

Today, I really want to finish The Art of French Kissing and start The Art of Escaping.

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6:03 pm, April 18, 2018

This is my update for yesterday, April 17. Yesterday, I read for a total of 1 hour, 2 minutes and 4 seconds. Progress:

The Art of French Kissing -- 76%; this is an increase of 5%, or approximately 12.8 pages

Camino Island -- 39%; no increase, but I listed this here because I did listen to it a tiny bit. I probably went backward a tiny bit, having to rewind because of the part I didn't understand the previous night.

So, 12.8 pages is my approximate total, plus a reread of 1-4 pages. or so from the previous night.

I have not read any yet today. My goals are the same as yesterdays: to finish The Art of French Kissing and start The Art of Escaping, even if I only get a chapter or so into The Art of Escaping. I also might read a chapter of War Cross, because it's been quite a few days since I read any of it. I don't want to forget what's happening. But, I really want to do some writing tonight, so if I don't even finish the first book, I won't be upset. Getting the urge to write is a good thing. :)

ALSO, I found out something great last night about Netgalley. I'll have to put that in a separate post soon.

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7:26 pm, April 19

I JUST FINISHED A BOOK! Woohoo. I'm excited because it's only the second book I've finished this year. The first was earlier in April. My long reading slump has ended.

So, I just finished The Art of French Kissing by Brianna Shrum. Unfortunately, I didn't like it, but that doesn't spoil my good feeling. I'll review it soon.

The Art of French Kissing -- 100%!!! This is an increase of 24%, or approximately 62 pages.

I've read for 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 10 seconds so far today, and I plan to read a bit more later tonight. I'd like to make more progress in Camino Island, and maybe War Cross, and then read about 1/10 of The Art of Escaping. (2 "The Art" books in a row, lol.) I have a new digital ARC and haven't told you all what it is. I'm tempted to start it, but I think I'll wait until after The Art of Escaping.

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10:35 pm, April 20

This is a wrap up for yesterday. After my update, I read for another 3 minutes and 37 seconds, which brought the day's total to 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 47 seconds.

I think what I read was Camino Island. It was so late at night that I'm not fully certain I remember, haha. In those 3 minutes and 37 seconds, I didn't make much progress.

Camino Island -- 39%

As for today, I haven't read any yet. I think I will, after this update, but I'm not sure. I'm already getting sleepy, and I've been writing a scene throughout the day. We'll see. :) In case I don't update again, good night.

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1:16 am, April 23

Hi, everyone! This is my wrap-up for the whole week. I did not read at all on Friday the 20th or Saturday the 21st. In total last week, I read for 6 hours, 59 minutes, and 27 seconds. I finished 1 book. In the coming week, I hope to finish at least 3 books. :)

#ReadYourFaceOff Readathon Wrap-Up and Reading Plans for the week of April 15

Hi, everyone!

So, #ReadYourFaceOff is over. I ended up reading for a total of 8 hours and 48 minutes. I am incredibly happy with this. It's probably the first time this year that I've read so much in 24 hours. I did not finish any books, but I read some of Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, Camino Island by John Grisham, and The Art of French Kissing by Brianna Shrum. Please note that I'm using percentages for my progress because the page counts of digital arcs on my phone don't seem to match with page counts given elsewhere, and because it helps when I'm talking about both ebooks and audiobooks. However, in order to estimate page counts, I'll apply these percentages to the page counts given on goodreads. Here's the progress that I made:

Three Dark Crowns -- started at 14% and ended at 41%; 27% read; estimated 107.5 pages

Camino Island -- started at 0% and ended at 28%; 28% read; estimated 81.2 pages

The Art of French Kissing -- started at 24% and ended at 62%; 38% read; estimated 97.3 pages


So in total, I read approximately 286 pages! Wow.

This is really encouraging because I was in a reading slump for the first 3 months of this year. I picked up some books but didn't make it very far.

Now it's almost 6:00 pm on Sunday. I'm planning a quiet Sunday evening at home with some relaxation and more reading.

Based on the Goodreads estimate, the spot I've reached in The Art of French Kissing would be about page 159 of 256 in the physical copy. So I have about 97 more pages, and I plan to finish the book tonight if possible. Then, I need to pick up The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan, which is listed on Goodreads as 320 pages. I'm not sure if I can finish that tonight, but I'd like to make a good amount of progress. Both of these are digital ARCs I've had for a while. Once I'm finished with them, I can move on to a new digital ARC, and I have a new one coming on Tuesday, about which I am SO EXCITED. I'll probably make myself read through at least most of my digital ARC "shelf" before picking that one up. :)

I'm not doing any work tonight, and I didn't do any yesterday, which is a part of what's giving me so much reading time. During the week, I plan to get lots of work done. (I work from home as an acquisitions editor with Anaiah Press.) I also plan to write a lot. But in my free time, I can read. :) My next blog post will be a place for me to post periodical reading updates.

That's it. Thanks for reading this post, and a lovely evening!

#ReadYourFaceOff Readathon Updates

Hi, everyone!

If you read my last blog post, you know that today, I'm participating in the #ReadYourFaceOff readathon.

After that blog post, I eventually went to sleep. It is 12:21 pm, and this is my first update. I'm listening to the Three Dark Crowns audiobook while typing this. My current position in the audiobook is 15%.

I'll come back soon with another update! :)

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7:52 pm update

I have read for 4 hours and 24 minutes so far. I've made progress in 3 of the books on my TBR:

Three Dark Crowns -- Current percentage: 27% (up from 14%)

Camino Island -- Current percentage: 3% (up from 0%)

The Art of French Kissing -- Current percentage: 54% (up from 24%)

New update coming soon.

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11:59 pm

Last update of the day, though the readathon will continue until 9:00 am. I've read for a total of 7 hours and 9 minutes. Here's an update on the three books above:

Three Dark Crowns -- Current percentage: 36%

Camino Island -- Current percentage: 19%

The Art of French Kissing -- Current percentage: 54%

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2:39 am

Why am I awake? I don't know. Since midnight, I've read for 1 hour and 6 minutes, which brings my total for this readathon to 8 hours and 15 minutes.

Three Dark Crowns-- Current percentage: 41%

Camino Island-- Current percentage: 23%

The Art of French Kissing-- Current percentage: 54%

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5:12 pm, April 15th

Final update on the reading that happened before 9:00 this morning.

Three Dark Crowns -- Final percentage: 41%

Camino Island -- Final percentage: 28%

The Art of French Kissing -- Final percentage: 62%

"Read Your Face Off" 24-hour readathon: April 14, 2018

Hi everyone!

Today, there's a 24-hour readathon called "Read Your Face Off". It starts at 9:00 am and goes to 9:00 am tomorrow. I'm participating, though I'm sure I won't do the entire 24 hours. I want to get some sleep tonight, haha.

It is currently 3:31 am. I'm not sure whether I'm going to sleep between now and 9 am, because I took a nap earlier in the evening (technically yesterday, I guess), and now I don't feel tired. If I do get tired, I'll sleep, but for now, I figure it's a good time to talk about my TBR ("to be read" list) for this readathon.

Everything I plan to read is either an ebook or an audiobook. It's okay if I don't finish anything, but I'm hoping to make good progress; I'll be receiving a new digital ARC on Tuesday, and I'm really excited about it. It would be amazing to clear out a good portion of my TBR before then. Here's a list of books I plan to pick up. I might read some before 9:00, but if I'm awake at 8:55, I'll post an update here.

Any unfinished books on this TBR will roll over to Sunday, Monday, and the rest of the week if absolutely necessary.

The audiobook pile and ebook pile are separate, so any time I finish an audiobook, I can pick up a new one. I'll listen to these while putting away dishes, surfing the internet, or "cross-stitching" on an app on my phone.


Audiobooks:

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake-- 9hrs, 53 mins total; I am currently 14% done.

Camino Island by John Grisham -- 8 hrs, 46 mins

All Summer Long by Dorothea Benton Frank -- 10 hrs, 50 mins


Ebooks:

War Cross by Marie Lu -- currently 18% done

The Art of French Kissing by Brianna Shrum -- currently 24% done

The Art of Escaping by Erin Callahan

The Pisces by Melissa Broder


So, these are all my options for the day. I have more books on my April TBR, but I'll have to assess those later. For now, I'm glad to have a good mix of genres, so that if I get tired of one book, I can switch to a different one.

As I finish typing this, it's 4:59 am, so there's just a little over 4 hours left. Maybe I can use that time to get some writing done, study the Bible, or both. Or I might just go ahead and get a jump start at reading. :) If you're doing this readathon, too, I'd love to know what you're reading today.

Thank you for viewing this blog post. I'll check in soon.

Back to Blogging (I'm serious.)

Hi, everyone!

I lost my voice a month ago, and it has stayed gone for the better part of that month, with a few temporary reprieves. Before that, I was an AuthorTuber and Booktuber. I fully expect to get my voice back soon, and to make videos. I have made 2 without my voice, in more of a slideshow format with words.

To be perfectly honest, I haven't made a video in over a week because I've been sad. I really miss talking to a camera. Plus, it's hard to get all of my thoughts out in a slideshow-esque video. So, for the moment, I'm going to try blogging on a serious basis, at least twice a week. I'll be blogging about the topics I'd usually discuss on my channel, which are books and writing. However, I might also blog about my life in general, things that have to do with Jesus, my current favorites, or anything else that comes to mind.

I'm hoping that if you are a YouTube subscriber of mine, you can find some value in this blog. If not, I hope you'll still be a subscriber when I return to YouTube. Unless my voice comes back by Monday, I plan to make an official video to announce this.

Stay tuned for some bookish content, coming soon. :)

Getting Organized, Getting Ahead, and Pitch Wars (Warning: Lots of Possibly Boring Math)

Hello, everyone!

Note: For those looking for a Pitch Wars #pimpmybio, this is not that yet.

I'm trying to get more organized. I'm starting to realize that it's not a matter of flipping a switch and changing your habits instantly. Like many things, you can get better at it with practice. For a while, I was making schedules for myself (since I write at home and have no schedule set for me). I've gotten out of that habit, and this seems like a good time to get back into it.

This blog post is meant to tell you all a bit about a new organization process I'm trying out; it's also meant to help me with that process. I'm hoping that typing up my tasks will help me sort through them. I'll talk about what I'm working on, and then the way I'm planning to budget my time in the beginning of July. There's going to be a lot of math in this blog post, so it may be a bit more boring than usual, haha. If this method doesn't work, I'll have to try something else.

On August 2, I plan to enter Pitch Wars, which is an event that pairs unpublished authors with mentors. So, one of the things I need to do by then is finish revisions on my manuscript, Red Letter Law. It's been through many rounds of revisions since I finished the first draft on November 2. But this round has been difficult; I'm trying to rid RLL of potentially harmful/problematic content. It means cutting out some scenes I really like, but I'm optimistic that what I replace those scenes with will be better. I've gotten stuck a lot, but I have to push through it.

I'm also drafting another novel, Furlough. I started it November 1 as my NaNoWriMo novel, but ended up switching projects and just barely hitting 50,000 words total. I wrote a little of Furlough during April Camp NaNo. I don't have to finish the draft by the end of July; I'm trying to work on it in my downtime from RLL revisions, or whenever my brain needs a break.

In brief, I also have the following things that I either need or want to do: daily devotion, an internship from home, reading for CPs, reading for a freelance client, a few freelance sample edits, leisure reading, YouTube (both AuthorTube and BookTube), social media and traveling. So, if I can list these (other than traveling) in order of importance, and estimate the time needed for each, I can make a schedule.

Here's a list by priority, with times listed if I know them:

1. devotion (minimum: 1 hour per day.)
2. internship (estimated 10 hrs per week max.)
3. editing RLL
4. freelance beta reading
5. reading for CPs
6. sample edits
7. YouTube
8. leisure reading
9. social media
10. Furlough

I hope I'm not forgetting anything, but I can always adjust. Lets assume that I need time to sleep and eat, so I can work for about 8-10 hours per day, excluding Sunday. For now, I'm only going to try and schedule the first 5 days of July. So, I need to estimate the amount of time it will take me to edit RLL and see how much I can get done in those days. I'm going to say 30 hours, but I have no real idea. I'm not going to schedule any editing time on Sunday. So that leaves 7.5 hours per day if I want to finish by July 5. I think that's too much, so instead I'll budget 6 hours per day and leave the other 6 for later in July.

So now, hypothetically, I need 6 hours per day to edit RLL. 1 hour per day for devotion. That's 7, and then I have about 3 hours for other things if I want to max out at 10 hours. In general, 10 hours per week of my internship comes out to 10/6 hrs per day, which reduces to 5/3 hours, or 1 hour and 40 minutes. But this week, I'll have a lighter load for the internship, so I'll say about 20 mins per day. That leaves 2 hours and 40 minutes per day for other things. For these 4 days, I'm going to multiply 2hr40min by 4, which gives me 10 hours and 40 minutes! I'm impressed. That's more time than I thought for priorities 4-9. So, I can estimate the total time for my other tasks and figure out how much time I'm willing to devote to them per day, and leave the rest for after July 5. For now, I'll try figuring out how much time I need to complete each task. (Tasks that are indefinite will have an estimate of how much time I'll need for them in July overall.)

1. Freelance reading: 7 hours
2. Reading for CPs: 6 hours (for now; this might change later in the month, and I'll adjust)
3. sample edits: 3 hours
4. YouTube: 4.5 hours
5. leisure reading: indefinite. Hopefully 30 mins-1 hour per day; can be placed in "off hours".
6. social media: indefinite. Hopefully at least 20-30 mins per day; can be placed in "off hours"
7. writing Furlough: indefinite. Maybe 10 mins per day on average; 5 hours for the month

If we add all those together, we have 20. 5 hours for the definite things (1-4). So, I'm not going to finish all of the tasks by July 5. Even if I cut that in half, 10.5 would be cutting it close. So, I'm going to allot only 1/2 hour for YouTube and leave the rest for July 6 or later. That leaves 10 hours and 10 minutes total for the remaining tasks. Since, in total for the month, tasks 1-3 will take 16 hours, I'll aim for half of each to take place in the next five days. That means for all four days total, I've 3.5 hours of freelance reading, 3 hours of CP reading, and 1.5 hours of sample edits. (The sample edit estimate is high, so I may be able to finish in less time than I think.) If I subtract those 8 hours from the 10 hours and 40 minutes, I am left with 2 hours 40 mins for tasks 5-7, which means 40 minutes per day, plus any time allotted in the off-hours. Tasks 5-7 can be done on Sunday, but I'll try not to do my other tasks then; this is because other than church, I like to relax on Sunday.

So, here's our approximate breakdown for each planned day:
1. devotion: 1 hour
2. internship: 20 minutes
2. editing RLL: 6 hours
3. freelance reading: 53 minutes
4. CP reading: 45 minutes
5. sample edits: 23 minutes
6. YouTube: 8 minutes (but ideally, all 30 minutes of YouTube filming will take place in one or two days.)
7. leisure reading, social media, and writing Furlough: 40 minutes + any off-hours

And here are some rules to keep my mental and physical health in check:
1. No skipping meals.
2. No all-nighters, if possible. (If I can't sleep, I can't, but I'll try. My mental illness makes it hard to sleep sometimes, which can cause all-nighters.)
3. If I feel burnt out or overly stressed, I take a break.
4. No beating myself up if I don't hit these time goals, or even if I'm not in the ballpark. These are stringent on purpose, because even if I don't fulfill these exact times, I'll probably get more done than I would with no schedule at all.
5. No roll-over time. Ex: If I don't hit 6 hours of RLL one day, I will NOT add extra hours the next day, because that would lead to more stress.
6. The opposite of roll-over time is just fine. If I work more than I think I will on one thing one day, I can use less time on it the next day.
7. I can also switch things around if need be and don't have to stick to the schedule exactly.
8. I must try to remind myself that everything will be okay if my plans change because of life, or if I mess up.

So, here's a tentative schedule for July 1:
8:40 -- Breakfast
9:00 -- Devotion
10:00 -- Edit RLL
11:00 -- Snack and intern work
11:20 -- Edit RLL
12:20 -- Social Media
12:40 -- Edit RLL
1:40 -- Lunch while beta reading
2:00 -- Edit RLL
3:00 -- Beta reading
3:20 -- Edit RLL
4:20 -- Snack while beta reading
4:33--  Get ready and go to a dinner thing
8:00 -- Edit RLL
9:00 -- CP reading
9:45 -- Sample edits
10:08 -- Done. Time for leisure reading, social media or general relaxation

That is a longer day than usual, due to a dinner thing. Hopefully, the extra "first day of Camp NaNo" excitement will help me to stay on task and be productive. But if I don't get everything done exactly as scheduled, I'll try to stay calm and start looking forward to Monday.

The Time I Ate Four Foods for Eight Months

Trigger Warning: This blog post deals with the topic of ARFID, an eating disorder.

There's a lot of talk on the internet recently about a book called Sad Perfect. I haven't read the book, and I don't have any immediate plans to. It's about a girl with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, also known as ARFID. It is a disorder characterized by eating a very limited selection of foods. One good thing from this situation for me is possibly having a name for something that happened to me two years ago. I think I should share this story in case anyone wants to know about ARFID from the perspective of someone who has been through it.

Here's a disclaimer: I have never been diagnosed with ARFID. I am not a medical or psychological professional, so I can't diagnose myself. I didn't know what ARFID was until I read a review of Sad Perfect, and I have now read up on it on the website for National Eating Disorders Association. All I can say for sure is the symptoms described seem to match mine.

Now, I can get to the story.

For a long time, I had problems with portion control, especially when it came to sugar. When I started college in 2012, sugar was much more accessible than it had been at home, and the problem got worse. I kept trying to get it under control, but my method's weren't effective, and my efforts weren't what they need to be.

Finally, in spring 2014, I found a possible way to combat this problem. I started watching videos about raw veganism, and I experimented with it. Raw fruit, and especially bananas, helped kicked my cravings for processed sugar. It wasn't a perfect solution, but I felt like I was making progress. I don't know if I was still taking in too high an amount of sugar (which is likely), or if I'd already done a lot of damage to my body. Regardless, in August 2014, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

My diabetes diagnosis happened in a pretty standard way, I guess. I started getting lightheaded at random times, I had a two-day period of insatiable thirst, and then I ate half of a Starbucks brownie and started feeling like I was going to pass out. So, I went to the doctor, and got diagnosed.

At that time, I was both surprised and not. Not surprised because I had a lot of risk factors, including  an extensive family history of type 2. (Yes, family history is a factor in type 2.) But surprised because I was having one of those "It can't happen to me," moments. And I had a lot of negative thought patterns.

Soon after my diagnosis, I started to hate certain foods. I once ate half of a pop tart and became almost too anxious to form sentences, so I started to hate pop tarts, and any food that made me feel sick, any food that seemed like it was going to make me feel sick, and some foods I just resented because I was upset that they had a lot of sugar. I was afraid these foods would harm non-diabetic people, and at the same time, I was jealous of those people. I resented a certain brand of soda, for example, for having 30 grams of sugar in 8 fluid ounces, which came out to about 75 grams per bottle. I'm told that the recommended daily value of sugar for a non-diabetic person is 30 grams. So, a bottle of soda is 2.5 times that, and it's not even a meal. That made me angry.

The sudden hatred of foods I used to love sort of turned into a bit of joy at limiting them. A triumphant momentary feeling of being in control, which brings me to the next point:

I felt out of control. I resolved from day 1 that I wouldn't be a stereotypical non-compliant diabetic person, and that I would do everything right. So, when I wasn't seeing the numbers I thought I should see on my blood sugar meter after two weeks, I started to get upset. I now know that it takes a lot longer than two weeks to learn to manage diabetes, but I somehow thought at the time that I wasn't supposed to experience a learning curve.

The control issue manifested in other ways, too. My diagnosis happened one week before the start of my junior year of college. I had planned to do a work experience in South Florida (not far from my home town) that year while taking classes online, but instead, I dropped everything and went back to my college 1,000 miles away, reasoning that the old routine would make it a little easier to learn to manage diabetes. I also reasoned that I couldn't let diabetes stop me from reaching my goals, which meant I had to graduate early, which meant I had to take a nineteen-credit schedule. This was a bad idea.

All of this resulted in a fun but extremely difficult semester. I built up some good habits and started setting a timer on my phone to remind me to eat. But with all those credits, I got BURNT THE FREAK OUT. I've heard people talk about being burnt out, also known as tired of college, and I'd experienced the feeling before, but never as intensely as I did in December 2014. Diabetes management was sort of getting easier, but I did not want to go back to college after Christmas break. I went anyway, because I wanted to be done as soon as possible.

That spring, I became severely anemic, and I made the tough decision to withdraw from college. I knew I wouldn't be able to go back the same college after leaving. I think I was more stressed about it than I realized. Around the same time, I had a few days of bad acid reflux. At the time I was quite emetephobic (afraid of vomiting), so I didn't want the acid reflux to progress too far. I googled some things and decided to start the acid reflux diet. It's low in fat and high in whole grains. It has a strict period of about two weeks, and then you're supposed to add in more foods, but I didn't.

It took me a month--from mid-February to mid-March-- to obtain the right documents for medical withdrawal. During that time, I stayed in my dorm room a lot. I ate almost exclusively oatmeal and whole grain crackers the entire time. I was lonely, but felt accomplished in taking control of the situation.

I went home in mid-March, and I kept eating very few foods. The group of foods adjusted a few times over the next seven months, but it was ritualistic, it didn't feel right, and I didn't know how to stop. I was adjusting amounts of sugar to keep my diabetes symptoms in check, and I was eating no dairy, no simple starch, no nuts except almond milk. The main routine I fell into was oatmeal, almond milk, grape nuts and bananas. I would eat some combination of those four foods every single day, for almost every single meal.

It wasn't about acid reflux anymore. I was still scared, but I couldn't quite articulate was I was afraid of. It just seemed like some unknown terrible thing would happen if I ate cheese. Sometimes, it seemed to be about my weight, but not really.

I felt even more in control when I was taken off of my diabetes medicine. My blood sugar wasn't high anymore.

I knew on some level that I was doing wasn't healthy. I lost a stubborn 37 pounds in the first 5 months, and I got some compliments. People would say "What are you doing?" and I smile and reply "I've been eating a lot of whole grains," and not mention that I was not eating anything else. I wasn't exercising either. It was all nutrition. My blood sugar started getting lower than it should be. My hair was about an inch long, and it hardly grew the whole time.

One or two people in my family pointed out that this weight loss might not be good. I deflected their comments. I relished the compliments.

I tracked my food intake for a while on MyFitnessPal. I couldn't deny that it wasn't good. I was really lacking protein, fat and vitamins. I even found that my caloric intake was below 800 on some days. Without meaning to, I'd decreased the amount I was eating.

I kept thinking, I should stop. I should get more variety. But the thought of even a bite of some foods made me feel anxious. I was also embarrassed to admit this to anyone. I only wanted to eat at home, and mostly by myself. I didn't want anyone to watch me and judge my eating habits.

Some people who'd usually been semi-friendly were suddenly super complimentary about my weight and acting really nice to me. I have to admit, around July, I got uncomfortable with that. I don't want people to only be my friend when I'm thin.

I'm a Christian, and in summer 2015, I felt led to apply for a discipleship training program in Missouri. Discipleship training is intensive training on living a life for Jesus -- sort of like Bible school or ministry training, but with no degree. I applied and felt great about it, but I started to have second thoughts. I was going to a state I'd never even visited, to train with people I'd never met in person, and I just knew they were going to judge my eating habits.

I got to discipleship training in August, and it was an absolutely amazing time in my life. While learning about Jesus, I bonded immensely with my classmates, some of whom were also my housemates. We shared meals sometimes, and they knew my eating habits were unusual, but they weren't rude about it. They got concerned sometimes, but they didn't pressure me, and they listened. I knew I didn't have to eat differently just to impress them. It was freeing, and it helped me to start healing. So, throughout October and November 2015, I gradually added in more foods.

Things are not perfect now, but I'm so, so thankful to be feeling a lot better. I thought I was alone in what happened, and there wasn't a name for it, until recently.

With regards to this book, Sad Perfect, I'm hearing people say that it expresses the fear of a person with ARFID being dismissed by those with other eating disorders. Personally, this is not something I fear in real life. I completely understand wanting to feel like your struggle is real and valid, and I'm thankful to have that now; however, I can't picture people with eating disorders creating some type of hierarchy of whose disorder is the most real. This is because having an eating disorder, like many other mental illnesses, is hard to admit to yourself, so you're not likely to brag about it to other people in the way described. Again, I haven't read the book. I could be completely off-base, and if so, I'm sorry.

I think it's important to have conversations. I have no intentions of vilifying any author or reviewer, but it's possible for any book to have problems. If a book is suspected of having deep issues, I think it's important to talk about it, and to listen. I doubt I'll read the book, because I don't want to be triggered, but if I can contribute to the conversation even a little, I want to. Thank you for reading this, and I'd be happy to discuss it further with anyone who wants to. If you're feeling triggered, I'm so sorry, and I'm willing to listen. And if you have symptoms like this, please talk to someone.

"Don't Want to Rush on Ahead..."

Hi, everyone.

Recently, I've been reading the book of Habakkuk, a short book in the Old Testament of the Bible.  I've liked Habakkuk 3 for a long time, but I never paid much attention to chapters 1 and 2 today. One verse in particular caught my eye today while I was reading chapter 1:

"They sweep past like the wind and are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their strength is their god."

This really makes me think about my life, and contemplate whether I have made the mistake of making my strength my god. In other words, am I depending on myself instead of God?

Later on, I was thinking about a business opportunity, and I wasn't sure how to handle it. I was going to pray about it. I searched for a song that I'd heard over a year ago. I wasn't sure who'd sung the song, or even what it was called, but it turned out to be "Not in a Hurry" by United Pursuit. Here's a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvfCWpRKCnk

This song is about being in the Presence of God and waiting for Him. It says "Don't want to rush on ahead, in my own strength, when you're right here, you're right here."

I love this part of the song, because it describes one of the problems with being in my own strength. I can get a plan and run with it, and forget to wait on the Lord.

It also reminds me of a metaphor that God has showed me in the past. He showed me that when I listen for His voice, sometimes I listen like a relay runner. I'm already gearing up to move or even starting to move before He gives me a Word, so that I can receive the Word like a baton and immediately start running. He wants me wait and listen without rushing away. If I depend on Him, He will lead me in the right direction. He will tell me where to go, and when. So, it's important that instead of turning my strength into my god, I let God be my strength.

December So Far

Hi, readers!
I haven't updated you in over two weeks. I'm sorry about that. Here are a few things that have been going on in December (with some notes on November):

1. I have started finding Beta readers for my first novel, Red Letter Law. I have also made some edits. I am taking a break from querying this month.

2.  I'm working on a book called Tethered, which I started during NaNoWriMo.

3. I'm getting into beta reading, editing and critiquing other people's manuscripts. In order to keep everything manageable, I am limiting myself to two total manuscripts at a time, although there are certain specific circumstances that could cause me to make an exception to this rule.

4. Speaking of time management, I have been getting much better at that recently, and I am very thankful. Sometimes, I write a schedule for my tasks. Even if I only schedule a few things at a time, or if there is a change of plans, writing a schedule is very helpful.

I'll update again soon, and thanks for reading!

QUICK Post (while working on #NaNoWriMo2016)

Hello, readers!
I just wanted to let you know that I am sorry for skipping a week. I was busy with Thanksgiving travel and writing. (I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, by the way!)

Right now, I am doing a very short post because I am catching up on NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Today is the final day, and as of 12:07 pm, I have 6,500 more words to go, so I am really trying to be persistent.

NaNo has been awesome this year, and I can't wait to update you on my experience! I'll give other updates, too. :)

Do I Need to Relax Sometimes?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer:

I recently decided to pursue a writing career, and I finished my first novel two weeks ago. My plan was to start a different project for NaNoWriMo. I started that project on November 1. It is a contemporary young adult novel called "Furlough", and I immediately got ahead. In those first few days, my word count was above the target word count for NaNoWriMo.

I quickly learned that the work of writing a novel does not end when you finish writing. Everyone said that rewrites were important, and I knew that, but I did not know how time-consuming rewrites, revisions, and edits would be for my first novel. I was trying to revise it and write my new one at the same time, and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. So, I have now decided that NaNoWriMo is not my main writing priority at the moment, but I am glad to be off to a good start on "Furlough" (8,000 words and counting). I have also decided to count small freelance projects, such as poems, toward my NaNo total. Thankfully, my first novel's revisions are done, but I've still got NaNo on the backburner, because I'm in the process of querying.

Querying is another part of the post-writing phase. In case you don't know, querying is the process of looking for a literary agent, which is someone that represents a writer to traditional publishers. To query, you send e-mails (or occasionally snail mail) to potential agents, and they can pass, or ask to see your manuscript. After seeing your manuscript, they might offer you representation.

Recently, when my manuscript was all revised and polished and cute, I had to send the whole thing to an agent. This particular agency asked for full manuscripts from the beginning. I sent the manuscript on Saturday, and I also submitted it to a contest the same day.

I told myself "Cimone, you need to relax now. You've sent your full manuscript to two places, and you need to take a few days off from querying. Don't read your manuscript looking for mistakes. Maybe you shouldn't even write anything. Just relax."

Did I follow my own instructions? For the most part, no. I did look at my manuscript on Monday and Tuesday, and I found...

three mistakes. Three small, one-word mistakes. The first two were unfortunate, but had no effect on the plot. The third one was a lie. An actual lie. The non-spoiler way to say it is that one character asked another character how many doctors were at the grocery store, and the second character said eight, but the answer was thirteen. (The italicized words and phrases are put there as placeholders for other words and phrases.)

Thirteen.

I thought "I lied to my readers!" I was very upset.

I had to remind myself again to relax. Sometimes, tiny mistakes like that happen. I fixed the mistakes in my document, so that they won't be there the next time I send out my manuscript. As for the places I've already sent it, it is now out of my hands, and I accept that.

So, now I know that relaxation is a good idea. But how should I do that? Here are a few ways:

On Monday, I started a new writing project, also for NaNo. That sounds like more work, but this one is a lot of fun. It's a whimsical chapter book for elementary-aged children. It involves a talking camel! Camels are always fun to write about. Chapter books are quite short, so I think I can finish this one before the end of NaNoWriMo, but if not, that's fine. Progress is good.

I also went to the library yesterday, and checked out some books, so I can read when I need relaxation time. I might end up posting some book reviews here.

I live near a beach, so I could try going there sometime soon. (It's South Florida, so it's not very cold right now.)

But there is one way, above all the others, that I need to relax. I need to focus on Jesus. I can get so caught up in the world, and what I need to do, and my goals, and my job, that sometimes I forget that He promised to give me rest.

Matthew 11:28-30:
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light."

A Quick Note About Unity

Hi, readers! I posted something on Facebook the night before last that was meant to encourage people in light of recent events and controversy. The thought just occurred to me that I can post it here, too, so here it is, copied and pasted:

I will never, ever apologize for being black, or being female, or having an opinion in spite of those things. I will never apologize for expecting to be treated with respect and decency. I will never apologize for the expectation that no one will touch my body without permission. The world is changing, and I'm not running scared.

On the other hand, I will try to give respect and love to everyone, even if we disagree on those fundamental principles. I will try to listen to other people's perspectives, and I will try to stay unified with my compatriots. It is the citizens that make a country great, and not the president. More importantly, God does it, and I need to pray.

I pray for all of you that you will not hang your head based on other people's prejudiced views of you, and that if you have prejudiced views (and I have some, I must admit), you will try to move past them. Reaching out to those who are different, to those who make us uncomfortable, and to those who challenge us, is a good way to promote unity.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this, too. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

I'm back! And I'm a writer.

Hello, readers!

     I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but I am going to try to be more consistent with this, especially because...

     I'M A WRITER NOW!

     Woohoo! Honestly, I've been a writer for a long time, but I just recently decided to make it my career. This has been so much fun. I started writing a novel in July, and I recently finished it. I'm querying literary agents now, and I'm planning to write some short stories and things like that for magazines. I'm also working on a second novel for National Novel Writing Month, but I'm not sure if that will be done by the end of November. It's not a sequel, so it gives me the opportunity to step outside of my first novel, which is good news.

     I am so blessed with the opportunity to do something I love on a professional level. I haven't been paid to write just yet, but I believe that it is coming soon! I also think that I will do ministry as a career at some point, but I am not sure when that is supposed to happen, so for now I am just trusting God and enjoying where I am.

     I am learning a lot as I go, and soon I will make a post with tips for other writers. I also need to make part 2 to my previous blog post.

     My goal is to blog at least once per week starting now and continuing indefinitely. Have a wonderful day!

     PS: I voted today. :)

Words, Promises and Signet Rings (and God being Awesome): Part 1

Hello, readers.

I am Cimone. I haven't blogged in a long time, so right now I want to start. I am twenty-one years old (twenty-two in a month and a half, woohoo!), and I want to tell you my life story, but that would be a lot. Instead, I'll tell some pieces. I have loved words for a long time, so tonight I'll talk about words, from both a secular and a spiritual perspective.

I came to know Jesus in elementary school, and I was told at a young age that my primary calling was prophecy (hearing and relaying messages from God). I thought that this was cool, and I got some use out of this gift, but at that time I had know idea how to steward it or cultivate it. For example when I was about eleven, I went on a trip to a church gathering, with some other young people at my church.
During a service, we were given raffle tickets. I heard God say something about my raffle ticket. I needed to use the restroom, so I thought I heard Him say "It's okay to leave your raffle ticket on the seat, because the raffle won't be drawn until you get back." I think that I misheard, because the raffle ended up being drawn while I was in the restroom, and it was my number. They had to choose someone else. The prize was an iPod (because this was back in 2006, before everyone in the world had music on their phone). It wasn't a big deal, but it taught me to listen a bit more carefully when I heard prophetic words. The Lord told me something major in summer of 2009, around the time of my fifteenth birthday, but I can't go into detail right now, because I have yet to fully understand what that word means in my life.

Here is a side note about me loving linguistics: I love linguistics. Throughout ninth grade, every time someone asked me what I would major in when I went to college, I said linguistics. It is beautiful to me that every language has its nuances. In tenth grade, I found out that there was a field called cognitive science, a combination of linguistics, psychology, neurology, philosophy and computer science--basically, the study of mental processes such as memory and language acquisition. Cognitive science fascinated me, and became my go-to answer for a long time. One day, my dad and I went to a lecture about cognitive science at his college class reunion. The professor giving the lecture showed a video of a woman who was physically unable to speak. She had a device connected to her that could pick up her brainwaves and turn them into words. It was really, really cool. So, from there, I progressed to the mission of giving a voice to those who have no voice. I ended up majoring in Communication Disorders for my first year and a half of college. I loved it, and I still do. I could sit and talk about childhood language acquisition all day.

As for the spiritual aspect, as a teenager, I thought that prophetic words were things I could receive once in a while. I thought that you had to be at a certain level of authority in order to hear from God every day. I also began to pray less as a high school senior, because I struggled with suicidal depression. I do not say this lightly, and this topic definitely needs its own blog post. I was under the mistaken impression that I was too dirty and sinful to talk to God. I thought that I needed to solve my own problem of depression before I could approach Him. This is absolutely not true. You can always go to God, no matter what state you are in. And you can't clean yourself up--you need Him to do that.

A turning point happened during my sophomore year of college (September 2013). I had battled depression for over two years, and I had started going to a church at the University of Houston. But I kept everyone in the church at arm's length for a while, because I was afraid that if they got too close to me, they would find out about my depression, and they would no longer want to be around me. My thinking was "Lord, why do I have to be in a church family? Can't I just go to church and worship you, and then go home?" The church had a retreat called Belonging Weekend, and I did not want to go at all. I thought "I don't want to belong to this church. I don't want anyone getting to know me." But I felt like God was telling me to go. So, I went. The very first night of Belonging Weekend, a preacher whose name I don't even remember gave a profound message about being in Christ and casting off our old identities. At the end, I went to the altar call. In a moment, God took away my depression, my shame and my suicidal thoughts. All I did was weep on the floor for what seemed like half an hour. I had never felt so free. I heard God say "I will fill you up so much with My Spirit, that anything in you that didn't come from me (including depression), will not be inside you anymore." At that moment, I didn't know all of the implications of being filled with the Holy Spirit, but I loved it. So began a huge adventure.

I want to share more, but this post is getting long, so I will make a part two. Happy trails, readers! Please feel free to leave questions or comments.