So This Is Christmas. . . (feat. a brief November recap, where I’ve been, what I’m reading, and a mess of a blog post)

WARNING: this post has virtually no direction whatsoever. please excuse the mess that awaits your eyeballs, for it has been a while since I have even thought about blogging. thank you.

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good morning, cyberspace!

Goodness. It’s been a hot second since I’ve hopped onto the blogosphere, hasn’t it? I had every good intention of keeping you all updated on my NaNoWriMo progress throughout November, but that idea kinda fizzled into nonexistence once the month actually began. Truth is, November was a roller coaster. A crazy, hectic, maniacal beast of a roller coaster (please see the screen grab below), and I’m really quite surprised that I even made it out alive.

But the important thing is that I am alive, and I did survive, and, even though I have virtually no blog posts to commemorate or acknowledge last month, by golly, we did it, folks!

I mean, yes, I completely and miserably failed NaNoWriMo, but let’s just forget about that little issue for the moment, shall we? Aha. Hahahaha. Ha.

— A (brief) NOVEMBER RECAP —

did I mention that November was a roller coaster?? LOOK AT THIS, PEASANTS! LOOK AT IT!!!! (but also don’t look at the fact that my progress completely flatlined over the last nine days. Aha. Hahahaha. Oops.)

Oh okay, fine. Let’s talk about my inevitable failure. It’s not like I have a fragile ego the size of a teaspoon or anything.

So, as I mentioned above, I kinda sorta failed NaNoWriMo. But never you fear, my dearest peasants, for even though I failed to hit the 50,000 word mark, I am still perfectly, incandescently happy with the 35,000 words I wrote in November! (and if we’re being honest, that’s still a LOT of words to write in a single month.) I mean, yes, I’m kind of bummed that I didn’t technically “win”, and I may or may not be crying myself to sleep every night over my bitter failure, but whatever. The words I wrote last month were a blast to write, I did a ton of word sprints with my lovely cabin mates, and even though my book is VERY far from completion, I’m still extremely pleased with the beginning, and–come January 1st–I’m even more excited to begin drafting it again.

So all in all, I think we can consider 2019’s NaNoWriMo a smashing success!!! Now if only I could get back into the groove of blogging consistently. . . . . .

NOVEMBER’S GOAL: 50,000 words or a completed manuscript

ACTUAL WORDS WRITTEN: 35,447 and a decent beginning to a manuscript

— SO THIS IS CHRISTMAS: KENZIE’S DECEMBER PLANS —

READING:

Okay, so now that we’ve finished discussing my shortcomings, let’s talk about something a little happier, shall we? Something a little like PLANS!!! And CHRISTMAS!!! And PLANS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! Because that’s a thing that’s happening soon. (i’m 100% not prepared for it at the moment, but whatever. i’m sure everything will turn out just fine.*sweats nervously*) Currently I’m trying to make presents for my family (*insert dramatic screaming*), but wedged between those moments of terrified painting, I have been reading! Which is a thing I haven’t been doing as much as I’d like to lately. . . (#lame)

I did, however, manage to squeeze one book in during November! — The Christmas Cookie Killer by Livia J. Washburn. And while it definitely delivered on all three subjects in its name, I couldn’t help but feel that the story itself fell a bit flat. There was a lot of unnecessary description in really weird spots (I’m not even going to mention the lengthy description of cooking a stuffed zucchini), and try as hard as I might, I found myself unable to fully connect with the main character.

Although, to be fair, Phyllis Newsom is a 50-year-old woman with a severe penchant for prying into other people’s business (totally unlike me, am I right?) but I digress. Despite Phyllis Newsom’s annoying behaviors and the fact that there was a very specific plot thread which did not get tied off at all (I’m going to be kind and assume this is because this book is part of a series), the most unbelievable thing about this entire book was the fact that the Christmas cookies, which were made at the very beginning of the story, DID. NOT. GO. STALE.

AT ALL.

I know for a fact that this book took place over the course of at LEAST a week, and yet???? Phyllis continued to take continuously aging cookies to her neighbors as gifts throughout the entire story???? I’m sorry, folks, but that is NOT how cookies work. Every true cookie connoisseur knows that cookies are at their prime right out of the oven. After that, two to three days TOPS is how long you can wait to eat them. After four days, they turn into a stiff, crumbly, inedible block that no one in their right mind would want to ingest. (and, let’s be honest, if they’re good cookies, they ain’t sitting around for four days straight, okay? those things are going directly into my stomach.) So unless these cookies were stuffed up with an unholy amount of preservatives, Phyllis Newsom’s neighbors were simply being polite when they raved about the brick cookie offerings, and later had to yank cookie tar out from between their teeth and wonder what on earth that crazy old bat next door was thinking.

Now that I’ve finished The Christmas Cookie Killer–which I have rated a solid three stars (the cookie thing seriously bothered me)–I’m planning on reading A Christmas Carol for the first time ever. (I know. I’ve never read A Christmas Carol. Someone whack me upside the head with the wooden stick of shame) I’ve never really been a fan of the tale of Scrooge, though, so rest assured that if the book surprises me in any way–good or bad–you will probably be hearing about it.

Next up after A Christmas Carol is either The Guardians, which is a recommendation by my beautiful friend, Phoebe, OR Illuminae, which both Phoebe and Remi (another beautiful friend bean) have been screaming at me to read. I guess it just depends on how quickly I can read through Ebenezer Scrooge’s misfortunes. (although, if I get books for Christmas, all bets are off on what I’m reading next.)

WRITING:

As far as writing goes, I really have no plans until the New Year. I’d love to continue blogging throughout the month of December, but depending on how everything (*cough( Christmas presents *cough*) goes, posts may be a bit hit or miss around here for the next month. I do, however, have some fun wintry posts swimming around in my brain meats, so I’m kind of hoping those will get written before Christmas? Maybe? Please???

With any luck, I’ll have a more detailed post about my writing plans for the New Year a little closer to January, so keep your eyeballs peeled for that, my friends! (hint hint: my plans may or may not include querying???? *squeals and dies*)

LIFE:

Yeah, I really have no life plans at the moment. Currently I’m just trying to survive, so you know. That’s a pretty solid plan right there. Don’t want to go messing with that too much.

However, there have been some things that have happened to me during the course of the past couple months, so in true Kenzie Recap Fashion, let’s go over some of the highlights, shall we? *AFV highlight reel song starts playing*

Other Things That Happened In My Absence Include:

• playing my ukuleles (I have two now! Have I mentioned that? Their names are Watson and Sherlock and they are my friends. Eventually I’ll have to show you guys my Poor Unfortunate Souls cover. . .)
• snapping my ukulele string (and subsequently nearly being late to work because I was trying to fix it, oops [it’s still not fixed])
• listening to an unholy amount of Phantom Of The Opera on my drives to and from work
• getting hit by a deer
• having a panic attack alone in my car in the dark because I just got hit by a deer
• failing NaNoWriMo
• writing a ton of words during NaNoWriMo
• GOING TO A WRITE-IN ON A TRAIN!!!! (I wrote over 2,000 words in an hour and a half and I am still shocked)
• going Black Friday shopping! (I bought stationary!!!!! . . . . .it wasn’t on sale. but we also went to Denny’s and I had a ham and cheese omelet so I mean??? who’s the REAL winner here?)
• discovering THIS SONG through my wonderful friend Tarva and proceeding to learn how to play it on my baritone uke (this song is terrible and I love it. thank you, Tarva!)
• trying to fix a broken stapler and stapling my finger instead (I still have a scar. I’m fine.)
• losing my favorite turtle ring at work
• finding my favorite turtle ring at work! . . . after it had been smashed by a car in the parking lot.
• watching the entirety of Umbrella Academy and falling irrevocably in love with the soundtrack
• discovering THIS SONG and proceeding to learn it on my baritone uke
• going to a Christmas Wonderland and eating pizza and spending a beautiful wintry day with my family!!! (which is subsequently the very place where I met Phoebe in real life last year!! the nostalgia was real, my friends. . .)

and

• crafting Christmas presents for my family!

^^ that last one is something I’m still doing, and I’m sorta kinda completely terrified. I’ve got less than twenty days to make four homemade Christmas gifts, and if you hear the faint screams of a pterodactyl hatchling struggling to rise above the insurmountable surf of stress which is overtaking it, that would be me. Please send me cookies, notebooks, cute Christmas movies, an inexplicable amount of pillows, and exactly three blankets. Thank you.

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TALK TO ME, PEASANTS!

All right, folks, that’s all I’ve got for today! I know. This post was horribly news-y. But I can’t just miraculously reappear from an unannounced hiatus without any sense of where I’ve been for the past month, now can I? I think the main reason for my absence is the fact that I’ve been suffering from some major Writer’s Block, both in blogging and in fictional writing. The good news is, I think I might know the reason for the block. The bad news is that until I just man up and write some stuff, I’m not going to be able to bust through it. SO. Here I am.

But that’s quite enough about me for one day. Let’s talk about you! For those of you who participated in NaNoWriMo: How did your NaNo go? Did you win? Did you fail? Did you write a ton of words and couldn’t be happier with your progress, no matter how many words you actually wrote? What was the highlight of your month? (an interesting character showing up out of the blue, a particular sentence you’re super proud of. . .?) Personally for me, my highlight was probably getting to write with my friends, and also attending my second-ever write-in, in which I rode a train for the first time. . . It was wonderful and magical and very Harry Potter-ish. (especially when the train stopped completely on the snowy tracks and I–being the nerd that I am–desperately wanted to shout out, “DEMENTORS! DEMENTORS!” [but I didn’t. because I have CLASS.])

For those of you who didn’t participate in NaNoWriMo–or for those strange breeds who can somehow separate their life from their writing journeys (HOW DO YOU DO THIS????: How was your November? Did you do anything fun or exciting? Are you super pumped for Christmas? (if I could be less terrified about Christmas presents, I would probably be extremely pumped right about now. . .) What sorts of things are you looking forward to in this beautiful, snowy month of December? and most importantly. . .

WHAT IS YOUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE CHRISTMAS STORY???

(aside from the obvious, of course!) It can be either a movie or a book! I’m just trying to soak in ALL of the Christmas recommendations right now, and would love any and all feedback!

As always, let us talk about ALL OF THE THINGS!!! down in the comments below, and until next time. . .

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 Featured Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash 

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