Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of March:

1. Publish two Book Reviews.
2. Spend some time away with Al’s parents.
3. Make progress with my sci-fi time travel outline.
4. Continue inventory of my American Girl collection.
5. Help Al re-do the flower beds in the front of our house.
6. Continue reading as often as possible.
7. Do at least one act of kindness.
8. Continue writing in my journal / notebook during my lunch breaks.

March was a great month!

I published two Book Reviews – Isabel’s Journal and Nicki’s Journal. I look forward to their big first story – It’s scheduled to be published later this year.

We enjoyed time away with Al’s parents for Al’s mom’s birthday. We had a great weekend with them.

I’m ready to start writing my sci-fi time travel book for Camp NaNoWriMo April 2023!

I’m slowly working on my American Girl inventory – Bits and pieces.

Our flower beds look so much better! We took out the old rock and replaced it with landscape fabric and 20 bags of shredded brown rubber mulch. What a major difference.

I was able to help a local woman get her dryer fixed. That felt so good. I want to keep doing acts of kindness.

I’m really enjoying unplugging from my phone during my lunch breaks and writing in my journal / notebook. I’m hoping to continue that trend.

What about you? Did you have any goals for this month?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here are my goals for the month of March:

1. Publish two Book Reviews.
2. Spend some time away with Al’s parents.
3. Make progress with my sci-fi time travel outline.
4. Continue inventory of my American Girl collection.
5. Help Al re-do the flower beds in the front of our house.
6. Continue reading as often as possible.
7. Do at least one act of kindness.
8. Continue writing in my journal / notebook during my lunch breaks.

What about you? Do you have any goals for this month?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

I had an amazing February!

I gave blood at our drive on February 4th!

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I re-read the latest draft of my second novel, tentatively titled “Specialton,” to get back into the groove of editing it. I’m really excited about this one. This one has series potential, folks. I’m excited!

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I was able to take some time off work to meet up with a few friends early in the month. I had coffee with my former director at Riverside – Two hours went by like it was nothing, like we hadn’t seen each other since 2019. I enjoyed seeing Newport News again, shopping at 2nd and Charles, plus I looked for some gifts for friends at other nearby stores.

I still had time before I met with my college friend Amy for dinner at Panera, so I decided to drive along the Colonial Parkway for a while. I listen to a great podcast called Mind Over Murder. One of the hosts, Bill, is the brother of Cathy Thomas. Cathy was/is one of the victims of the now-called Colonial Parkway Murders. With Bill and Kristin’s excellent storytelling and deep dives into the Colonial Parkway Murders, I knew one of the places that’s been discussed is Cheatham Annex. I followed my GPS and headed that way, thinking I was heading to the public access part.

Nope. That’s definitely not what happened. I ended up at the entrance to the Yorktown Naval Weapons Station. I was incredibly embarrassed and handed over my ID to the military police (MP), explaining that all I needed to do was turn around and leave. The MP was very nice and sent me on my way, although I knew it had to have been annoying. Oops. I told Al about it when I got home from dinner with Amy. Al suggested that I message the podcast, and I did! Thanks, Bill and Kristin, for reading my tale and responding. I’m glad I wasn’t too suspicious, either.

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The other big news is that I successfully uploaded and launched my first novel! Check out the Books page here on the blog for more information. I’m in the process of creating a website for my pen name as well, so stay tuned for that. More to come soon.

I’m thrilled with the feedback I’ve received so far. Thank you all for your support over the years of me talking about it and dreaming about it. It’s finally happened. Bucket list item checked.

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I’ve also made a lot of progress with my office this month. I took several hours on a Saturday and went through all of my American Girl items. I had an empty box ready, and I started filling it for Trey’s Dolls. I love this charity, and the people behind it, so much.

The next step for my American Girl stuff is to do a complete inventory of what I have – Dolls, clothes, accessories. I started an Excel spreadsheet years ago, but I need to finish it and keep it updated.

I also caved and purchased quite a few items from the new collection – Nicki and Isabel Hoffman. They were released on February 22nd as part of the historical collection. The historical collection part hurt. Nick and Isabel’s story is set in December 1999. Yeah. I was 11 then. They are nine in their stories. Ouch!

I didn’t buy the two dolls, but I bought quite a few of the accessories and Nicki’s skateboarding outfit. I hope to get their meet outfits and their journals at some point. I may end up buying the dolls eventually and either selling them or donating them, but keeping the outfits and journals.

I’ll make a post here once my items arrive – I’m ridiculously stoked about the Pizza Hut BOOK IT! set and the computer that lights up and makes dial-up sounds.

What about you? Did you have any goals for this month?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here are my goals for the month of February:

1. Launch my first book!
2. Continue work on my current outline.
3. Get back to editing my second book.
4. Meet up with a few friends to catch up.
5. Go see a movie with my mom.
6. Finish reading at least two books
7. Give blood.
8. Celebrate Valentine’s Day!
9. Continue decluttering.

I’m so excited to launch my first book! Thanks to everyone for their support so far. I really appreciate it! I’m making the final touches on the paperback and ebook. I plan to celebrate a little bit as well.

Our next blood drive is this Saturday. We are getting ready to celebrate 23 years of blood drives soon!

I’m excited to take a few days off of work soon. I’m spending some time with several friends, and I’m looking forward to taking my mom to a movie and enjoying time with her.

My goal for decluttering this month is to clean off the couch in my office, find homes for everything, and start reading there more frequently.

What about you? Do you have any goals for this month?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

I had a very successful January!

I made major progress with my book. I learned about formatting and a lot of other stuff with Amazon KDP. It’s really easy once you spend some time in it. There are videos and guides for everything!

We enjoyed celebrating Al’s birthday. His parents came down the weekend before. We went to The Bier Garden, an excellent German restaurant in downtown Portsmouth. On his actual birthday later the following week, we did surf and turf, his favorite. Yum!

I worked a bit more on my office. I also went through all the paperwork and mail that we had in various places. There’s a large shred pile now. My next goal is to completely clean off the couch in my office and find homes for everything.

What about you? Did you have any goals for this month?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here are my goals for the month of January:

1. Continue preparations for launching my first book!
2. Celebrate Al’s birthday!
3. Schedule more blog posts.
4. Continue decluttering.

Yes, you read that right. I’m finally publishing my first book! As of this writing, I just created a new page here on Hot Shot Headlines for my books – Check out the Books page for more information. I’m looking forward to launching my book, What Happens at Camp … in about a month’s time. Keep an eye out on February 21, 2023! I appreciate everyone’s support here on the blog for many, many years. It’s finally happening!!

I’ve been so busy with the holidays and preparing to launch my book that I haven’t posted very much on here. I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule in the next few weeks.

When I haven’t been working or deep into learning everything about Kindle Direct Publishing, I’ve been decluttering my house. I went through all my clothes and closet. I donated three huge garbage bags full of clothes and shoes. We bought another Shark vacuum which is the exclusive upstairs vacuum.

I’m anticipating another closet clean-out when it gets warmer. The next step is my office, and then the garage.

What about you? Do you have any goals for this month?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of August:

1. Donate blood. — Accomplished!
2. Celebrate my birthday! — Accomplished!
3. Recap my Camp NaNoWriMo July 2022 efforts. — Accomplished!
4. Write my annual Reflections On My Birthday blog post. — Accomplished!
5. Publish one Book Review. — Did not accomplish yet.
6. Read before bed at least 2-3 times per week. — Semi-Achieved.
7. Continue my writing sprints and work on book #4. — Semi-Achieved.

I was able to donate at our last drive. My iron was off the charts, yay! I couldn’t quite fill the bag, but it happens.

My birthday was wonderful. Relaxing. I’m glad I took a couple of days off work to have a long weekend.

I was very successful with Camp NaNoWriMo July 2022! I enjoyed working on my third book. I felt like I was getting close to the end!

I celebrated on August 21st. After several more writing sprints, I called the first draft of my third book finished. It clocks in at 109,000 words. The most I’ve ever written!

I haven’t started working on book #4 yet, but hopefully soon!

I’ve started reading again at night. My mom gave me another book for my birthday, and I’ve been enjoying that one.

Come back tomorrow to see my goals for September!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Welcome back!

Here are my goals for the month of August:

1. Donate blood.
2. Celebrate my birthday!
3. Recap my Camp NaNoWriMo July 2022 efforts.
4. Write my annual Reflections On My Birthday blog post.
5. Publish one Book Review.
6. Read before bed at least 2-3 times per week.
7. Continue my writing sprints and work on book #4.

What about you? Do you have any goals for the month of August?

Until the next headline, Laura Beth

Welcome back!

Here were my goals for the month of July:

1. Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo July 2022. — Accomplished!
2. Publish at least one Book Review. — Did not accomplish yet.
3. Spend some time away, take vacation! — Accomplished!
4. Clean off the couch in my office. — Did not accomplish yet.
5. Participate in the 2022-2023 P.E.O. Convention Committee Transition meeting. — Accomplished!
6. Finish my part of the 2022 P.E.O. Virginia State Convention committee report. — Semi-Achieved.
7. Send off my thredUP Clean Out Kit. — Did not accomplish yet.

I had a blast with Camp NaNoWriMo this month. Look for a recap post about that tomorrow!

I’m slowing getting back to my reading. It feels good.

We took a long weekend and enjoyed time with Al’s parents. It wasn’t long enough, but it inspired us to book a longer vacation in the fall. Did we actually decide / commit to taking a whole week of vacation for the first time in six years? Yes please!

The P.E.O. Convention Committee Transition meeting was great! There were lots of good questions, and a good time was had by all. The 2023 Convention Committee is supremely organized! Looking forward to seeing their work next year in Richmond!

I’m working away on the committee report. I’m planning to be done by the end of August!

What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of July?

Come back tomorrow to see my August Goals!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂