I’m always up for new books from American Girl. When they announced the new World By Us line with three books, I was excited. I was able to get the books practically brand-new from a seller in the big American Girl Obsessed BST group that I’m a member of on Facebook.
The first book that I read is Evette’s book. She’s passionate about the environment. The book also addresses the pandemic, social media, and other real-life issues. Racism is one big topic that’s incorporated. I also love the community center that’s featured!
I read through the whole book in one night several months ago. Most American Girl books don’t take me long to read at all, but this one was also beautifully illustrated!
The interesting part about these books, and this line/collection, is that the characters are 13 years old, which is older than the typical target demographic for the company. I personally think this is a great thing, and it shows that American Girl is dedicated to diversity, inclusion, education, and other things.
Given that the target audience is quite a bit younger than myself, I had to put myself in the shoes of a 13-year-old while reading it.
I really appreciated how the author and the diversity team that is recognized in the book did their homework and tried to respectfully and carefully craft a story that was relevant and would potentially resonate with readers, families, and others.
Clean off my desk and keep it clean. — Semi-Achieved.
Continue drinking water as much as possible. Limit soda to once a week, much like alcohol. — Accomplished!
Put away the clean clothes and linens. — Semi-Achieved.
Commit to spending some time every Saturday and Sunday to making certain areas of the house more functional, keeping things in their proper places, reducing clutter, etc. — Accomplished!
I’m very happy with my progress so far. I have more work to do, but like Al said recently, taking it one box at a time, sometimes one podcast at a time, makes all the difference.
Come back soon to see my goals for the month of April!
Publishing a new Goals at the end of the month in question? Sure, why not!
Here are my goals for the month of March:
Start reading again before bed.
Clean off my desk and keep it clean.
Continue drinking water as much as possible. Limit soda to once a week, much like alcohol.
Put away the clean clothes and linens.
Commit to spending some time every Saturday and Sunday to making certain areas of the house more functional, keeping things in their proper places, reducing clutter, etc.
What about you? What goals do you have for this month?
Publish my NaNoWriMo 2021 Recap post. — Accomplished!
Publish at least two Book Reviews. — Did not achieve yet.
Work toward finishing the first draft of Book #3. — Did not achieve yet.
Participate in a fun Christmas card exchange. — Accomplished!
Continue decluttering. — Semi-Achieved.
Officially sell or donate all remaining duplicate or unwanted American Girl items. — Did not accomplish yet.
Take some time off work for New Year’s. — Accomplished!
Celebrate New Year’s! — Accomplished!
December was wild and crazy. Sometimes, it felt like time was flying. Other times, it was a slog.
I was able to give blood on December 2nd, after sitting out the October drive because of the stitches in my back. That was exciting. My iron levels have been very consistent since the summer, and I hope to keep that going. We are approaching 8,000 total units collected since we started the drives in April 2000!
I was thrilled with my success during NaNoWriMo 2021. I’m still amazed that I was able to write more than 53,000 words during the month of November! Consistency is key. I had no zero days at all, and I stuck to my plan, and it worked! I also bought the NaNoWriMo Winner T-shirt for the first time to celebrate.
Our original Christmas and New Year’s plans got blown to smithereens because of COVID-19. Al and I are fine, thank goodness, but there were four people that he and I interacted with the week before Christmas that were either exposed to the virus, tested positive, or had symptoms. Also, poor Ferb was having a lot of trouble that week as well, and sweet Al took him to three different vet visits. He was diagnosed with Canine Hemorrhagic Gastroenteritis (CHG), so we are monitoring him closely. We’re not sure what happened, but he’s doing much better now with a few subcutaneous fluid shots, anti-nausea shots, and an antibiotic. We knew something was really wrong when he didn’t want to eat. But now he’s scarfing down the chicken and rice and begs for treats, so we think he’s fine now.
The Christmas card exchange was super fun! We also received many nice photo cards and paper cards for our fridge!
Al and I also had a blast sponsoring a local child for Christmas. We went to multiple stores and tried to get some clothes, books, and toys that a 9-year-old would like. The child’s mom gave me an awesome list of his interests. Al really got into it and enjoyed it. We can’t wait to do it again next year. The best part was getting a text message on Christmas Day with a photo of him smiling, wearing the zip-up hoodie that we bought for him, surrounded by a multitude of gifts. I nearly cried. It was fantastic.
Al and I enjoyed our own version of Christmas, being together and safe with the dogs. We surprised each other with several nice gifts. My parents came over on the afternoon of Christmas Day with gifts and food! We spent some time together on our porch socially-distanced, and it worked out nicely.
The Book Reviews didn’t happen, and that’s okay. I really struggled with reading this year, especially the second half of the year. I’m determined to get back to it more consistently in 2022!
I’m excited to spend some quality time with my parents and Al’s parents for New Year’s before going back to work next week and starting another year! Cheers to 2022!
What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of December?
Welcome back! Here’s my recap of NaNoWriMo 2021. After skipping out on NaNoWriMo in 2020, I was determined to make it happen this year. And, boy, was it worth it!
As of November 1, 2021, I had 20,986 words written.
Personal Goal: Write at least 20,000 new words for book #3, but let’s see what happens.
Full disclosure: Never in a million years did I think I would ever reach 50,000 words in a month.
Day 1 – 1,786 new words, one untimed session and three timed sessions totaling 45 minutes.
Day 2 – 2,089 new words, 50 minutes writing time.
Day 3 – 1,919 new words, 45 minutes writing time.
Day 4 – 1,686 new words, 45 minutes writing time.
Day 5 – 1,948 new words, 50 minutes writing time.
Day 6 – 1,793 new words, 50 minutes writing time.
Day 7 – 2,229 new words, 50 minutes writing time.
Day 8 – 1,688 new words, 45 minutes writing time.
Day 9 – 1,639 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 10 – 1,686 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 11 – 1,687 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 12 – 1,738 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 13 – 1,891 new words, 50 minutes writing time.
Day 14 – 2,102 new words, 45 minutes writing time.
Day 15 – 1,835 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 16 – 1,846 new words, 45 minutes writing time.
Day 17 – 1,835 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 18 – 1,799 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 19 – 1,857 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 20 – 2,010 new words, 75 minutes writing time.
Day 21 – 1,631 new words, 35 minutes writing time.
Day 22 – 1,662 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 23 – 1,596 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 24 – 1,617 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 25 – 1,718 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 26 – 1,726 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 27 – 1,573 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 28 – 1,603 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 29 – 1,752 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Day 30 – 1,854 new words, 40 minutes writing time.
Total for November 2021: 53,795 new words.
Current word count: 74,781 words.
Final Thoughts
Holy shit, I’m just blown away. I’m still stunned that this actually happened. I won NaNoWriMo! For the first time ever!
For those who may be curious, I hit 50,000 words on November 28th.
I went back to my old blog posts. The last November session I participated in was 2019, and I wrote 25,101 words during that session.
I doubled my output for this one. Wow!
My friend Ren continues to be a huge cheerleader for me. They are amazing!
I stuck with my plan from Camp NaNo and sat down every single day before starting work if possible, and then definitely after dinner until I met or exceeded my daily word count.
I’m also a Google Docs convert now.
Al chuckles that he always heard the din of my fingers on the keyboard for 30 days straight. It’s a beautiful sound.
I hope to finish this first draft for certain during Camp NaNoWriMo April 2022, if not sooner than that. I’m excited to continue Camp NaNo in April and July, and then work toward beating this goal in November 2022. This is the book I started during NaNoWriMo 2014. I have several other novels in various stages!
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