Laura Bowers

Cross posted on Joyful Miles.

Wow, April ended up being a huge month for me. First off, I TURNED 50, woo-HOO!!!!! I’m so blessed and thankful for reaching this milestone. #50isfabulous baby!! April is also Camp NaNoWriMo, a huge event for many writers. Unlike November’s National Novel Writing Month where you have thirty days to write a 50,000 word novel, there’s more flexibility for April and July’s Camp NaNo. You get to pick your project and/or word count, whether it’s to edit a novel, do plotting work. For me, my main goal was simple:

To fall in love with writing again.

It’s time once again to chat about the stories I’ve consumed recently and oh boy, I have lots to talk about!

If you’ve been following along, then you already know these monthly posts are a way to keep me accountable with my goal to live with intention this year. Knowing you’re going to find out how I’ve been spending my spare time encourages me to make better choices, so thank you! And in turn, I hope this helps you discover awesome books to read or things to watch. So on with the list!

February has just flown by, hasn’t it? It feels like I just wrote my January post and now it’s time to once again chat about the stories I enjoyed last month! This list is short since I spent a lot of time prepping for the Princess Half Marathon, doing business and rental tax work, and spending many evenings working on 2018’s Princess video recaps in a last-ditch effort. ( I knocked out the Expo, Princess 5k, and Enchanted 10k but I ran out of time for the half marathon. Drat.)

So rather than reading more, I ended up watching TV and a movie I’ve already seen as a way to relax while packing or doing costume work. Starting with…

As part of my goal to live with intention this year, I’m tracking the stories I consume each month in a journal! My husband raises an amused eyebrow whenever I bring my journal to the living room, but this really helped cure my SADDA habit. (Story Attention Deficiet Disorder.) Now rather than hopping back and forth between TV shows or abandoning good books after only a few chapters, I’m more focused and enjoying stories more!

I wasted time yesterday morning in the most delicious, productive way. (Yes, that is possible!) For some reason, I got the hankering to visit my YouTube channel for the first time in about two years. (I also discovered a year-old review of Beauty Shop for Rent, but I avoided watching it because my self-esteem couldn’t take the possible negative hit.)

Oh, my poor neglected channel with its six videos and nine subscribers. (Not that I’m complaining about the nine … I’m rather thankful they’ve stuck around.) With chocolate-flavored coffee in hand, I watched a video from a builder show we attended back in 2016 that might seem boring to some, but made me smile. [continue reading…]