Jessica Shook's Blog, page 2
April 17, 2019
Best Gift I Gave My Daughter to Build our Mother/Daughter Relationship
In our family, the males outnumber the females. It’s just me and my daughter next to my husband and three sons. That means, our house is loud, chaotic, and kids are wrestling in some room of the house for most of their waking hours.
So as a mom, I try to do little things here and there to help my daughter feel special instead of feeling like she’s drowning in a sea of testosterone.
It’s harder than it sounds. (All parenting usually is, really!) With four kids who homeschool, plus a writing...
March 7, 2019
Reading Wrap Up for February – My Month in Book Reviews
At the beginning of each month I post a reading wrap up of all the books I read the prior month.
February was quite the full month…but a slow reading month for me. Has that ever happened to you?! I finished up the drafts of my next book, Waiting For August, and sent it off to my first readers (Eeeekkk), and I prepared for my first ever writing workshop, which took place earlier this month. All that to say, I’ve been off my reading game. Although, I still managed to finish one book myself an...
March 5, 2019
Be Brave…But What Is Bravery for You?
Do you ever feel like every move you make requires bravery? You hear people say, “Be brave,” but that sounds monumental, maybe even exhausting. Certainly scary.
Sometimes bravery is just getting out of bed in the morning. Sometimes it is sharing the words I feel I’m supposed to say to someone. Bravery can be hugging your child and admitting you’re wrong and you’re sorry. It can be sending your book to your beta readers (as I have this month) and feeling nauseous over what they’ll think. And b...
February 8, 2019
Books I Read in January 2019 – Reading Wrap Up
At the beginning of each month I post a reading wrap up of all the books I read the prior month.
I was a bit obsessed with non-fiction and audiobooks at the beginning of the year! Therefore, my reading wrap up reflects that quite a bit.
Do you guys like audiobooks? My favorite audiobooks are memoirs by celebrities because their personality comes across so well. One of these days, I’ll write a blog about when I converted from thinking that listening to audiobooks wasn’t “real reading” to alw...
February 1, 2019
Blogging Goals + Accountability
Blogging is hard, y’all.
I started last year off with a bang on my blog, but then I realized so much of my writing time was being taken up with blogging that I hadn’t written as much as I should have on the book I was in the middle of writing. So I took a break in order to finish my third book, Waiting For August.
My goal was to be done with the writing portion by now. But my personal deadlines for this book keep being pushed it back. So starting off this year, I felt like a cloud hanging ov...
January 2, 2019
Favorite Books (Nonfiction and Fiction) Read in 2018
The last few years I have pushed myself to read more books out of the box that I was used to reading. And I’m so glad I did. This year’s reading introduced me to an author who is quickly becoming a favorite, nonfiction books that made me smile and inspired me to push myself, and books that opened my eyes to parts of this world that I never would experience otherwise.
I hope reading does this for you, and I hope that you too can enjoy some of my favorite books that I read in 2018. (Make sure...
December 16, 2018
Christmas Advent Guest Post with Styled By Ryn
‘Tis the season…of comparison. If we let it be. Oh we don’t want to admit that, do we?
We want to pretend that everything is as perfect in our home and in our lives as it is on social media. We show everyone the perfectly lit pictures of our decorated tree. We post the smiles, doughy fingers, and angelically iced Christmas cookies. We take the color coordinated, family photos to mail out on our fancy Christmas cards. We scour Pinterest for the newest trend to wrap the gifts we spent twice our...
December 6, 2018
Books I Read in November – Reading Wrap Up
At the beginning of each month I post a reading wrap up of all the books I read the prior month.
This month was a shorter reading month for me. In November, I participated in a writing challenged called “NaNoWriMo” which is short for National Novel Writing Month. Which was great for my writing game, but I guess you could say it cut in to my reading time. So this month’s list will be brief. Without further adieu:
Non-Fiction Book Girlby Sarah Clarkson
You know you love books when you read...
November 20, 2018
My Favorite Black Friday Deals (2018)
I’m not a big, jump out of the bed at the crack of dawn to stand in line in the cold on Black Friday shopper. In fact, I have never done it.
I’m more of a stay in the warm bed with a cup of coffee and scroll through Amazon’s deals on Friday or Saturday or maybe even Cyber Monday kind of shopper. If you’re like me, and you don’t want to leave the house in order to find some good deals, I have a few of my favorites listed here for you. (This isn’t an expansive list, but these are some of my fav...
November 2, 2018
Books I Read in October – Reading Wrap Up
At the beginning of each month I post a reading wrap up of all the books I read the prior month.
What a busy reading month October has been! We took a family road trip to Michigan, so I got plenty of reading and audiobook listening completed! (And yes, it was cold and wintery in Michigan…or at least for us Texans.)
Let’s jump right in!
Non-Fiction
by Anne Bogel
Everything about this book makes me smile. The cover, the little illustrations throughout, the chapter titles...