January 2024 Monthly Wrap-Up

January lasted at LEAST six months. I experienced enough in the past four weeks that I don’t need to have any more experiences for the rest of the year. I’m good, thanks. I grew a lot this month–kicking and screaming, but growing. So many people I’m close to went through seriously intense, difficult things where I wasn’t sure how to best support them. I also had client issues; relationship anxiety; and the usual health struggles. But at the same time, I worked hard on projects I’m proud of and spent some special, fun times with people I love. So… as usual, there was good here, too. But man, can February give us all a break?

This month I’m…

Reading: The Mystwick School of Musicraft and The Midnight Orchestra, Jessica Khoury. The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy, Anne Ursu. Find Your People, Jennie Allen (reread). Unseen Magic and The Drowned Woods, Emily Lloyd-Jones. Wolf by Wolf and Blood for Blood, Ryan Graudin (rereads). Even If: A Study of Habakkuk, Daily Grace Co. Time Is A Mother, Ocean Vuong. As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow, Zoulfa Katouh. Wildoak, C.C. Harrington. (12 total)

Listening to: My winter 24 playlist. (Prison For Life by Olivia Rodrigo would absolutely have been on this Receiptify if it wasn’t unreleased.)

Watching: Movies–The Boys in the Boat; Castle in the Sky. TV shows–Percy Jackson and the Olympians; The Artful Dodger.

Writing: In addition to my usual volunteer work with People Hope and the Diamonds Conference, I started serving at my church in a role that’s essentially like communicators manager (event planning, social media, etc). I started working on fiction again (my YA contemporary This One Is True) and got in five good sessions on that (less than I wanted, more than I’ve managed in a long time). I had so much fun making Valentines (photos coming next month so I don’t spoil them for anyone). I also filmed a vocal cover of The Ballad of Jane Doe, AND released my debut single–Just Us is available everywhere you listen to music! (Otherwise, though, voice and songwriting kind of fell through the cracks this month.)

Grateful for: Friends with animals. Thrift hauls. People who talk me off the ledge in their own ways. Sunny days. A little sister friend being old enough to us to text planning our outfits. Nights you don’t want to end, so you buy cookies at midnight and sit in the car talking for another hour. An overseas friend moving back to Georgia for a season. Seeing the fruit of my labor. Being surrounded by wisdom and advice. My favorite three-year-old boy saying “I like your earrings” while tenderly touching them. Easy client edits.

What was your January like? Aren’t we glad it’s over? What art did you create or consume this month?