Drops of Inspira

  Happy New Year's Eve!  If you're like me, you've been getting the days wrong. I can't believe it's the last day of 2020. Are we sure it isn't December 29th? Honestly, where did the time go? I remember thinking this year was at least ten years rolled into one, but here at the end, it really seems like a shorter year. I guess just a lot happened.  So this post is kind of like bookish awards where I choose my top five reads of the year overall and the top reads in certain categories. I've included links to my Goodreads reviews for the top five in case you wanted to see what I thought of them.  So here we go...  In no particular order, my top 5 reads are:   Empire of Blood  by Olivia Cornwell The Geppetto Codex by Kyle Robert Shultz   The Drowned Vault by N.D. Wilson Flight of the Raven by Morgan L. Busse   You Who? by Rachel Jankovic These are the top five that stuck in my mind throughout the whole year, but here are some special mentions: Most Influentia

  Hello!  Gosh. I just realized that December 2020 is almost through and I haven't quite gotten around to this post yet, so here we are. This is the "Know the Novel" wrap-up post completing the link-up that I've participated in the past three months with Christine Smith . Since I've procrastinated long enough, I'm just going to dive into the post. Here we go. 1. Firstly, how did writing this novel go all around? A:   Writing went really well! I actually wrote more this past month than I have for the past three months, busy school schedule and all. Weird, but I think my brain likes the pressure of a deadline. 2. Did it turn out like you expected or completely different? And how do you feel about the outcome? A:  No... Of course not. My brain took my plot and ran amuck. It's been very inconsiderate. Yes. I had a plot. Shocking, I know.   Well, considering I still have about two to three chapters left, I feel pretty good about the outcome, but there are still

  Hello Everyone! This month has flown by. I can hardly believe we are about halfway through the month already. It seems like we just started. I've been thinking about this month and the colors I associate with December and I realized that golds, reds, greens, blues and silvers are special to this month.  So here is my poetry prompt: I love giving gifts to my family. I like the wrapping process almost as much as the giving of the actual gifts. Usually, I will select a pretty blue-and-silver-style wrapping paper. When I was little, I would listen to songs like "Silver Bells" by the Judds and "Pretty Paper" by Randy Travis. So you see where the "silver" comes in. Where does the blue come in? Well in "Pretty Paper", Randy Travis sings, "Pretty paper, pretty ribbons are blue." My six-year-old mind thought blue wrapping paper must be the prettiest (and blue is my favorite, the shinier the better), so I try and wrap all of my presents in

  Hello! I've reappeared this week to share six of my favorite Christmas reads with you all this month. So, without further ado, here we go. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston is about a little girl and her mother who are waiting for her father to come home from war. Before he went away, the little girl (Ruthie) and her father went up to the tall mountains and picked the town's Christmas tree. This is a lovely book about courage, family and perseverance. The illustrations by Barbara Cooney are the icing on the cake. So beautiful. If you need something to read to your child or are just looking for an easy, heartwarming read, check this one out. You can find it on Amazon here.  The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston The Christmas Candle  by Max Lucado is a book I read almost every year since my mother got it for me years ago. It's a tiny book about faith, hope and miracles. Perfect for Christmas. Here's a link to find it on Amazon.

  Here we are at December 1st. Congratulations! If you're reading this post, you've made it so far. I think we can make it to the end of the year. I'm coming out of an intense month of school papers and NaNoWriMo (I won! How did I do that with four classes and three papers? I don't know. I really don't.) and somehow... I want to go back and do it again. I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. November was a blizzard of a month. I flew from one thing to the next to the next. I was exhausted. I cried, and I felt like sleeping for eternity, but I lived! Somehow, in the midst of the chaos, I found peace. The world was crazy, but amid a caffeine induced swamp of reality and flying words, I felt settled. It was awesome! While I'm tempted to look back on November with fondness, this quote reminds me to look ahead and anticipate all that is to come. The good and the bad. The light and the dark. The sadness and the joy. Because through all of it, I feel like I'm gro