PrissyKissy

Greetings, fellow Deviants--how I have missed you all!

So it's been 2 1/2 years since my last journal--for sooooo many reasons!  Life is crazy busy--I work 10 hours a day Monday-Thursday, try to get to the gym at least 3 days a week, and serve as both Music Director and Young Women President at Church (I work with girls 12-18--meaning I teach on Sunday, go to Mutual on Wednesday, and also go to stuff like camp, Youth Conference, and dances).  In addition, there's preparing for all of the above, family stuff (we've got three new babies in my extended family coming between now and August!), and just staying caught up with stuff like folding laundry and cleaning eats up my time....

Nevertheless, my mind has been hard at work for almost 4 years on an actual book I want to write--and with the introduction of some new characters I didn't know where missing over the last couple of months, things have really opened up--I haven't written much, but I'm getting a sense of who characters are and what makes them tick, and events throughout their lives--because it's all about the relationships and connections, people!

So how are all of you?

Yes, it's an original Wacom Graphire (which I think makes it about 10 years old)--but it works and it was free!  My aunt apparently had it and was getting rid of it when she cleaned out her office (she's relocating), so my mom grabbed it for me I'm still trying to figure out the feel and how it works, using some of my old lineart (and part of that is remembering how GIMP works for drawing, after such a long time ), but I'm looking forward to the experience, and am hoping this helps me to better get what I cando onto the screen a bit faster

In other news, we finished our summer reading program on the 18th--registered 3,513 kids, birth through high school, and now we're trying to recover and get things back in order--which is a process I finally finished my first Personal Progress value (Virtue) and it will be a short time and I will also be done with Faith, Divine Nature, and Individual Worth--halfway!

I'm hoping this new device will help me to want to do creative stuff, and I'll allow myself to actually have fun before I finish every single thing on my to-do list for my whole life

Hi everyone, I'm still alive, despite only being on here pretty much to clear out my inbox recently--and with my current schedule, that's not gonna change anytime soon

Last summer I read a bunch of books--this summer I'm helping other people find the books they need to read.  My new position is waaaaaaay more involved in our library system's Summer Reading Program than last year (when that tiny branch registered less than 90 the whole summer--we're on our 5th week, with 3 more to go, and have registered about 3300!) We have workshops, special guests, movies, and puppet shows almost every day, and tons of kids (birth through high school) come in to claim prizes for reading time and our weekly drawings--it's really amazing

For those of you who might be LDS, I'm also working hard to finish Personal Progress--I've got about another week or so and Virtue will be finished, and I only have two more experiences until Faith is--I've been working on it on and off for about two years, and am looking forward to learning more.

It may or may not be another 7 months before you hear from me again--let me know how you're doing

As of December 1, I'm officially the new Young Adult Specialist at the main branch of my area's library I'm not exactly sure what all this entails yet--I know I'll be doing activities for teenagers and helping the Children's Department with puppet shows (I get to be a rapping troll my first week ), but wow.....I haven't had a full-time job since I quit my last one to go back to school in 2007, and haven't had retirement and insurance since 2003 (and it's under our state's teacher retirement, so if I ever get back in a school setting, it still counts).  This is a huuuuuuuuge blessing, as I've got student loans that can't be deferred for much longer (though of course I'll start paying on them now, so the interest doesn't go up any more) and my car is in desperate need of new headlights (they've got that stupid oxidation on the inside, where I can't get in to clean them).  This will be my last week at my part-time position in a teeny tiny town I love, but we're all part of the regional system so I'll still see my co-workers once in awhile

In creative news--I'm finally going to get a tablet (it was supposed to be last year's Christmas present, but I haven't gotten around to it), and I've got an idea for an original story that I'm working on, bit by bit, with all the other things that are going on right now, which includes reading more YA books, since that's work now (oh darn, I have to read books ) The ones I'm currently working on are Divergent by Veronica Roth and DragonSpell by Donita K. Paul (both are the first in series--I'll let y'all know how they go )

Oh, and my summer reading list--I ended up reading 10 or eleven books (one didn't fit the theme but I had to read it!) between May and September.  Here's the final tally:

1.)The Help
2.)The Hunger Games
3.)Catching Fire
4.)Mockingjay
5.)The Hobbit
6.)The Invention of Hugo Cabret
7.)The Walk (which is actually third in a series.....which I didn't realize til later--this is the one that wasn't part of the theme, but it was good anyway )
8.)The Lightning Thief
9.)The Sea of Monsters
10.)The Titan's Curse
11.)The Battle of the Labyrinth
12.)The Last Olympian

Now my next exciting thing is that The Hobbit comes out December 14th--I can't wait!

Hey peeps, I've decided to read some actual books for fun this summer (I've done some during the year, but Old Testament Institute sort of dominates any reading time I had).  My theme is Books Made (or will be made) Into Movies I Want To See, because I've officially turned into one of those "I NEED to read the book first" people Here's the list......but if you have any suggestions for books that a.) fit the theme and b.) are pretty clean, let me know.....maybe they'll make next year's list

1.) The Help
2.) The Hunger Games
3.) Catching Fire
4.) Mockingjay
5.) The Hobbit (currently on page 58.....it's taking some time because I've been busy and because it's not all 'adrenaline rush ' ......and my own story's been writing as of late )
6.) The Lightning Thief (I will continue this series a bit at a time after summer ends.....so I may save it til last)
7.) The Invention of Hugo Cabret (this one is suuuuuuper thick, but it's sort of a graphic novel-type book, so I expect it reads at a nice pace )
8.) ?
9.) ??
10.) ???