2017 Story Ideas

Hello everyone! Hope your first two days of 2017 went well! I go back to school today *sighs*. Oh well, such is life.

Today I will be giving a general overview on some of the story ideas I would like to have written by the end of the year.

First and foremost, is Saving Camelot. I know, I know, some of you might be thinking, was she not going to finish that story last month? Unfortunately, life happened, and that ended up not being the case. My goal is to finish it this month though, hopefully starting next week!

Then, there is my book from NaNo, Surviving the Odds. For details on that little project of mine, please click here to go back to my beautiful books post from October.

Now, you guys got a certain peek at a Finn and his sweetheart in A Finnish Christmas. Armo and Adeline are going to ride to tell more of their adventures! Some of their tales will include (feel free to guess what some of these stories will be about in the comments):

• A Wacky Proposal
• The World Series
• Their Shadow
• Science Fiction Nutcase
• Hard Choices
• The Frights of Life
• True Beauty

This is my hopeful project for Camp NaNo in April. I may do another beautiful books post towards the end of March to go into detail about this set of stories.

My next project is tentatively titled the Councillor and the Cowgirl, which I believe I detailed in an earlier post but will go ahead and reiterate here, so that everything is in one place.

A young lawyer meets a young woman who just moved into a sort of backwards town to take a job train horses. He immediately gets caught up in shenanigans with his two brothers as he tries to woo this lady's affections. Later, shortly after they are married, the councillor is threatened for a case he took on, and begins to withdraw from his new wife and brothers because of it, fearing for his life and the lives of those he loves.

Then there is the case of my two sisters featured in Saving Camelot, Jasmine and Victoria. I really want to write a sort of thriller with both of these sisters at the center of the action. It will involve international abductions, shootings, mystery, and intrigue at every turn!

There you have it! Some of the writing ideas I have for 2017. Saving Camelot is a priority right now, along with finishing the first draft of Surviving the Odds. By the end of the year, my hope is to have at least the first  draft of all of these stories done, along with the SECOND draft of Surviving the Odds finished.

What are some of your writing goals for 2017? Feel free to comment below!

2017 Reading Challange

Below is a list of categories and books I will be reading as part of the 2017 reading challenge I am participating in!

       A new year. A new challenge.

• A classic
• Jane Austen: Seven Novels
• The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
• Star Trek: The Classic Episodes (I know it is not a classic but still)
• A book with a main character whose name you really like.
• Waning Moon (This has a lawyer named Jarrod in it! For those of you who like the Big Valley, you will understand!)
• A trilogy
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy
• Amish County Crossroads
• Inkheart Trilogy
• Lee’s Lieutenants: A Lesson in Command
• The Civil War Trilogy
• The Civil War: A Narrative
• A biography about a person you respect/admire/want to learn more about.
• No Higher Honor: A Tribute to My Years in Washington
• Lee Considered
• A book about or including a Biblical figure you admire.
• A Reluctant Queen
• One of your favorite books in the Bible.
• Psalms
• Proverbs
• A book over 400 pages long.
• The Complete C.S. Lewis Signature Classics
• A reread.
• Rescuing Hope
• Ahsoka
• Circles in the Snow
• The Tamarack Murders
• The Hobbit
• Horses Never Lie About Love
• The Mustang Who Loved Me

• A book set in your favorite time period.
• Team of Rivals
• Battle Cry for Freedom
• For Cause and Comrades
• The Civil War in the American West
• Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy
• A history book.
• Undaunted Courage
• We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the Band of Brothers
• Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
• Crazy Horse and Custer
• D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II
• Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869
• Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany
• The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany 1944-45
• The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower
• JFK and the Reagan Revolution
• All Quiet on the Western Front
• In Flanders Fields
• Pearl Harbor
• Undaunted Courage - Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, And The Opening Of The American West
• Americans at War
• A book about a hobby or career you want to pursue.
• Confederates in the Attic
• To America: Personal Reflections of an Historian
• A book in your favorite genre.
• A Home For My Hear
• The Bluebird and the Sparrow
• Carve The Mark
• Underworld
• A book by an author you’ve never read any other works by.
• Adam
• The McKinleys Trilogy
• A book with a title you really like.
• Fear Fighting
• Chosen By a Horse
• A book a family member or friend chooses for you. (No options!) P.S.-Two of these are books I borrowed upon recommendation from friends last year that I feel like I need to read XD
• Agent 146
• Big Valley
• Cold Comfort Farm
• A book that you buy at the bookstore – one that you haven’t had on your TBR list and haven’t decided on buying (a.k.a. spontaneous purchase!).
• Three Rivers Ranch Romance Box Set
• A book you’ve seen the movie-version of (but haven’t read before).
• A Christmas Carol
• Lonesome Dove

In With The New

Happy 2017 one and all! Let's hope this year is better than the last one.

Now, for my New Years planning I do a combination of setting goals and picking out one word to be sort of my word of the year.

I suppose I shall start with the goals first, as that would help me to explain my overall reasoning for picking the word I did for this year.

1. Spend more time in the Bible and praying. This has been such a big thing I have struggled with since about halfway through high school. I really want to spend this year focusing on growing in my relationship with God and therefore, have a more fulfilling life living out His will and purpose for me. The more fulfilled you are in your walk with God, the more fulfilled by this life you will be.

2. Jornal more. Journaling, especially my prayers or thoughts and reflections during quiet time, helps me to be more calm and focused. I will actually have a post about the benefits journaling has had for me and the different ways you might be able to go about journaling in the coming days.

3. Read for FUN. Emphasis on the word FUN here. I used to read for fun all the time, and still like to do so. The trouble is, I lack the time and the motivation to do so as a college student. I am graduating this coming May though, and anticipate having quite a bit of free time during this summer. So, hopefully, I will succeed in this goal and complete a reading challenge I have decided to take part in, which I will describe at a later post.

4. Write more consistently. Doing NaNo this last November really

helped me in a sense to get a jump start on this goal. It also helped me to realize I could keep up with my schoolwork and write at the same time. Even if it is only a few hundred words a day, that is still making progress on a story, as well as making writing everyday a habit. A later post I have planned will also describe some of the story ideas I have that I want to potentially try and write this year.

5. Become more focused on my studies for my last semester of college and (eventually) grad school. I have been slacking in this area of my life in particular as I have been so beyond ready to be done with school. Due to this, I have been focusing on my future, and not on my studies here and now as they should be.

6. Manage my money better. I don't think this one in particular needs much elaboration. I am going to be graduating soon, so this is even more important of a skill for me to learn.

7. This goal is slightly more silly and more fun than the others. I want to rewatch the entire series of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager. Part of the reasoning behind this is that I have not seen either of these series in a while. The other part of this is that I have an idea for a massive fanfiction that pretty much crosses Star Trek, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings, and I want to re-watch these two series in particular to come up with some ideas.

So there you have it, my goals for 2017. This leads me to the next part of the post, which is my word for the year.

My word for 2017 is *drumroll*...

DEDICATE 

Which is defined as to devote (time, effort, or oneself) to a particular task or purpose.

I suppose I chose this word as I wanted to show more dedication in the activities in my life, starting most importantly in my relationship with God, and trailing down from there. I feel as though I need to be more focused and dedicated here and now to the task currently assigned to me by God, and not always be wishing for the next stage in life thinking it will be better.

So there you have it my fellow readers! My 2017 goals and word of the year. Comment below on what some of your goals are for the coming year. I would love to hear from you.