Because Life Never Goes As Planned...

 Hello Readers,

Much has happened since my last post. I had intended to post more frequently, but life has a way of hitting all at once. The past few months have been a whirlwind of school, work, a vacation, a friend's wedding, and turning 21 :o.

Since this blog has been neglected, two important birthdays have happened. First, at the end of March, this blog turned 3, I can't believe it's been so long. I was only 17 when I started and I am happy with how it has developed over the years. The second birthday was Everlasting Gold, my novel has now been in the hands of my precious readers for 3 years as of the end of April. I want to thank all of you, readers, for coming alongside me as I walk this road of writing and blogging. Your reading and commenting mean so much to me. 

Schoolwork was the main time stealer. I have been enjoying my online classes at The Master's University so much. I learned many new things that I will hopefully remember beyond the finals. I've learned more about myself and how I study and, perhaps most importantly, that I am able to pull at least two all-nighters in a row given proper motivation and caffeination. I do not recommend this style of getting assignments turned in on time, but it does work in a pinch.  

My family and I took a trip back east to my friend's wedding this summer. We finally got to go to the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY which was definitely a highlight of the trip. We also went to Dollywood, TN, (while there we celebrated my *21st birthday*. Y'all, I feel so old. I am fully legal, which is kinda scary) and Mt. Airy, NC. Besides getting an allergy/head cold during the trip, it was a lovely time. The wedding was beautiful and I'm so happy for my friend. We also got to visit some old friends, and reconnect with even older friends (meaning, we've known them longer, sorta... it's complicated in the best of ways).  

Since I'm on break from school for the next couple of weeks, I thought I should revive this blog. In the next few days, I will be posting another book review because, with the school semester over, I have once again been able to read books for pleasure instead of school. 

I hope y'all are having a lovely summer! 

Blessings,

Mattie May

Well it’s that time of year for a new one to start

Dear Readers,

I apologize for falling off the face of the blogosphere. School started, life happened and here I am almost four months later… writing a long overdue blog post. 

I had a lot of plans for this year, and not many of them actually happened. And the word that will continue to be my excuse is… school. This wrap up post will not really be my usual one because it’s more exciting that way. (Actually because I’m writing this and it’s almost 2023 :o) 

Sadly, with school I didn’t get hardly any writing done. I wrote some, mostly poetry to help process some of the things that were going on in my life. Most all the prose I wrote was for school. 

I also didn’t do much reading, but I’m on Goodreads now if you care to keep up with my reading. 

The podcast got neglected after April because I started school. I’m hoping that as I fall into the swing of school and work I’ll figure out my time and maybe get an episode out, we’ll see. 

I learned a lot this year. I learned more about me and I learned about people. I learned the importance of being honest with people. And I learned the pain of loss. Above all though, through the crazy insane things that life will throw God is still sovereign and on the throne. 

This is where I would usually talk about my goals or resolutions for the new year, but I haven’t given them too much thought at this point…. I’m also working toward keeping my goals realistic so I don’t completely fail, but I also want to challenge myself. 

I think I will close this post with the words of Longfellow. 

“Then peeled the bells more loud and deep

God is not dead, nor doth he sleep.

The wrong will fail, the right prevail

With peace on earth, good will to men.” 

~I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 

Happy New Year! 

Blessings in Christ, 

Mattie May

August Wrap-up

 Hello Readers! 

I’m back again for another wrap-up post! This will probably be a short post because I’m currently with my family on vacation and I didn’t plan ahead enough to post this before we left… so here I am in the car, writing this post. 

The big news for this month was switching schools. As you might know from my last post, I was struggling with some of the theology from CCU. In the midst of trying to figure out if I could take some Bible classes at The Master’s University I discovered that they had a creative writing and publishing program starting in the spring! 

Now I’m also working on school in the car because my classes started Monday! So far I am really enjoying them and learning lots. 

I didn’t get much for writing done this month except continue to learn about WWI and the events and people surrounding it. It has been very helpful as I try to grasp some of the complexities of a full-blown worldwide war. I have an editor scheduled to help me in October, so we’ll see how that ends up going. 

That’s all for today, y’all! Are any of you doing college? What are you looking forward to most this school year? Hope you have a lovely almost fall! 

Blessings, 

Mattie May

Random Life Update

Hello Readers,

This month has flown by. It seems that so much has happened, and I lost track of it. So here I am doing another blog post... later than I hoped. 

Things that Have Happened...

- 4th of July

We had a party and a pie contest. My pie won for the best looking and I'm really proud of that lol. We also went to see the local fireworks for the first time. 

-My family had two birthdays this month. 

-I finished my 2nd college class and started my 3rd. Almost done with my first semester! 

These past two classes have been challenging in a theological sort of way. But they have helped me solidify my own beliefs. 

-I started working. 

I work for a very sweet family that goes to my church. A bonus with gas prices going up is that they live one house down from me, so I get to ride my bike! An exciting thing that happened this week was when I dumped dirty mop water into a meat bee hole... somehow I managed not to get stung. 

- I got some editing done on OtF!

This was a highlight of my month. I got some editing done. Not as much as I would like, but at this point, anything is a win. I have found it very helpful to ramble at a writing friend about my characters. I think OtF may take a slightly different turn theme-wise than I originally planned. (As a side note in my writing life, I wrote a poem that I might share with y'all at a future time.)

-I feel as though I am an official adult.

Between phone calls, emails, signing paperwork, doing college, work, getting a new phone, and starting to pay my own bills... ahh, adulting here I am.

I have ideas for more thought-out blog posts in the future. I'm hoping as I settle into a routine I can factor in more time for blogging. 

I hope y'all are having a wonderful summer!

Blessings,

Mattie May

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Hello Readers! 

It feels like summer is already here, technically it's not, but it sure feels like it. 

This month and last month have felt like a whirlwind. 

I know I never posted the giveaway results, so I'll go ahead and do that now! 

Congrats to Naomi W! 

Life has been very busy this past month. I'm always amazed at how God takes our life trajectory and then flips it upside down. What I'm about to tell you about I never would have thought that I would, but here I am. 

I am a college student now. 😮

As is typical for me, I didn't decide to do college till about four or five weeks before registration ended for summer classes. I seem to be a last-minute kind of person. I'm currently working toward a Creative Writing degree at Colorado Christian University. I have one week left of my first class and so far it hasn't been as bad as I might have expected. My first class was an introduction to college writing and so far I've made it. One of my biggest fears of doing college was writing a college paper. I didn't think I could do it. But now I've written a few, and they weren't as bad as I might have thought they were. So that's my first bit of news. 

The second bit is that I done left the teen years. I guess I should probably update my bio since I'm no longer a teen writer. 😦😂 

It feels weird. 

You know how people ask if you feel any different on your birthday... up until now, I've said no... but now... I think I feel a little different. It could be purely psychological, but I have no way of proving it. I had a very lovely birthday with friends and family. 

I don't really enjoy all the attention having a birthday gives me, but I guess you're only two decades once in your life and you may as well enjoy it. 

I've lived a wonderful twenty years. It's been beautiful and ugly. It's been hard and easy. There have been hills and valleys. And I thank the Lord for each and every blessing and trial that He has allowed me to walk through. 

I've learned so much about life and growing up and while I might be in shock that I'm not a teenager anymore, I hope I can learn and grow a lot through this next decade of my life. 

Blessings,

Mattie May, The Blossoming Writer