{friday mixing bowl} the declutter in every possible way edition

The long weekend is almost here! Hooray! Here’s what I’ve been up to…

<< I’m currently >>

in a state of limbo…

…because I turned in my book and proposal! As of right now, all of my major projects are in others’ hands. So the picture above is what I’ll be doing for the foreseeable future. I see lots of naps, Netflix, and reading in my future.

at least for now…

…because I can’t keep myself away from writing for too long. What’s next on the agenda? Rewrites from my agent, planning my next book, and plotting a super secret project that I can’t talk about just yet.

celebrating…

…the life of my dear college mentor Jim Wilcox. Can I just raise my voice and echo everyone else when I say I hate cancer? When I found out he was retiring early because of his health, I mourned for the decades of college students at my alma mater who would never have their lives impacted by him like we did. Now I’m mourning for his family, the wife he adored and respected so much, his twin brother, sons, and grands who miss their Pop. But I’m also celebrating his impact with so many of his students who wouldn’t have the talent or professional gumption had they not been nurtured by him. I wrote a letter to him before he passed and also added my voice to the many tributes on Facebook. We seriously had the best professors! <3

in the mood to…

…seriously declutter. Maybe not this drawer because it’s too fun and pretty, but my whole house. We’re talking serious rampage on clothes, baby toys, and junk drawers. But I’m procrastinating by reading all the Art of Simple articles on decluttering because I know that, if I begin a huge project, I’ll get an email from my agent two days in saying I need to rewrite my whole book or something. And then I’ll have half-undone closets and piles all over my house, and that simply will not do. Baby steps!

reading…

…Just One Summer, a novella collection by some of my favorite authors. I’m believing that, if I read a book about summer, the rain will go away! I just finished my critique partner’s latest manuscript and can’t wait for its release. SO GOOD! On my Kindle, I also have the latest romantic suspense from Jessica R. Patch, Protective Duty. I’ll report back on both of these soon!

catching up…

…on rest. Both the physical kind and the mental kind. I got to attend a 24-hour women’s retreat with my church girls, and we had so much fun getting away to a gorgeous and relaxing ranch about 1.5 hours outside the city. (If you’ve seen yesterday’s “Welcome to My Table” post, the beautiful table in that image was there!) My brain is full of so much information that I haven’t had time to process over the last few months, so it’s nice to be able to journal and sort through it all. I need to create more space for rest in my busy! 🙂

<< link love >>

• If you’re in charge of breakfast this weekend, treat yo’ self with these cinnamon roll pancakes from Fifteen Spatulas!
• Which Christian fiction author are you? Take the quiz and find out! (I got Serena Chase.)
• I love this philosophy on strong friendship that Relevant wrote about. The most important thing is just showing up.
• Turn yourself into a wordsmith quickly with this tool, Wordnik. It shows multiple definitions, synonyms, context, other forms of the word you type in. So ridiculously helpful! Am I the last writer on earth that didn’t know about it?
• This video of Jenny Kutz speaking at a conference? Wow. Talks about how we measure success and our significance in God’s eyes. Please listen! I might transcribe parts of it for my first Table Talk post, in fact.

<< in case you missed it >>

• I shared my manifesto for this space, something I have been mulling over for a long time!
• Meghan Gorecki guest posted for me on The Writer’s Alley this week, discussing how being in God’s will is the best place to be + celebrating her book’s second birthday.
• I shared what it’s like to celebrate my critique partner’s book release.
• All the summer book recommendations for you!

Will you get the chance to relax and rest this weekend? Any advice on decluttering?