What's New?

I feel like I need to crack my knuckled and wiggle my fingers a bit to get my hands working on this blog post! It's been much too long since I've updated my blog.

Here's a brief list of all the things that have kept me busy this past month.

1. Homeschooling. We're only a few weeks away from completing our first year of homeschooling our oldest daughter! This makes me very excited. I'm excited that we're almost done, but I'm also excited that the year went so well. We're already planning for next year!

Our oldest doing her school work. We use Switched On
Schoolhouse, a fun computer-based curriculum.

2. Writing My Novel. I finished my third novel on April 13th, just shy of three months after I started it. I try to write during the winter when my husband is home (he has a landscaping business). During the summer we have a lot of activities planned and it wouldn't work for me to write with such intensity. My story already went through the hands of my writing critique partners, and is now with my beta readers. I hope to get it to my agent in the coming weeks.

I spent hours pouring over a local newspaper doing research
for my current novel set in 1927 when Lindbergh came home!
I don't know what I enjoy more: researching or writing! This
photo was taken at the Morrison County Historical Society.

3. Children's Activities. Piano, violin, dance lessons, basketball, AWANA, MOPS, and ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education), filled my winter calendar. All of these are wrapping up for the summer, and a few we have officially "graduated" from. It's bitter-sweet to close a chapter in life. I will miss MOPS and ECFE, but I'm excited for all the new adventures to come. This summer we have lots of fun activities planned. Now that the boys are four, I feel like we can have a bit more freedom to explore Minnesota and start going places I wouldn't have dared to go when they were younger. :)

My husband was one of the coaches for our
daughters' basketball team.

4. The Boys Turned Four! Speaking of the boys, we celebrated their fourth birthday on March 29th! That's a pretty huge milestone in our family. It was also the one year anniversary of signing with my agent. Lots of things to celebrate that day.

My boys turned 4!!!!

5. Judging for the Carol Awards. This year I was asked to be one of the judges for the prestigious Carol Award given during the ACFW Conference in September. The Carol Award is for published Christian fiction. It's been so much fun discovering new authors! I had never read any of their stories before (though I know who they are). I feel like I'm also a winner because I now have three new authors I want to follow.

6. Reading for Pleasure. I also have read a few books for pleasure! Pleasure, I tell you. :) Now that I write, I don't read nearly as much as I'd like--and probably not nearly as much as I should. One of the books I'm currently reading is the second novel by my friend Melissa Tagg. Her book is called Here to Stay and it's a wonderful story. Melissa captures the heart of a small town with perfection. Her hero is Blake Hunziker, who made his appearance in Melissa's first novel, Made to Last.

Isn't this cover adorable? I love it. :)

7. Spring Clean-Up. Now that the snow has finally melted, we've been busy in the yard and house! Cleaning up feels so good after a long winter. We've also had two fires down by the river already, and we're looking forward to many more.

Our first family fire--which meant our first s'mores of the season.

These are the activities that have kept the Meyer family busy this spring! I'm looking forward to spending more time on my blog this summer, and I'll be sure to update as my book moves through all the various stages of its journey.

Your Turn! I'd love to hear what has kept you busy this spring. Any fun plans for the summer?

A Busy Season

I started this blog two years ago and I was faithful to post three times a week, without fail, for over a year and a half. Until this last fall.

As I sat down and contemplated why my blog has fallen to the bottom of my priority list, I've realized it was pushed there because I added one more thing to my already busy schedule: homeschooling.

We have two daughters (ages 9 and 7) and twin boys who will be 4 at the end of this month. I was homeschooled when I was younger, and it was always my dream to homeschool our children. After the boys were born (when our oldest was in Kindergarten), I realized I wouldn't be able to homeschool at that time. We put our oldest in a private school, followed by our second daughter last year.

I still wanted to homeschool, and I found a great curriculum that started in 3rd grade, so we decided to keep our children in their private school until they enter 3rd grade, and then we'd start homeschooling. This year our oldest entered 3rd grade.

It's been a great experience and I'm very happy we made the decision. Our second daughter will remain in the private school next year for 2nd grade, and then she'll start homeschooling in 3rd grade, as well. The year she starts homeschooling our boys will enter Kindergarten at the private school.

This has worked well for our family--but it's required me to sacrifice in other areas, including this blog.

I will keep blogging when I can, but it's not at the top of my priority list for this season in my life. I am writing a new novel set in 1927, and when I'm not homeschooling, I am researching or writing. Thankfully my hubby's work is seasonal, so he's home during the winter and that allows me to still write.

I hope to have my first draft of my new story finished by the beginning of April. I'll work on edits and revisions for the month of April and hopefully send it off to my agent by the beginning of May. At that time (if this winter ever ends), my hubby will be going back to work, my daughter will be finishing up her first year of homeschool, and I will take the summer off from writing. I'm hoping to rekindle my blog at that time and get back to my blogging schedule.

Thank you for being a faithful reader! As my schedule allows, I'll be back with fun posts. I have some friends who are releasing books this spring and I hope to host them here and offer some great giveaways. I'll also post periodically about my story's progress. (I am having so much fun writing this book!)

Enjoy these fleeting days of winter! :)

Your turn: Is this a busy season of life for you? What have you had to give up to follow a dream?