Challenge Update, April 2017

April was a good recovery after a rough March. I’m proud of what I finished but I think I could have gotten a little more done. I’d like to think I’ll get more read in May but I’m taking an online class so probably not. You can look at my progress at any time on my challenge page.

Books finished in April:

Loteria // Mario Alberto Zambrano (4/5)
Once in a Great City // David Maraniss (4/5)
Library of Souls // Ransom Riggs (2/5)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan // Lisa See (4/5)

My current physical read is slowing me down a lot. Three of these are audiobooks! I hope to power through it but we’ll see how that goes. I’m almost 200 pages in and finding it hard to be engrossed.

When Are You Reading? Challenge

8/12
I filled in two more! This is looking great. I do tend to struggle with the centuries I have left so I might have to focus over the summer to get some targeted books in. I’m feel good about this one, though. I think ‘The Future’ should be an easy one to fill in.

Goodreads Challenge

18/50
I’m somehow still ahead of schedule here. Phew! I’ll try to keep this pace up through the summer. With how long my coach has me running, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. This weekend I got 2.5 hours in with workouts alone!

Cover image via Goodreads

Book of the Month

It’s close, but I’m giving this to Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See. The book will stay with me for a while. The female friendship in the story was amazing and I wish I had something like that with someone. The foot binding was really emotional, too. Overall, it was really well written and I look forward to reading more by See.

Added to my TBR

Just one more this month. I’m doing good at not adding a lot and knocking some out along the way!

• Powering Up by Anne Doyle. I heard Anne speak at a women’s conference and she gave out copies of her book. Don’t mind if I do!

Personal Challenge

I mentioned in my challenge announcement post that I had some non-reading goals set for myself in 2017. I figured this would be a good place to keep myself accountable to those as well. Here goes!

• Keep my 4.0 GPA: Achieved! Well, at least for the Winter semester. I’m starting a summer class next week so I’ll be back at it again and will let you know in July how it went.
• Knit blankets:  I’ve got to make a boy blanket soon. I’m catching up on a year-long project before I dive into that but I have the yarn to start knitting soon. I’ve just got to pick out a new pattern.
• One race per month: I finished my first 8K in April. I don’t see a lot of races at this distance, most go with a standard 5 miles (8K is 4.97 miles). The course was about 5.2 miles per my phone GPS so I’m thinking of my pace in a much more favorable light than the records show!
• Get my novel out to beta readers: That’s the plan for this week! Hubby is on a work trip and I’m here editing. I got great feedback from one beta and some partial notes from others that I’ll start working on. I’ll get back to it in June when my summer class is over.

How were your challenges? I hope you made it. If you love historical fiction, give some thought to my challenge for 2017, it’s fun!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!