Where did November go?  Seems it just got here and now it's gone! Well, enough of that. Let's get into this post, shall we?

Whew! Where to begin! We started the month the way we ended last month, at the Ambassador Baptist College Missions Conference. Such a wonderful blessing!

We also were blessed to aide in a two week long revival at a Preacher friend's church in Liberty, N.C. My dad preached, we sang, and we got to see God move! It was extended twice! What a tremendous blessing!

For thanksgiving, we were able to attend a special service, sharing God's blessings and singing His praises! God is so good!

I know there were more meetings, but to be honest, my brain is tired and I don't have the calendar in front of me! #authorbrain!

The big event this month was getting to see all my siblings for Thanksgiving! Both my sisters and their families came in and we all got to celebrate together!

We've also started the Country Christmas Train ride at the Denton Farm Park! Come and see us! We're working at the Reid Plantation, giving tours and such :)

Oh! And just the other night, we got to go to a Drive-thru Nativity! It was so pretty, y'all! Very powerful!

Y'all. It happened! My Very first year of Nanowrimo and...

That's right! I won! I feel kinda dazed...all that writing and I'm still not finished with my story!

But that being said, I am officially moving forward with A Song of Home and am currently half way through October! YAY!

I read five books last month! Looking forward to some other lovelies I collected over November!

1. Secret of Shadow Ranch (Nancy Drew #5) by Carolyn Keene  4 Stars
The mystery was satisfying, but there were several comments about boys that I did particularly care for. And a "historical" figure mentioned fell in love with an outlaw...yeah, not my favorite. Also, we are introduced to three characters we've never heard of, but the book is written as though we should know who they are! Umm...what?

2. Time to Share (Patchwork Mysteries #2)   5 Stars
This was another grandma detective mystery, with a Civil War twist, and I really enjoyed it. There was something in it that I didn't care for, but at the moment it escapes me...I forgot to take notes on this one. Overall, it was a cute read!

3. The Red Gate Farm (Nancy Drew #6) Carolyn Keene   3 Stars
Mentions a "cult" that is a cover up for counterfeiters, girls save the day, but put themselves in grave danger in the process...not one of the better books. Not totally bad either, just not for me ;)

4. Even in the Grey by Laura Guenot   5 Stars
Y'all! This story was so sweet! I loved it so much! I "met" Laura through the blog and have really enjoyed getting to know her better over the last few months. I purchased the ebook last week and I loved it! Am I fangirling? Yes, I'm fangirling! There was a mention of hand-holding (and y'all know I'm not a romance reader) but that was a minor thing :) The message of forgiveness, the train, the WWII-ness of the story, crayons (I LOVE CRAYONS!), soldiers, snow! AHHHH! This whole thing was so beautiful! It did progress a little fast, emotionally, but, as stated, it is a short story and the pace doesn't take away from the set at all! It's just so...oh, just go buy it!

5. Heritage of Praise by Rebekah Morris   5 Stars
Another beautiful story! It hit me very hard, because we had just lost a dear elder lady in our circle of friends, just before Thanksgiving and we miss her so much. This story is about the Heritage left to us by those who have passed on. Miss Morris did a lovely job weaving this story and I love it so much! (And I love run on sentences apparently!) Again, get this book!

Well, here were last month's goals...

1. Post a Blog every week   Check!
2. Write November and Most of December's posts before December 1st! Haha...no that didn't happen. Why do I even set this goal for myself? Lol!
3. Work on Revisions on A Song of Home (Maybe hit August or September on my book calendar?)    CHECK! I surpassed this! I'm in October!!!!
4. Read 5 Books   Check!
5. Work on Special Project   Nope, not this month.
6. Re-read The Land of Cotton and Our Heritage to Save   Nope to that one too. Next month?
7. Win Nanowrimo?   YES!

Let's see how much I can get done in December.

1. Get to November with my A Song of Home Revisions
2. Post a blog every week (Plus participate in something super fun...more on that Dec. 14th!)
3. Read at least 5 books! (The Land of Cotton being one of them!)
4. Make Peppermint/Chocolate cookies with my younger siblings. (These are so good, y'all!)
5. Finish gift wrapping.
6. Read some Christmas stories to my siblings (And myself!)
7. Take time to reflect on the Reason for the Season. No need to get too caught up in the commercialism!
8. Do a Christmas craft with the little ones.

Throwing in some non writing goals!

Alrighty! Here are your Story Prompts!

And here are your story prompts...

That's all for now! Have a Merry Christmas and happy December!

Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

Happy November, everyone! It is wonderful to see another fruitful month come to a close, with a bright and shiny new one just waiting to be discovered and filled with memories! I don’t know about you, but I am loving the cooler weather! I’ve switched over my clothes and love getting to wear all my warm sweaters!

Anyway, this past month was invigorating! I can’t wait to share it all with you…so I won’t any longer!

Wow! It was jam-packed with FBN ministry! We kicked off the month in Murfreesboro, Tenn. at the Southwide Independent Baptist Fellowship Oct. 8th – 11th. Besides getting information out to the people, we were extremely blessed with the preaching. Every sermon was spot on and I can honestly say my heart was stirred like never before. What a blessing to know that we serve the God of the Impossible!

The following week (Oct. 14th-21st) we were at our home base in Newport, N.C. for our FBN Share-a-thon. God blessed exceeding and abundantly and in addition to our radio’s financial needs, God moved in the hearts of our listeners to donate $25,000 to help flood victims! Our pastor plans to use the money to help elderly couples who need repairs done to their homes. What a blessing and opportunity for witnessing!

We had one down week, catching up on home projects. Then, Dad and I were off to the Ambassador Baptist College Missions Conference! I look forward to this meeting every year. It’s close enough for us to drive home every afternoon and the sermons and testimonies are truly inspiring! May more servants be sent into the field!

Considering all the travel we’ve done, my life has remained relatively calm. At a friend’s wedding, I caught the bridal bouquet, something I have been trying to do since I was six or seven-years-old!

I was also privileged to get the opportunity to speak one on one with three aspiring authors and (hopefully) give them some coherent advise 😉 Sometimes, even though I work with words all the time, I feel like I can’t express my thoughts through speech very well.

Well, I am almost out of June in my book, but that being said, I had a lot of things happening in the month of June. I will not lie and say that I’ve gotten a ton of writing done, but I am very pleased with how much I was able to get in. I feel like the story is starting to take shape. With all the traveling, there hasn’t been much time to write, but I’m grateful for what I got in!

Also, today is the 1st day of National Novel Writing Month! I’m going to try my best to get 50,000 words in this month, whether in a new project as a break of sorts, or in my WIP. Either way, I am making a conscious attempt to write more this month!

While my list isn’t huge this month, I enjoyed the books I read!

1. The Hardy Boys Book #1: The Tower Treasure by Franklin DixonYes, I know I read this last month, but I reread this one out loud to my siblings, so yes, it counts 😉

2. Wounded Tiger by T. Bennet Martin            4.5 StarsWow. Probably the best book I’ve read about World War Two in the Pacific! It didn’t get a five star review because there were a few words I would have marked out, references to alcohol (and it wasn’t treated as if drinking was wrong, more like a matter of fact), and a situation in the story that, although true, was not something I cared to know about. This is the story of Mitso Fuchida and Jacob DeShazer. And what a story it was! It was over 400 pages long and I thoroughly enjoyed getting a peek into both sides of the war. Of course, I fully support the United States in WWII, I found that seeing both sides answered a lot of questions that had nagged at me for quite some time. I recommend this to adults and mature teenagers. The book, while a nonfiction, was written in a novel style, which made it so easy to follow!

3. Patchwork Puzzles Book #1: Family Patterns   3.5 StarsA mystery series of a grandma detective who has a passion for old quilts and bolts of material? Oh, yes, that sounds lovely! And this opening book did not disappoint! I would have given it a higher rating, but there were two or three references to boyfriends (one of those boyfriends being a con-artist/blackmailer. Didn’t like that part of the story at all!), and the main story line, while it didn’t end up being what I was afraid it was going to be, seemed to have an undercurrent of insinuation. That being said, I found the general atmosphere of the story endearing and enjoyable. Recommended for older teens/adults. (I’m reading book two and so far, it’s much better!)

4. Nancy Drew Mystery #3: The Bungalow Mystery by Carolyn Keene        4 Stars Of all the books in this series, this one was the one I had heard the most about, so I highly anticipated it! While I didn’t care for *Spoiler (Highlight to view)* the scene where Nancy snoops off in the woods on her own and gets herself tied up in a cellar *end of spoiler* the general topic was nice, seeing how Nancy and her cast of cohorts did their best to help a worried orphan and how Nancy helped her father with a case was very neat!  Again, there was a reference to a young man Nancy was supposed to go to a social with, but thankfully, everything was kept clean. He pretty much was written like a friend of the family. Still, you know me, I don’t care for boyfriend/girlfriend stuff.
 
5. Nancy Drew Book #4: The Secret of Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene           3.5 Stars
Of all the books I’ve read in this series, I probably disliked this one the most. I didn’t like the frequent reference to Nancy going diving (clothing to do this very form-fitting and unladylike) and there were two references to a young man liking her. Again, everything concerning the fellow was kept clean, but I just didn’t care for it. And again, Nancy’s curiosity gets her nearly drowned! Maybe I’m picky, but I didn’t really care much for this book 😊

Let's see how I did...*Cringe*

1.Post a Blog every week     Check!
2.Write October and November posts before November 1st!     I'll give myself half a point for this one. I got October's done...but November's are still in the works, lol!
3. Finish Revisions on A Song of Home   Haha...didn't happen.
4. Read 5 Books    Check!
5. Work on Special Project    I'm pretty sure I did...yes I did, I remember now, lol! So, Check!
6. Re-read The Land of Cotton and Our Heritage to Save   Yeah...that didn't happen either ;( But they are on my November TBR List :)

My Goals for this Month are...

1.Post a Blog every week
2.Write November and Most of December's posts before December 1st!
3. Work on Revisions on A Song of Home (Maybe hit August or September on my book calendar?)
4. Read 5 Books
5. Work on Special Project
6. Re-read The Land of Cotton and Our Heritage to Save
7. Win Nanowrimo?

I also would like to note, these are my writing and reading goals. I have other personal goals I set each month that are not writing related, so this is not all consuming, lol! I do have a life outside of Writing and Reading :)

And before I forget, here are your monthly Writing Prompts!

Well, happy November! Until next time,
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22

Where did September go? It’s hard to believe October is already here! We have so many fun meetings coming up this month and I can’t wait to tell you about them! October is one of my favorite months 😊 In fact, Autumn (if you didn’t already know this😉) is my favorite season! And yes, I know season aren’t supposed to be capitalized…but I tend to do it anyway 😅 So…let’s dive into today’s wrap-up, shall we?

We were able to visit many churches this month, but instead of focusing on this, I want to share with you an urgent prayer request.

It’s no secret to any of you that the North Carolina coast was greatly devastated by Hurricane Florence. Our church, Grace Baptist Church, is located in Newport, N.C. It is also the home of FBN Radio, the ministry we represent. 🎼 Thanks to the recent storm, most of the homes of our staff (which are located on campus) suffered heavy flood damage. Our station was off the air for several days and our church sustained some damage as well. You can see photos of the flooding at www.helpfbn.com. I encourage you to take a look at the site and pray for our staff and station. We need it desperately!🎙

Well…Flory took up a lot of thought for us this month, lol!💨 But something I did this month that was so much fun was taking part in my very first Read-a-thon! 📚There were five of us girls in the group and we had a blast, challenging ourselves with a three day reading goal (during the hurricane, perfect timing!) My goal was three books and I hit it! Very happy with that I might add 😆

Also, my family has recently started going to our local library again! It’s been a long time since we actually borrowed books from there! Now, I’m getting to check out some books I’ve been interested in reading, but not sure if I wanted to buy them yet or not. I may or may not have checked out 12 things at one time…😇

Another fun library related thing…Denton Public Library once again hosted me as their “Author of the Month,” for the 4th time in three years! They told me from the start to let them know any time I published a book, so I’ve taken them up on it! The event was amazing and I actually got to see my books on the shelf! So Exciting! It's starting to feel real, lol!

Not a whole lot of news to report here…I’ve made it to June! Yay! I’m praying that I’ll get a lot of work done this month, but I’m not going to stress it. I’m going to do what I can and be thankful I got that much done 😊

*Looks over this month’s list of books with a happy sigh* I got so much reading done this month, for myself and for my siblings! They’ve all taken a liking to Nancy Drew of late, so that has been the library series of choice! (Please note, while we love these books, there are still things here and there that we change when we read them out loud 😊) Let’s see what I read this month…

1. Plymouth Pioneers by Collen Reece                  4 Stars
2. The Stolen Sapphire by Sarah M. Buckley         4Stars
3. Missionaries from Around the World by…I can’t remember      3 Stars (Mostly, it was good, but they referred to women as preachers, so that lowered my rating!
4. Tales from Maple Ridge #2 by Grace Gilmore   4 Stars
5. Tales from Maple Ridge #3 by Grace Gilmore    4 Stars
6. Nancy Drew #2-The Hidden Staircase by Caroline Keene     5 Stars (Note: This book talks about a “haunted house” and a “ghost” that an elderly lady is afraid of. The mystery involves Nancy proving to her that it’s not a ghost and that her house is not haunted. While it doesn’t come right out and say ghosts aren’t real, that’s the general feeling Nancy gives off in the story. Because of this and one other storyline, I recommend someone older reading it first, then even reading it aloud if younger children are interested. That way, you can explain/omit things that might frighten them otherwise 😉 )
7. Traitor in Williamsburg by Elizabeth Jones       5 Stars          (Note: This is an American Girl Mystery and while it’s clean and I enjoyed it, I do think younger readers should be warned not to follow Felicity’s example in all of her actions. She should have turned to the adults! While her motives were good, her course of action
8. Lillian Trasher by Janet and Geoff Benge         5 Stars
9. Hardy Boys- Tower Treasure by Franklin Dixon         4.5 Stars       (Note: Three references to girlfriends, though no touching, kissing is mentioned. We would have preferred no girlfriend/boyfriend scenarios, but it was clean. A little more action than Nancy Drew {It’s for boys 😉| so probably needs an older sibling to proof it before younger readers read it 😊)

I read two other books I chose not to name. They were research-related and borrowed, but due to some content, I don’t want to mention them by title. Not exactly pleased with the outcome.

Lets see how I did on last months goals…
1. Post a Blog every week  Check!
2. Write October’s posts ahead of time (It’s gonna be busy!)  Ohhh…fail ☹
3. Finish revisions on A Song of Home   Nope, didn’t get this one either. Create well ran dry, but I’m raring to go now!
4. Read 5 books       Check!
5. Work on a special project   Haha! Check!
Bonus! Read 5 more books 😉  Check!
 
For this month my goals are…
1.Post a Blog every week
2.Write October and November posts before November 1st!
3. Finish Revisions on A Song of Home
4. Read 5 Books
5. Work on Special Project
6. Re-read The Land of Cotton and Our Heritage to Save
 
Well, that’s it for now! Have a blessed day in the Lord! (Psst! Like what you’re reading? Subscribe to my blog and get an update every time a post goes live!)
Until Next Time,
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22
*Emoji art supplied by Emoji One

Edit! Just realized I forgot the Prompts! Here they are!

Happy September and welcome to my monthly round up! So much happened this month and I can’t wait to share it with you! 😊

Well, as usual, we have been traveling a lot locally. 😆 We did go out of town to help with two nights of a missions conference. It was such a blessing, getting to see some missionary friends of ours and making new ones!

Our big outreach this past month was to The Church of the Open Door, an Independent Baptist Church in Maryland. The pastor is a Sword preacher and one of my favorites! 😉 He is helping us pray about a radio station that we are possibly going to lose in Maryland. COTOD is praying about possibly taking it on as a Church ministry. Please pray that this works out as this station can reach 8 million people! FBN really doesn’t want to lose this station! ☹

Early this month, my sister Gera and her family came up to visit us and we got to spend the day at a family park about an hour away from our house to celebrate my niece’s birthday! 🎂 So special! The baby is growing up so much! Love that little man! 😘

As soon as we got back from the missions conference, me, two of my sisters and my dad packed up and went to Maryland to help my oldest sister and her family move to their new house! 😅 They were grateful for the help and we loved getting to spoil the kiddos while we were there! They’re growing so fast. We celebrated another niece’s birthday while we were there as well.

Sunday the 19th, our extended family celebrated its 103rd family reunion! It was begun during WWI, before the fighting had reached the U.S. What an amazing legacy!

The next day, our family homeschool started. As History teacher, I’m so glad to back hitting the books! Love, Love Love school and miss it so bad! 😭

This month, I celebrated my 2nd Blogaversary on August 1st! Hard to believe the blog has been up two whole years!

I finally finished redrafting the revisions I needed for my WIP and have now gotten myself knee-deep in rewriting it! 📝📙  It’s going very well, if I could just get the time to write! As you saw above, things have been busy. But I’ve gotten in several good sessions, for which I am grateful! Praise the Lord!

A new section! This month I had a goal of reading 10 books. Here’s what I actually did…
1. Willow Valley Kids Book #2      5 Stars
2. Willow Valley Kids Book #3      4.5 Stars
3. Amy Carmichael                       5 Stars
4. Maple Ridge Book # 1              4.5 Stars
5. The Baker’s Daughter               2 Stars
6. Like the Willow Tree               3 Stars
7. The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1)  5 Stars
So, 7 out of 10, that’s not so bad 😊 I may or may not be posting reviews on these books in the future. We shall see!

Another new section! Here are my goals for this month…
1. Post a Blog every week
2. Write October’s posts ahead of time (It’s gonna be busy!)
3. Finish revisions on A Song of Home
4. Read 5 books
5. Work on a special project
Bonus! Read 5 more books 😉

And as promised, here are your monthly righting prompts!

And for your easy reference, here is our monthly round-up!

July Wrap Up // My 2nd Blogaversary!
My Life in Books Tag! // My Very First Book Tag!
5 Book Recs! // Back to School Musts!
Writing 101: I Have a Story! Now What? // The Revision Stage
The Mason Family // How Dixie Got Her Name

Well, that’s it for now! Have a blessed day in the Lord! (Psst! Like what you’re reading? Subscribe to my blog and get an update every time a post goes live!)

Until Next Time,
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22
*Emoji art supplied by Emoji One

Hello everyone! Today is a very special. Two years ago today, I started my blog. My intention was to have a blog strictly with historical articles. This past year, God broadened my vision and now I have writing posts, book reviews and devotions. It’s been so much fun and I’m excited to enter my third year of blogging. Thank you so much for joining my little community! I’m so happy to have you along for the ride, encouraging me to keep going. I don’t take that lightly. God Bless you and thank you so much!

To celebrate, after I do my wrap up, I will be posting my usual story prompts and some bonus story prompts inspired by my very first book, The Land of Cotton. I hope you enjoy!

Wow! God is so good! This month has been so busy! The first week of July, we had the Southeast Old Threshers’ Reunion where we handed out a lot of FBN information. I was able to sell several books as well, but the very best part was getting to hold a church service at the little white church on the property. My dad preached, and we sang. Nearly 200 people came, including our District 13 National Representative, Ted Budd and District Court Judge April Wood and her husband. They were such a blessing. Thank God for Christians in our Political system!

The following week, we had our VBS at our church in Newport, N.C. We had a fun sea theme and taught water related lessons to our students. I was privileged to assist a good friend of mine in her class and taught on the Woman at the Well to our class of 9-10-year-olds. Very attentive listeners!

After that, we helped a friend, who is expecting her third child, keep an eye on her kids during a week of morning services. That week proved to be a little less crazy, giving us much needed down time to regroup, just in time for…

National Sword of the Lord Conference! This past week was amazing! The preaching, singing and workshops were spot on and we were able to fellowship with several good friends! We handed out FBN material and sold more of my books. I was pleasantly surprised to see Pastor Jerry Ross from Jasonville, Indiana at the conference! He is the author of Stay in the Castle. If you haven’t read this book (or any of his other books) you should definitely check them out! Can’t recommend them enough! Maybe I should write up a few reviews…

Well, I decided to try out Camp Nanowrimo this year for the very first time. While I did not win, I did get 75% of my goal completed, which was a little over 100 pages edited on my Current WIP. I hit a rock in the road and need to re-plot so much of it…I’m back to the plotting stage, but that’s alright, because that will make my edits go a lot smoother.

I have also started a blog subscription thanks to a kind young lady’s request. If you want an update when a new post goes live, just send me your email! 😊 Can’t wait for you to join our family 😉 Every email, I include a snippet of the newest post, bonus information (for subscribers only!) and two suggested posts for you to check out. I can’t wait to hear from you!

Well…the last two sections about sum it up 😊 Oh, oh, oh! I know! July 28th, we went to Beacon Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. and got to see the Live presentation of the Patch the Pirate adventure, Operation Arctic: Viking Invasion. It. Was. So. Good. The pre-show included beautiful music videos and a fun sing-a-long with PJ Pirate (Jason Hamilton)! Also present was Princess (Meagan Hamilton Morgan), Captain of the Guard (Adam Morgan) and Sissy Seagull (Shelly Hamilton, though she was recovering from the flu and had someone stand in for her). It was so amazing! The music, the costumes, the sound effects, the acting and everything…oh, words fail me! And the we also stocked up on episodes that were missing from our collection. Ahh…the drive was so worth it 😊
 
And now for your monthly story prompts…

And your bonus prompts...!

That’s all I have for you today! Thank you so much for hanging out with me. Keep your eyes peeled for my next post! It’s gonna be so fun 😉

In Christ,
Ryana Lynn
Jude 22