It’s February already? How the heck did that happen? I guess 2012 will be no different than 2011 in the way that time slips by far too fast for my taste. Because of its quick nature, it doesn’t really feel like I did anything very notable in January, but according to my “lists” (I am forever making lists), I have a few things worth reporting.

Reading

I read six books in the first two weeks of January. Six! I don’t think I was really trying to; I just got lucky that the books I chose to read were so good it made them easy to blow through quickly. 

Starstruck by Cyn Balog, Winter Town by Stephen Emond, Dull Boy by Sarah Cross, The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay)

*The titles of the books above are links to my ratings & thoughts on each over at Goodreads.

Writing

I took a break from reading after the first two weeks of January and tried to channel my Crack the Sky cast to catch up on some much overdue writing. That, however, did not happen. What did happen was the attack of a new plot bunny (oh, joy, right?). 

While I was intrigued by the plot idea and cast (who, oddly enough, came toting names already which almost never happens for me), I was not interested in giving this book a shot at the moment because I do not write multiple books at the same time and I really want to finish Crack the Sky. New plot bunny didn’t care about what I wanted though and by the end of January I found myself listening to the first song(s) to make the playlist on repeat and writing a little over 2,000 words of what I’m currently calling, Dreamsters.

So I guess I am going to be working on two books side by side this year? Lord, help me.

Music: On Repeat

Music was on and off for me this month. Some days I couldn’t get enough of it, others I never even turned it on. The few songs that currently hold play counts wildly higher than the other songs that graced my ears this month include:

White Rabbits – “Heavy Metal”

Back in December I got a chance to see White Rabbits live and it was extra awesome because they played a bunch of new, unreleased tracks, all slated to be released this March on their next album, Milk Famous. This month they offered one of those new songs as a free download and not only was I quick to snatch it up, I loved it enough to let it live on repeat more than 100 times. Can’t wait for March!

*I find it sort of funny that my “on repeat” list for both this year and last starts with a White Rabbits track.

Closure in Moscow – “The Impeccable Beast”

Closure in Moscow is a band I just recently fell in-love with in the end of 2011. While I’m still enjoying their previous albums tons, I will be blessed with a new album this year too! In anticipation of the next album, they released a new single this month for free download and like the White Rabbits freebie, I just had to take advantage of this opportunity. And good thing, too, because I loved it so much I listened to nothing else but it for several days! So pumped for more!

Mindless Self Indulgence – “Tornado”

The only song of this bunch that’s definitely not new (to me or otherwise). This is the first song the Dreamsters cast claimed as their own and with claiming it, they became impossible to avoid. I have loved this song since I first heard it over 8 years ago now, but outside of my enjoyment it never had a purpose. Now it belongs to an intense and action packed scene that I can’t wait to write!

*In addition to this song, “Diabolical” from the same album was also played ad nauseam.

Photography

This isn’t usually something I boast about because Lord knows I’m no professional photographer, but I do have a fancy camera and I practice lots with it, especially on my nephew Gideon. Every week since his birth I’ve done little photo sessions with him and because of this regularity he is already very aware of the camera, almost as if he knows to pose for it. This month we had one of the best photo sessions in the seven months of his life. Not only is he such an adorable ham for the camera, the lighting and coloring were really good too making the pictures extra crisp. I’ve been researching shooting babies in particular and watching little tutorials. I think I’m getting better as a result! 🙂

*Click the image above to see more photos from this session

That’s pretty much it on the excitement factor for my month. I realize this is the first post of the 2012 here and I apologize for that. I’m still in that deciding phase, not sure where I should be blogging full time. I will say that I’ve been super active on Tumblr if you’re interested in more day-to-day updates from me until I figure out where I’ll blog like this more frequently. I’ll try to pop in here more often this month too.

What notable things do you have to report for January? 

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