May
A Monthly Check-in With Ali Noël
Hello friends!
April has come and gone. Whew ! How is everyone doing?
I rang in 37 laps around the sun! Celebrated with chocolate cake and making my family watch Phantom of the Opera with me (they loved it).
We spent 10 days in Texas celebrating my sister-in-law’s wedding. It was so much fun getting time in Austin (one of my favorite cities ever) dancing at a true honky-tonk dance hall, and eating sublime BBQ.
After five days in the city, we spent the rest of the trip recouping at Nana and Papa’s house catching toads, feeding turtles, binge-watching “Around the World in 80 Days” starring David Tennant, frequenting Buccee’s (if you know you know), and celebrating my darling firstborn’s 11th birthday! How she got so old so quickly, and is officially almost taller than me, I’ll never know.
P.S. I have waited to eat a steak-finger basket from Dairy Queen for WAY too long which, apparently, are only available at Texas DQ’s. Who knew?
On the Writing Front
I’ve been doing more reading rather than writing the last few months. I chip away at my current MG project here and there. The world building and the lore has proven to be the trickiest of any I’ve attempted thus far but I’m enjoying the challenge! I’ve coined it Project Rigamarole for now. Think The Neverending Story meets The Singer set within a Grimm’s Fairy Tale.
The Blind Knight Project is awaiting the feedback deadline. Once I dive into those, we will see what awaits these quirky characters! I’ve shared before that my brother has been my Alpha Reader for this story, and if I know him at all, he’ll have some masterful suggestions that make the original story 100 times better than it was and zero in on plot holes that absolutely escaped my notice (thank you, Hayden!)
Hobbes - A Haiku
Sleep, sleep, silly cat Block the keys and wind me down Rest isn't a sin
Until June, my friends!
With hope,
Ali
Buc-ee’s! Do you get the beaver nuggets?? Also, I am so jealous of your Phantom of the Opera night—and happy birthday! I’m 38 this month so we are one year off bday pals 👯 Since you’re reading more, any rec’s?
I picked up a middle grade fiction called Willa and the Whale by accident (I put it on hold at the library thinking it was a picture book) and it is so much more emotional than I would have expected. But I’m really enjoying the journey!
Ah but fingersteaks were invented in boise, or so the legend goes...