January 2018-> on to February

    So far I am not a fan of 2018. Normally I can look on the bright side and not focus on negativity. After the first few tragedies, I pretty much gave up on most of my January goals and concentrated on just getting through everyday life.  Personally, January was awful and I am hoping that February ends up being a lot better.

 

Here's to a fresh start...

          One of my favorite things about February is Lettermo, The Month of Letters challenge. I'm looking forward to giving myself time to catch up with my mail and sort my thoughts out. I have sorely missed sitting down to write. If you've ever enjoyed sending or receiving mail, check out the event. I'll touch base again soon!

Mail goals week 1

    If you've been on this blog for a while, you probably know that I started this blog to challenge myself to attempt to send (and hopefully receive) 1 piece of mail for each day of the year. (It was a leap year that year.) After failing for 2 years, I finally reached my goal of sending 366 pieces of mail on the 3rd year. Because I have not been as successful at giving myself some time each day to connect with people, I've decided to reattempt this goal.  I will try to post weekly to keep myself on track. These posts may be short and to the point.

Letters in my "respond pile:" 10? (I just noticed that some of my old letters got mixed in there. Ugh) Letter writers- do you always respond in the order received? I do. Here's my problem. I started writing a letter months ago in a notebook I was trying to use up and I LOST IT. I was quite a few pages in and would hate to start over, but this has been the hold up. Seriously, I'm really OCD about this stuff and my books. Some day I will have an organized life. Until then... my reply pile has ten letters.

Mail sent this week 1/1-1/6): 5 postcards, 1 card
Received this week: 1 postcard and 1 card from the Secret Christmas RR. (1 card that is pictured I received before the new year so I didn't count it in my log)

From Italy. This card also benefits Unicef. 

 From Russia- I really enjoyed this card. It was so elegant looking

From Belarus- I got this one right after the one from Russia. Very similar and pretty. There was a great snowman stamp on the back too.

The Darkest Evening of the Year

  

Book 1 of 2018.   All through middle school and high school I read a ton of Dean Koontz books. I recently read an ARC (The Whispering Room) that I got from NetGalley.  This book had been sitting on my TBR shelf for a while so I used it to fulfill the first Keyword Reading Challenge book as well as my first book for the Mount TBR Challenge.

     This book was about a woman named Amy, who after some tragedies in life, had devoted her life to  start an organization to rescue golden retrievers. I know that Mr. Koontz also has a golden retriever and seems to be quite the dog lover. I like animals, but I'm not super passionate about them, so this story line might not have been as impactful to me as it might to some other folks. Amy gets called to rescue a dog named Nickie who brings back a lot of connections to her past. In the meantime, Amy's boyfriend, Brian is also dealing with issues from his past- mainly a psychotic old girlfriend who has custody of his daughter. 

     This story had some good twists in it. If you read a lot of Koontz, you could probably guess which direction some of the story lines will head in. It was not my favorite book of his, but I didn't dislike it either. 

     Book #2 is an advanced reader copy from NetGalley.

Reading Challenge Stats

Mount TBR 1/36

Keyword Reading Challenge 1/12

Goodreads Challenge 1/60