Tag: summer

Summer 2017 in Pictures – All About Adjusting

August 25, 2017 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s been a summer of adjusting to the new family dynamic, but we have managed to do some fun summer stuff as well. We had The Prince’s birthday party before baby was born and The Boy’s after…with custom decorated cakes of course. My birthday was just two days before The Gentleman was born.

We managed to get in a trip to Boston before baby was born where the most exciting part was checking out one of Cambridge’s fire houses. The boys went to the splash pad with their auntie, we went strawberry picking, ate lots of fresh corn, did the summer running races in our town, went out for ice cream…all kinds of stuff! The Boy got to take a special trip up to my sister-in-law’s family farm. We even bought a mini-van to accommodate the growing family (and the convenience of it totally negates any soccer-mom stereotypical feelings I had about it!).

I’m definitely feeling like there isn’t enough time or sleep or patience on my part, but all that will come as The Gentleman gets a little older. I’ve been meaning to write up his birth story for the blog but just haven’t had the time and energy…it’ll get up here eventually. The Boy starts first grade next week, and The Prince is starting preschool! Can’t believe how fast time is going by. Enjoy our summer pics!

What have you all been up to this summer?

September Ink Ripples: School Butterflies & Fall Leaves

September 14, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Second Monday of the months means a new #inkripples post!

IMAG1080 I love the long, lazy days of summer. Wearing as little clothing as possible; going barefoot in the crunchy, dried out grass; running through every sprinkler you pass by. The summer just feels easy to me. The only thing that makes the end of summer okay is that it leads into my second favorite season: fall!

Apple picking (though sometimes this is an end-of-summer thing), limitless blue skies, jumping into piles of leaves, and that certain earthy smell that fall brings. 20150828_121636 Ahhh, fall is nice.

Then there’s that other thing that the end of summer brings: school! It’s been many years since I’ve been in school, but now that The Boy is in his second year of preschool (and the first year that he is starting in September…he was too young to start in September last year), I’m remembering about those beginning of school butterflies and that tiny bit of dread that the freedom of summer is over.

So lots of mixed feelings over here during this time of year. How are you all faring during the change of season from summer to fall?

Inkwell meme green Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). September is all about school and fall. Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments!

Updates, Getting Back into the Writing Groove, and a Call for Guest Posts

September 9, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

First off, my guest blog schedule is pretty wide open for the fall, so I’m definitely looking for guest posts to come my way. If you have a book coming out or an older one you’d like to promote, I’d love to have you on the blog. I prefer a post with some original thoughts (though it could be a post that’s been posted elsewhere) as opposed to something purely promotional.

You don’t have to be published or even a writer to guest post either. I’d love some short, fun posts about anything to do with writing, reading, the creative process, or whatever interesting ideas you might have. Hit me up on my contact page if you’re interested or mention it the comments with an easy way to contact you!

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post…

So technically it’s still summer (and it certainly feels like summer this week here in CT), but school’s already back in session and the air and earth are starting to get that fall feel and smell to it. That means my non-summer schedule has started and with it comes more writing time. Yay!

Though I certainly have enjoyed all the fun times we’ve been having this summer and all out outside time, I’m definitely looking forward to sinking my teeth back into my writing projects.

In particular I’ve been chomping at the bit to get back to revising my YA thriller. Even with beta reader feedback coming in (and those ever-present doubts are rearing up, making me questions my abilities to pull off what I’m trying to accomplish with this story), I’ve never been so excited about the thought of sending a piece of writing out. So I’m hoping to ride this wave of confidence to the finish line and get to submitting it soon.

After that I don’t have any set plans on what I’ll be working on next. It’s a freeing and exciting feeling. I love the prospect of starting something new (or possibly digging back into something I put away for awhile but may come back to soon). The world is wide open at this point for me.

So how was everyone’s summer? What are your plans for the fall?

Birthday, First Day of School, and Pictures, Oh My!

August 28, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

When the The Boy’s first day of school and birthday fall on the same day, well, let’s just say it makes for an interesting mixture of emotions. And I’m not even going to try and write a coherent post this week, so you get pictures instead!

I hope everyone is having a great end of summer!

Summer Update

August 9, 2013 / Katie L. Carroll

Where did the week go? Where is the summer going? Spent a good part of the week offline, and boy, did I need that. In an effort not to be too neglectful of my dear blog readers, here’s a post in pictures.

One of the reasons I’ve been so busy is I’ve been preparing for the paperback release of Elixir Bound this fall, including this massive blog tour! Stay tuned for more specific details on this. I have a feeling you all will be sick of me by the time September ends! 🙂

And now for some fun summer pics!