It’s been a while since I did a “general updates” post with what I’ve been up to lately, so without further ado, here it is!

What I’m reading …

I’ve been reading such fun books as of late! My current total of books read this year is 22, so I’m happy to be right on track with my reading goal for 2022. Recent top favorites include Where The Heart Is by Janet Lambert, Unearthing the Secret Garden by Marta McDowell, Golden Sovereign by Dorothy Lyons, and Ginnie and the Mystery Doll by Catherine Woolley.

What I’m planning to read …

I also have a set of new books coming in the mail, including two Janet Lambert novels I haven’t read yet. I’m very excited!

What I’m writing …

I have projects in varying stages right now! I’m deep in an edit round for one project, am planning and beginning to draft a couple of others, and have ideas for plenty more! I’ve been experimenting lately, having written my first picture book last summer and now my first TV screenplay this past weekend. 🙂

Most delightful of all, my upcoming middle grade novel, The Star That Always Stays, releases on July 12, 2022, and the preparations for it—final edits and marketing—have been so exciting! I was also invited to speak on a panel called “Another Time, Another Place” at School Library Journal’s upcoming Middle Grade Magic virtual event, which will be on March 10th!

What else I’ve been enjoying…

I’ve been doing some scrapbooking and drawing lately! I really enjoyed watching the 2022 Winter Cup on Saturday, the first major U.S. gymnastics meet of the year. Cheers to Konnor McClain, who took home the gold in the senior women’s all-around! My flower seeds have arrived, from several different seed companies, and it was a delight to watch them show up in the mailbox. I’m looking forward to planting all of my usual standbys, such as cosmos, zinnias, calendulas, and bachelor’s buttons, and I’m also trying out other flowers I haven’t planted before, including pink dandelions and lisianthus. I planted nasturtiums for the first time last year after reading about them in Jane of Lantern Hill and LOVED them!

What have you been doing to spruce up your winter days? Leave a comment! 

At the close of this first month of the new year, here’s a quick update on my current books (and other things)!

What I’m reading …

I read eleven books in January to kick off 2021! Among my (new) favorites: The Anne of Green Gables Devotional by Rachel Dodge, a heartfelt read full of inspiring verses with charming illustrations; Karina Yan Glaser’s The Vanderbeekers Lost and Found, the fourth volume in the Vanderbeekers series and perhaps the most poignant yet; Best Friends by Mary Bard (1950s fun about a French girl moving to the US); Francie on the Run, the second book in Hilda van Stockum’s Bantry Bay trilogy. Rereads included Kate DiCamillo’s 20th-anniversary edition of Because of Winn-Dixie (with slightly altered text), and Jane of Lantern Hill (L.M. Montgomery), which I am having the fun of discussing with friends in a book group right now.

What I’m planning to read …

Some brand-new books just arrived in the mail, and here’s why I can’t wait to read them:

Emily’s Runaway Imagination (1961): I’m working on filling in my Beverly Cleary library, having stuck mainly to the Ramona books and her “First Love” series. I just read Mitch and Amy (1967) and liked it quite a bit, so I’m eager to read this one, a rare historical story from Cleary set in the 1920s.

The Four Graces (1946): A Little Women retelling-of-sorts set in WWII in an English village and written by D.E. Stevenson? What could be better? 🙂

Carney’s House Party (1949): I just bought this lovely two-pack that includes both Carney and Winona, two Deep Valley novels by Maud Hart Lovelace. I just read Winona’s Pony Cart for the first time last year and greatly enjoyed it, and now I’m looking forward to rereading Carney’s House Party.

L.M. Montgomery’s Short Stories, 1907-1908: Montgomery’s short stories often have such wonderful characters and situations that I end up wishing she’d lengthened them into more novels!

Two Little Women (1915): I read the second book in this trilogy in 2009 and the third in 2010, and I have finally bought myself a copy of the first book! Carolyn Wells’ writing is so breezy and fun.

Not pictured but also on my list: Jennifer Dances (1954): A 1910s-era story by Eunice Young Smith about a girl who moves to Chicago to live with aunt and takes up ballet. It sounds so sweet!

What I’m writing …

I am nearly finished with my current middle grade novel – only about 7k left to write – and then I’m going to be focusing on a revision of a middle grade manuscript I wrote for NaNoWriMo in 2018! I am so excited about it, and I’m gathering research materials and searching for inspiration!

What else I’ve been enjoying…

Scrapbooking, looking through old family photos, feeding sugar cubes to sweet ponies, listening to Annette Funicello songs and Strauss’ Annen Polka, doing writing sprints with friends, gathering quotes for an interview piece for Inside Gymnastics, watching Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, and other delightful things. I’ve also been planning this summer’s garden, buying seeds and calculating how many flower beds I’ll need. I am hoping for an early spring so that I can get a head start on my seeds, particularly the Madame Butterfly snapdragons. For the first time, I’ll be planting glorious orange nasturtiums (a flower found in Jane of Lantern Hill, as mentioned above), and I’m crossing my fingers that – unlike last year – my pink poppies will actually come to fruition!

What have you been doing to brighten the long January days? Let me know in the comments! 🙂 

I read some lovely books this month! I totaled nine books read in May (seven new books and two rereads). One of my favorites from this month was Whose Waves These Are by Amanda Dykes, which just released at the end of April. I found it incredibly hard to put the book down; it was set in Maine (one of my favorite literary locales!), and the story was spellbinding with a beautifully uplifting message and memorable characters. Another favorite was When Patty Went to College by Jean Webster, first published in 1901. This author is better-known for one of her later books, Daddy-Long-Legs, but I found this book even more humorous and entertaining. It’s more like a string of short stories than a novel, and while this format can be dull in some volumes, this one kept up a good pace.

L.M. Montgomery’s The Golden Road was another delightful book from May, full of the delicious descriptions and characterizations that I love about Montgomery’s novels. While the first half of this one is funny and episodic, the second half is heartwarming and compelling. Another book I enjoyed immensely was Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson, which is set in 1919 San Francisco and features a 17-year-old girl who longs to be a reporter. I also re-read The Midnight Visitor by Margaret Sutton, one of my favorite Judy Bolton mysteries, and Katie John by Mary Calhoun, a favorite from age 10 or so that I still love reading. I also read some fun vintage mysteries!

I’ve started another reread of Jane of Lantern Hill, my all-time favorite novel. It’s always a treat to slip back into this wonderful world, and summer seems like the perfect time to revisit Jane and her father and their marvelous summer home on Prince Edward Island. Last December I reread Anne of Windy Poplars and was struck by the similarities of one of its subplots to the incidents of Jane. The subplot of Little Elizabeth seemed remarkably akin to Jane’s story, and since Windy Poplars was published in 1936, just year prior to Jane, I wondered if L.M. Montgomery was inspired to expand it into a full-length novel. Then I read one of Montgomery’s short stories from 1934, entitled Tomorrow Comes, and realized that it is actually the original story—Windy Poplars and Jane are both derivative versions! In fact, verbatim passages from both books appear in the original short story. All three tales are simply enchanting, so if you haven’t read them yet, do so right away! (But Jane is the best, so if you’re only going to read one, choose this one!)

This month I finished writing two major projects from this spring, a novella called The Joy Cottage and the third novel in my historical series, Every Beautiful Gift. Having finished these two, I’m hoping to work on some short stories—I have so many ideas floating through my head, I can’t wait to explore some of them!

I just finished the first draft of my latest #workinprogress! It’s a romance comedy/drama novella set at a lake cottage in 1946, and it’s been an absolute breeze to write ❤️📖😍 pic.twitter.com/uaKHvyTddL

— Anna Rose Johnson (@GymnasticsRosie) May 15, 2019

The garden is so beautiful right now! Everything is just beginning—all the young blooms are here or getting ready to arrive. I am so excited about my creamy-white marigolds, and they are going to be *so many* strawberries soon! The forget-me-nots are always a lovely treat as well this time of year. I’m especially pleased that my blue-grape hyacinths have come up for the second year in a row—I initially planted the bulbs in the fall of 2017. (As you might recall, these flowers appear the Pat books by L.M. Montgomery; they grow at Silver Bush!)

But at last they were throwing open the windows to let in the spring and Pat learned all over again how lovely young cherry trees were, waving whitely in green twilights, and the scent of apple blossoms in moonlight, and the colonies of blue grape-hyacinths under the dining-room windows. – Mistress Pat