May’s Moments of the Month: August // Not a Lot of Books, but a Lot of Blogging, and Also School Stress!! (Very Fun)

August was a chaotic month and I’m SO GLAD it’s over.

I thought I could be NOT stressed out by school and I… completely failed. Not to mention the fact that I did not read the 9 books I planned to, or plot out as much as my WIP as I thought I could, or actually interact with bloggers like I’d expected to.

Me? Being productive? Not as likely as you think.

(Just kidding I’m sure none of you thought I would be productive in August.)

But even though I literally just summed up my whole month in two sentences, I’m still going to talk about, in 1684 words, what else happened in August!!! I know this is a horrible intro but please just go with it.

This month, I read 6 books. And I did not read 3 of the books I planned to. I love being productive.

I’m not really that mad about not having read more, though, because school started and my mental health suffered and I just didn’t have TIME to actually do anything. (This weekend is Labor Day weekend in the US, though, so I have three days TO DO WHATEVER I WANT.)

And! All except one book were 4 stars and above! Which I say is a pretty great reading month, if we’re looking at quality and not quantity!

          

• [DNF] Now I Rise Kiersten White [♦] my dudes this was a disaster + boring + slow + uninteresting + only liked a few characters + but didn’t care what happened + sad I didn’t like it + but also mad I wasted my time ★☆☆☆☆ [1.5]
• Darius the Great is Not Okay Adib Khorram [♦] SO GOOD + made me cry + themes of family, friendships, & identity were amazing + depression rep? A+ ★★★★★ [blog review]
• Toil & Trouble Tess Sharpe and other various authors [♦] really entertaining + enjoyed it a lot as a whole+  4 stories were just absolutely breathtaking + WITCHY ★★★★☆
• I Was Born for This Alice Oseman [♦] I LOVE Alice Oseman’s writing + love the characters + Jimmy is precious + anxiety rep on point + good but not Radio Silence good + ★★★★☆
• Beneath the Citadel Destiny Soria [♦] A GOOD SURPRISE + so unique?? + most shocking book ending of 2018 but also THE BEST + casually diverse + pacing was kinda off but I just ENJOYED IT SO MUCH ★★★★☆ [4.5]
• The Ship of the Dead Rick Riordan [♦] so sad the series is over + but I LOVED this one + really fun and engaging + Magnus is so funny + all the characters are precious + I hate that stupidly vague ending I need to KNOW what HAPPENED ★★★★☆

book haul?

THIS IS THE BIGGEST BOOK HAUL I’VE EVER HAD IN A MONTH AND I COULDN’T BE MORE THANKFUL.

Literally… none of these books were purchased by me, and I know that makes me extremely privileged, but as someone who can barely afford to buy more than a few books a year, it means the world to me? Thank you to various online book people, publishers, friends, and parents (MY MOM!!!) for getting me these books, I love them all and they make me SO HAPPY.

(Even though the stack is so heavy and they kept falling over but IT’S FINE.)

favorite book?

I mean… it’s Darius the Great is Okay, obviously. It was my only 5-star book this month and it made me cry and it was SO GOOD. I had a feeling I would like it but I had no idea that I would just fall in love with it? You can read my full thoughts on it here if you haven’t already but it is WORTH it to buy this book!!

disappointment?

Definitely NOT the 1.5-star, DNFed book Now I Rise.

(It was definitely the 1.5-star, DNFed book Now I Rise.)

I was just so BORED by the story and it was extremely SLOW and UNINTERESTING and I only liked a few characters and hardly cared about what actually happened to them. I’m surprised I made it as far as I did (57%).

updates?

• I… did NOT get back into my blogging game like I planned I would.
• I honestly don’t know how I thought I’d be able to comment on posts and reply to my own comments while returning to school????
• Anyways THIS MONTH I plan on posting a bit less (I think about once every 4 or 5 days is my plan) than I normally do in order to really get back to interacting with you guys!! I miss talking to you on your posts and talking to you on MY posts so I’m really going to make an effort to reply to your comments and comment on your blog.
• I have comments from MARCH and I am not looking forward to replying to them.

top posts?

    

favorite post?

I gotta say, my favorite post was my post popular post: my All About ARCs discussion post! I think I did a decent job of discussing an important topic I believe needs to be talked about more, and I’m proud of it.

• I ACTUALLY WORKED ON MY WIP!!!
• Okay, so maybe it was more like I worked on my WIP at the beginning of August and then had to stop because school took all my time, but I was actually able to figure out some characters’ background and motivations and figure out some important things about my MC’s development and I’m SUPER PROUD.
• Like I’ve said a million times before, I absolutely SUCK at turning a concept into an actual story, so I’m really having a hard time at plotting. I want to finish plotting by the end of this month, though, in order to outline in October, and then start writing it in November for NaNoWriMo!
• I also have been doing more poetry writing, since in my English class we have a lot of “freewriting” and literally all I can write is poetry. It’s not as good as my poems were last year but I’m improving!!

• SCHOOL HAPPENED AND I HATE IT. I’m not stressed right now because I have only one homework assignment and I have a three day weekend, but I got so stressed in the first days of school and I can tell it’s going to be a rough year.
• (*avoids saying anything else about school because if I don’t stop now I will never stop*)
• Dance is starting soon! I had dance team auditions (to see what pieces we would be cast in) and we had our first rehearsal of the season. And I’m going back to regular classes on Wednesday and I’m super excited!
• I had lice!!! I still haven’t gotten rid of all the nits (lice eggs) which is bad, but so far there has been no trace of more lice. Meaning that once I get all the nits out, I’ll be good as new!! (Except still traumatized.)
• I’m also… trying more new things? I’m taking a contemporary dance class (which I’ve only done over the summer) and I’m also joining a club at school that involves public speaking, and I’m really proud of myself. I pretty much have activities every day except for Sunday but I’M PROUD.
• I started watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine and I finally watched To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and I LOVE THEM BOTH!!!! Brooklyn Nine-Nine makes me so happy and it’s SO funny and it’s an all-around amazing show, and TATBILB was so sweet and cute and I definitely liked it more than the book (oops).

well, I accomplished 4, failed 5, and half-accomplished half-failed 1 so… yay?

• read 8 books ㄨ (um… yikes)
• read at least 5 ARCs ㄨ (HAHAHAHAAHA I BARELY EVEN READ 5 BOOKS)
• write & upload at least 5 reviews ㄨ (I uploaded… 1 review?)
• slowly… develop my WIP? ✓ (finally something I actually accomplished)
• post at least 7 times ✓ (I POSTED 8 TIMES OH MY GOD)
• INTERACT!! ㄨ (Past May is so overconfident)
• not fail at managing bookstagram?? ✓ (bookstagram is so much fun omg)
• not stress about school ㄨ (lmao? lmao!)
• not stress about my mom ✓ (OH school stress DID distract me!!!)
• sleep at least 8 hours during the school week ✓ㄨ (I managed it at first and then I started getting 6 hours…)

• read at least 7 books (I have to read 5 ARCs. and I want to read at least 2 non-ARCs. please Future May)
• write & upload at least 4 reviews (maybe for once in my life I can actually write reviews)
• finish plotting my WIP (I KNOW it’s not going to happen but it’s still a goal… an impossible goal)
• write more poetry? (I REALLY LIKE MY POETRY WRITING STYLE I JUST HAVE TO WRITE MORE)
• post at least 5 or 6 times (I probably should choose 5 or 6 but I’m indecisive)
• I N T E R A C T (I really really REALLY want to interact this month)
• reply to at least 3 month’s worth of comments!!! (can I do it??)
• sleep at least 8 hours during the school week (aka don’t procrastinate homework till night)
• drink at least 1 water bottle a day (my dehydrated soul begs for water)

More school. Every time I talk about school will be with periods. No exclamation points or periods. Because I hate it so much and I just want to crawl into a hole and never go back to that stressful hellhole ever again. It takes all my time and turns it into depression and no no no no no NO.

DANCE!! I am so excited to do dance this year because I’m in the most advanced level now and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun! And I can’t wait for dance team rehearsals because learning new pieces is always exciting!! I’M JUST REALLY EXCITED!!!

Wriiiiitiiiiiing. I… REALLY want to flesh out my WIP because I’m already anticipating November when I get to actually write it. I just think it’s really cool and I have a feeling I’m going to have a lot of fun with these characters???? (Read: I’m going to hurt them all.)

---

how was your august??? what good books did you read? did you watch TATBILB when it came out? are you going back to school? are you planning on doing nanowrimo?? TELL ME ALL ABOUT YOUR MONTH!!!