May’s Moments of the Month: July // What Even Happened Besides My Reading Slump

No one can convince me July happened.

It felt like it just went by really quickly without my knowledge or permission, and I can’t recall more than like five distinct things that happened? I know I say this like each month (I clearly have a terrible memory), but this month truly felt like it lasted one day.

Nonetheless! I’m still morally obligated to post this (just kidding!!! I just have fun tormenting myself trying to remember what happened each month), so here’s everything that I can recall that went down in July!!

I read 5 books this month, 1 of them being a webcomic, and even though I know I said you shouldn’t feel guilty about not reading a lot of books, I still feel Absolutely Terrible. Usually I don’t care that much about reading amounts?? But this time I feel guilty, because it’s summer, and I had a whole month of free time where I should have been able to read a lot.

But I’m definitely going through a slump right now, and it’s killing me!!! All the books I read this month were buddy reads, because I can only read when there’s the pressure that someone else is expecting me to finish too.

       

• Girls of Storm and Shadow Natasha Ngan // no one is more saddened than this by me!!! the writing is beautiful as ever but it was just SO repetitive ★★★☆☆ [or 2.5]
• Empyrea Ohkates //  the art in this webcomic is absolutely beautiful! and I’m really excited to find out what else happens in the story ★★★★☆
• With the Fire on High Elizabeth Acevedo // this had such pretty writing, and I loved Emoni and following her story! it was a super solid book ★★★★☆
• Her Royal Highness Rachel Hawkins // this had a lot of potential but the pacing was Terrible and ruined the enjoyment I felt ★★☆☆☆ [mini review]
• Jade City Fonda Lee // dense and heavy, but I ended up getting invested and super excited to see what happens next!! ★★★★☆

favorite & disappointing book?

My favorite book of the month probably would have to be Jade City, because even though it was dense and took a lot of focus to get through, I got really invested into the story and love the characters! And the most disappointing book isn’t the one that got the lowest rating, but the book that I expected to adore: Girls of Storm and Shadow. I’m STILL not over how much I disliked this and it KILLS me.

bookish news?

• The author lineup for the Texas Teen Book Festival was announced and I’m so excited!!! I really hope I’ll get to meet some certain authors, but there are just so many I know of and would be happy to see!
• The movie adaptation for Circe was announced, and though I didn’t love Circe as much as TSOA, I’m still really excited!!
• The Fairyloot exclusive edition of Girls of Storm and Shadow was revealed, and you KNOW it’s beautiful if I share it after I was so disappointed by the book. (It literally took my breath away.)
• People on the internet learned that adult grimdark books have *gasp* heavy content. (This is in regards to Ninth House. If you’re not on Twitter, good.)

updates?

• As you all probably know, I was busy holding the 2019 Book Blogger Awards!! (I’m just gonna say that my stats went WILD because of this.) It’s been exhausting and overwhelming many times, and I still have more work to do. But it was absolutely worth it and I can’t wait to host them again next year, especially with the changes I’m planning to improve them!
• (Results probably won’t be posted August 4-10 like I predicted, since it’s my last few days before I have to start school, and I want to spend time with friends and doing things I love before I get swallowed up by school. But definitely August 11-17!)
• I stopped commenting on posts near the end of the month, because I was overwhelmed with dance and the awards and other more pressing things, but I’ll be back to commenting in no time!! And I’m staying on top of replying to comments, which is my biggest worry!!!!

top posts?

   

favorite post?

Usually I try to name a post that wasn’t one of my top posts, but this month, it truly has to be my “Things You Shouldn’t Feel Guilty About as a Book Blogger” post (linked above!). It was just so cathartic for me to write, and people’s reactions to it just made my heart melt. I haven’t responded to all the comments on this post yet I’M SORRY.

other bloggers’ posts?

• My favorite May @ My 1st Chapter came back from hiatus and I missed her sorely so you all better go and say hi!!
• Cait @ Paper Fury discussed how to stay motivated when writing, and I found it to be a really well-written and helpful post, especially since I have trouble with staying motivated.
• Kal @ Reader Voracious wrote an AMAZING guide on how to switch from the WordPress Reader to Feedly, and it was so good I’m convinced to give it a try myself!
• Kat @ Novels and Waffles introduced the Bibliosmile project, which is an absolutely amazing initiative I highly encourage you all to check out.
• Olivia @ Purely Olivia discussed hyped books and it was a really well-written post that I enjoyed reading and agreed with!!
• There were so many amazing Book Blogger Awards nominations posts, but god, Shealea @ Shut Up Shealea’s post just blew me away. The lengths she goes to to appreciate these bloggers is absolutely phenomenal.

• I finished writing three chapters and submitted them to a writing contest! I actually was not feeling really proud of them until I sent it to some of my friends for feedback, and it was so motivating (and a complete ego boost). I just love seeing reactions to certain things I write? And hearing that people actually Like what I write??

 
two types of people. except they’re the same person

• Beyond that, I didn’t really do much else, because writing 11.7k is terribly exhausting for someone who hasn’t written in a long time, to say the very least.
• I also thought I would immediately abandon that WIP (which I’m calling TGTSF, an abbreviation of the temporary-or-maybe-permanent title) for a new idea I came up with… but apparently not? Maybe I’m just worn out from writing, but I feel like I’ve found the motivation to work on TGTSF again after getting feedback. I don’t know!!!
• (But I’m definitely going to start planning out my new WIP as soon as I can, to hopefully have everything ready before NaNoWriMo!!)

• This whole month has just flown by and I HATE it.
• I had my 3-day dance intensive, and every single part of my body felt like it had died, been reborn, then died again but much more violently. I got some pretty disgusting bruises on my knees, and everything from my legs to my feet to my arms to my abs to my butt hurt.
• But it was fun, and it was definitely great to see my improvements in dance be applied to class! I mean, near the end, I was dying, but I still had a great time overall; I love dance so much, and doing it all day makes me as happy as much as it hurts me.
• I went out several times with my friends and had a lot of fun with them!! We did a lot of different things (had a picnic, went to the mall, saw a movie, among other things), and while I wish I could have hung out with them more, I’m also glad I got a lot of alone time!!
• I saw Far From Home twice (once with my family, the other with my friends, which was much more fun) and started watching the new Queer Eye episodes but then got distracted and didn’t finish watching the season.
• Mental health-wise, there were a few days that got really bad, but fortunately nothing that lasted too long! There’s been less depression and more stress and anxiety lately and I… don’t know if that’s better or not???
• The only other notable thing I remember from my month is that I’ve been listening to my tiktok song playlist on repeat and it’s the best thing I’ve ever made.

• read 13 books ㄨ (this is the saddest day of my life)
• buddy read!! ✓ (I did!!! I’m weak and can’t read on my own)
• publish at least 9 blog posts ㄨ (I did 8 because I was busier with dance than expected and I’m okay with that!!)
• find some new blogs to follow! ✓ㄨ (kind of? I started following a few blogs I should’ve a long time ago, but I’ve been busy so I don’t wanna overwhelm myself)
• finish writing 9-14k and edit it ✓ (YEAH BABY)
• start plotting out new WIP idea ㄨ (no)
• don’t get too anxious about school ✓ (still in denial like I always am)
• don’t procrastinate/stress about MUN stuff ㄨ (I literally completely forgot about something I had to do until I saw this on Monday and panicked)

• read 9 books (this is the amount on my August TBR, but judging from this last month, I’m not sure how achievable it is)
• read more webcomics (I’m planning on a webcomic recs post this month so I want to make sure I have a good amount of quality ones!)
• write some mini reviews! (started doing this and they’re a lot of fun? and help me get back into the habit of reviewing!)
• stay on top of blogging (I’m going back to school and don’t want to lose what I found in the summer!!!)
• plot new WIP (we’ll see how motivated I am but I REALLY HOPE)
• stay on top of school (I am SO SCARED to start school again because it’s the worst  for my health, and I really really want to manage my time and stress properly)
• get a functional sleep schedule (I’ve messed it up so bad over the summer… as in I go to bed at 4 sometimes)

…School. I don’t want to talk about it. We’re pretending it’s not happening in exactly a week. I’ll cry later about it, but not right now. Nothing is happening. It’s summer for the rest of my life. (Okay, but in all seriousness, I really felt like I Just got out of school, and to go back now literally feels like a prison. I sound dramatic but it’s the truth!!!)

Lots of dance! August is the month that my team officially start rehearsals (and also when we have casting auditions), and this time I’m also starting to learn my choreography for my solo!! I’m really excited to see what kind of pieces we’ll have this year, and especially excited to continue improving myself as a dancer.

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how was your month? did you read a lot of books? (I hope you read more than I did) did you travel anywhere exciting? how was Camp NaNoWriMo, if you participated?? tell me all the things!!!