May’s Moments of the Month: September // I Disappeared on Accident… and Was Terribly Unproductive

Hi, I miss you guys!!

I’ve done exactly what I hoped I wouldn’t: disappeared from blogging because of school. I want to say I wasn’t expecting it but… I was. I was just really hoping I could keep myself afloat with everything going on my life but clearly things don’t work out that way!

I tried to come up with more things to talk about that happened in September, in an effort to update you guys on my life, but everything has just been consumed by school. But it means this post is SLIGHTLY less short than my usual recaps!!

I read 4 books in September. Considering the fact that I was Supposed to read at least 6 books that I had scheduled before, I did TERRIBLY.

I’m still slumping, as you can see, and I’m kind of freaking out because I’ve never been so behind on my reading challenge (17 books), nor have I been reading so infrequently!! All my reading is Truly based on my mood right now. (I read my books at a decent pace this month, but there was only one book that I didn’t force myself to read quickly and actually read fast because I loved it.)

     

• Legend Marie Lu // reread! I loved this so much, and I forgot how obsessed I actually am over Day and June. this series is so addicting jesus christ!!! ★★★★★
• The Grief Keeper Alexandra Villasante // chose this as a book to read for school and it was really beautiful! my perspective is a little warped since I had to do a Lot of analyzing but I enjoyed it ★★★★☆
• The Stars and the Blackness Between Them Junauda Petrus // this was so beautiful and tender, and an absolutely magical reading experience ★★★★☆ [4.5] [review]
• Crier’s War Nina Varela // a really fun fantasy with a romance I LOVED!! definitely one of my favorite romances of the year ★★★★☆ [review]

favorite book?

Not counting Legend since it was a reread, I really really loved The Stars and the Blackness Between Them. Like I said in my review, there’s just some magical, other-worldly quality to it that makes me feel like reading it was an out-of-body experience. It was just… such a gorgeous, touching book.

book haul?

This month was another great haul month for me!! I bought 3 at a Half Price Books sale in the beginning of the month, got a preorder of another book, and received another 3 as review copies. Thank you to Penguin for Juliet Takes a Breath, Bloomsbury for The Dragon Warrior, and DN Bryn for Our Bloody Pearl!

updates?

• The same thing happened again in September where I just disappeared and wasn’t active at all, because of stupid school draining all my energy!!! I don’t even have enough in me to feel bad about it, because I just don’t feel anything in regards blogging at the moment. It’s like I know I want to keep doing it, but don’t know Why, or feel particularly inclined to actually do anything about it.

top post?

favorite post?

I really loved my webcomic recommendations post, actually!! It was a lot of fun to put together, and I just in general like to talk about webcomics, since most people in the YA community don’t read them and that needs to change!

• Okay well first of all, the biggest news: I won a writing contest!!!
• (Actually I won TWO but the second was an essay contest that wasn’t really an essay and more of a 300-word piece that I wrote the night it was due and didn’t put much effort into so it’s not that big of a deal to me but also still really cool!)
• As you may or may not know, over the summer, I submitted three chapters of a WIP to a writing contest, and this month I found out that I was one of the three winners!! Not only was that extremely validating for me, but it also means I get some $$$
• Aside from that though… I didn’t write. (Unless you count writing I did for school, which I did a LOT of.) At this point I’m either going to do NaNoWriMo in November with 25% of a plot, 0% of a plot, with my old, plotted WIP, or not going to do it at all, and honestly… my power.

• School is killing me and I am so exhausted all the time. I just don’t even have anything to say about it, because it would be me repeating how much I hate it and how tired it makes me and how life-sucking it is!!
• My mental health was also worse this time around; I saw the usual bad mental health days, but some days were Really Bad days, the kind I haven’t had in a while. I’m only expecting it to go downhill as school continues because that’s how it always be!!

• BUT something that lifted my spirits was watching Miraculous Ladybug. I am… so concerningly obsessed with it, and I can’t tell if I love or hate that I am. I finished all the episodes that are up on Netflix right now and now I’m going back and watching them all again but in French. (I’m telling myself it’s to practice the language but I’m a liar.)
• I also watched some movies with my friends (Tall Girl, Heathers, and The Kissing Booth, which I fell asleep watching), and Tall Girl is now my favorite movie!! It really opened my eyes to how oppressed tall people are, and it was such a poignant story. <33

really gottem this month!!!!

• read 9 books ㄨ (4/9… someone please shoot me it would be less painful than this…)
• read more webcomics ㄨ (I Started reading one and I’m almost done!!)
• figure out blogging schedule thing ㄨ (where was I going with this I don’t even remember)
• write more posts in advance ㄨ (I couldn’t even post regularly aaahhh)
• plot half my WIP ㄨ (#notwritinganythinggoals but also #winningtwowritingcontests)
• don’t stress that much about grades ✓ㄨ (it’s at this weird point where I know that they’re worse than last year’s and I obsessively try to increase them when I can but I also don’t care if I can’t make them higher??)
• keep procrastinating as little as possible ㄨ (as I write this, I am procrastinating)

• read 9 books (I’ve already read 2 and am working on my 3rd and 4th so I am god maybe??)
• read more webcomics
• write posts in advance
• get back into blogging you idiot (I say this, but I know I’m just going to get back out of it a week later)
• plot my WIP?? do something with it??? (I have no idea what’s going on in my writing life at this point and I’m okay with it)
• accomplish the 7 goals I’m setting for my break (not gonna happen but… I’m trying to believe in myself!!!)

I have a week off from school!! Perhaps the one (1) good thing about my school is that they give us a week off in October and it is a BLESSING. We’re just not gonna talk about how it’s the second day of break and I’ve done nothing besides watch tiktoks.

I’m going to a book fest! I’m excited to see a bunch of authors and hopefully get books signed, even though it’s going to be like 90 degrees because Texas is the worst (It’s times like these that I’m grateful I don’t have my face posted anywhere in the online book community, because I would DIE if I had to talk to one of you guys in real life without being prepared to.)

I’m STRESSED. I have so many things that I need to do this month and I’m not sure how I’m going to accomplish all of them, much less half of them. I’m going to set up a day where I just write blog posts in advance and do some commenting, but I honestly won’t be prioritizing it as much.

Also just a tiny thing that I don’t want to make a big deal out of, but I spontaneously decided to do Inktober!! (Despite my lack of artistic abilities, especially when it comes to ink.) I won’t be sharing any thing I draw, unless one of them surprises me and turns out nice?? But it’s okay that they’re all gonna be bad because that’s the reason I’m doing it: to improve!! And it’s been relaxing so far!!!

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how was your September for you? did you get a lot of reading done? preparing for NaNo yet? and the most important q: do you watch Miraculous Ladybug??