May’s Moments of the Month: April // Did Anything Actually Happen?

April honestly did not feel real.

I think time in general does not feel real now, but last month literally feels like it was a month of just Void. I don’t know if anyone else had the same experience or if it was just me, but as I sat writing this post I was just like wow. Absolutely nothing happened!

Anyway, it’s a bit funny to say that I’m here to give a recap of the month when I just said it felt like nothing happened, but here I am giving a recap of April! (I think the most exciting part of this month was the books I read, because they were very good and also at this point I am nothing but existential dread and escapism through fiction.)

I read 8 books! Even though there was one book I didn’t love, I feel like I’ve been doing so well at picking up books I know I’ll enjoy and it’s made me very satisfied with my reading, no matter how many books I pick up. Also, very very cool that more than half the books I read were by/featured QPOC (maybe that’s why I had such a good reading month… :p).

     

• Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating Adiba Jaigirdar / stronger than The Henna Wars for me (fun to read and loved the sibling relationship!), but some pacing issues ★★★★☆
• Foolish Hearts Emma Mills // [reread] no book gives me serotonin as much as this one does… Emma Mills’ humor remains unmatched! ★★★★☆ [4.5]
• The Unbroken CL Clark // extensive exploration of colonialism, with a beautiful character arc and intriguing politics! didn’t care for the romance though ★★★★☆
• Darling K Ancrum // this was a whole EXPERIENCE! brilliantly written (for taking place in a day) with well-written characters, and a twist that creeped me out so much ★★★★☆

     

• Ace of Spades Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé // devoured the last 70% in a day: so gripping and chilling, the suspense and portrayal of white supremacy were fantastically done ★★★★☆ [4.5]
• Descendant of the Crane Joan He // unfortunately disappointing: slow and boring for the first 57%. great twists but didn’t make up for my lack of investment in the characters ★★☆☆☆ [2.5]
• The Black Tides of Heaven Neon Yang // enjoyable, but a bit lackluster. liked sibling relationship but wanted more emotion, felt limited by the small size ★★★☆☆
• The Angel of Khan el-Khalili P Djèlí Clark // I love this world so much! short but packs a punch, highlighting truth and the burdens of it. also liked the second person! ★★★★☆

UPDATES

I am still struggling with some things but I’m very glad to be active again! I haven’t yet gotten back into a more regular habit of commenting on blogs, but honestly I’m not going to beat myself up for it because I just don’t have the energy or time (to beat myself up, but also to comment on blogs).

Also, I’m not sure if many other bloggers have heard of it from outside of social media, but I have an account on Readerly, which is a cool new app where you write 200-character “Gists” of your thoughts on books! Not sure how much I’m going to use it but if you’d like to follow me there, I’m @foreverandeverly.

THIS MONTH’S POSTS

 
 

I did very minimal writing! Earlier in the month, I edited the piece I wrote in March, sent it off to some friends (who all made my ego inflate to a grand size), and submitted it to a summer writing program. I’m still waiting to hear back from them but I really missed the experience of writing and editing and sharing my work with people, so it was really cool no matter the outcome of that program!!

Other than that, though, I pretty much did no writing this month. I wrote a poem but other than that, nothing. Love how for the past few months I have been wanting to “develop a novel idea” and yet I do absolutely nothing to achieve that goal!

Like I said earlier, it genuinely feels like nothing happened. At this point, I feel like a machine just mindlessly chugging along and waiting for some big thing to happen (big thing meaning the end of this hellish pandemic). I honestly have just been holding out for the end of school, which is thankfully very soon now.

One amazing thing that did happen, though, was that I got the first dose of the COVID vaccine!! For those wondering, I got Pfizer and I luckily only got arm soreness for about a day. My second dose is coming up this week, and I’m feeling very grateful that I live in the US where I have access to this. (Please consider donating to help provide resources to India where a genuinely terrifying COVID crisis has developed.)

Some small things, since the small things are starting to feel like big things at this point: I have resumed my driving practice and am remembering that driving is terrifying. I started watching Bungou Stray Dogs and I am loving it so much!! I also went back into my Rina Sawayama phase because I spontaneously decided to choregraph something to one of her songs, which has been very fun.

• read 8 books ✓
• start developing a novel idea ✗
• get >7.5 hours of sleep ✓
• college prep ✗
• driver’s ed ✓
• learn Thai tone rules! ✗
• get back into playing piano ✗
  

• read 9 books
• catch up on ARC reviews
• post 5 times
• start developing a novel idea
• get >7.5 hours of sleep
• get off my phone please god (I have been on my phone for a terrifying amount of hours each day)
• driver’s ed

LAST MONTH OF SCHOOL!! I’m going to burst from excitement!!! This past semester has been absolute hell and I have not enjoyed a single moment of this whole school year. With every year that comes to a close, there’s usually the thrilling yet terrifying feeling of My Future getting closer and closer to me, but this year I feel absolutely none of that because I am just ready to be DONE.

Seeing friends! I’m really excited and grateful that my friends and I are going to be fully vaccinated, which means that we can finally hang out safely. I have become even more of a hermit over the past year, but I have missed my friends very much. So I’m looking forward to finally seeing them once school is finished and the necessary 2 weeks (for the vaccine) have passed!

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was April a Void for you too? did you read any good books? if you participated in Camp NaNo, how’d it go? is it your last month of school or will you sadly have to suffer for longer? (I’m praying for you)