Happy Halloween, and happy end of October! Somehow, we made it, huh?
Life Beyond the Blog
I can’t believe it’s already the end of the month, honestly. It seems like just yesterday, it was September and I wasn’t stressed out too badly about school or NaNo or any of those fun things that tend to barrel down the path at you out of nowhere. But school is definitely happening, and so is NaNo and DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SPARE TIME I COULD HAVE?
ANYONE?
No? No, okay, that’s all right. I’ll make it through. Just going to cruise through November fueled on a frantic sort of spite (shout-out to the people who’ve told me it’s a “bad idea” to do NaNo while I’m in school; we’re three for three right now and I’m no quitter, so we’re going for four for four!), and when it’s all over, I’ll just go into a nice little word coma for a couple weeks. Totally reasonable.
BEYOND THAT, I’ve somehow fit in a fair bit of TV watching into this month. I finished the first three seasons of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (WHAT A RIDE), and I’ve got my eye on Hilda and She-Ra on Netflix as treats for meeting my word goals throughout November. What can I say? I love cartoons. So much less stressful than a lot of other shows. Not to mention I’m constantly in awe of the amount of work that goes into animation. It’s absolutely incredible and one of the things I admire most in the world.
Oh, and I also went for a walk just this week (you really don’t want to know how little I get out and about save for sprinting between classes on campus), and not only did I finish the Mew quest in Pokémon Go, but I found a shiny Drifloon just before the end of the Halloween event! That little golden balloon is very cute. I don’t have a nickname for it, though, and I’m totally taking suggestions if you have any.
Books Read and Reviewed
Remarkably, I got through six whole books this month! My reviews for The Wren Hunt, Vengeful, Song of the Current, The Girl in the Green Silk Gown, and City of Ghosts are already on the blog, and you’ll be able to read my ARC review of Umbertouched this coming Monday! It seems like I’m down to the wire on reviews, though. This summer, I had a huge backlog, but that has DRIED UP. Thanks, school.
Next Month’s Reads
This is probably terribly scandalous, but…I’m not planning to read anything next month! That’s just how it goes during NaNoWriMo. I like to read a lot before and after, but not during. Dividing time between reading and writing and school is a tricky kind of “choose two” situation, and I don’t feel terrible about letting reading go for the month as a result.
It’s possible I might pick up something short during my week off for Thanksgiving, or if I finish NaNo early (lmao, right), but I don’t expect it.
Then again, my review well has run dry, and I do have at least one ARC due before December, so I might cram some reading in anyways. Gosh, it’s up in the air. Don’t mind me being all wishy-washy about it, all right?
My Top Three Posts
As always, it’s been hard to pick my favorites this month, but I’m going to have to go with these three!
1. Not a Book! Thursday || The Adventure Zone: Balance
2. Friday for Funsies || Budget Book Boxes
3. Not a Book! Thursday || Illumicrate Magic and Mayhem Unboxing
Not a Book! Thursday is quickly becoming a beloved category, at least in my heart. I hope you all are having as much fun with them as I do!
Favorites From Around the Blogging World
Here it is! The best part of the month! The stars of the show!
YOU GUYS.
As always, it’s so hard to narrow it down to just a few favorites because there’s so many incredible posts out there. Somehow, I managed to choose anyway, and I hope you find them as fantastic as I did!
Kaleena @ Reader Voracious is a social media WIZARD and shares all her social media 101 secrets!
Kaya @ A Fictional Bookworm proclaims her love for a very good ghost (and an amazing ghost series)!
Rae @ Thrifty Bibliophile shares an awesome list of tips and tricks for book bloggers!
Well, that’s all for this month. Hopefully I won’t vanish completely next month as NaNo rolls in, but I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.
I’ll catch you around, and I hope your October is good, your Halloween is great, and your November is even better than both!
Awesome. If I were planning to write that much I wouldn’t be reading either.
Yeah, it’s pretty hard to balance both, haha.
Aw, thanks for the shoutout! And good luck on reaching your goal, I know you can do it!
You’re welcome!! And thank you, hopefully it goes okay!
Best of luck for NaNoWriMo and writing, you can do this!! <3 I hope you'll have a lovely, inspired November <3
And thank you for sharing May's guest post on my blog 😀
Fingers crossed! This will be my fourth year in a row. 😊 And you’re welcome! It was a wonderful post!
Ahh wow, that’s SO great, I admire your dedication!! 😀 I hope you’ll make it to 50k 😀
Good luck with NaNo and thanks for linking the Social Media guide!
Thank you, and of course! It’s super helpful!