July 2017 Blotted Recap // I’M ALIVE (Or Am I??? NO ONE KNOWS.)

This bodes the question of whether I’m alive or not.

Spoiler alert: I AM!

I’m sorry for not being alive on this blog for over a week. I was busy, but I promise that I’ll be active this week, and I’ll try to post more to make up for it!

Anyways, July was Camp Nano. Which I died during. But I have high hopes for August (my birthday is in August!) and I’m going to be doing… five million read-a-thons so I can FINALLY get over ten books*.

*JUST WATCH ME READ 1.5 BOOKS AND CALL IT A SUCCESS.

{everything is linked because I LOVE LINKING THINGS.}

BOOKS I READ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fairest by Marissa Meyer ★★★★★

• Okay, can we agree that Marissa Meyer can do no wrong? Because I loved this book so much. [no review]

Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter ★★★★☆

• This was perfect magical realism and I loved it! It was a bit confusing at times but this world sounds so cool. [no review]

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F. C. Yee ★★★★★

• Cue my fangirling heart because this is one of my Favorite Books of All Time™ and it had Chinese mythology and angry asians and I cannot wait for the sequel. [review]

Traveler by L. E. Delano ★★★☆☆

• Well, this had an amazing premise and I quite liked it, but the magical system made no sense. I DNF’d it. [review]

All the Forever Things by Jolene Perry ★★★☆☆

• I liked this? But there was about NO plot. So…? [review]

As you can see, I have failed. I wanted to read 10 books this month, and hahahahaha NOPE. I was busy with other things.

(I’ve noticed a pattern in my reading? I always read books near the first days of the month and just… don’t read for the rest of the month.

AUGUST ANTICIPATED RELEASES

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Color Project ––– August 17th

• So many people on Twitter are so excited for this, and everyone says it’s super cute and I LIKE CUTE BOOKS.

Mask of Shadows ––– August 29th

• Sal is a genderfluid main character, and there’s a competition! And in the pitch it says this book is similar to Bardugo and Maas’ work, and I LOVE THEM.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer ––– August 29th

• LEIGH BARDUGO. I mean, I don’t even read comics or anything but that cover is stunning. And also LEIGH BARDUGO.

The Dazzling Heights ––– August 29th

• This is the sequel to The Thousandth Floor and I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.

STATS

Well, I didn’t post in the last week, which might have contributed to my lower stats..

(GUYS WHY ARE MY STATS GOING DOWN THIS ISN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN)

I have 218 followers right now! (I passed 200 followers and THANK YOU MY POTATOES)

• 6 posts (three less than last month)
• 76 new followers
• 944 views
• 412 visitors
• 272 likes (5 less than last month) (but to be fair I had less posts)
• 244 comments (but to be fair I haven’t replied to a lot of comments yet WHICH I WILL DO)

I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN MYSELF. AUGUST IS MY BIRTHDAY MONTH, I NEED TO DO BETTER.

THINGS I PARTICIPATED IN

• Do Twitter chats count?
• Camp Nano!
• #24in48 except I didn’t actually do it. Welp.

I was GOING TO READ but then I didn’t.

THINGS I WILL PARTICIPATE IN

The Scribbler’s Challenge!

You have no idea how excited I am for May’s project to start *screeches*

It’s a writing project where we have to submit responses to May’s prompts and we get feedback on our writing! My lovely partner is Sarah and I can’t wait to get started soon!

ARC August + #TheReadingQuest!

I neeeeeed to finish off all of my ARCs and I will do it. Soon. *nods convincingly*

And for the Reading Quest, the art is so cute. There are four different character classes, and I’m choosing to be a knight.

my tbr for this month #smushingthings

• The Midnight Queen {#Quest}
• Kissing Max Holden {#Quest + ARC}
• Mask of Shadows {#Quest + ARC}
• (I’ll figure out the rest of them after I finish these)

HOPEFULLY I WILL READ MORE BOOKS THIS MONTH. *glares at self*

Oh, and if you guys are interested in learning about more of the challenges I linked them! Here’s a handy list that Liza made of the read-a-thons in August!

THINGS I CHANGED

• I have a new profile photo? It’s me sitting on the railing of my back porch with a book in my face. AND ALSO MY BACKYARD IS SO BUSHY YOU GUYS. I never go back there and there are like plants everywhere.

(Sitting on the railing was scary tbh you guys don’t know what I do for you)

• I have a posting schedule! Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday!

THINGS I WANT TO CHANGE

• A LOT OF STUFF.
• I will make a Blog Button page in August. I PROMISE. I WILL DO IT.
• I want to change my look, and edit a couple of things, and also change my name eventually.

POSTS I LOVED

Ilsa talks about awkward moments she has faced while blogging and #relatable because we are all awkward souls on the inside.

Swetlana gives us eight tips for new book bloggers which is SO helpful.

Marie teaches us how to write blog posts, because who actually knows how to write?

Balie discusses making money from blogging and tells us three ways to do it!

Analee discusses blogging disappointments and unsuccessful posts vs. successful ones.

Jackie gives us some VERY HAPPY NEWS (*cue my screaming*).

May talks about if we should trust book reviewers/reviews because CAN YOU EVEN TRUST ANYONE ANYMORE???

Mikaela asks us what our blogging schedules are and discusses pros and cons.

POSTS WITH ME

Dani appreciated my post about Idea Originality in her 13th Weekly Appreciation feature. (You’re too nice to me, Dani.)

May mentioned me in her post about how blogging has changed her life and gahhhh this post made me emotional.

Michelle mentioned my post about organization in her weekly wrap-up and I AM NOT THAT ORGANIZED GUYS. SERIOUSLY.

POPULAR POSTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently everyone thinks that I’m super organized or something? I’M NOT THAT ORGANIZED, YOU GUYS. I just… like having documents and tracking everything, I guess.

Also look at the photo for 10 Times During Life To Read!! It’s RAINBOW YOU GUYS. I MADE MY SMOL SHELF RAINBOW.

FAVORITE POST

CAMP NANO

So… I failed Camp Nano.

Y’know, I was so excited for it.

smol description of Camp Nano

Me before Camp Nano: DANG I WILL WIN THIS THING AND FINISH MY NOVEL.

Me during Camp Nano: Wait what

…

Well, I didn’t win it. BUT, I did outline. And I kind of reached a point where I thought that it would be near the end of the book? But I DON’T KNOW. So I’ve just been planning to start actually writing and see where it takes me later on.

STORY IDEAS

I’m just going to include short ideas of stories I want to write and just #squish everything in this post.

I kind of want to write a lot of contemporaries because you don’t have to worldbuild and I think it would be awesome to have a Chinese main character.

• A contemporary set in Canada? THIS WAS TOTALLY INSPIRED BY ANALEE’S POST ABOUT HOW MORE CONTEMPORARIES SHOULD BE SET IN CANADA.
  …
• I also kind of want to write a collection of poems. Or a whole story just written in poetry.
  …
• I want to write a historical fiction set near the time of Julius Caesar because he’s INTERESTING*.
  …

Okay these are all just different genres of books I’m SORRY FOR BEING INCONSISTENT?

*I’M SORRY YOU GUYS I ACTUALLY LIKE HISTORY AND SCHOOL AND STUFF.

Well, you guys. I’m not including a life update in this post because I’m already at 1.2k words*.

*I actually love when my posts are over 1k words?

So, what happened to you this month? Have you ever skipped out on blogging for over a week? Do you like reading? Do you like writing? Did you do Camp Nano? Did you fail Camp Nano?