February Wrap-Up & Best of the Bunch

Posted February 28, 2018 by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction in Best of the Bunch, Monthly Recap / 46 Comments

My Goings On in February:

  • I finished my (second) edit of my MG book! It feels good to have it done. I’m still waiting to hear about the workshop I applied for, but if that one doesn’t pan out, I might just go for it and try sending queries out to some agents without workshopping it (at least a few—to see what kind of response I get).
  • I celebrated my 5th blogoversary (technically on January 31st, but I don’t think I mentioned it in my last wrap-up) and my 44th birthday. Yikes! (I literally had my age wrong at first and had to sit and recalculate it in my head. I truly am getting old.)
  • I went to Anderson’s Children’s Literature Breakfast (watch for a recap, coming next week).
  • I finished Season 2 of Stranger Things and started watching The Goldbergs (which is super hilarious and reminds me of my childhood).
  • I went to see Hamilton!!! It was as amazing as everyone says. But it made me realize how screwed up our political system (or maybe just humanity?) has always been. And some of the parallels I could draw to modern day issues just made me sad.

Instagram:

I spent WAY too much time trying to figure out how to get these two pictures to show up side-by-side instead of one under the other. I finally got them to show up centered, at least, so I just made them a little bigger and kept them this way. But if anyone knows how to make them show up next to each other, please let me know in the comments and I’ll love you forever. Sometimes I feel like a technological dolt.

Guess where I am today? So excited to see #Hamilton!!!

A post shared by Nicole Hewitt (@nicolefictionaddiction) on

Features & Discussions:

February Discussion Challenge Link-Up & Giveaway
Fun with SPAM!
January 2018 Wrap-Up Round-Up Giveaway
A Valentine’s Post Featuring the Macmillan Collector’s Library (& a Giveaway!)
Great Reasons to Get to Know Your Bookish Friends Better
February 2018 Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up

My 2018 Reading Progress:

I barely read anything in February, so it’s a good thing I lowered my goal. Still doing great on my goal of reading less, I guess. I’m five books ahead, according to Goodreads.

February 2018 Reviews

  • American Panda by Gloria Chao | Review | Rating: 4.5/5
  • Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski | Review | Rating: 3.5/5
  • Welcome Home by Eric Smith | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • By a Charm and a Curse by Jaime Questell | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton | Review | Rating: 4/5
  • The Ambrose Deception by Emily Ecton | Review | Rating: 5/5

February Best of the Bunch:

(Best of the Bunch is hosted over at Cocoon of Books. We link up our favorite reads of the month!)

The Ambrose Deception takes the prize this month as my only 5-star read, but American Panda was close behind!


2018 Reading Challenges/Goals Progress:

Status: 6/31-40 Discussions Posted

I really only wrote one discussion this month. Writing is definitely taking a toll on my blogging time, but that’s okay.

Great Reasons to Get to Know Your Bookish Friends Better
Top 10 of 2017: Books I’m Looking Forward to in 2018
2017 End of Year Book Survey
My Writing & Reading Goals for 2018
My Book Outlet Weakness (& Why My Latest Haul Is All Your Fault)
Which Types of Reviews Are Most Effective? Let’s Discuss!

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight


Status: 48/365 Blogs Commented On

I’m still a bit behind on this challenge, but catching up. I need to remember to be consistent with it, and that hasn’t happened so far! (For my own keeping-track purposes: I should be at 59 right now.)

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Read Write Love 28


Status: ??/365 Chapters Read

I know I’m really behind on this, and I honestly didn’t feel like taking the time to figure out how behind. Turns out, I’m not great at reading a chapter a day. I’m not quite sure why. I might still be able to catch up?

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – One Catholic Life


Status: 9 Books Read/5 Reviews Posted

Our team was really behind this month, and I wasn’t much help. Here’s hoping March is better!

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Novel Knight


Status: 9/61-100 books read (New Release Veteran)

Did a little better on this challenge this month, but I still don’t think I can possibly achieve my goal for the year.

Here’s what applied to the challenge this month:

American Panda by Gloria Chao, By a Charm and a Curse by Jaime Questell, The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, The Ambrose Deception by Emily Ecton and The Altered History of Willow Sparks by Tara O’Connor

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – (un)Conventional Book Views


Status: 8/12 TBR Books Read

Here’s what counted for this challenge from my reviews this month:

Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski, The Peculiar Night of the Blue Heart by Lauren DeStefano, The List by Patricia Forde, Welcome Home by Eric Smith

HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Roof Beam Reader


My 2018 Goals Progress:

  • Complete a second edit of my MG novel. Done!
  • Attend a writing workshop. We’ll see what happens with the one I applied for. I did do WriteOnCon, and I’m still reading through all the materials.
  • Read more writing craft books/materials. I’m working on this. WriteOnCon definitely counts for this.
  • Finish the first draft of YA novelThis needs to get going, since I finished the MG edit.
  • Read one review book for every one that I request/receive. ) I only read 5 review books this month and received 14!! Wow! That’s a major fail. (So far for the year, I’ve received 19 and read 15, so I’m definitely behind, but it’s not as bad as it seems.)
  • Read more middle grade. I barely read in February, but one of the books was MG, so I guess that’s good (Read 3 so far)
  • Work out! No. Same as last month—I worked out like twice. Sigh.

Wrap-Up Round-Up!

Don’t forget to link your February wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up! And check out the giveaway, which will be posted here on Feed Your Fiction Addiction right around the 7th!

Tags:


46 responses to “February Wrap-Up & Best of the Bunch

  1. I remember that pic in Instagram! I commented you looked SO HAPPY! 🙂 Glad to confirm you had a great time! I also remember being very happy because you finished editing felt like heaven! So proud if you Nicole! KEEP WRITING!

  2. Danielle Hammelef

    Great job on your manuscript! I can’t wait to read Ambrose Deception! That and American Panda are must reads for me.

  3. Yay on finally getting to see Hamilton!! I hear it’s hard (and expensive) to get tickets to that show. I am not a fan of musicals, but I am intrigued about Hamilton.

    Congrats on being 5 books ahead on your reading goals!!! Goodreads let me know that I am 1 book ahead, which made me feel really great because it took me FOREVER to finish my last book.

  4. I’m so happy you saw Hamilton and loved it – I’d LOVE to see it someday. I have no clue how to get photos side by side; I always try and it never works! LOL If you figure it out, let me know. 😉

    Yay for your manuscript edits. I hope you get into the workshop but if not, you should definitely try and query some agents. You never know, right?

    I didn’t exercise much this month either and I really need to do better with that. In March, I DO plan on joining a gym (it’s month to month so I don’t have to commit if I don’t like it, which is nice) and I should have more dance classes in March too.

    -Lauren

  5. What a fun month for you! In regards to your Instagram troubles, I don’t use their Embed feature anymore because it’s so hard to control. I just upload my own photos to WordPress now and remind people I’m on Instagram. Lol.

    S. J. Pajonas recently posted: March 2018 Goals
  6. Wow, February was a great month for you! Hamilton! And I can’t wait to hear about the Anderson breakfast. I still need to watch the second season of Stranger Things. And I have to say how awesome that you finished your second round of edits! I can even get through a first round. 🙁 I need to go back and look at my challenges and see how I’m doing. Maybe over my spring break in a couple weeks I’ll have time.

    Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted: Audiobook Review: Combust (Everyday Heroes #2) by K. Bromberg
  7. You’re doing pretty good on your challenges!! I was so excited to learn our blogs are both 5! I hope you had a great birthday. I have to calculate my age too. Ever since I turned 23 I don’t know how old I am anymore.

  8. Congrats on finishing the edit, that’s a big thing to do 🙂 and congrats about the (belated) blogiversary! And the birthday 🙂 I have got my age wrong once too, haha 😀 happens. After that, I am often “trying on” the new age a couple of months before my birthday to just get used to it already xD been working for the past couple of years 😀

    And tell me about it. Instagram embeds are annoying! They never work right xD

  9. Looks like you had a good February, Nicole! I am not good about reading a chapter a day either, but I do find myself able to read multiple chapters of Les Miserables at a time without realizing it, and so have managed to stay caught up somehow. I can’t say the same for War and Peace. I need to spend some quality reading time with that one . . . The Ambrose Deception sounds like a good one! I am sorry though you didn’t like The Hazel Wood. I have been wanting to read that one, but after reading your review, it’s moved a few notches down in my TBR pile.

    I hope your March is a fantastic one!

  10. Jen

    HA! I’m not the only one who gets my age wrong, I love it lol! Last year I kept telling everyone I was 36 and Andy would side eye me and be like uhhh did you forget your birthday this year?! You’re 37. Whoops. It just wouldn’t stick ?.

    And the way I get multiple pictures in a row is by using tables. I have a plugin for tables that I use all the time and I haven’t found another way to make it work. But there may be another way, I just didn’t figure it out…..

    Jen recently posted: Monthly Wrap-Up – February
  11. Oh I love the Goldberg’s. Suck a great show. Especially if your are an 80s child. I need to go check out some of your reviews. Also add your new site to Bloglovin. I have been missing your posts.

  12. Good news about THE AMBROSE DECEPTION!! My son and I are going to read that together soon, so it’s nice to hear that you liked it 🙂 Also, what’s your MG book about?? I’m super curious!! It’s okay if you aren’t sharing that yet– and if not, then good luck with your edits!!

    • You’ll have to let me know what you think of The Ambrose Deception. Hope you and your son enjoyed it!

      And I’m happy to share about my MG!! It has a working title of Meet Me in Convinerimus, and it’s about a girl whose best friends both move away and she struggles to deal with that and to let anyone new into her life—until she finds her way to a magical world where she and her friends can meet. We shall see what happens with it!! 🙂

Leave a Reply

(Enter your URL then click here to include a link to one of your blog posts.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.