My Goings On in September:
- September was filled with swim meets for my younger daughter and general back-to-schoolness for all three kids.
- I’m finding that high school swim meets are a whole lot more fun to watch than swim club meets (mostly because they’re a lot shorter, there are WAY fewer kids at them, and we feel more connected to the team, so we’re rooting for them more). It also doesn’t hurt that my daughter has been improving times a lot since she’s been on the school team. 🙂
- Have I bragged about my oldest’s brilliance? I don’t think I have, so I’ll be a proud momma for a second and do that. She’s a junior in high school taking Calc II at the local community college—and she got the highest score in the class on her first test. Everything she’s learning is WAY beyond me, but she loves it.
- Yesterday was my youngest’s 14th birthday (so it’s technically an October thing, but I’ll still mention it here). He asked for tons of graphic novels for his birthday, which makes me happy—since he’s not a strong reader, graphic novels are a perfect way for him to still form a love of books!
- On Saturday, my mom turned 70 and she retired!! Now she gets to hang out with us even more often. (My poor dad might get to see her sometimes if he can steal her away from me. I make no promises.)
- I went to an author event and learned about The Chunky Method of writing organization. I’ve started using it a bit, and I think it’s going to be very helpful!!
- Things I watched:
- I watched the first season of The Innocents on Netflix. I thought it was pretty good, and I’ll definitely keep watching if they make more. (I assume they will?)
- I also started watching The Walking Dead Season 8. I know this show is getting ridiculous (I mean, a tiger who fights for them—and somehow knows who the “bad guys” are? Um, okay, sure.), but I still really enjoy it. Plus, it’s great for working out!
- I watched Sierra Burgess is a Loser on Netflix. Unfortunately, I don’t recommend it (you can see why in my Twitter thread).
- I started watching the newest season of iZombie. The show is such campy fun. 🙂
Instagram:
Features & Discussions:
A Spoiler-Filled Discussion of The Young Queens and The Oracle Queen (AKA Queens of Fennbirn)
A Spoiler-Filled Discussion of Two Dark Reigns
September 2018 Discussion Challenge & Giveaway
Book Box Subscriptions. Yay or Nay? Let’s Discuss.
Top Ten Books on My Fall TBR
Top Ten Favorite Authors I Need to Read More!
September Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up & Make Me Read It Giveaway
My 2018 Reading Progress:
I achieved my Goodreads goal this month! I’ve read 107 books so far this year.
September 2018 Reviews
- Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake | Review | Rating: Devoured It
- Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu | Review | Rating: Devoured It
- The Storm Runner by J.C. Cervantes | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- The Talon Series by Julie Kagawa | Review | Rating: Devoured It
- Misfits by Jen Calonita | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- Drama by Raina Telgemeier | Review | Rating: Fed My Addiction
- A Spark of White Fire by Sangu Mandanna | Review | Rating: Absolutely Addicted
September Best of the Bunch:
(Best of the Bunch is hosted over at Cocoon of Books. We link up our favorite reads of the month!)
A much as it pains me not to put Two Dark Reigns here (I’m completely obsessed with this series!), I think A Spark of White Fire actually nudged it out as my favorite this month.
2018 Reading Challenges/Goals Progress:
If you didn’t see my update a couple of months ago, I decided to stop doing most of my challenges. Priorities.
Status: 22/31-40 Discussions Posted
I only posted one discussion this month (probably because I did two TTTs and two Three Dark Crowns Series spoiler-filled discussion posts).
Book Box Subscriptions. Yay or Nay?
Goodreads’ YA Books Lists. Let’s Discuss.
I Love Me Some Purple Prose. Let’s Discuss.
Where to Find Book Series Recaps. (Since most books don’t have a synopsis.) Let’s Discuss.
The Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag
The WIFYR Workshop Experience
Goodreads’ Mid-Year Book Lists. Let’s Discuss.
A Break in Our Regularly Scheduled Programming (& Reasons I’m Excited for WIFYR)
Some Changes Around Here
My Personal Connection to Pride Month, Some Recent LGBTQ+ Reads, and Integrating My Faith and LGBTQ+ Issues
Top 10 Writing Tips I Learned at WIFYR
My Newly Organized Bookcases!
My First Time Switching Between an Audiobook and a Print Book.
The Rain on Netflix: Danish or English? (Subbed or Dubbed?)
Why Is Voice in Writing So Hard? And Do You Think About It When You Read?
Expectations About POC Names in Books.
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
My 2018 Goals Progress:
Complete a second edit of my MG novel. Done!Attend a writing workshop. I went to WIFYR in June! AND I’m heading to another workshop in October.- Read more writing craft books/materials. Yep. I’m definitely doing this. 🙂
- Finish the first draft of YA novel. Okay, so “finish” definitely isn’t the word I’d use for this, but I’m working on this book again. I think I might write a discussion post about my progression, so watch for that next week…
- Read one review book for every one that I request/receive. ) Guys, I’m suddenly totally failing at this, after doing so good the first half of the year.
I received 10(!!) books this month, and I only posted reviews for 5 and decided not to review 2. (So far for the year, I’ve received 69 and read 64, so now I’m 5 behind!!) Must. Do. Better.
(I’ve been reading a lot more backlist books lately and writing craft books—which would be fine if I’d STOP requesting/accepting review books … but I haven’t.) - Read more middle grade. I reviewed 3 MG books this month and I read 1 other one that I decided not to review. I’m very happy with that. (I’ve read and/or reviewed 22 MGs so far this year.)
- Work out! I’m still doing good with this, but I’ll confess that I’m starting to get a little discouraged at the fact that I’ve lost NO weight since I started working out regularly again in May. It was really easy to gain weight once I stopped working out, so why is it so hard to lose it again? Sigh.
Wrap-Up Round-Up!
Don’t forget to link your September wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up. And enter the giveaway! (I posted it with the actual link-up this month.)
I think I might hit my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal this month which is great since I’m usually playing catch up over the Christmas holidays. If you are writing anything with medical or science in it, I recommend reading Putting the Science in Fiction. It is a collection of essays from people who do medicine and science in real life.
Oh, I’ll definitely check that out. Not writing anything with medicine or science in it right now, but it’s always good to have resources at your disposal. 🙂
I hit my Goodreads goal too! Go us! It sounds like your kids are all doing really well. I’m so bad with math, so I applaud anyone who is good at it/likes it. lol And graphic novels are always fantastic, especially if you’re the strongest reader! It still counts!
I don’t have too many review books but I still feel like I’m not reading enough. I don’t really know why…
-Lauren
I reduced my goal drastically this year, so I’m not surprised I hit it, but it’s still nice to do. 🙂
Happy birthday to your mom and youngest! I’m glad the kids are doing well at school. I’m envious of your oldest’s math skills. I can barely count. I feel your pain with working out and gaining weight. I’ve run over 200 miles this year, and I’m fatter than I’ve ever been in my life. Have a good October!
I actually think that my on-again-off-again workout routine is doing me way more harm than good. I need to stick with it for it to help me—permanently. The problem is, life gets in the way sometimes and I just can’t manage it. Last school year was out of control busy and I didn’t manage to work out basically at all, and I gained like 15 pounds. Now, here I am, months after getting back into the workout routine and I haven’t shed any of that. It seems so unfair!
I read Shadow of the Fox as well, it was alright but I do love the Talon series more. 🙂 Happy birthday to your mom, and happy retirement!! Happy birthday to your daughter as well. She shares the day with my brother who turned 50. 🙂 Happy October!!
Well, happy birthday to your brother as well, then! 🙂
I agree with you on The Walking Dead, even though last season wasn’t that great. But I hear this is the final season starting next week, so I feel like I need to go ahead and watch it, since I’ve come this far. I’ve still got to read my The Darkest Star ARC. Thanks so much for all the hosting you do for discussion posts and wrap-ups, etc. And I love how you collect all the giveaways and pre-orders in your Sunday posts. Hope you have a good October!
Yeah, TWD has sort of gotten out of control crazy lately, but I don’t want to stop watching, so I guess that’s saying something. 🙂
That’s so great about your oldest! And congrats on completing your reading challenge!!
Thanks!!
You deserve some sort of mom award, because all your kids are killing it! I love to hear everyone is doing so well. I have been an iZombie fan since the start. I love Rob Thomas! I keep reading amazing MG books. I finished In Your Shoes the other day, and it was fabulous!
I love iZombie, and I don’t feel like I see people talk about it very often. It needs more love!
I have the sort of inkling that I will not enjoy Sierra as well. I feel like the bullying will make me so angry. I don’t know…
Have a great October, Nicole!
For me, it wasn’t about the bullying, actually, but about the girl who was supposedly the “victim” of the bullying. I felt for her in the beginning, but then she just made a whole lot of horrible choices and it got harder and harder to sympathize with her character. 🙁
Congrats on hitting your Goodreads goal! I’m scared to look at mine right now because what if I’m 10 books behind being on track??? ?
I saw some of the negative feedback behind Sierra and honestly while some think it’s cute, I don’t like the name? Loser is demeaning and hurtful, not cute. ?
The title of the movie didn’t bother me that much, but there were some aspects of it that were downright disturbing to me.
I’m so glad you enjoy swim meets more now, yay! And I love how much your oldest loves math! That was always my favorite subject and in college I took an extra calc class as an elective because I wanted to learn more. 🙂 And a happy birthday to your youngest! You guys have been having a very busy fall already!
I feel you on the exercise thing! When I hit 37 last year I noticed that exercise didn’t help me very much with my weight loss. Maybe it would account for 5-10%, phft actually probably more like 1% if even although I’d gain muscle or definition which was nice. It’s still crazy frustrating. BUT the thing that did work was completely changing my diet and eating mainly just protein, fruits and veggies all day and a tiny bit of carbs with breakfast and dinner. I’m a pasta, chip and cookie addict so it’s HARD! But when I do that I can lose weight every week and I’m not ever hungry because I snack on fruits and veggies all day. Personally I’d just rather eat yummier food lol but I do this every few months to get back in “shape”. The joys of getting older lol!
I’ve been trying to do more snacking on fruits and veggies, but I definitely have to do better about cutting out the carbs (and the sugar). Yes, my metabolism just isn’t what it used to be. I used to definitely see results from working out, but it doesn’t seem to work that way anymore.
Congrats on achieving your goodreads goal.
Well done on your oldest. Calculus is so not my thing either so I’m amazed!
Yeah, math just makes my head hurt—don’t know where she got it from!
Yes yes you can brag away about the kids it’s always allowed 😉 Fantastic month!!!
It’s a mom’s privilege. 🙂
You absolutely should sing your kids’ praises, proud Mama. 🙂 Good for you and for your kids! Looks like you had a rather productive September. I hope October is equally so. Happy reading, Nicole!
Moms automatically have bragging rights. It’s a rule. 🙂
Sounds like a good month! I used to *hate* going back to school – but then, my school totally sucked! Happy Birthday to your 14-year-old! 🙂
My oldest enjoys school for the most part. She’s going to the local community college for her classes now (even though she’s technically still in high school). My middle daughter is liking public high school a LOT more than she expected to, so that’s been a blessing. And my youngest would prefer NOT to go back to school, but he does want to see his friends, so he’s still relatively happy when it starts back up. 🙂
Yay happy birthday to your youngest and your mom! <3
It's so great that you finished your edits on you MG novel, that's so exciting. Best of luck for your YA writing now! 🙂
Have a lovely October! <3 <3
Well, “finished” is a dangerous term. I don’t think I’ll ever be “finished” (unless it gets published!). 🙂
You have a lot to be proud of where your children are concerned. Happy birthday to your son! It sounds like you had an overall good September. I feel like I am always behind these days–in blogging and in reading. Best wishes with your writing! Have a wonderful October!
I’m learning to live with being perpetually behind. I’d drive myself crazy otherwise.
I’m still dealing with back-to-schoolness! Glad it is done for you!
Funny you say that meets are more fun than club meets because I also like school soccer more than club soccer. I agree that you do feel more connected to the team! 🙂 Love my Hurricanes 🙂
Please brag away! As a mom you have more then earn that right! And a HS junior that takes Calc II at college AND that got the highest score in the class is a VERY VERY good reason to brag! Maybe what she’s learning is beyond you BUT didn’t you homeschooled her??? So all this is your accomplishment in more than one way!
Oooooooohhhhhh I have to go learn about that Chunky Method of writing organization now!
Yes, school swim meets are MUCH more interesting—and they’re shorter too! And I like to think that my kids do get some of their good qualities from me, directly or indirectly as the case may be. 😉