My Goings On in July:
Here’s what I accomplished in July:
- We refurbished another cabinet, made two pet gates, created one more piece of junk art (a pup!), and made a decorative key holder for my husband. Lots of projects in July! I already posted pics of all of these (except the second gate, but it basically looks the same as the first). You can find the cabinet and gate in this Sunday Post and the junk art and keyholder in my July Junk Art post.
- Digit! I’ve been sharing pics of our new pup in my Sunday Posts every week so you can see him grow up: 5/31, 6/7, 6/14, 6/21, 6/28,7/5, 7/12, 7/19, 7/26, 8/2. But here’s my monthly “before and after” pic, so you can see the first day he came home versus this week:
- What I’ve watched:
- Danielle and I watched through season 6 of The 100. We’ve been averaging a season a week, and I’m loving watching the whole thing from the beginning again!
- I started watching Indian Matchmaking. It’s interesting to see this perspective on marriage.
Features & Discussions:
July 2020 Discussion Challenge Link-up and Giveaway!
July Junk Art Creations
Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag
Alone by Megan E. Freeman: Cover Reveal Pre-order Giveaway – Still time to enter to win a pre-order of the book!
Tales of a Social-Media (and Tech) Failure: What’s the Deal with the WordPress Block Editor?
July 2020 Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up Link-Up & Giveaway!
My 2020 Reading Progress:
I did a little better in July with my reading. A little. I read 7 books, which brought me to a total of 68 so far this year. I’m 10 books ahead of my Goodreads goal.
July 2020 Reviews
- Deeplight by Frances Hardinge | Review
- More to the Story by Hena Khan | Review
- The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis | Review
- Knockout by K.A. Holt| Review
- Cinderella Is Dead by Kalynn Bayron | Review
- The Elephant’s Girl by Celesta Rimington | Review
- New Kid by Jerry Craft | Review
July Best of the Bunch:
(Best of the Bunch is hosted over at Cocoon of Books. We link up our favorite reads of the month!)
Easy choices for both MG and YA this month since I absolutely loved both New Kid and Deeplight.
2020 Goals Progress:
Progress: 13/21-30 Discussions (Chatty Kathy)
I posted two discussions this month, which brings me to 13.
Mid-Year Book Freak-Out Tag
Tales of a Social-Media (and Tech) Failure: What’s the Deal with the WordPress Block Editor?
What Draws Me to a Book Cover?
Black Lives Matter
My Teenagers Are Reading Again and My Heart Has Never Been So Happy!!
I’ve Been Impersonated on Instagram!!
Google Searches Are Weird (AKA: You Found Me HOW?)
All Those Deleted Drafts
Book-Related Anxiety. It’s a Thing (and I Have It).
The Wonders of a Writing Accountability Partner
The Cybils Awards Finalists! Which Books Do You Hope Will Win?
My 2020 Goals & Challenges
2019 End of Year Book Survey (& Year in Graphs!)
HOST/SIGN-UP LINK – Feed Your Fiction Addiction & It Starts at Midnight
My Bookish Goals for 2020:
My Writing Goals
- Finish first draft of my Selfish Giant retelling. I finally started writing again, so I made a little progress in July!
- Attend one writing conference and at least one online class. I’m attending the SCBWI Summer Spectacular online conference right now.
- Read writing craft books and resources. With my reading slump, this just hasn’t been happening.
- Edit A Memory of Magic. Maybe someday I’ll get to this.
My Reading/Reviewing Goals
- Review (requested) review books within two weeks of publication. I’m not as far behind on this as I thought I was, so I guess that’s a good thing? I do still have a couple of books to catch up on, though.
- Review two backlist review books per month. I actually did manage this in July.
- Here’s the spreadsheet I created specifically for my backlist ARCs and review copies. (This was adapted from one of the tabs on Val @ Reader Voracious’s 2020 spreadsheet). Hopefully seeing this list here monthly will help keep me on track!
Wrap-Up Round-Up!
Don’t forget to link your July wrap-up posts up to the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up. And enter the giveaway!
I’m glad to hear that you have started to write again…..and I’m hoping for a wrap up of your writing conference 🙂
Happy August!
Ooh your pup has no right to be so cute!
Digit looks like a whole new dog! lol Ripley is starting to grow her fur now but looks like a cross between a q-tip and cotton ball right now lol
Karen @ For What It’s Worth
I hope your conference goes well and is enjoyable. I asked a question about ARCs in my Sunday post and the answers I got are interesting. You have a very detailed tracking system. I do something similar but I don’t have as many. I try to be diligent but it doesn’t always work out.
My goodness. Seeing those pics of Digit side by side shows how much he’s grown!
Digit is so freaking adorable! lol. Glad you’re getting some writing done. I am not. But am at least still thinking about it and I downloaded a free trial of some softward called Plottr that some writers were talking about. Now I just need to try to use it and see if it’s anything I’d actually find useful. I should have done Best of the Bunch this month because I’m still just raving over Flirtasaurus by Erin Mallon. And I love seeing all the projects you’re doing!
Oh my, your puppy has changed so much!! 🙂
Happy reading in August!
I’m so happy that this was a better reading month for you! I think 7 books in one month is amazing! I personally had my best reading month in July, but even so I hope that August is even better for both of us!
I also love the before and after picture of Digit! He’s grown so much in such a short amount of time! And his upright ears are just adorable!
I love seeing puppies grow as it’s crazy how fast it happens! Digit looks so grown up now but I know there’s plenty more puppy months left for you to enjoy.
looks like things are going good. i love the before and after pup picks. digit’s really growing into his own
Aw, Digit is so cute! Yay for getting back to writing. I actually started on a new book, after not really writing for awhile so I just need to keep that going. I read New Kid last month too and LOVED IT. I can’t wait for the companion book.
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
Digit is getting so big! He’s adorable. I hope you’re having a good August!
The interesting thing about indian matchmaking is that India has only a 1% divorce rate. What they don’t tell you is that the country has one of the highest domestic abuse rates, and divorcing is pretty much economical suicide for women. So, it’s hard to say.. Let’s hope that the women who get in are doing great.
Ahh so many projects this past month! And your pictures of Digit makes me so, so happy every time. <3 I'm glad you're writing again as well, yay! Best of luck for it all <3