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Writing Update!

An insight into my busy, writing-filled month!

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Happy Friday!

May has been a busy month in all aspects and because of that, I thought a writing update was in order. I will be sharing how I’m keeping busy and explaining how I kind of overwhelmed myself with work…as any creative workaholic does.

AZTEC INSPIRED NOVEL

I began this month with the goal to write 1,000 words a day for my Aztec novel but surprise, surprise, that didn’t happen. Overall, I did write 7,000 words or so which means this month hasn’t been a total loss creative writing-wise. There were a few factors that contributed to me abandoning this project:

  1. May has been an anxiety-filled month and I’ve found it difficult to write.
  2. I took on a paid re-typing project that has taken a lot of time.

At first, I definitely did beat myself up about not working on my Aztec project. Since we are quarantined, I figured I would finally have time to work on fiction projects that I neglected for most of the school year, however, here I am, taking on more random projects and having NO time. Although, I have finally accepted the fact that once I am done re-typing my client’s novel, I know I’ll have time to return to my own creative writing. There are still three months before I return to school (ONLINE school too) so I have time. We always have time even if we don’t realize it.

FLANELLE MAGAZINE

Due to having more time to enjoy movies and TV shows, I’ve found interest in learning about the entertainment industry during these trying times. If you didn’t know, I write articles for a fashion, art, and lifestyle magazine called Flanelle Magazine, and have been since March. This month, I did some research and wrote an article on the entertainment industry during COVID-19, which you can read if you click HERE. It would mean a lot if you checked it out because I spent a lot of time working on it!

I really enjoy writing for Flanelle Magazine because it offers me another platform to share my writing and reach a completely different audience than the one I have on here. It also allows me to build my portfolio and work with an editor-in-chief to improve my writing which I don’t have for my blog or creative writing. While I only contribute to it once or twice a month, it is nice to always have another project to turn to if I run out of them (which is usually not the case but still!).

RE-TYPING

I had never heard of people hiring others to re-type their novel before, but I discovered this paid position on my university’s job board and snatched it up. I won’t lie, it is a lot harder and much more time consuming than I anticipated but it has been a great learning experience. I would consider myself a fast typer, but as I mentioned above, this project is taking a lot longer than I would like. However, while I can’t talk about the subject matter of this novel, it has been super interesting to read through and learn about so that really does help.

BLOGGING!

If you haven’t noticed, I post three times a week now (except I didn’t post this past Wednesday but besides that) which has been super fun. I love posting a lot of content onto my blog because it is something I am so passionate about. Like Flanelle, it is a nice break from fiction writing and I find blogging a lot easier to do. I love sharing tips, recommendations, and advice, as well as whatever I am reading and loving at that moment. I love the community here and all the other amazing bloggers on this platform, and it motivates me to keep on blogging.

My schedule for posting on here always changes regarding school and whatnot, but since my fall semester is online, I am hoping I can at least keep up with posting twice a week. My ideal goal would be posting three times a week but since I plan on taking a full course load, that might not happen. I’ll try my best though because like I just said, I love to blog.

MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIA INTERNSHIP

Being a marketing and social media intern is a new addition to my never-ending list of tasks, and I am so thrilled to have gotten this opportunity to enhance my skills on social media. I am interning at Gypsy Journals and am starting that new internship on June 1st.

My passion for writing led me to my interest in marketing and social media only this past year, and ever since, I have been doing everything I can to explore the business side of social media and of writing too. When I received this internship, it felt like a step forward towards the career I want which will involve writing and marketing on social media like a social media manager, coordinator, etc. I cannot wait to start it in the next week or so, and I will keep you all updated along the way.

Those are all my writing-related updates for the month of May, and I hope you enjoyed it! Yes, it looks like a lot and I won’t lie, it IS a lot, but it has taught me so much about balancing my time and still staying healthy mentally and physically along the way. I am nowhere near mastering these two things, but it is all a learning process.

Don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts which are all linked down below. I highly recommend checking out my last Instagram post because I started a new Insta segment called “So you wanna be a writer” where I talk about my writing journey, the opportunities I have found, and how to achieve your idea of success in your life. Give it a read and let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading 🙂

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My Classes Are Almost Over…Now What?

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Happy Monday!

Today marks the first day of me posting twice a week (Mondays and Fridays) which you would know if you checked out my last blog post…which you definitely should right here!

Anyways, I wanted to do another update type blog post because like the world right now, my plans for the next month seem to change constantly. My online classes are coming to an end on Friday this week, which means most of my school projects will be over then too. However, I do have two more final essays that will be due later on in April. Other than, I will have a lot more time on my hands. I plan on filling it up, of course, and here is what I have on the agenda!

Camp NaNoWriMo

Remember when I said I was going to do a short story collection? Well, that still sounds fun but for all of March, I worked on my Aztec mythology story. I want to spend April turning it into a novel (it is a novella right now) because I am in the mindset to write for it, and also because when I wrote the first draft of the novella, I wrote 5,000 words over my goal of 17,000. I ended up cutting a lot (and still am), but there are so many more obstacles I can add to the story and overall, just more content that I think the story would benefit from. So yes, I am now attempting to have my manuscript reach at least 50,000 words. This means I will need to add around 33,000 more words to it. Being the overwriter I am, I do not think this will be a challenge.

Reading

I decided to participate in the O.W.LS month long, Harry Potter inpsired readathon that happens every year, organized and created by Book Roast on YouTube. I have never participated in this readathon before but I am so excited to give it a go because it looks like a lot of fun. It is a really complicated and complex readathon so I won’t try to explain it here, but you can go check out her YouTube channel where she gives an in-depth explanation on how it all works. If you have took part in it before and know what it all means, I am “studying” to be a ministry worker. I have to read 5 books during April which should not be too hard, but also not that easy. I will tell you all the books I plan on reading for the prompts this Friday!

School

This is something I’ve considered since the beginning of the school year, but I decided to take on online class this summer through my university. Since schools closed early due to COVID-19 and had to transfer online, my school has been adapting to this change for their summer courses as well. This means, I have a lot more options. Sadly, there are not many English courses offered this summer and the ones that are available do not interest me. However, I decided it might be the perfect time to take a language course through my school so as of now, I really want to take an intensive Spanish course. I chose against taking one during the fall and winter semesters because I knew I would not prioritize it and therefore, not get what I wanted out of it. Since it will be the only class I take this summer though, I will be able to give it the time and effort it needs. It is intensive which means it will take more hours and days than a “normal” course and is also only a month and a half long. I have to see if it works with my work schedule first, but if it does, that is my plan!

Anyways, that is a little update on what I plan on doing once my classes finish up this week. I hope you enjoyed and don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts linked down below!

Thanks for reading 🙂

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What I’m Reading

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I thought it would be nice to have a relaxed post where I just catch you all up on what I am currently reading.

On Thursday, the final Biannual Bibliothon begins and goes on for 9 whole days (my TBR for that is coming on Thursday), but before that, I have a few books I really want to get done.

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The book I’ve been spending the most amount of time reading lately is Dig by A.S. King. This was a completely random read for me because I was at the library and I recognized the title of this book and author because I listened to a podcast episode with her in it (88 Cups of Tea with Yin Chang). I decided to just pick it up and maybe I would get to it…spoiler alert, I did! This is surprising because I am famous for picking out library books and then never actually reading them. However, something drew me to this book and I DID start reading it.

I would describe Dig as a coming-of-age story where there are multiple POVs and plot lines that at first, do not seem to connect, but as you carry on with the story they begin to intertwine. I really enjoy this style of novel and I’ve also been able to heavily relate to all of the characters in one aspect or another. They are so raw and real and I cannot help but be fascinated by each of their stories because they are all so different. This is something I miss when I read fantasy, the realism and raw relatability I feel to the characters and story. Of course, every fantasy is originated from something real, but you know what I mean!

Currently, I am on page 242/392 but I am really hoping to finish it today because when I pick it up, I fly through it. I highly recommend this book to anyone because it is truly captivating!

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The other book I really want to finish before the Biannual Bibliothon is Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. I’ve mentioned before that I am pretty sure I’ve read this book on writing before, however, I remember nothing! So, when I saw it at my library I decided to pick it up. Lately, I have felt disconnected from writing and I am hoping this book can help bridge that gap I’ve been feeling. So far, I am not very far at all, but hopefully, over the next few days, I can change that.

That is all for my short and sweet reading update and I hope you enjoyed. Stayed tuned for my Biannual Bibliothon TBR coming this Thursday and another blog post on Saturday! Also, don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts which are all linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

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The Camp NaNoWriMo Diaries – Week 1

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Happy Sunday!

It has been a while since I’ve posted on a Sunday, but I made it a goal for Camp NaNo to post a little update on how I’ve been doing every week. I also think I might include at the end of this what I’ve been up to reading wise…anyways, here is what I managed to write this week!

For this Camp NaNoWriMo, I am working on various WIPs which include essays, short stories, poems, and also the start of a novella. My goal word count wise, however, is only 25,000 words because 1) April is going to be a busy school month 2) Lots of these WIPs are less than 2,000 words a piece sooo.

Currently, I am sitting at 4,822 words out of my 25,000-word goal so I am not on track, but I will be, don’t worry. The days I did write, I wrote a bit over a thousand words even almost 2,000 words one day which was awesome. I have started working on about half of my projects for this April, and it feels so good to finally be getting them done rather than only planning because sometimes, I think we all get a little caught up in the prep rather than the actual writing. Here are some details on what I am currently working on:

  • Ayn Rand’s Anthem Essay – This is a 600-1,200 word essay I am writing for a scholarship contest, and currently I am on draft 3! Right now it is is in edits/re-writes, and I am doing my best to polish it up. It’s not exactly where I want it to be, so there is a 99.9% chance a completely new draft will be written this coming week. Deadline – April 18, 2019
  • Other Scholarship Essay – For this one, I have to write only a 500-word essay on somewhere I would like to live outside North America, and I am on the second draft of this one. I like it how it sounds, but I also might end up re-writing this one as well. You know how us writers are; hopeless perfectionists. Deadline – April 30, 2019
  • Shakespeare-Inspired Poem – I did not intend on writing this during Camp NaNo, but things change. I found a really great contest opportunity so I am now writing a poem (between 200-400 words) as well! Lately, I have really enjoyed writing poetry so maybe this is the start of me being a poet too…who knows. Deadline – April 30, 2019
  • Random Story – This is ANOTHER random, surprising story that I never intended to write but here I am, a servant to the muse of art. Anyways, I have no idea where this one is going but let me tell you, it’s going somewhere at least. Deadline – None

I think those are all the projects I started working on this week…I hope it is because I am way out of control otherwise. I hope you enjoyed this mini update on my Camp NaNoWriMo projects, and make sure you comment below to tell me how you’re Camp NaNo journey is going! Before I go though, here is a little reading update as well:

Recently, I have finished re-reading the An Ember in the Ashes series by Sabaa Tahir, meaning I FINALLY read A Reaper at the Gates and OH MY GOD, I love this series. I am obsessed and cannot wait for the fourth book next year! I also somehow ended up listening to and finishing the audiobook for Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell because I love that book just too much. As for what I am reading right now, I am in the middle of four books: The Harvest by KB Benson (I have a review coming up for this towards the end of April!), Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, and I am also listening to the audiobook for American Panda by Gloria Chao (yes, I am giving this book another go and I am so excited!). I have just been on my reading game lately, so why not pile on the books?

Okay, I’ll go now! I hope you enjoyed this blog post and don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

 

Reading + Writing Update!

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Hellooo. I swear it has been 84 years since I have done a reading + writing update and I almost forgot to do one before the night was done but then while watching a reading vlog on YouTube I was like “YOU ALMOST FORGOT AGAIN!”. So, here I am, lying on my bed with my laptop in front of me, ready to update you all on what I read and wrote this past week. And spoiler alert, it was a pretty productive week.

This week, I finished two books and started another. That is pretty good for my reading habits lately, but considering I ended up having to go to school ONLY on Thursday (we got 3 snow days and already had Friday off…), I could have gotten a LOT more done. The first book I finished reading was one I started last Saturday I think, and that is Notes From a Feminist Killjoy: Essays on Everyday Life by Erin Wunker. This is a creative non-fiction book that is essentially a collection of essays about being a feminist in this patriarchal world we live in. There were three main chunks in it though, one focusing on rape culture, the other on friendship as feminists, and lastly, being a mother and feminist. I read this for my creative non-fiction assignment in my writing class, and found it really interesting and refreshing! I enjoyed it, but there was something that just kept me from really loving it though. Still, I liked it. Next, I finally, FINALLY finished reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and I am so proud of myself. I’ve been reading this book for a month, but yesterday, I finally read the last 50 pages. It’s not that I didn’t like this book, in fact, I really liked it, but it is so different from what I usually read, and much more dense that it took me a while to pick through. I’m glad I can finally check this classic off my list though, and I am even more excited to continue exploring Austen’s work. Next stop is Northanger Abbey! So, those are the 2 books I finished reading this week, but then I also decided to reward myself with one of my favourite books; To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han. I was, and am since I’m still reading it, just in desperate need of a fun and warm-hearted contemporary so of course, I turned to my fave. Since I am already 150 pages into it, I’m sure I’ll be able to finish it in the next day or two! While I’m not 100% sure what I am reading next, I did pick up A Study In Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro randomly from the library, so maybe I will dive into that next.

As for writing, I was surprisingly productive. Since I had quite a few days off this week, I woke up earlier and fit in at least 1,000 words before my workout. It felt so good. According to my sticker method tracker in my planner, I wrote about 7,500 words which is so great since I haven’t been doing a lot of writing lately. I did fall off the waking up early and writing thing these last few days, but I’m hoping to try and make it a routine this coming week. However, I do get Monday off as well, and then once school comes back in full swing, I will see how easy it is to keep to this routine of waking up early and writing before the rest of the day. If I try, I think I can keep it up though.

Anyways, that is all for this reading and writing update, and I hope you enjoyed! Don’t forget to check out my last blog post, as well as my social media accounts which are linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

P.S. I have something coming tomorrow that is a liiitle bit different than what I usually post. It’s not really part of my whole re-defining a blog thing…or actually, maybe it is. It just wasn’t what I had in mind but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it!

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Reading + Writing Update – Biannual Bibliothon 2019 Day 1 & 2

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Happy Sunday!

I was going to do daily updates for the current readathon I’m participated in, the Biannual Bibliothon, but I decided to do a reading update every 2 days instead. It works out that this is the second day of the readathon (well, the very, very end of the second day) and also the day I post my weekly reading and writing update so yay. I’m tackling two birds with one stone. Anyways, let’s get into it!

This week was a decent reading week. Not my best, but I did finish reading 2 books and started on a third! On Tuesday, I finished the fourth and final book in the FABULOUS Raven Cycle quartet by Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven King. It was a good book but honestly, I wasn’t that satisfied with the ending. It seemed…too easy for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters and want them to live happily ever after, but the way things got resolved was strange, to say the least. I still really enjoyed it though and flew through it! The next book I started on was Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Every month or so I need a little break from fantasy and magic, and desperately need to slip into some cute contemporary stories. Soooo, I chose Anna and the French Kiss and it was exactly what I needed! I actually only finished it a few hours ago…but hey, it got done and I had fun so that’s all that matters. Last but not least, I started my second read of the Biannual Bibliothon (whoops, forgot to mention that Anna and the French Kiss was my first read of the readathon!), Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I mentioned in my goals for 2019 that I wanted to read more classics so here I am, reading classics! I’m really excited to read this and join the bandwagon, and I’m hoping I truly like the story but I have no idea at this point in it. I might be around 30ish pages into it so I still got a ways to go. If you want to see what I plan on reading for the rest of next for the readathon, check out my TBR HERE!

I think I’m done my writing break. While I took most of my winter break off from writing back in late December/early January, I think that was enough time for me to replenish my creativity. It felt so strange not to write, and honestly, I really didn’t like how it made me feel. I haven’t written a crazy amount this week or anything, but I did write well over 2,000 words and I think that’s a healthy amount when getting back into the swing of things. I’m working on a non-magical piece…actually the short story version of a later script I will be writing/adapting for my writing class. We are doing screenwriting but in order for me to fully create a fleshed out story, I need to write the in-depth short story for it first. My first draft of it was about 1,500 words and I’m looking forward to tackling the second draft tomorrow!

Anyways, that is all for this update and I hope you enjoyed! Don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

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Reading + Writing Update!

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Happy Sunday!

We are almost ONE week into 2019 already, which is crazy. I am happy to report I have a pretty decent “first week of the year” update both reading and even writing-wise, so let’s get into it!

I read 75 books in 2018! My goal was to read 75 books, and I am happy to say I read exactly so. This week, I finished reading Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, which I liked enough. It wasn’t as good as I hoped, but it was fun to read a classic I just really needed to finally get DONE. My last book of 2018 was actually a novella from The Selection series by Kiera Cass because the only way could have reached my goal was doing so… The two stories in there were The Prince and The Guard, which I enjoyed! They were nothing special, but some fun stories to end the year off on! Oh, and somewhere before finishing that novella, I also FINALLY finished listening to City of Lost Souls by Cassandra on audiobook. That took forever, but now I am only one book away from finishing my audiobook re-read of The Mortal Instruments series which is fantastic. City of Lost Souls is easily one of my favourites, and Molly Quinn was a fantastic narrator so overall, it was a great time. Fast forward to the new year, and my first read of 2019 was..drum roll, please…Antigone by Sophocles! Yes, I started my year off with a good old Greek tragedy. Why? I was just in the mood to read it honestly, and I really liked it! Antigone is a breath of fresh air in old, Greek literature because she stands up for her own beliefs despite the consequences, and that was really admirable. I then picked up The Outsider by Albert Camus ONCE AGAIN, because I have to have it read for my first week back at school and while I did that, I forget almost everything so a re-read was in need. That’s okay though, because I analyzed the text more this time and noticed things I didn’t notice the first time. Okay, okay, last but not least I read most of The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater. I know, finally, right? This is the last book in The Raven Cycle which I started back this summer and for some odd reason, I never finished it! However, I bought it and just flew through it during the last half of the week and now only have about 40ish pages left. I really wanted to get it read by the end of today but Sunday turned out to be incredibly busy since I am prepping for my first day back at school tomorrow so…yeah. Anyways, I plan on finishing it tomorrow and then starting a nice, feel-good contemporary; Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (my millionth re-read honestly)!

Surprisingly, I did a little bit of writing this week. However, I haven’t been scheduling in writing time because as I mentioned before, I AM ON A BREAK (I’ve been watching Friends lately, so I read that in Ross’s voice). I’ve been feeling little sparks of motivation to write though, and it has driven me to work on two projects. One is this piece of literary fiction (I don’t even know if that’s what it is…I just know it doesn’t have magic in it) that I wrote in grade nine, but have had the sudden urge to re-write it. Secondly, I’ve also been writing draft 3 of Project Mystic and while I am only a little over 2,000 words, I am having such a good time being back in this world with my characters that I plan on writing a bit more this coming week. Hopefully, I will slowly keep adding words throughout the month and then when January is over, I’ll jump back into writing full swing! I have a lot of writing deadlines I want to hit, but I am also not putting a lot of pressure on myself to meet any of those but I’m just feeling things out, and topping off my creative well.

Anyways, that is all for this reading and writing update, and I hope you enjoyed. Don’t forget to check out my last blog post and my social media accounts linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

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Reading + Writing Update

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Happy Sunday!

I hope you all had a great week whether you celebrate Christmas or not, and I hope you managed to get a lot of reading, writing, or whatever else you enjoy doing, done! Personally, I had a GREAT reading week and while I am technically on a writing break, I do have something I want to discuss in that section of this blog post though so stay tuned for that! Anyways, let’s get into this update.

I finished 4 books this week which I am really happy about because now, I am only 3 books away from finishing my 2018 reading goal! Yes, that means I have to read 3 books in one day since tomorrow is the last day of 2018, but I know I can do it since the last 3 books I want to read are short. One is the City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare audiobook which I am only one hour away from finishing…so yeah, I will finish it tomorrow for sure. The other books I plan on reading tomorrow are two novellas because THAT’S NOT CHEATING!

Anyways, for what I read this week, I read Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones, Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, and last but not least, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I actually have a review coming out for Wintersong in the next week or two, but I will give a quick snapshot on my feelings for it, as well as the other books. I was so excited to read Wintersong, but it was not a book for me. I thought it would be because it has goblins and magic and takes place in Germany in the past, and to me, that sounds epic. Sadly, it was anything but! Anyways, more to come in my review. However, I did love Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire, the sequel to Every Heart a Doorway which I read during the BookTubeAThon in the summer and while I enjoyed it, I wasn’t blown away with the first book in this series. The sequel was so amazing though; everything from the writing to the world to the characters was just brilliant, and how the author packs so much stuff into a book under 200 pages will never cease to amaze me. But yeah, loved it! I also, OF COURSE, loved re-reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell because this is an all-time favourite of mine for sure. This may have been my fourth or fifth re-read of this contemporary to be honest, but I did’t love it any less than I did the first time or the second time and so on. I was in desperate need of a cozy, heart-warming contemporary and immediately leapt towards Fangirl because if you’ve read it, you’d know how wonderful it is and if you haven’t read it…what are you doing!? Lastly, I read the short entirety of Alice in Wonderland, the classic by Lewis Carroll which I actually have not read before. Honestly, wasn’t super impressed. It was alright but Alice…well, she is a difficult character to say the least. I wasn’t expecting much from this book, but I do wish I enjoyed it more than I did since it is a “classic”. Anyways, half of my reading this week was AMAZING and the other half was bleh, but that’s how it goes sometimes. I am so excited to strive to read 3 whole books (OKAY FINE, novellas…but those are books too! They count!) tomorrow and reach my yearly reading goal because I am so close it would suck to not reach it, you know?

Okay, okay, I know I’m on a writing break but suddenly the urge to write overtook me. Not in the way I expected or the way you might assume. Since I spent the last two days reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, I had the urge to write some fanfiction (something I haven’t done since I was 13-years-old and locked away in the world of Percy Jackson). In Fangirl, our main character, Cath, writes fanfiction for this massively popular fantasy series similar (not unlike Harry Potter), and that just made me want to write some. Not because I want to regularly write fanfiction, but because I was desperate to write something. Something that didn’t contain my own original characters or world, just my own story idea. So, I wrote 1,000 words of some AWFUL fanfiction following my favourite characters from The Dark Artifices trilogy by Cassandra Clare and it was a lot of fun. It was a great creative release and it truly helped me fill my creative well just a little bit more in a way both reading and watching Netflix can’t do. I have no idea if I will write any more terrible fanfiction or if I will write something of my own, but I do plan to head to a coffee shop tomorrow and hopefully, something productive will occur from that.

That was all for my reading and writing update and I hope you enjoyed! Don’t forget to check out my last blog post as well as my social media accounts which are all linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

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Reading + Writing Update!

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Happy…Monday?

Yeah, I didn’t even realize it was Sunday yesterday until I woke up this morning, checked my phone, squealed with excitement that it is Christmas Eve, and then realized I wrote NO blog posts over the weekend. I had a fun blog post all planned out for today, but instead since I never wrote it…I will just be posting this update. Anyways, let’s get into it!

This week I finished 2 books which felt great because one of them was Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare! I have been reading this book for almost 3 weeks now and it feels strange to wake up and not sit down with it in the mornings, a cup of coffee at my side and fingers eager to flip those bible thin pages, but I was dying to see how it ended and now…well, now I have. I am trying to write up my review of it but my thoughts are all over the place and muddled in confusion, so who knows how long this will take to put together. This week, I also finished The Outsider by Albert Camus for my English class, and surprisingly, I really enjoyed this book. In no way is it something I would pick up “for fun”, but as a book meant for analyzing and studying, oh my-there was a LOT. Meursault as a main character is so interesting and different that it distracted me from the boring, plain plot line. Apart from those 2 books, I am still listening to City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare but I only have just over 5 hours left. My goal is to finish it this week so I can focus on reading/listening to The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan, another book I am eager to pick up before the year ends. Yet another book I am still making my way through is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. I have around 100 pages left and I usually manage to read 50 pages a day, so fingers crossed I FINALLY finish it in the next 2 days. Lastly, I picked up Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones on Saturday, a German fantasy story that I’ve been meaning to get to for a while. While I am only 100 pages in so far, the story is quite slow (as I’ve read from reviews) but I am really hoping it picks up soon because I think I’ll enjoy it! I am trying to read 6 other books by the end of 2018 to hit my reading goal, so I am trying to pick up the pace when it comes to reading and blast through as much of them as I can…wish me luck!

While I am taking a break from writing, I have been struck with a really fun and exciting idea for a story (short story or novel, I’m not quite sure yet). If this idea continues to pester me, I will give in and write it, but I am holding out because I can still feel how depleted my creativity is. I am worried that writing would scrape the last flecks of creativity left inside of me, but if the idea calls, I kind of have to answer. Right?

Anyways, that is all for this late reading and writing update! I hope you enjoyed, and make sure you let me know what you managed to read and write this week because I would love to know. Also, don’t forget to check out my last blog post, as well as my social media accounts linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

Last Blog Post: My Reading & Writing Goals for 2019

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Reading + Writing Update!

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Happy Sunday!

This update is going up a liiitle later than I hoped, but I was having some major computer problems with my laptop. Hopefully things are sorted out, but currently I am re-downloading everything back onto there so I am writing this via my desktop, which I haven’t used for writing on in a while. Anyways, this was a very productive reading week so let’s just get into it!

I am still making my way through Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare slowly but surely AND YES I AM LOVING IT. I really, really want to finish it like NOW, because I need to know what happens. However, I also want to finish it because everyone on YouTube is posting their “Queen of Air and Darkness Reading Vlogs” and their spoiler reviews on the book and I really want to watch all of them but I can’t because I’m not done! Most likely, I will finish at the end of this coming week because I am just over 650 pages into it meaning I have around 250ish to go. I don’t want to rush it at the same time though, because I don’t want it to be over. According to Goodreads (love Goodreads), I read like 300 pages this week of QoAaD so that is pretty awesome. Apart from that, I’ve been listening to the audiobook for City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare, and I just passed the halfway mark today while I listening to it at the gym. I have around 8 hours left and hopefully I can finish that by the end of the week as well! Since I’ve been lacking creative motivation lately due to winter, school, and a bundle of other things, I decided to pick up Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and give it a second read. The first time, I finished it feeling inspired and creative and I am hoping to feel that exact way when I turn over the last page…fingers crossed. Currently, I am around 80 pages into it and want to read at least another 100 pages this coming week. It is taking me a bit to get into, but I can feel myself becoming more immersed in Gilbert’s amazing wisdom. Last but not least, for English class, we’ve been assigned The Outsider by Albert Camus because we are doing a sort of philosophy unit focusing on existentialism which at first, I was kind of standoffish about, but I’ve watched some videos on the topic of philosophy and I am now very intrigued. I had to read 60 pages (which is literally half of the book) of it for tomorrow because I have a quiz, which I’m happy to report I have successfully done, and I’m so far pretty invested into the story. Our main character is a really interesting and fresh perspective to read in, and it is a fun book to analyze! Oh! I just about forgot but I finally finished re-reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky on Friday. It took me a while to get through because I was busy reading other things, but as always, I enjoyed my time reading it.

As for writing, I have a whole blog post on this going up tomorrow, but I am taking a writing break. I am not 100% how long it is going to be, but I am not letting myself go past the end of January because I do love writing and also NEED to do it. I just need a little break. The only thing writing-related I got done this week was a scholarship essay that I ended up submitting Thursday. It was about 1,000 words long and the topic of it was “The Goals I Will Achieve in 10 Years”. It was really fun and enlightening to write because we are coming to the end of 2018 so I have been thinking about my 2019 goals, and also just the goals I have for the next few years. Other than that…I don’t think any writing has gotten done. That’s okay though because my winter break is just around the corner and I plan on spending it reading, eating good food, and watching lots of great TV so that creative well WILL be replenished within the next few weeks and hopefully, I will be ready to tackle lots, and lots of writing.

Yep, that is all I have to update you all on! I hope you enjoyed reading the progress I made via reading and writing this week, and make sure you let me know what you managed to get done because I’d love to know. Also, don’t forget to check out my last blog post and my social media accounts which are all linked down below. Thanks for reading 🙂

Last Blog Post: Writing Creative Non-Fiction 101

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