The Big Bookish Update: September 2018

In case you missed my Bookish Update from last month, I’ll quickly recap: I’ve decided to start posting updates each month mostly just so I can look back on the previous month and see what I did, which books I read, and what else I got up to! Here’s my update for September.

Books I’ve Read

I’ve fallen back out of the habit of reading again in the last couple of weeks. I’m really busy (as usual) at the moment and I don’t give myself enough time to sit and read, so that’s one of my goals for the next month (see more about that below).

The Wolves of La Louvière by Flore Balthazar – This was one of the first graphic novels I read and I enjoyed it! It wasn’t the kind of theme or topic I’d usually read, being about a family in the second world war, but I loved the art and the story. I’ll be reviewing this soon.

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amy Kaufman – Oh my god. What a book. I bought this and started reading it ages ago, but I only got around to finishing it in the past month. That’s nothing on the book, though – I was just very distracted! SUCH a good book and I can’t wait to read the next two, which I already own. Again, review coming soon!

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang – another graphic novel. I enjoyed this a lot more than the first one because the story was right up my street – it’s about a teenager who starts playing a MMO game and joins a group of people who hunt gold farmers (people who find and steal rare items to make loads of in-game gold, so they can make money in the real world). This was one of the books I read for the Exploring New Genres blog hop that I set up, so I’ll be posting my review very soon (watch out for it this week).

Immediate TBR (To Be Read)

Like last month, I’m not going to give myself a huge TBR for October because I know I’m probably not going to get through them all. See, for example, the fact that I’m still reading The Darkest Minds even though I started it weeks ago. I need to get my act together! For now, here’s my immediate TBR for the next month or so…

• The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken (still currently reading!)
• Space Boy by Stephen McCranie (this is one I should have read already for the Exploring New Genres blog hop, but I’m so behind!)
• Reign of Mist by Helen Scheuerer (sequel to Heart of Mist)

Fun With Bookish Pals

Last month, I vowed to myself that I’d make more of an effort with events and meeting up with local bloggers. I did more of that this month! I attended YA Lit Cardiff with Kelly and Jo, and it was so much fun! I’ll be writing a post all about that event very soon.

After the event, I went to Starbucks with Kelly where we had a good writing session – Kelly with blog posts, and me with NaNoWriMo prep (again, more on that below). It was a lovely day and now I really look forward to seeing everyone each month!

The Wonderfully Bookish Podcast

In last month’s post I said I was making good progress with the podcast, and this month, I published my first two episodes! The first episode was a quick introduction to the podcast and what it’ll be about, and the second one was with the lovely Akemi Dawn Bowman, author of Starfish and Summer Bird Blue. We talked all about writing, publishing, perseverance and self-care.

Listen to it here or click the image to be taken to the podcast page!

If you want to keep up to date and be first to know when the podcast will launch, who will be on the show, and when new episodes are released, make sure you sign up for email updates over on the podcast page.

Summary and Goals

The biggest thing that I’m pleased with this month is the fact that my blogging mojo hasn’t gone away and I’m still so excited about everything! I’m not sure what’s happened recently but I’ve really had a huge motivation kick to get things done, like improve my blog and launch the podcast. Here are some of my goals for the next month:

• Record a few more podcast interviews
• Read at least a few pages every day before bed
• Sort out my sleeping pattern
• Plan for NaNoWriMo!!!

See that last one? Yeah… that’s going to be a bit of a challenge. I was lying in bed the other day and realised I was thinking about a story idea that I ditched ages ago, so realised I should work on it. I spontaneously decided to take part in this year’s NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November, which if you’re not sure, entails writing 50,000 words in a month.

I don’t know what I’m getting myself in for because I’ve never done it before, but I’m excited to give it a go. But more on that next month on the lead up to November!

See you in a month for another update. 🙂