Weekly Reads and Writing #13

This past week was the Mental Health Awareness Week Readthon! So I actually read 2 whole books. Amazing, right? (no, not really)

As I said, I read two books this week, both about mental health. My TBR for the readathon was five books, and I read 2 and a half, which is decent, I think. The first was Skinny by Ibi Kaslik, about a girl with an eating disorder. It was really lovely and emotional. I gave Skinny four stars. I have my review for that one here.

I then read Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher, which I've been wanting to pick up again since high school. I never finished it the first time, but now that I have, I'm really glad to have. It was a really enjoyable book, which I ended up also giving four stars. I'm currently writing a review for it, so that should be up tomorrow!

Right now, I'm reading three books, which is a lot for me. I didn't pick up Dust at all last week, because of the readathon. I also started Prozac Nation toward the end of the readathon, and I plan to finish that this week, hopefully. Just today I started Everything, Everything, which I'm flying through, and loving. Hoping to finish at least two of those this week!

Writing is still going slow. I barely wrote anything last week. I feel like this post doesn't even deserve a Writing Stats. Boo. But still, I'm going to include one, so I can keep track of my writing.

Writing Stats

Words this Week: 330
Total Words Written: 52,209

My worse week yet. But hey, it was a readathon week, so that's my excuse, lol.

I am going to start writing more again. I'm planning to write a lot this week. I'm even thinking of making writing vlogs for my Youtube channel. We'll see how that goes. I need to write this book, so Imma do it. Next week's Writing Stats should be much better than this!

Overall, this week I'm gonna get back on track with stuff. I've been reading more, and I'm gonna write more. I have to stay focused!

I'm also very excited that I have signed up for my first ever book blog tour! That'll be happening in June, for a book I still need to read, hehe. I am super excited for it, though. The book sounds great, and I can't wait to be a part of a blog tour! :)

Mental Health Awareness Week Readathon | May 2015

This week starts the Mental Health Awareness Week Readathon, which runs from May 11-17. This readathon takes place on Mental Health Awareness Week, and was created by Emma Petfield, in order to spread awareness of mental health through reading. Those participating are using the hashtag #MindfulReads, and Emma created a Goodreads group for this event, as well.

I decided to take part in this readathon because mental health is a big aspect of my life. I have both depression and anxiety, and I know a lot of people that also have various mental health disorders. Spreading awareness of these topics is so crucial because too many people believe that mental disorders aren't even real.

I also think that making a readathon out of this week is a brilliant idea, because often when we don't understand things, we read books to help us understand them. The same can be said about mental health. Reading is so important because it helps us become aware!

I made a whole video about it, including my TBR.

 

 If you don't want to watch my video, here is my TBR for the week.

memoir about depression

deals with eating disorders

main character has OCD

deals with suicide and bullying

deals with suicide

I'll have a wrap-up post at the end of the week, but if you want to follow along with my progress, you can follow my Twitter, Youtube channel, and Goodreads, all of which have links on the left side of my blog page!

I hope you'll join in on this readathon. I'm so excited. I'm about halfway through Skinny already, and I'm loving it!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-aThon April 2015 Recap!

Sadly, the 24 hour read-a-thon is over! It went by wayyy too fast.


1.Which hour was most daunting for you? 
The ones where I was sleeping instead of reading lol, whoops

2. Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Well, I only read 1 book this time, but I highly suggest it! The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury! A great sci-fi read.

3. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Hmm...maybe have an hour with no challenges or anything, so we can all focus solely on reading in the middle of the chaos.

4.What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
Everything! The interactiveness of it was so much fun and amazing!

5. How many books did you read?
Just one, and like 25 pages of another. :/

6.What were the names of the books you read?
The Martian Chronicles

7.Which book did you enjoy most?
Well, since I only read one book...the one book I read.

8.Which did you enjoy least?
The one I did read was very good, so I can't pick it for this one too, lol

9. If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
I wasn't a cheerleader, but I'm thinking about being one next time. They were really helpful, although the few I had only wrote later in the day. Some beginning cheering would be super helpful!

10. How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I definitely will participate again! I'd love to host a mini-challenge! They were so much fun! 

I loved this read-a-thon so much! The only thing I didn't like was that it only lasted a day! Although I only got through one book, the blogging and tweeting was really great. I ended up doing just two of the mini-challenges, but considering I didn't plan on blogging, I had an amazing time making these two posts. I also made an intro post and mid-event post! You can check them out here:

• Mid-Event Survey

• Plan a Bookish Party

• 4 Seasons 4 Books

• Intro Post

I plan on making a video of my experience, which I'll have up on my Youtube channel early this week! I'm also going to write a review for the book I read. It'll be up on the blog soon!

Overall, I had a wonderful, though somewhat stressful time. I sort of failed at reading much, but I think it was more about the interactions and blogging and reading, so I did okay with all that.  I can't wait to participate again. I hope everything did well!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon: Mid-Event Survey!

Halfway there already?? This day has flown by so far!

1. What are you reading right now?
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

 2. How many books have you read so far?
 Still on my first...but I'm nearly done!

 3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon?
 Alienated by Melissa Landers! I can't wait to get to it soon!

4. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those?
 Oh yes, many. I woke up late, so I started late. Then I was so tired I had to take a mini-nap while I was reading. Then I went out for ice cream with my family, hehe. It was nice. I'm not being so hard on myself for those things because I've been spending a lot more time reading since I got back. I also plan on trying to stay up all night to get a bunch more reading done!

5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far?
How long it takes to blog and tweet and look at all the great posts and mini-challenges. And there's so much fun stuff going on that it's hard to get back to reading, hehe. But I love all that stuff because it makes reading interactive!

 Good luck and happy reading on the second half of the read-a-thon, friends!

Read-a-Thon Mini Challenge: Plan a Bookish Party

Hour 10's mini challenge is hosted by Christina at Christina Writes! For this challenge, you have to plan a bookish party!

This is something I really wish I could do irl, but I don't have enough book loving friends. Still, I love love love the idea, so here is my entry!

What book is your party themed around?
The Spiderwick Chronicles Series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi
 
What food will you serve?
Hm..food made with stuff from nature! So I'd use onion grass, maybe try to find a way to cook acorns. I'd gather up herbs and flowers and make a salad with my gathered materials. Maybe even cook a caught fish! 
Or, you know, burgers and chips would be good too. I feel like the Grace kids would rather eat that, hehe.
Oh! And I'd make brownies 'cause you know, Brownies are a magical creature. X3

What’s your signature drink?
Something fun like fresh squeezed lemonade!  

What games will you play?
Lacrosse! No I'd have a scavenger hunt in the woods, or go looking for faeries! 

What party favors will you send home with your guests?
Flowers and gems and stones that we collected. Also little homemade faerie houses for them to put in their yards! And nature journals for recording their magical findings!

That sounds so fun, ah! I want to do it, hehe.

Read-a-Thon Mini Challenge: 4 Seasons 4 Books

Hour 3's mini-challenge is hosted by Darren at Bart's Bookshelf and it looks too fun not to participate. For this challenge you have to put together 4 books, each representing a different season. Here is mine!

So for Winter, we have Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. I chose this one not only for it's obvious title, but for the gorgeous wintery cover! For Spring I have Moonheart by Charles de Lint. With its lush forest on the cover, I couldn't help but think of Spring when looking at it! For Summer I have The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May and June by Robin Benway. The title is spring/summery, but this cover just reminds me of Summer, eating icepops and hanging in the sun. So summery, sigh. And finally for Autumn, I have Twigs by Allison Ashley Foremento. The cover and title together feel like Autumn to me, since all the trees lose their leaves and look like twigs, hehe.

Hope you enjoyed my picks! Of course, my cat Gypsy, came and sat next to the books was I was setting them up, so I snapped a few picks of her!

Cheerleader Cat, encouraging you to keep reading! Speaking of, I need to get back to it!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon Intro!

Hey friends! So the read-a-thon is officially on! Actually, it's nearly 3 hours into it. But....I woke up late. XP So I started reading around 9am, and I'm gonna keep going after this blog post!

So I saw this intro meme on the read-a-thon's blog, and I thought I'd do it, so you can learn a bit about me and my reading during this read-a-thon!

Let's go!

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
Upstate New York, more specifically, in my house, lol

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
  Probs Alienated by Melissa Landers!

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
Not really a snack person, but I do have some Easter candy left that I'll munch on later, hehe.

4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
  I have the cutest little cat who is acting as my personal cheerleader. She's my soul-cat, honestly, and I love her!

sleepy baby!

5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
First time participating! I joined the Bout of Books 10.0 read-a-thon last year, but this is my first Dewey's read-a-thon! I'm looking forward to the interactiveness of it all. I love the support and community aspect to this read-a-thon!

Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon April 2015!

Hello friends! I would just like to let you all know that I'll be participating in the Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon on Saturday! I'm so pumped for it, so I made a video talking about my preparation and TBR!

That tells you most of what you need to know about my participation, but I just thought I'd make a blog post as well, in case you don't watch my videos! I have a list of five books in my TBR pile, though I'm sure I'll only read about 1 or 2, maybe 3. Throughout the day, I'll be posting on the Twitter, and then I'll have another video and blog post at the end of it!

Let me know if you're participating! I'm so excited for this read-a-thon!

Bout of Books 10.0 Read-a-Thon Wrap Up

The Bout of Books read-a-thon ended last night! After a week of trying to get myself to read more, I am quite sad that it is over. It was my first ever read-a-thon, and it was so much fun! I managed to finish FOUR books this week! That is quite a lot for me, considering I started off the year barely reading four books a month. I am really, really happy with my progress. Since I didn't have a goal, other than to read more and have fun, I think I did very well! Here are the four books I finished this week!

#1

#2

 #3

 #4

  

Total pages read: 1118

 Participating in this read-a-thon was great. I did something I've never done before- I interacted with other readers, especially on Twitter. I did some reading sprints with some awesome ladies on there, and I joined in one of the Bout of Books discussions on Twitter, and in their live show.

I also have written reviews for all of these books, which I will be posting here on my blog this week. I really enjoyed all of these books!

I hope everyone had fun with this read-a-thon! I hope you reached your goals if you had any. I would like to thank Amanda and Kelly, who hosted this read-a-thon! It was really fun participating, and I will likely join in the next one (and the ones after that) as well.

Overall, this was a successful first ever read-a-thon! I can't wait to do more. But until then, I'm gonna keep on reading!

~Chelsea

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon: Day #7

The read-a-thon is over! The final day I worked really hard and managed to finish my fourth book! Here are yesterday's stats. After this post, I'll post a wrap-up of how I did overall.


Books read & finished today:


















 

Pages read today:  273

Total pages read: 1118

Books finished today: 1

Total # of books finished: 4

I finished Hollow City just at the end of the read-a-thon. It was so, so good. I'll be making a review for it today. Also look out for a wrap post coming later today.

~Chelsea

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon: Day #6

Though it is now day 7, I was too sleepy to make yesterday's post last night, so I must do it this morning. Day 7 I read only one book, which I didn't get too far on because I was quite busy. However, last night I did two reading sprints on Twitter with some cool ladies, which was super fun, and I got a good bit of reading done then.

Books read today:

Pages read today:  73
  
Total pages read: 845

Books finished today: 0

Total # of books finished: 3

Today is the last day of the read-a-thon, sadly. It has been so much fun. I'm gonna try to finish Hollow City today, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to. I hope everyone reads a bunch on this final day of the read-a-thon!

~Chelsea

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon: Day #5

Today was a 'peculiar' day, spent finishing one book and starting another! Also, it is my highest word count so far in this read-a-thon!

Books read today:

 Books finished today:

Pages read today:  258
  
Total pages read: 772

Books finished today: 1

Total # of books finished: 3

I'm gonna see if I can finish Hollow City tomorrow, if not, at least before this read-a-thon is over. Only 2 days left, which stinks, 'cause I'm having a lot of fun with it! It's cool keeping track of my progress. Either way,  I'm gonna keep on reading more!

~Chelsea

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon: Day #4

Today has been my worst reading day so far because I don't only have allergies, but I am also sick, apparently. As a result, I ended up sleeping most of the day, and only got a tiny bit of reading done tonight.

Books read today:

Pages read today:  14
 
Total pages read: 514

Books finished today: 0

Total # of books finished: 2

Tomorrow I'll hopefully get back on track, but hey, I'm not beating myself up over this since being sick sucks. Yeah, there's not much more I can think so say.

~Chelsea

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon: Day #3

Today I only read one book, but luckily I did end up finishing it, so that is an accomplishment. I've been putting off Miss Peregrine's and A Clash of Kings for some reason. I think I'll get back into ACoK tomorrow, however. Here are today's stats:

Books read & finished today:


















 
Pages read today:  131

Total pages read: 500

Books finished today: 1

Total # of books finished: 2

I read the second half of The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June today. It was a very light YA read, with some super powers thrown in. Though predictable, it was enjoyable, and definitely what I needed since I've been reading some fairly heavy stuff lately. I enjoyed it a lot more than expected, aside from the fact that it's not something I would normally read. I'm gonna write my review for it first thing tomorrow, since I'm super tired right now.

I hope everyone is having fun with this read-a-thon! I definitely am. I'll update you tomorrow!

~Chelsea

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon: Day #2

Day 2 started off shaky, with minimal book reading. However, it ended strong, when I got through more than half of an entire book! Whoo hoo! My word count it about the same as yesterday. Seven words more, to be exact. Though I didn't finish any books today, I did read several different things.

Books read today: 

Pages read today: 188

Total pages read: 369

Books finished today: 0

Total # of books finished: 1

I started off today with Miss Peregrine's, but couldn't find myself getting into it. It just started to get exciting, but I just wasn't feeling it. I then tried A Clash of Kings, but that was too much for me at the moment, too, unfortunately. After that, I read a chapter of One Piece online, which I'm counting in my word count, but not my book count. Idk, I just decided to do that. Finally, after eyeing it for the first half of the day, I picked up The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May & June. I bought this the other day, mostly 'cause of it's beautiful cover and neat title.

I read more than half of it today, and I'm surprised how much I like it. It's very light and easy, teen drama but nothing too deep. Either way, it was what I needed. I will be finishing it early tomorrow for sure.

Anyway, that was my day 2! I also watched the Bout of Books Liveshow, which was fun! And the two awesome ladies who run it, Amanda and Kelly answered my question about writing processes. I'm excited for more reading tomorrow!

~Chelsea

Bout Of Books Read-a-Thon: Day #1

I made it through day one with a success! I finished Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer! Though technically I only read half of it for the read-a-thon, I'm still pretty happy for getting it finished on the first day. It was a great end-of-the-world story, very realistic and enjoyable! I even already made my review on it, which you can find on my Goodreads!

I've decided since I'll be posting daily through this read-a-thon, that I'll post any book reviews I write on the following week, just so I have them spaced out on here. However, I'll have them posted on my Goodreads once I write them.

Today I also joined in on the Bout of Books discussion on Twitter, which was pretty dang fun. Talking to book people is great!

I also decided to keep track of my progress by writing out my daily stats.

Books read & finished today: 

Pages read today:  181

Total pages read:  181

Total # of books finished:  1

I'm pretty proud of this strong start. Tomorrow I'll be picking up Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, which I'll hope to finish. Perhaps I'll continue A Clash of Kings. I'm not sure yet. All I know is that I'll be reading a bunch! I hope everyone is having fun and reading a lot, too!

~Chelsea

Bout of Books 10.0 Read-a-Thon!

I decided to join in on my first ever read-a-thon, because, too be honest, I haven't been reading as much as I want to be. (I blame Neopets) I am currently in the middle of 3-4* books, some of which I keep putting off, and then I, consequently, start others. I think this read-a-thon will be a great chance for me to focus on reading! While I eat, while I relax, anytime I would be doing something less productive **cough**neopets** I'm really excited to get some books finished and start some new ones that I bought recently.

So, let me first explain how this goes. The Bout of Books Read-a-Thon starts today, May 12, and ends on May 18. There are no mandatory challenges or goal, which makes it great for beginners like me. In this week, the only requirement is that you try to read more than you normally would. You can make personal challenges for yourself, if you want, too. You can find more information about the Read-a-Thon, and sign up until May 13, on their site!

Now, onto my personal goals and whatnot! I haven't set anything official, but I do like the idea of being able to read a book a day. For me, at the moment, that is probably unrealistic. However, having this goal might motivate me to get more reading done. I will be very happy if I'll be able to finish the 3 books I'm currently reading:

 

I've been putting this one off because I want to pick up the third book to read directly after. However, that is not happening, so maybe finishing it will be the motivation I need to finally buy the third!

This book I picked up in hopes of reading the series, to inspire me to write my post-apoc story. While I'm loving it (and I've read it before so I know I love it) I'm just not in the mood to keep reading the series right now. So I want to at least finish this baby.

Started this only a few days ago, and it's a fast read that I've been reading slow. I adore it so far! The creepy factor, and the island are so intriguing. It's inspiring me to read other books with a similar setting.

Soooo along with those three that I want to finish, I am going to be reading the manga One Piece online, which I technically can count as a book, even though it's digital. I currently have a huge ass stack of books in my TBR, along with some new additions, and more on the way, so I hope to plow through several of those. I'll really have to see how it goes at this rate, since I've been reading so slowly lately.

Nonetheless, I am excited to participate in this read-a-thon! I thought of making video updates for it, but that would take up too much of my time. Instead, I'll be making daily updates on here, and I'll make frequent Twitter posts, as well. So go follow me there to see what I'm up to!

That's about it! If you're participating, I'd love to know what you're reading and how it's going throughout the week! I'll let you know how my reading went at the end of the day!

~Chelsea


*One of them I am reading to my boyfriend so I can't really count it as a book I'm trying to get finished.