(A Late) Weekly Reads and Writing #15

Sooo yeah, I nearly forgot to do my weekly wrap up for last week, but I have a really good excuse for it. I GOT A JOB! Hurray! Yeah, so I started last week, and I'm currently training so I'm gonna be super busy for a while. Unfortunately, that means my reading time is going to be slashed a lot, but it doesn't mean I'm going to stop altogether.

This week I finished a total of...0 whole books. But like I said, I was busy with work. I have been reading, but I didn't manage to finish anything this week.

I'm currently working on Throne of Glass and Prozac Nation. I haven't picked up Dust in a while, so I'm not gonna count that one right now.

I still need to write a review for Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, 'cause I still can't find the words to describe the incredible book. I'm gonna make that my goal for this week, to write that review.

I did actually manage to write a bit one of the days last week.

Writing Stats

Words This Week: 1,426
Total Word Count: 54,189

I also started a Pages document on the history and world of Lianfen, the alien world in my book. Writing, along with reading, has been going slow. Only because of having to work now. I'm gonna keep on doing them, when I have the time, it's just gonna get done a lot slower.

On a side note, I'll have my May wrap-up up on my YouTube channel soon! So keep an eye out for that!

Weekly Reads and Writing #14

I'm not going to deny it- I've been starting too many books without finishing them. Although I'm working my way through each, I definitely need to just finish some of them, and cut back down to reading 1 or 2 books at a time.

This week I finished just 1 book, but that's my average, so I'm very happy about that. I read a book so good that I haven't even been able to form words to write my review yet. I apologize for that. However! I did make a whole video about the book, with both a spoiler-free, and spoiler section. That book is Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.

I got an e-copy of this book from NetGalley, which unfortunately doesn't come out till fall. A solid five star book, it was emotional and powerful and fun. Sooo good!
You can watch my video review for it here:

I've continued reading Prozac Nation, which is really good. I haven't been in the mood to read Dust in a while, though.

But I also picked up a new book to reward myself for getting a job! Because of all the good things I've heard about it, I started Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. It's really good so far. I love the writing!

being immature, as per usual

My writing has been pretty non-existent. Lots of stuff has been going on, with a job interview and family stuff. But overall, I just haven't put the time in to get my writing done. I know, it's awful. I will pick it back up, but I'm not making any promises for this upcoming week.

Writing Stats

Words This Week: 307
Total Words Written: 52,516

I literally just wrote a couple paragraphs one night, and that's it.

Who knows what this week will bring. I'll definitely finish Throne of Glass 'cause it's so good, and hopefully Prozac Nation, but it's hard to tell. I hope you all had a great week!

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!

Weekly Reads and Writing #12

Another mediocre week for me on the writing and reading front... But hey, at least I finished a book.

This past week I read the entirety of Easy by Tammara Webber. It is a New Adult book, something very different from what I've been reading. However, I ended up giving this baby five stars! It was seriously so good- not just enjoyable, but so well done. Check out my review for it here, and then go read the book if you haven't already!

ILY, Easy!

I've decided to put aside Afterworlds and Alienated for now, because I was getting into a slump with them. I'm still making my way through Dust, just slowly.

It's a pretty good book.

Admittedly, writing has been really slow going for me last week. I had a few good moments, but other than that, I haven't been on top of it. Unfortunately, this week I'm participating in a read-a-thon, so I probably won't write much this week either.

Writing Stats

Words This Week: 1,761
Total Words Written:  51,879

Really slacking since the end of Camp NaNo. I will probably pick up the pace the week after this one, once I'm done with the read-a-thon!

So that's where I'm at with things right now. I'm trying to read a lot more, but I know I need to make time for writing, too. Hopefully I can improve on both this week, but I will be doing more reading since I'm doing a read-a-thon!

Weekly Reads and Writing #11

You would think after 10 weeks of doing these posts, I wouldn't forget to make one. But...I nearly did. Luckily, however, it's only Monday, so I'm not too late. This past week was slow for me, I must admit.

In the book department, I ended up finishing nothing, HAHA. No really though, I didn't finish a single book last week. I'm sort of working on three at the moment, which I started last week, but I might stop two of them, to focus on the one. While Afterwords and Alienated are both really good so far, I can feel myself falling into a reading slump with them, and I'm trying desperately to rescue myself.

I'm about 100 pages into Dust by Charlies Pellegrino, which is quite different from my usual reads. I'm liking it, though, and I'm hoping somehow I'll finish it by the end of the week. Maybe. IDK. Either way, I'm hoping it'll keep me out of a reading slump.

Since the end of Camp NaNoWriMo, I've severely been neglecting writing. I did write a bit last week, though, and I won Camp NaNo!

Writing Stats

Words This Week: 4,270
Total Words Written: 50,118

So I got some writing in, but not much. I need to get back into it, and not just stop 'cause of NaNoWriMo being over.

I'm hoping to do a lot better with both of these this week. I'm slightly busy, though, so I can't make any promises. Either way, I'm still looking forward to whatever I do get done this week.

Hope your week was better than mine! 

Weekly Reads and Writing #10

Wow, already up to 10 weeks of these post! I have to say, I love doing them! It's nice to be able to look back into what I've accomplished each week. This past week was quite busy, which is why I didn't have this post up over the weekend!

This week I finished a total of three books! Great job, me, lol! I finally finished Get in Trouble, which was amazing and I gave five stars. My review is up on Goodreads, but for some reason, I forgot to post it on here, so look out for it later, tomorrow probably! Such a great collection of short stories!

I also finished City of Glass, the third book in the Mortal Instruments series, by Cassandra Clare. Another great continuation of this series, though not as good as City of Ashes. My review can be found here.

The third book I finished during the Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon! What a fun, crazy reading day! You can check out the posts I made during the day, if you haven't already, right here. The book I read was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury! It was a really good sci-fi classic, which I gave 4 stars. My review is already up for that, too!

I did start another book during the week, and then one during the end of the read-a-thon. Both are really good so far, and I hope to finish them by the end of the week!

amazing cover!

Writing wise, I also did really well this week! With Camp NaNo closing in on us, I made sure to get up to where I need to be!

Writing Stats

Words This Week: 11,532
Total Word Count: 47,294

I wrote so much this week! I'm nearly at 50,000! Ah! Each day this week varied. Some days I wrote over 3,000 words, and some I wrote barely 1,000. Saturday I didn't write at all because of the read-a-thon. However, because I kicked up my writing, I've been ENJOYING writing so often! My main character is just about the visit the alien world! How freaking exciting! So much has been going on, from near death experiences to alien contact.

I can honestly say, I'm really excited for this book, hehe! Even with all my doubts, I love some of the scenes so much, and I know that I'll be able to fix it up in my edit/re-write.

This week is already going strong in the writing department. Reading is slow, but I did go to a book sale and buy a shitload of books today. X3 I hope you all have a lovely week!

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: 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!

Weekly Reads and Writing #9

As it's turning out, I seem to have a steady average going on how many books I can read a week. For the third week in a row, I've read one entire book, and some other stuff along the way. Though I am hoping to pick up my pace, knowing I can read an entire book, without trying too much, is pretty nice.

The book I finished this week was A Magic Dark and Bright by Jenny Adams Perinovic. Just based on the lovely cover and premise, I was very excited to get approved for an ARC of this book for review via NetGalley! I have my review for it up here.

That ending, though! Holy cow, if you've read this, you know what I mean. This book hasn't even come out yet, and I already want a sequel!

I have also been working on City of Glass, and Get in Trouble! I'm about halfway through the former, and I have only about 3 stories left in the latter! I will most definitely have both done by the end of the week, as I plan to start a bunch of new stuff on Saturday, which is Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon!

 Writing this week started off really slow. While I managed to get some words in most of the days, they never reached 1,000. However, yesterday I had an amazing writing day, managing to get in over 2,000 words in one sitting.

So as far as my Camp NaNo goals, I am pretty far behind, only 13,455 words so far.

Writing Stats

Words This Week: 4,419
Total Word Count: 34,514 

I am pretty excited for this upcoming week. As I mentioned, Dewey's 24 Hour Read-a-Thon is happening on Saturday, so I'm pumped for that. It's my first 24 hour Read-a-Thon. I will definitely have a post about it up early this week, to let you know what I'm gonna be reading, and what my plans are for the read-a-thon!

Because I'll be spending all of Saturday reading, I'm gonna push with my novel this week. I really need to catch up if I want to hit my 30,000 words by the end of the month! Also, I'm secretly plotting to out-write my fellow campers on Camp NaNo's site. Shh, don't tell them, lol.

I also have so many blog posts and Booktube videos I'm planning to make at some point this spring!

It's going to be an exciting reading and writing week! I hope everyone has a lovely week, as well.