July Highlights // 2016

And just like that, July is nearly over. o.o 

I am actually very sad for July to end, since that means that summer is nearly over. Which means school starts. Which basically means all the sadness and tears and less time and not staying up so late. *dies* (August will be a good month. It's just that school kind of hangs over my head. :P)

But this month, for the most part, was absolutely fabulous. Let's see what happened. (please note that 2am Katie wrote most of this post. you've been warned.)

(and I'm posting the monthly highlights a day early and keeping it simple this month. :P)

this image was all cute and summery and it make me happy. <3 

WELL THIS MONTH HAD A LOT GOING ON. Or, kind of? I actually didn't do too much, but with working now, that always makes my schedule pile up. :P

I saw Star Trek Beyond! I just love Star Trek and the characters and the different creatures and deep space and all. Yes, even more the Star Wars. (sorry to all the Star Wars fans. I love it, just... not as much. xD) Compared to the other two Star Trek movies before this, I didn't like it nearly quite as much. The general feel of it was not what I had hoped for, but I still really enjoyed it. ('cause it's star trek) The second one is my favorite. So much awesomeness.

I got new business cards! Now that it's 2am and it's dark and I can't really take pictures good enough for you to see them... Here's just the picture file. I'm happy with how they turned out and how they match my blog. :D

view it in all it's giant gorgeousness xD

HOMEMADE PIZZAS. My family has been doing this more recently, and I am forever thankful. Especially to my dad, because he's the one that makes up the dough and such. I just get to smother all the cheese on top, mwahaha. (but here's a picture because they looked very authentic in the grill. mmm, making myself hungry.)

And... I'm at Realm Makers right now?! I was terrified that I wasn't going to be able to post this on time, originally, since the wi-fi wouldn't work for the first couple of days. I've been keeping up this Saturday post schedule since last October, so I didn't want today to be the day to ruin the streak. xD 

But now it's working! So much relief. (I hate to admit how much I depend on the internet, but... it's needed! :P)  Realm Makers is awesome and I'll show pictures soon. Not sure if I'll do a separate post or smash them together in August's highlights, but it will happen! I'm with a bunch of awesome Christian speculative authors and writers and readers and it's making me all warm and happy inside. <3

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This month, reading was basically like a rotten banana falling down a staircase. Slowly, and you never hear of that happening. (not really sure if that analogy even words. but it's 2am so lets just go with that.) (and as I'm rereading over this to "edit," I have no idea what I exactly mean. But I'm keeping it because the image of a falling banana peel is making me giggle, so.) (either that or it's making me giggle because now it's almost three. not sure. probably should just stop rambling.)

Here are the books! I read six published books this month, but I was able to read Aimee's, Anna's, and Abi's (they all start with A's, heh) fabulous novels. *major fangirl squealing* You should definitely check their blogs out. *nodnod*

Favorite (out of the published ones pictured about, ha): The Nest. Dude, this book was just amazing. It officially was a middle grade novel, but it didn't feel like that? It was creepy, weird, dealt with mental illness, dream-like, lyrical writing, and was basically all I ever look for in a book. So I'm definitely, definitely buying this one in the future. :D

Favorite cover: I LOVE ALL OF THESE COVERS SO MUCH. I love the font of Railsea and the general steampunk feel, I love the feel of "the Nest" and how it perfectly sets up the story, and the cover of Summerlost is gloriously illustrated and it makes me happy. :D

ALSO!! GUESS WHAT?! My favorite author everrr, Nadine Brandes, had her cover reveal this month for her third book in the A Time to Rise trilogy. :D The cover is amazing, and click the link to go preorder it. *brainwashes you* You know you want to, mwahahahaha.

More exciting bookish things! I GOT A NEW BOOKSHELF! Since I am away on vacation currently and kind of half set up my bookshelf before layering my floor in all the rest, I don't actually have pictures of the shelves. So for now you can just feast your eyes on the glorious piles of books that almost fell on me. xD

I only bought one book this month, which was Scythe by Neal Shusterman. It releases in November, and it has the epicest cover ever. Seriously. Ever. I think it might be in my top three favorites. I love the simplicity but yet how it just pops. (This whole section is turning into me rambling about covers. But I love covers so much I'm only a tiny bit sorry.)

I think that's all for the bookish stuff, so onto the wondrous world of writing. :D

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I FINISHED EDITING MY BETA COMMENTS. *confetti and celebration forever* I was so excited when I finished, that I ran straight out into the thunderstorm (like, severe thunderstorm. Hailed for a little bit. #livingontheedge) and had a little dancing party. It was glorious. xD

So, what will I do in the meantime?  Edit the sequel. And not only edit the sequel, but rewrite. Ew. Much ew. Much cringe. Much gross. (rewriting is just about my least favorite thing ever if you didn't know)

But Camp NaNoWriMo came along with it's excellent timing, so I was able get lots done with it's help.

My original goal for Camp NaNoWriMo was 50 hours of editing. I started out with using hours for tracking my word count, but then I realized that I would have to scrap and rewrite my whole book. Yes, the whole sequel. *dyingggg* So I switched to tracking my word count instead. :P

I actually made a lot of progress. I have no idea when I want to finish this draft -- maybe by the end of August? We'll see.

ANYWAYS. Here's my Camp NaNo chart. Which is actually going to by highly inaccurate, because I'm doing another 10k on the 31st. Since I can. xD So my ending word count will be around 80,000 for the month.

Those big jumps in my word count? Those were the days I wrote fifteen thousand and twenty thousand. Possibly in one day. Not sure how that happened.

Overall, this month of writing/rewriting/editing went well, and I am happy. :D

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Also, the ever talented Abbiee interviewed me on her blog! It was great fun and awesome and you should check it out. (click the pretty little picture she made)

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A lot of awesome posts this month that you should definitely read if you haven't already:

Hannah wrote about the lie "I will never be good enough" we often tell ourselves.

Want to get started on bookstagram? What is bookstagram? Cait told us allll her secrets.

Jeniqua talked about using pain and the hard times in our writing.

"When I almost died and what I have to say about it." <-- a super powerful post by Rosalie.

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There will be some design changes happening on A Writer's Faith! Mwaha, all the excitement. It won't be too different, but I'm excited for the changes that will (probably) be happening.

A recap of mine and Aimee's and Anna's insane #20k1day. 

MY BLOGOVERSARY. So this is super exciting, since I will have been blogging for two years! :D But... what should I do?! I'm thinking of having a giveaway (cause obviously giveaways are fun), but what else? I've seen a couple bloggers around the blogosphere do some Q+A video sorts of things. I think that might be fun, but... is anyone interested in that? Would that just be boring? Do tell me so I can plan ahead and ask questions and all that. xD (so you can see mah face and all it's random expressions)
 

// katie grace

HOW DID CAMP NANOWRIMO GO?!
Did you see Star Trek? What books did you buy (or read) this month?

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