July Wrap Up and August Goals (Because I Did So Well Last Month)

I feel like a lot happened in July, but at the same time I don’t. It’s weird.

This July I finally decided that I missed reading and blogging too much to not do it so I am back in the game! And I’m having a lot of fun blogging and visiting everyone’s sites again. I’ve been blogging (sometimes off and on) for over 5 years now and somehow, between school last year and getting married in the first half of this year, I forgot how much I love it.

Life has calmed down a bit now though, and I have found myself watching way too much TV. So I’m back. Not gonna lie, as much as I love being here, this is also to help me curb my recent TV watching habits. Seriously, I watched basically 20 episodes of season 14 of Grey’s Anatomy in one week. It took me a week to watch like the first 4 episodes of that season a few months ago. So… as much I loved it – that’s an unnecessary amount of TV in that amount of time. Last year, I got sucked into watching Vampire Diaries with my roommates at school, and watched 8 years of TV in the span of a few months. It’s ridiculous.

Help.

So what happened in the month of July?

I wrote 6 blog posts and cleaned up some old ones! Yay!!! Seriously though, I am so proud of myself. I know a lot of other bloggers put up like 20 last month but I am just so excited that I actually met all but one of my July goals!

To recap it, my goals last month were to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, post at least once a week on the blog, and to read one book. I did participate in Camp NaNoWriMo. I had a goal to revise 10,000 words of a novel. I got to about 6,000 words. So could have done better, but not bad. As you already know, I posted at least once a week on the blog.

I totally failed at finishing a book last month. However, I did read. I read parts of a bunch of different books. I read like 120 pages of Jurassic Park with my husband, listened to part of The Bone Witch, read a little bit of the second edition of No Plot? No Problem!, and I started reading Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull. I was actually planning on finishing Dragonwatch this weekend but I accidentally left it at work. Sad. I know.

If you missed any of my July blog posts then here’s the list:

• SOS Major Reading Slump
• On My Playlist, In My Hands
• Solo: A Fun and Thrilling Edition to the Saga
• The Crime of Gindelwald Trailer
• 4 Books I Want As Much As I Do Cake
• Publishing in a Box: July 2018
• Step Into Magic Release Day Blitz

Other Things I Did

During July, I decided to step up my bookstagram game, and by that I mean actually tried to post pictures. It was still sporadic throughout the month, but this momentum did carry into the beginning of August though. I have successfully posted at least once a day on instagram so far this month!

This has been something I’ve struggled with since I started using instagram but I want to change that. I have so many books that just sit on shelves unused. I’d love to showcase these beautiful covers and some books that I read a while ago that I loved. Plus, my husband ordered some cool nerdy stuff that will eventually end up in some of these photos once it arrives; and I’m super excited about that.

August Goals

So where am I headed this month?

• I’d like to post at least once a week on the blog. Hopefully more, but I want to save some time for reading and writing so I don’t want to over-commit.
• Post at least once a day on instagram. As I stated above, I’ve been doing pretty well with this recently, and I’d like to continue to do that. I really enjoy taking pictures anyway, so I feel like this is a good way for me to help develop this skill too.
• Finish one of my abandoned writing projects. I started a new book written through journal entries a few years ago and it’s time to finish it.
• Edit half of Traitors & Tyrants. I feel so close to being ready for submission with this book. And if I never move forward, I will never get the chance to be a published author, which is something I’ve wanted long before I started blogging. So I need to do this.
• Read three books. I set a Goodreads goal of 10 books this year. I will go crazy if I don’t meet that. Three books should be doable. As long as I don’t sit in front of the TV forever. I’m pathetic.

All right, I’ve spilled my guts, now you tell me, what are YOUR goals this month?