Hello! February is almost over, so it means it’s time for a monthly wrap-up! We have an extra day this month because it’s a leap year. If you’re reading this on the 29th, today is the ONLY day in four years you can order Brigadoon Breakfast tea at Adagio. I love Adagio teas and have waited almost 4 years to try it. I ordered 18 ounces of it, LOL. I don’t get any referral bonuses off that link, but I thought you might want to know about it if you like tea and want a once in four year opportunity. Anyway, let’s get started!
Books Read:
The last few months have been abysmal in getting books read. It’s so bad, I’m not even close to finishing my Winter TBR. I’m still on track for my Goodreads challenge, but I only read seven books last month.
- Lord of Shadows – Cassandra Clare (reread)
- Killing the SS – Bill O’Reilly
- Belle Révolte – Linsey Miller
- Queen of Air and Darkness – Cassandra Clare (reread)
- Chain of Gold – Cassandra Clare
- Broken Throne – Victoria Aveyard
- Sensational – Jodie Lynn Zdrock
But I suppose there’s more to a reading life than numbers. Queen of Air and Darkness is 880 pages long. The first time I read it, I read that, Lord of Shadows, Lady Midnight, and Clockwork Princess is 8 or 9 days and it was exhausting. I took a lot more time reading them this time around.
Blog Stats:
- Blog users have fallen but I haven’t been posting as much, so that’s not much of a surprise. Hopefully I’ll get more into the blogging and reading groove soon.
- Twitter has been up though, to 2172. Not sure where that is coming from.
Writing:
- I finished my fourth draft of The Brightness of Shadow. I entered into Author Mentor Match, but I know I won’t get picked, even though they won’t announce the mentees until March 3rd. That’s okay.
- I had two of my short stories chosen for publication! Twist in Time Magazine is doing an anthology called Thank You For Your Service, and my personal essay, “September 11th” was chosen for publication. It’ll be published on November 11th this year. I also was picked for the 42 Word Story Anthology. They’re picking a lot of authors for that one.
Life:
- My boy has been grounded from his phone and computer for most of the month, and he’s used it to read a lot. He read the entire Young Elites trilogy, which is good, because I’m taking him to see Marie Lu, Astrid Scholte, and Melissa de la Cruz on the 5th. He’s read 10 of Marie Lu’s books now, plus her short story in Slasher Girls & Monster Boys. He wanted a book recommendation yesterday and I suggested Four Dead Queens.
- Sandhya Menon’s book launch for Of Curses and Kisses went great! The evening was spectacular, until I was almost home. I almost died. It started snowing, my windshield wipers stopped working, I couldn’t see, and then when I tried to get off the freeway, my car spun around on the freeway twice. I was so scared, and I was praying hard in the car. I hope to turn that event into a short story which I hope to submit to Chicken Soup for the Soul. Fortunately, nobody got hurt, and the weather is supposed to be nice for the Penguin Teen Tour next week.
So that was my month! I really hope to step up my reading next month because there are so many books I want to read and they’re just not getting read! I hope you had an excellent February and have a wonderful March! And that we finally see a curtailment of this snow.
I also didn’t finish my winter TBR. I guess my winter books are going to become my spring books. I’m glad you didn’t die! I’ve had a few terrifying drives in the snow at night because of work. Happy March!
Aj @ Read All The Things! recently posted…The Sunday Post #214
Work is the worst when it comes to the snow! My dh’s boss owns this massive car with snow tires and thinks that if he can make it in, anybody else can. It doesn’t really pose a problem for my dh, as he’s in management and can work from home, but the store workers really can’t.
I’ve still got a couple weeks to get some of my TBR done, and I plan on taking advantage of it. Still, I don’t think I’m going to get to pick too many TBR lottery books this spring since there won’t be too many slots. It’s a good thing I only have a few pre-orders for the spring.
AH but 7 books a month is FANTASTIC already wow! And I’m so happy you got to finish another draft of your story, this is so great and two stories picked up for publication, this is so exciting!! 😀
I hope that March will be kind to you! <3
I hope you have a great March too!
My reading the last few months has been down too, I can totally relate. And wow- Queen of Air and darkness is a big one, huh? I knew it was a chunky book but didn’t know it was that long!
Congrats on the short stories!!
Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #339
Thanks! Clare writes a lot of long books, but that one was her longest. In my initial review I said it could have been two books. I don’t recommend reading it in 2 or 3 days like I did.
Writing has been something I’ve been working on the past month as well. I’d planned to get my short story ready to self publish at the end of February, but had to extend my deadline to the end of March. I feel like my reading numbers are down as well, even if I am keeping up with my Goodreads goal. Good luck to you on the mentor program, you should maybe hear something today as I post this? You can check out my Wrap-Up post in the link below!
Lisa Mandina (Lisa Loves Literature) recently posted…The Long and the Short of It: February 2020 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Forward to January
Hope your short story launch goes well!
I already knew I wouldn’t get picked for the mentor program so nothing new there. Today is a very discouraging day. I’m thinking my book sucks (even though I love the characters and enjoy the story) the book I’m drafting sucks and always will, and the book I’m worldbuilding is also going to suck when I’m done with it. But, maybe 50 years from now when I’m on my deathbed I’ll write something decent that somebody will want to read, if I keep going.
I love that you ended up ordering so much tea! And congratulations for two of your short stories being chosen for publication! That’s brilliant. You’ve been reading a lot of Cassandra Clare and I love that your son has been reading a lot now that his phone is gone 😀
Olivia Roach recently posted…Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [Book Review]
He got it back, but then he had it taken away again. Someday he’ll learn. I buy a lot of tea in general.