Hot Chocolate Highlights: August Wrap Up 2016
1:58 PM
Hello September, goodbye summer! The school year started for me on Thursday of last week, and it's all been a bit of a whirlwind. I'd like to take the time before I get too busy to reflect on my August, so I'm continuing with my monthly Hot Chocolate Highlights Wrap Up post.
Here's a photo of my hot chocolate as proof.
August 3rd: Woman of Day, Prince of Night
August 10th: Hot Chocolate Highlights: August Wrap Up 2016
August 17th: Rapunzel the Hacker
Print Copies
E-copies
Audiobooks
It was tough to pick my favorite book I read in August because I read so many good ones! I'm going to choose The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski because it was such a satisfying end to the series.
1. I didn't get as much writing done in August as I wanted, but some progress is always better than no progress. The WIP (work in progress) I started writing in July is slowly chugging forward. There are far more characters in this WIP than anything I've written prior, so I'm still getting to know the characters and sometimes it's hard to remember minor characters' names. My WIP is at 29,000 words, which means I've only added about 4,000 words to it since the end of July. Still, like I said before, some is better than none.
2. Because I'm impatient and addicted to feedback, I decided to serialize a novel on Wattpad. I am writing the novel by the seat of my pants and plan to update it every Sunday. The last two books I've written, I've plotted before I started writing. As a recovering pantster, I think serializing one novel while plotting out and writing another novel will satisfy my need for spontaneity and planning at the same time. Or, maybe it will drive me insane. I'll check back with you in a month to let you know. If you're interested in reading my serialized novel, it's called A Modern Girl's Guide to Necromancy.
3. I was also supposed to be editing the first draft of the novel I finished writing at the end of June, but I've only done an hour or two of edits throughout the whole month of August. My original plan was to finish the first round of edits by the end of September so I could send the second draft out to beta readers at the beginning of October. I'll have to see how September goes though.
1. My parents, brother, and I traveled out to Glacier National Park in Montana. We spent a week hiking, kayaking, and taking in the beautiful splendor all around us. Whenever I turned around, I swear I found an even more stunning view. See exhibits A, B, and C below.
A
B
C
We even did a day trip to Canada! I hope to return for a longer visit soon, but I can now officially say I've been to every country in North America. We visited the Waterton Lakes-Glacier International Peace Park. It's the very first international peace park, and I'm happy the US and Canada continue to have a warm and peaceful relationship with each other!
2. Toward the end of August I moved into my new apartment and started working at my new school. I'll be teaching high school English II and English III. I visited my new classroom and found the best surprise ever! Sitting on top of my desk were four boxes filled with recent young adult books for my classroom library that my school ordered!! It was basically like Christmas. The picture below isn't even half of the books. I am so happy my students will have so many different choices!
3. Last, but certainly not least, my old 2002 Ford station wagon is kaput. It died a week ago, and my roommate was generous enough to drive me to work until I could get a new car. Today, I made my first major adult purchase! What's behind door number 2? Answer: A brand new car!
0 comments