November 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to December

Did I say October was a crazy month?  Because I have no idea what happened to November!  It's like I jumped right into NaNoWriMo and was doing pretty well a few days after the month got started.  Then halfway through the month things started happening, family things, Thanksgiving, you name it, and my project stalled at about 22,000 words.  Two weeks into the month I traveled to Louisville, Kentucky to present at the American Association of School Librarians, and that was a really great trip!  Got some cool books there, so of course my suitcase ended up too full:

I even got to meet Katie McGarry!

For getting things done in my house, I did finally get my garage cleaned out and was able to park my new car in it.  Although at the moment it is currently filled with the boxes I broke down and need to take to recycling.  I thought with my family up at my mom's for Thanksgiving, they might want to drive over and see my new house, I mean I think at some party last year they all went to see my brother's new house, but whatever.  So I spent most of my days off the week of Thanksgiving cleaning up a lot!  Getting boxes unpacked, etc.  No one came.

Oh yeah, have I mentioned yet that my sister who lives in New York City took a job in Scotland?  She came home for Thanksgiving, so it was good seeing her.  We kind of decided that since she probably won't be able to come back next year for Thanksgiving, we're going to try to all fly to Scotland for that week to visit her.  I'm very excited!  It will be my first time off the continent. The only time I've been out of the US is to Mexico, and of course that was still on the same continent.   Today my brother texted and said he wants to take my niece and nephew to Hawaii over spring break.  I don't know that I can afford that and a trip to Scotland, but we'll see, I'd love that!  He can get us all free airline tickets with his frequent miles from traveling basically weekly for work.  Basically, 2020 is looking to be a pretty exciting year!

On with the reading stats for November.

According to Goodreads, I've read 202 of the 210 (new number I set) books goal for the year.  November made up 19 of those.  Because I was so behind last month, and I was worried with NaNoWriMo I'd get even farther behind, I dropped my year goal from 220 to 210 based on the number of books I new I'd be reading for the rest of the year.  I may have to move it back up because I'm pretty sure there are more than 8 books I'll be reading in December.  Currently Goodreads says I'm ahead too.

Here is a list of books I read in November, and I'll link to my review if I've finished it:

1. The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White
   
2. Stud Muffin by Jiffy Kate
3. Rock F*ck Club #4 by Michelle Mankin
4. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz
5. The Locker Room (audio book) by Meghan Quinn
6. Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley
   
7. No Whisk No Reward by Ellie Kay
8. Back in the Game by Meghan Quinn
9.  Rock F*ck Club #5 by Michelle Mankin
10.  Crime and Periodicals by Nora Everly
11.   Deadly Little Scandals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
    
12.   Breakup Boot Camp by Beth Merlin
13.   Outmatched by Kristen Callihan and Samantha Young
14.   My Bare Lady by Piper Sheldon
    
15.   Blindsided by Amy Daws
16.  It's Not PMS, It's You by Rich Amooi
17.  The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh
18.  Grin and Beard It by Penny Reid
19. Naughty or Nice by Rachael Stewart
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for the audiobooks I listened to.  And I didn't get the audiobooks I still needed reviews from September or October done either. 

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I haven't added any in November, so that's good!  But then again, other than audiobooks and one or two ARCs, I only read books for reviews really.

My number of posts in November was still kind of high, I had 47 which is one less than October.  But part of that is because I did the Blog Ahead Challenge in October to be ready for NaNoWriMo, so there were some extra posts thanks to that.  But I still need to quit signing up for tours!  Now I have turned down a few books I kind of would have liked to read because the tours were too close to other tours I'd already signed up for, or other books I have ARCs of that I know I want to read for sure.   Of those 47 posts, 16 were reviews.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My average rating was down to 4.4 stars.

I also joined into a fun new meme called Six Degrees of Separation, which I might do again in December

• From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to the Twilight series

Rejoined in a couple times to Top Ten Tuesday thanks to my blogging ahead challenge in October:

• Favorite Bookmarks
• Thankful Freebie

And I did a couple of Tags I saved from throughout the year as part of my Blog Ahead Challenge, they were fun!  I'll have a couple more this month too.

• It's Magic Time, Harry Potter Book Tag
•  20 Questions Book Tag

Okay, on with my challenges.

1.  Once again I kept up with my Looking Forward To posts, on Wednesdays as much as possible to tie in with the Can't Wait Wednesday posts.  But there was a week that there weren't really any on my list, so I didn't do that week.

November 5th
November 12th
November 19th

I'm still working on visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I am posting on my own blog, but I still haven't been keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that.  Don't know if that'll ever get going again.

Been doing well on cleaning up my Goodreads TBR with my weekly post and giveaway (except that I keep adding new to Goodreads), as well as even my physical TBR a little.  I think I now have two people occasionally joining in, and you should feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:

November 2nd
November 9th
November 16th
November 23rd
November 30th - Giveaway still open until December 7th!

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge as I mentioned above.

3.  As I mentioned above, I got about 22,000 words done.  I thought I might try to re-do a story I'd written during one of my very first NaNoWriMo attempts that was set in Chicago, because maybe I could get it to connect to the Penny Reid Knitting in the City universe, and try to get it published with the SmartyPants Romance series that I'm loving.  But now I'm thinking it needs so much work, maybe I just need to completely start over.

Still nothing from my list.  :-(

No new discussions this month. Again. 

And.... I still need some kind of button for the First in the Series Challenge, although once again, didn't do any from my list!

Looking forward to in December:

Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month:

1. Shelf Awareness by Katie Ashley - I am reading this as I write this post, should be posting the review on the 3rd.
2. Adorkable by Cookie O'Gorman - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 4th
   
3. The Line-Up by Meghan Quinn - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 5th
   
4. Beard Necessities by Penny Reid - part of a review tour and posting on the 9th
   
5. The Younger Man by Karina Halle - part of a review tour on the 11th 
6. Wait for Me by Tia Louise - part of a review tour on the 17th
   
7. So That Got Weird by Amelia Kingston - part of a review tour on the 26th, 27th, or 28th, and I've already read a very early version of this and loved it!
   
8. Wardens of Eternity by Courtney Allison Moulton - maybe reading and reviewing the ARC of this the last week of December. 
   
9. Chosen by Kiersten White - I got an ARC from books for trade on Twitter, so can't wait!
   
10. Oasis by Katya de Becerra - part of a tour that I'll actually not post a review until January 2nd
11. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring - I have the ARC of this one, hoped to have it read in the last two months, but since I didn't, hoping to read this month
    
12. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux - I have an ARC of this and started reading last month, so hoping to get done this month
13. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy - I meant to get this ARC read  in the last two months, but didn't
    

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog.  So I did better at signing up for tours this month, hopefully that means I can catch up on some ARCs, physical books I own, and maybe get ahead for 2020!

With another crazy month, I'm skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just going ahead and wrapping up this post.   Hope everyone had a great November, and here's to an even better December!  It's definitely feeling like winter already.

How was your November?

 

October 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to November

October has been a crazy month.  Fast, but also kind of slow as I was sick for almost the whole month.  As per the past few months since I moved in, I continue to work on unpacking and moving in to the new house.  I finally took boxes of books to take to Half Price Books, but still haven't been able to get to all the many boxes still in the storage space that is costing me $140 a month.  I have been trying to get my garage cleaned out because our winter weather has begun, slowly, but surely.  And, I mentioned last month that I wanted to get a new car, well I ended up trading my Toyota Corolla in for a new Hyundai Tucson, and I'm loving it!  Writing, still none in October, but as you read this, it is the third day of November, and hopefully I have about 6000 words written to keep me on track with NaNoWriMo.

On with the reading stats for October.

According to Goodreads, I've read 182 of the 220 books goal for the year.  September made up 15 of those.  I got behind for lots of reasons it seems this month.  And at the moment I'm writing this, I am behind by one book!

Here is a list of books I read in October, and I'll link to my review if I've finished it:

1. Dating-ish by Penny Reid
2. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
3. Beard with Me by Penny Reid
4. Baking Me Crazy by Karla Sorensen
5. Call Me, Maybe by Stephie Chaman
6. Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid
7. A Lie for a Lie by Helena Hunting
8. The Burning Shadow by Jennifer L. Armentrout
9.   Weight Expectations by M.E. Carter
10.  The Second Me Met by Maya Hughes
11.   Happy Trail by Daisy Prescott
12.   Kiss Me Again by Emma Hart
13.   The Book Worm Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts
14.   #Heart by Cambria Hebert
15.   Love in Due Time by L.B. Dunbar
 

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for the audiobooks I listened to.  And I didn't get the audiobook I still needed a review from September done either. 

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don't finish.  I'm up to 15 for the year, one in October.

My number of posts in October was back up again, I had 48, four more than in September, and still is way over my goal of only one post per day.  I have got to quit signing up for tours!    I'm doing a lot better about quickly scanning tour group emails for any books that either I know I want to read, or else making sure I don't have anything already scheduled.    Of those 48 posts, 15 were reviews.  I've been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My rating was the same as last month, 4.8 stars!  I guess that's what I get when I give up on books I'm not enjoying instead of fighting my way through ones I'm not enjoying.  It also means I guess, that I'm picking the right books to review, since pretty much all of them were review books.

Okay, on with my challenges.

So once again in preparation for NaNoWriMo, I participated in the Blog Ahead Challenged hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup.   I am pleased to say that I was successful! As of the beginning of this month, I had 30 pre-made posts ready to go. Now a few will need some changes as the day they actually get posted arrives, like adding a Rafflecopter, or a few were review posts that I didn't have the review done, just now have the post ready to fill in once I finish the books.

1.  Once again I kept up with my Looking Forward To posts, on Wednesdays as much as possible to tie in with the Can't Wait Wednesday posts.
October 8th
October 15th
October 22nd
October 29th

I'm still working on visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I am posting on my own blog, but I still haven't been keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that.  Don't know if that'll ever get going again.

Been doing well on cleaning up my Goodreads TBR with my weekly post and giveaway (except that I keep adding new to Goodreads), as well as even my physical TBR a little.  I think I now have two people occasionally joining in, and you should feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:

October 5th
October 12th
October 19th
October 26th

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge as I mentioned above.

3. I still got no writing done in October.  But now that it is November, it is is NaNoWriMo time.  As I write this, it is still the 1st of the month and I haven't had time to do any writing yet, but I plan to write tonight, I hope.  So by the time this post goes up, I hope I have at least 4000 words.  I am debating whether to start something new, or just keep working on older project that need to be finished or revised.  If you're also doing NaNoWriMo, come be my buddy on the website, my name on there is Buffywnabe.

Still nothing from my list.  :-(

No new discussions this month. Again. 

And.... I still need some kind of button for the First in the Series Challenge, although once again, didn't do any from my list!

Looking forward to in October:

Okay, so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this month:

1. The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White - I am reading this as I wrote this post, so hoping I have it finished and a review posted!
2. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz - Got the cool ARC package from the author and publisher and hope to get it finished this weekend as well!
   
3. Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel - Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 5th
   
4. Stud Muffin by Jiffy Kate - reading and should be posting a review either on the 5th or 6th.
   
5. Rock Fck Club #4 by Michelle Mankin - reading and should be postin ga review on the 7th I believe. 
6. Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao - won ARC from Bookish First I think, need to hopefully read and review maybe on the 10th?
   
7. Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley - Part of a blog tour I think, posting on the 11th
   
8. No Whisk No Reward by Ellie Kay - Part of a blog tour posting on the 13th
   
9. Rock Fck Club #5 by Michelle Mankin - posting review as part of a tour I think on the 14th?
   
10. Breakup Boot Camp by Beth Merlin - part of a blog tour posting on the 19th
    
11. Outmatched by Kristen Callihan and Samantha Young - part of a tour posting on the 20th
    
12. My Bare Lady by Piper Sheldon - part of a tour posting on the 21st
    
13. Blindsided by Amy Daws - part of a tour, posting review on the 23rd
    
14. It's Not PMS, It's You by Rick Amooi - part of a blog tour posting on the 25th
    
15. The Lineup by Meghan Quinn - part of a tour posting on the 27th
    
16. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring - I have the ARC of this one, hoped to have it read last month, but since I didn't, hoping to read this month
    
17. Michigan Vs. The Boys by Carrie S. Allen - I did not get this ARC read last month as planned, so maybe this month?
18. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux - I have an ARC of this and am behind on reading!
19. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy - I meant to get this ARC read last month, but didn't
    
20. The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh - Started this last month, but haven't finished yet
21. The Locker Room by Meghan Quinn - I've already read this one, but am listening the audiobook so will probably post that review sometime soon for a tour. 

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven't reviewed yet posted on my blog.  And fingers crossed I can get all these done for tours!  November is already looking crazy busy from that list, plus trying to write for NaNoWriMo. AND, I'm going to be presenting at the American Association of School Librarians in Louisville, Kentucky mid-month, so that will be a few days that keep me from doing what I'd do normally.  Hoping there will be some authors there to meet, although I haven't seen any lists yet.

With another crazy month, I'm skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just going ahead and wrapping up this post.   Hope everyone had a great October, and here's to an even better November!  I was glad for finally getting fall weather, but it lasted like two weeks and then we got snow in the last week of October, and I was NOT ready for that.

How was your October?

 

Sign Up Post for Blog Ahead October 2019

Once again I'm signing up for the Blog Ahead Challenge hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup.  I always find this to be a huge help whenever I am participating in NaNoWriMo.  Which I do intend to do again this year, especially with the lack of writing I've done this whole past year.  I can't decide if this year I'm going to start a new story, or continue editing, actually finish editing my short story to get ready to maybe just self publish on Amazon.  Or do I want to finish one of my first stories from one of my first NaNoWriMos?  I don't know.  But my goal is to have November as close to being done other than actually posting the reviews themselves.  Part of this will be not taking on a bunch of tours that month if I can help it, since I won't get the actual materials to post until November, so I can't count them as blogging ahead.

I've been getting a lot better about blogging ahead these days anyway. For one thing, if it is an ARC review that I am not part of a blog tour, I've been just setting up the post and leaving my rating and review blank for now, just waiting to finish reading, and then saving the post for whenever I'm ready to set it to go live. But anyway, lets talk about what the point of this is.

The Goal

Build your total number of scheduled posts by 31!

On October 1st take your number of scheduled posts and add 31.

Whatever that number is...that's your goal for the month.

You'll end the day on Oct 31st with that many scheduled posts. Woots!

Example- If you start October with 5 scheduled posts 

you end Oct with 36 scheduled posts.

 

Who Can Join

Any blogger or author can join. 

Brand new, been around for years...

Blogger, Wordpress or other platform...

Any heat level, genre or theme, etc.

If you blog...you're welcome to join!

Types of Posts that Count?

Any posts that you finish in October and will publish November 1st or later...count! 

Meme, review, guest post, interview, discussion.

Cooking posts, pet posts, photo posts, etc. 

Posts do NOT have to be book related.

What Should You Do Next?

1] Add your blog to the linky list HERE. 

2] Create a blog post to keep track of your goals!

Don't forget to link back to the original post so others can join in!
This can be done any time from now until Nov 1

3]Spread the Word--invite your friends/fellow bloggers!

4] Grab the button!

So, I'll probably get a lot of future review posts ready to go like I have right now.  Hopefully this will help me to have my reading time for all the books I've got planned to read, not to mention all the writing I hope to get done!

Sunday Post #91 and Stacking the Shelves October 28th, 2018

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted  @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news ~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme.  Two weeks in a row!  Maybe I'm going to start fitting these in again. Who knows.  

Had my birthday dinners with both of my families this week.  Cupcakes with my mom, stepdad, brother, sister-in-law and niece and nephew.  Got a cute pumpkin my 6 year old niece decorated for me, as well as a sweet necklace that said Auntie Lisa on it.  I don't wear necklaces that much, but I'm going to try to wear this one more often.

Then at my dad's side, with him, my stepmom, one of my sister's and her boyfriend's son, we went to eat at Wahlburgers, although I was a little disappointed in how their service had gone down in the month they'd been open.  We had cake and played a strategy board game.  I got gift cards to AMC movie theaters as well as one to Barnes and Noble.  Fun!  Also, got to love this fun card from my sister!

Had a really busy last couple of week days in the library at the school where I work.  My co-librarian was presenting at the state librarians' conference, so I was alone, and one of those days was CRAZY!  Everyone needed to use the library at the same time.  Yet few realized how busy it would be.  

Today I went to the library and spent some time working on getting as much blogging done as I could, getting past due reviews done, 7 of them to be specific, so that I could get ready to start NaNoWriMo on Thursday.  I've got my story idea, just getting it all ready and organized for writing.

Here's what you might have missed on the blog this week:

• Blog Tours:  Love, Cutter by Michelle Jester (giveaway), Complete Me by Khardine Gray (giveaway), and Eight Steps to Alpha by Taylor Sullivan (giveaway)
• Can't Wait Wednesday:  Umbertouched (Rosemarked #2) by Livie Blackburne
• Cover Reveals:  One Chance, Fancy (The Bear Bottom Guardians MC #5) by Lani Lynn Vale, and OPERATION:  Get Holly Laid (A Holiday Fling novella) by Callie Vegas
• Reviews:  Six Adult Contemporary Romance Audiobook Mini-Reviews including - RoomHate by Penelope Ward, The Upside to Being Single by Emma Hart, Four Letter Word by J. Daniels, End Goal by Amy Daws, Screwmates by Kayti McGee, and Listen to Me by Kristen Proby,  Not for Me (The Windy City Chronicles #1) by Kat de Falla, and The Darkest Star (Origin #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout 

What's coming up this week on the blog, of course along with hopefully me having some writing time:

• Reviews:  I Bet You by Ilsa Madden-Mills, Kiss and Make Up series by Sara Ney, Little White Lies by Jennifer Lynn  Barnes, Royally Yours by Emma Chase, Lucy by Anna Ambrose, and three adult romantic comedy mini-reviews - King of Code by C.D. Reiss, Royally Endowed by Emma  Chase, and Studly Period by Sarina Bowen
• Promo Posts:  Pierced by JA Huss and Johnathan McClain, Carols and Chaos by Cindy Anstey, Want (Ryder Brothers #2) by Kayti McGee, All We Want (Alabama Summer series) by J. Daniels - cover reveal

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews.  It is a way for us to share the new books we have collected.  Just a few to share this week.

Got this ARC in the mail this week from the publisher.  I hadn't heard about it before, but it sounds good, so I can't wait!

Not a great picture I guess.  Earlier last week I bought a couple books to help with my writing.  I'd constantly heard from authors at conventions that the book Save the Cat! was one that was great to help with writing, even thought it was for screenplays.  Recently one specifically for novels came out, so I bought it.  I also found a writing prompt for romance book at the same time, so bought it. Then today with my Barnes and Noble gift card, I was looking for a romance book to buy, and while I had an idea what I wanted, one of my coworkers recommended Intercepted, and since she and I have been gushing over how much we love the same books lately, I decided that was the one to pick up.  

That's my weekly wrap up and book haul for last week.  How was your last week?

Sign Up Post for Blog Ahead Challenge 2017

Once again I'm signing up for the Blog Ahead Challenge hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup.  I always find this to be a huge help whenever I am participating in NaNoWriMo.  Which I do intend to do again this year.  Although this year, I'm planning to edit and revise my NaNo story from a few years ago that is the only one I've ever finished. That way I can get it ready to either start trying to submit to publishers, or maybe just ready to self-publish if I decide to do that. But as I've never finished and then gone through the revising process, I feel like that is important to do. 

The Goal

Build your total number of scheduled posts by 31!

On October 1st take your number of scheduled posts and add 31.

Whatever that number is...that's your goal for the month.

You'll end the day on Oct 31st with that many scheduled posts. Woots!

Example- If you start October with 5 scheduled posts 

you end Oct with 36 scheduled posts.

 

Who Can Join

Any blogger or author can join. 

Brand new, been around for years...

Blogger, Wordpress or other platform...

Any heat level, genre or theme, etc.

If you blog...you're welcome to join!

Types of Posts that Count?

Any posts that you finish in October and will publish November 1st or later...count! 

Meme, review, guest post, interview, discussion.

Cooking posts, pet posts, photo posts, etc. 

Posts do NOT have to be book related.

What Should You Do Next?

1] Add your blog to the linky list HERE. 

2] Create a blog post to keep track of your goals!

Don't forget to link back to the original post so others can join in!
This can be done any time from now until Nov 1

3]Spread the Word--invite your friends/fellow bloggers!

4] Grab the button!

 

That's it!  This has always helped me, and has even got me in the habit of keeping things posted ahead on a weekly basis.  So now the goal will be to get next month planned, as much as I can, since a lot of my posts are now tours it seems, I will be doing a lot of other types.  Making sure I get all my reviews done ahead, but then saving for November.  Should help with my revising time!