August Wrap Up 2020- Reflecting and Getting Excited For What's To Come

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I didn't think I would ever say this, but August does not seem like it's been nearly long enough! I feel like the end of summer came in the blink of an eye, and now I'm writing this on my second day as a college student. Considering I started this blog as the 8th grader, I've come a really long way. This school year is extra weird. I wasn't prepared to start school online like I had been in years past. I was anticipating moving to New York. I had an entire New York City themed visuals flip for the blog to honor the new era of my life. Alas, I'm still in the mountains and those plans are on hold. At least August is the last of the losing. I didn't have many plans beyond this month, so all the new days should get less painful. They just are instead of being a "should have been". If you're starting a major milestone this year (especially if you're starting college like I am), my heart goes out to you. We're in this together, and I think it's all about finding tiny pockets of joy.
This month, the blog thrived, and it gave me something to be excited about and proud of. I also doubled my blogging efforts by fully reinvesting myself in Music, Musings, and Me, my music blog. I'm so excited about what's to come there. I've also been hard at work to bring you two videos a week over on YouTube- blending my passions for YA and music along with my start of college experiences. Creating content really is what brings me joy. I also played a lot of guitar and wrote some songs I'm super proud of. I'm also almost done with revisions on my latest YA writing project. I've been dragging my feet on the final chapters, but hopefully it will be done soon in time for (maybe) Pitch Wars? I'm still not sure if I'm going to fully commit to that idea yet since I have so many other new things going on in the next few months.
I guess that's the quick update on my life. August was hard, and I was horrible at reading, but I'm so proud of so many of the things I created this month. I'm also proud of myself for waking up every morning over the last week of orientation and new classes and facing the dreaded Zoom screen.
As far as books, I read 5. I'm laughing at my past self who saw 11 as a disappointment. I didn't know how good it was. My headspace was taken up by a lot this month, and it didn't leave much room for other stories. Everything I read this month was YA, but I did read my first graphic novel ever! I don't know how I waited this long, but I've already checked out a second one from the library. I'll be posting my review for that on in the next few weeks. I read 2 ARCs and 1 book from my library along with 2 I'd bought for my birthday.
As far as book buying this month, I've gotten more flexible with my ban. I've been doing a lot of library requesting and visiting the curbside book pick up quite a bit. But I did preorder a few things. First up, I preordered Lili Reinhart's poetry book Swimming Lessons because I've been anxious to read it since it got announced, so I wanted to make sure I'd have it on release day. I also preordered two YA books from authors I already love. The first is Arvin Ahmadi's third book, How It All Blew Up because I loved Down and Across so much, and the second is the paperback anthology coming in October, Together, Apart which is a collection of COVID centered stories presented in a way that doesn't make me want to run screaming. I ordered it for Erin Hahn's story, but it's full of plenty of great authors. Finally, I ordered Fangirls which is a nonfiction book about fandom for some research I've been doing.
That pretty much sums up what I've been up to in August. I managed to keep up 3 posts here and 2 videos a week. This month, I am hoping to do the same, but with college starting, please don't be too sad if I miss a post here or there. I'm doing my best to juggle it all because I really do love all of these platforms. They're what bring me joy. Down below, you'll find all of the blog posts, videos, and music blog posts from the last month. Give it a scroll just in case you missed any and take the chance to read through some of the content on my other sites to see if you want to join those communities too. As always, to get updates on new book blog posts, you can click the "subscribe" button at the top of the home page to join the email list or follow on Twitter (@readwriteandme) or Instagram (@readingwritingandme). For Music, Musings, and Me updates, you can subscribe on that blog in the same way and make sure you're following me on Twitter and Instagram @mslaurenbrice. For the YouTube channel, click here to subscribe and follow my personal social channels.
Also, if you want to see me wrap up all my favorite things this month, both books and other things, make sure you watch my August Favorites Video.


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Comments

  1. PreviouslyunreadSeptember 5, 2020 at 10:55 AM

    I’m so sorry you weren’t able to move to New York for college 😭 hopefully you’ll still have an amazing college experience!

    ReplyDelete
  2. PreviouslyunreadSeptember 5, 2020 at 10:56 AM

    I’m so sorry you weren’t able to move to New York for college 😭 hopefully you’ll still have a great year!

    ReplyDelete

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