January Wrap Up!

January is finally over. I saw finally, because this month lasted about a million years. I can’t believe first semester has only been going on for three weeks!!!

In My Life

I started off this month with a few days with my grandparents and my aunt and uncle in Death Valley—which despite the ominous name is one of my favorite places. I’m planning on sharing some gorgeous nature photos with you guys next month (I’m just getting around to looking through the photos and editing them.)

Once school started, everything got crazy. Second semester got off to a roaring start. I’ve already had tests in basically every subject, and I’m back to hours of homework every night. Still, I’m feeling optimistic for finishing off junior year strong. (We’ll talk in a few months, that might change 😉 )

In Blogging

This month was okay for my blog. I had 13 posts. At the beginning of the year, I talked about my resolutions for reading and blogging in 2016. I revived my weekly feature Weekend Words for a week, and then it kind of fell apart again…

I also took part in Guest of the Month Club again. This time, Sophie @ Sophie the Bookworm was my partner, which was great! You can read her post here, and my guest post on her blog here.

In Reading and Reviewing

Despite school being crazy, I was able to get in a lot of reading this month. I loved most of the books I read, and I’m really excited to have another year filled with great books.

Unlike most months, I actually wrote reviews for every book I read this month this month. (Sorry for how awkwardly that is phrased.) Some of them didn’t get posted, but at least I’m starting to break my cycle of writing reviews like two weeks after I read the book…

Books I read this month 

(If I’ve written a review, it is linked to)

• The Walled City by Ryan Gruadin — 4.5/5 stars
• It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini — 5/5 stars
• Melophobia by James Morris — 4/5 stars
• The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black — 5/5 stars
• The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore — 3/5 stars
• Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins (Rebel Belle #1) — 4.5/5 stars
• Miss Mayhem by Rachel Hawkins (Rebel Belle #2) — 3.5/5 stars

I also started reading The Catcher in the Rye with my English class. I AM SO TORN about this book. I don’t know if I hate Holden or if I love him. We’re a bit more than halfway through, so we’ll see what I think by the end. 🙂

In Writing

This month was actually pretty great for writing! I’m really proud of myself for starting off 2016 and not immediately abandoning my goal to share more stories and poems on this blog. I took part in two Chuck Wendig writing challenges, which led me to write about some struggles I have when writing short stories. I added about 5,000 words to my WIP, which isn’t exactly great, but it’s better than none. 😉

Poems

• Racing to Our Futures
• Out of Nowhere

Short Stories

• Forest of Monsters
• The Hero Will Not Be Automatic

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So that was my January! How was yours? Did you read any great books? What are you plans for February?