October Monthly Wrap Up

 Happy Wednesday! 

I can't believe October is almost over! This month feels like it flew by, though I am excited for Halloween to be coming up so quickly. I'm so excited for the pirate costume I made! Honestly though, I wish October hadn't gone by so fast and I could have enjoyed it a little more. 

October Writing: 

So, something surprising came up. I ended up writing the first draft of a new book this month! :o The idea came to me at the very end of September and I started writing it September 30th. I had originally planned for it to be a novella but then I wrote... and kept writing and didn't stop writing until I hit 67,000 words and typed out The End on my first ever standalone. This book came out of nowhere. I had planned to give myself a drafting break in October since Nanowrimo is coming up. I wanted to recharge my creative batteries to be ready and yet here I am, having written an entire first draft of a new book right before Nanowrimo. Right now, I don't really know what I'm going to do with this book. It's very personal and yet is one of my favorite things I've ever written. It's a steampunk fantasy set in the desert and has a theme running through it that I've wanted to write about for a very long time. The title at the moment is Desert Flower. So, for now it's going to remain kind of secret and even though I really want to edit it, I know I have to put Emerald Phantom first and finish editing that before I get to this. But, honestly, wanting to edit Desert Flower has become my new motivator for getting Emerald Phantom edits done haha 

I also have ideas for two other standalone books set in the same world but in the different kingdoms of the world. There's one idea that I am so excited about and can't stop thinking about, so I don't know... that might end up being my Nanowrimo WIP but also I had sort of planned to finish the third book in my Sterling Silver series for Nanowrimo, so I don't know haha 

As for Emerald Phantom, I am officially in the micro stage of edits. Micro edits are my least favorite part of the editing process. It's so tedious and exhausting. I dislike going through and checking crutch words and grammar and sentence structure with a passion! But it has to be done and, like I said, I'm highly motivated to get it done as fast possible so I can work on Desert Flower. Overall though, the edits are going well. I've just gotten to the point in the drafting process where I'm just done. Like I love this book and I love this series and this world but I'm ready to be done with this book and put it out into the world and stop worrying and nit-picking over every little thing. 

October Reading: 

I read four books this month!! :o I think that might be a record for this year... though I think there was one month where I reread the entire Lux series so I may be wrong. But still, that's a lot of books! 

October started out perfectly with my gorgeous and beautiful and amazing copy of Once Upon a Broken Heart arriving. It is by far my favorite book of this year (sorry Saltwater Heir but you have been bumped down to second place haha). Guys, I can't recommend this book enough. The settings were magical and enchanting, the characters were three dimensional and so relatable and the theme of the story being about heartbreak spoke to me in so many ways. If I could, I would run away to the Magnificent North and fall in love with a prince... or Jacks. Or a vampire. It doesn't matter. I would run away to the Magnificent North and fall in love with someone. The Magnificent North was made for me haha I can't wait for book 2! Jacks and Evangeline give me life and I need more of them stat! 

I took a break from The Hawthorne Legacy to devour OUABH, so once I was done with that I went back to The Hawthorne Legacy. It was so good!! Oh my gosh, I feel like I was gasping over every other page. The twists and turns just would not stop coming. It was insane!! That whole series is insane and a complete wild ride. The mystery is to die for and the characters are so interesting and fun to follow along with. Honestly, I feel like book 2 ended well enough to where there really didn't need to be a book 3, but I am excited for a third book in the trilogy nonetheless. I'm just really scared because The Hawthorne Legacy wrapped everything up so well and I don't want anything bad to happen to these characters haha 

Then because I was on a reading high and Stephanie Garber recommended this book, I bought Lakesedge by Lyndall Clipstone. Compared to the other books I read this month and last month... it was pretty underwhelming. I think it's my only three star read of the year. I went in expecting something very different and it just couldn't hold my attention. I almost DNF-ed it but since I bought it, I forced myself to power through. But I mean, look at that cover! Honestly... this book was totally a cover buy cus the cover is just really pretty haha 

But then! I get to finish this month with yet another spectacular book. Guys, there are so many good books out there. A Thieving Curse by Selina R. Gonzalez is on Kindle Unlimited now, so I finally got to read it and it was so good! I just finished it last week and I read it in like three days. Not kidding, it is one of my favorite Beauty and the Beast retellings ever. It's second only to ACOTAR as a retelling. The romance is swoonworthy, I loved all the characters, she kept close to the original tale while also adding some really cool twists to it. Just, so good. If you love retellings, handsome dragon-men and Beauty and the Beast this book is for you! 

October Life Stuff: 

I got to be a part of my church's youth group's Fall Fest which was so fun! I also got to go to a fun youth group even at the youth pastor's house and hang out, play games and make smores around a bonfire. Honestly, volunteering as a leader at the youth group as been one of the best things I did this year. It's brought so many fun memories and a really great community. I've enjoyed it so much and am excited to get to know the girls at the group more and more as the months go on. 

My brother and I went to see Venom: Let There Be Carnage. It wasn't as good as the first movie, but it was fun to get to hang out with my brother anyways. And honestly, the movie had some pretty funny moments to it. 

My mom and I also finished off the month with getting to see Dune in theaters! It was absolutely amazing! One of the best movies I've ever seen and I can't wait for Part 2! 

Unfortunately, there was a sudden death in the family. My uncle passed away suddenly this month two weeks ago and last weekend we had to go to the funeral up by where my grandparents and aunt live. Out of everything in October, that's what I remember the most. Not exactly how I wanted to go visit family, but that's how it turned out being. That week and that day was pretty rough. 

But I do get to finish the month with Halloween and a Halloween party I'm throwing with a friend. I'm hoping all the people she invited actually show up or it's going to get awkward haha And I'm hoping it'll be nice weather out that day so we can have a fire and hang out outside.