Wrap ups always used to be my favourite type of posts to write, so I’m sort of excited to get to write one again now that I’m blogging regularly(ish) again! I’m not entirely sure how I want to structure these posts anymore, so it might take a few months before I get into it, but I’m just going to wing this and hope for the best lmaooo

Also I was fully writing this as an August wrap up instead of September omg that’s not what month just ended HOW IS IT OCTOBER ALREADY I AM HAVING A CRISIS

Anyways onward to my September wrap-up (also time is fake k thanks bye)

I felt like this month had been pretty uneventful, but when I actually thought about it, despite the fact that I’ve,,, barely left the house (thanks covid) I think I actually packed quite a lot in?

• I started school! yayyyyy 😒
• If you’ve known me for a while, you probably know I’ve been homeschooled for most of my life. Starting school (albeit with a very light course load) has been a bit of an adjustment period, but I’m . . . slowly getting there, I hope? I’ve had a lot of breakdowns over it but everything is fineeeeeeee
• also I got enrolled in the wrong class by accident, so sorting that out was a fun time it was relatively simple, but I was definitely concerned I was going to have to take Entrepreneurship 12 for a while and I . . . have no interest in entrepreneurship
• so yeah school is a thing
• mostly I’ve procrastinated school tbh but shh
• I watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, finally!! My best friend told me to watch it years ago now, but I only finally caved when all my friends started watching it and blowing up my twitter feed lmao
• I’m sort of glad I didn’t watch it when I was younger, because I just don’t know if I would have appreciated it as fully
• anyways so I spent the first half of September losing my mind over atla (I watched it in like three or four days but couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks)
• I would do anything for all the characters
• like y’all I love them so so much
• they are my babeys
• I love them
• I’m still obsessed with atla, can you tell?
• I also watched the Babysitters Club series, which like . . . wasn’t super memorable or anything, but the nostalgia of it was Extreme, and I had so much fun!! I inhaled those books like they were air when I was little, so seeing them adapted so well was like nostalgia central
• I procrastinated everything a lot lmaooo
• I . . . blogged?
• and then I watched Julie and the Phantoms and proceeded to spend the second half of the month losing my mind over that series
• y’all if you haven’t watched Julie and the Phantoms what are you even doing with your life, it’s amazing
• I literally cannot stop listening to the soundtrack
• it took me a bit longer to get through jatp than it did atla, but by the end I was SO invested
• I need the second season like right now pls
• Julie and Luke and Alex have my whole entire heart 🥰
• also I can’t stop listening to Unsaid Emily and crying
• I’m obsessed, can you tell?
• in other, non-tv related news (although lets be honest, Julie and the Phantoms and Avatar: the Last Airbender have pretty much been my life this month because I LOVE THEM) I finally reorganized my room! I’ve been wanting to do it for ages, and I’m so happy with it!! I’m thinking I might do a bookshelf tour soon, if that’s something anybody would be interested in?
• also I made puff pastry? it was very soggy but uhhh . . . I think I know how to do it better for next time lmaooo
• that was about it I guess lmaooooooo
• and then of course a lot of reading and writing but those get their own section

I haven’t talked much about my writing on here (except for reacting to my cringy old writing), but I’d like to change that since it’s become a pretty big part of my life this past year!

As of September first, I started a year long challenge with some friends, to write a quarter million words in a year. It’s really only 600 or so words a day, but I’m more than a little intimidated by the huge number! But I’m sort of excited too, since it will hopefully keep me writing fairly consistently through the year, which I tend to struggle with XD I am letting myself count blog posts and schoolwork words too though, in case I get too swamped haha

I worked on various different projects in September, and somehow managed to hit 40K, despite only aiming for 20-25K!! I’ll talk about what I’m working on in a minute, but first here’s my current writing spreadsheet! (This spreadsheet was created by my awesome friend because she’s way smarter than me about this stuff, and y’all should go check her out on insta <3)

As you can see, it’s a bit of a mess because I can’t decide on a project, but I’ve been mostly working on the one + some planning for other things, and working away a bit on a few other projects too lmao. I’m indecisive and chaotic sometimes when it comes to writing

Despite being inconsistent with my amounts, I also managed to write every single day this month, and I’m super happy with that!

So the projects:

Screaming Color

As you can see, I’ve spent most of my words this month on this project! My current word count for it is 26624, and all of that was from September. It’s about pop bands and fake dating and friendship and disaster queers, and it’s so much fun to write! I’m sort of winging it without a plan, which is unusual for me, so I’m thinking I’m probably going to have to put it on hold and come back to it in December lol

(also yes I did steal the title from a Taylor Swift song, shhhh)

Please Prepare for Takeoff

This was my project for Camp Nano in July, but I didn’t finish it then so I . . . have been trying to get back into it. I think I finally got in the swing of things near the end of September, and am hoping to make some significant headway on it before nanowrimo. I’m currently at about 46K, so I’m hoping to maybe hit 60K by the end of October, which . . . probably won’t finish it, but I think trying to finish it this month might be a little overambitious

Bring On the Monsters

yes this is a line from the lightning thief musical, it’s a working title okay

This is still in the very early stages of planning so far, but I’m hoping to make it my nano book, so I’m going to be planning it throughout October, and I’m very excited for it!! I had a plot breakthrough last night and I’m incredibly hyped now !!

Aaaand last but certainly not least: my reading for the month! I haven’t been reading as much as I used to lately, but I think September was a pretty good reading month, and I definitely read some new favourites, so I’m happy with it!

Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos – this was . . . I didn’t like this, but it was good? like it really wasn’t at all on the book, it just didn’t work for me personally. it wasn’t my genre, I wasn’t in the right mood, and I just wasn’t very invested (you can read my full review here) – 3 stars

The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth – I think the ending lost this one a half star for me, because I found it quite unsatisfying, but overall it was such a good book and I highly recommend it! we need more fun sapphic rom-coms, not to mention the concept of this one was so unique and just !! 10/10 recommend, please read this book – 4 stars

Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli – this was obviously a reread (in fact this was my sixth time reading it!) but I loved it just as much this time around. maybe one day I’ll talk about how much this book means to me, but until I can form coherent words I’ll just scream and flail because I love Simon and Blue and everyone and ahhh!! this book feels like home, or like a warm hug, and I love it so much – 5 stars

Now Entering Addamsville by Francesca Zappia – this book took me approximately four months to read because I kept forgetting it existed. which . . . sort of sums up my feelings towards it tbh. it definitely wasn’t bad, I enjoyed it when I was reading, but . . . it wasn’t anything special – 3.5 stars

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan – I’ve been rereading the riordanverse books since July, and I’m having SUCH a fun time with it! I will say, I sort of wish I’d held off on this one a bit longer, because I think it was still a bit fresh from my first read last year, but I still really loved it!! Apollo’s narration is so good ahhh – 4 stars

The Time Traveler’s Guide to Modern Romance by Madeline J. Reynolds – I’ve had this one on my kindle for aaaages, and I finally got around to picking it up (I’m trying to actually read all the books on my kindle finally lmaooo). This wasn’t quality literature by any means, but it was hella fun and put a smile on my face, and honestly that’s all I wanted from it – 3 stars

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas – HI SO THIS IS MY NEW FAVOURITE BOOK (okay one of many favourites but still!) I loved this so so so much, and it’s the only book so far this year that’s given The Sound of Stars a run for its money for my favourite book of the year. I loved this so so much it was perfection it was everything I wanted it to be and more oh and also I would do ANYTHING for Yadriel and Julian I love them so much – 5 stars

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli – I honestly didn’t know what to expect, revisiting this for the first time since it came out more than two years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised? I actually loved it when I first read it, but the more I thought about it the more I started viewing it as sort of mediocre, so I was apprehensive to reread and . . . I loved it? not as much as Simon vs of course, but I really genuinely adore reading about Leah ❤ – 4 stars

Love, Creekwood by Becky Albertalli – look as this necessary in any way shape or form? No. but I loved every second of it and it was so nice to see new content about my faves 🥺 the only thing is I would have liked a bit more resolve on the ending, but oh well XD – 4 stars

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon – this was sweet enough to give me cavities and I had SO much fun with it!! it wasn’t mind-blowing, and I do think I preferred When Dimple Met Rishi, but it was still a delight to read! I adore both Sweetie and Ashish, and I read this book in like one sitting – 4 stars

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova – hello I ADORED this like wow?! I went in with sort of low expectations, but this book blew my expectations out of the water. I just fell so absolutely in love with this cast of characters, and I also really loved the writing style! I will say the plot sort of lacked tension and overall wasn’t my thing, but the characters more than made up for it – 4.5 stars

• Read 12 books – this feels like a super low number for me compared to what I used to read, but considering that I only read 11 in September I would be happy with 12. I have Scribd til near the end of the month and I have a lot of things on there I’m hoping to read, plus a few other things I plan to read, and that adds up to like 11 soooo . . . yeah I’d be pleased with 12
• Write 15k – this is definitely a super low goal to me compared to the 40k I wrote in September, but I don’t want to burn myself out before nano!
• Keep blogging at least semi-consistently – I have at least one more post planned already, and a few other ideas, so hopefully this one will happen?? I hope??
• Plot for nano – I need plot, plot is important or something idk lmao
• Focus on one writing project – by which I mean ppft because I . . . need to make headway pls I’ve been writing it since July
• Stay on track with my schoolwork – I’m really hoping to be able to do a large chunk of it in October so that I don’t have to be too focused on school during nano haha

How was your September? What did you read?

Are you doing NaNoWriMo?

Have you watched atla or jatp?