This month I tried a few new things! The first big thing was that I tried (and won!) Camp NaNoWriMo, which allows you to set your own goal. My goal was 10,000 words, and I finished it on July 21.

I don’t ever keep track of the words I write for this, or for work, but to hit 10k in a month without sweating over it on fiction was… it was awesome. I haven’t worked consistently on a fictional anything since middle school, and this book is one I’m so thrilled about.

I also changed up how I rate things on the blog, which you can read about in Ch-Ch-Changes! (and foxes)! I hope you guys like my little foxy friends. I know I did.

And I participated in the 24 in 48 readathon, where you are supposed to read for 24 hours over a 48 hour period. I did not do that because I had Real Life Responsibilities, which are just THE WORST. However, I did get some great reading in over the readathon, which is the intent! Speaking of reading, I also reached my goal of 100 books this year!

I also had my siblings and parents over for the first time as a group in my new house, which was awesome.  Here’s a pic my mom took of me and my best friend.

It was a pretty good month, all in all. I’m looking forward to what next month brings for me! How was your month, friends? Tell me about it in the comments!

Books I read:

When The Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore | Boom! The Chemistry & History of Explosives by Simon Quellen Field | Life Lessons from Catsass by Claude Combacau | Pale Highway by Nicholas Conley (DNF) | Breaking Norms by Mita Balani (DNF) | A Passport to A Nation of Talking Slugs by Andrew Kozma (DNF) | Beastly Bones by William Ritter | Potion Voyages by Jeremy Dwyer | Noah the Narwhal by Judith Klausner | Mother of the Sea by Zetta Elliot | Ghostly Echoes by William Ritter | The Duality of Nature by C.E. Clayton | Breaking up is Hard to Do… But You Could Have Done Better by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell | Walking on Knives by Maya Chhabra | Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver | An Asperger Teen’s Toolkit by Francis Musgrave (DNF) | The Butcher’s Daughter by Florence Grende | Was the Cat in the Hat Black? by Phillip Nel | The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee | Bearly A Lady by Cassandra Khaw | Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas (DNF) | The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (Re-read)*

Links to Posts I Wrote:

July 4 Mini Reviews | Coffee Shop Talk: The Writing Process | Review:: But Not Up Here by RoAnna Sylver | Soft Heroes: My Definition & Recs | Review:: Mother of the Sea by Zetta Elliot | Character Interview:: Chameleon Moon | Stats for the first half of 2017 | Author Interview:: Taylor Brooke | Review:: The Butcher’s Daughter by Florence Grende | Ch-Ch-Changes! (and foxes) | Mini-Reviews: 7/25 | Author Interview:: Devin Harnois | Review:: Was the Cat in the Hat Black? by Phillip Nel

Links to Journalism I Did:

Graphic video changes policy on rabies cases in Pittsylvania County | Electrocution under probe after Danville Power and Light worker dies | Students place in national SkillsUSA competition | County students win big at state FFA competition | Shelters differ on procedures for handling feral cats | Study shows county lags in employee compensation | With Monday opening, Pittsylvania Pet Center ‘hit the ground running’ (with video, may autoplay) | Residents voice complaints over Pittsylvania County Animal Control | Cherrystone Veterinary Hospital to open spay-neuter clinic | Gretna woman brings blessing box to Main Street | Co-working space to ‘pop up’ in River District |

Links to things I liked:

NKÁSHT ÍÍ | Gender neutral pronouns/language across different languages – Masterpost | The White-Throated Transmigrant | Harry Potter and the Neural Network fan fiction | How Grandma Saved the World And Invented Intergalactic Diplomacy | ENTER THE DRAGON LADY: ON HEROINE WORSHIP AND RECLAIMING ASIAN FEMALE AGGRESSION | Let’s Make ‘Cwtch’ Happen | Waiting on a Bright Moon | Stories for my Mother | Pacific Islander Books and Erasure in the Book Community | It’s Time For A Sexist-ectomy In Hospitals |