October 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to November

Posted November 3, 2019 by Lisa Mandina in / 10 Comments

October has been a crazy month.  Fast, but also kind of slow as I was sick for almost the whole month.  As per the past few months since I moved in, I continue to work on unpacking and moving in to the new house.  I finally took boxes of books to take to Half Price Books, but still haven’t been able to get to all the many boxes still in the storage space that is costing me $140 a month.  I have been trying to get my garage cleaned out because our winter weather has begun, slowly, but surely.  And, I mentioned last month that I wanted to get a new car, well I ended up trading my Toyota Corolla in for a new Hyundai Tucson, and I’m loving it!  Writing, still none in October, but as you read this, it is the third day of November, and hopefully I have about 6000 words written to keep me on track with NaNoWriMo.

On with the reading stats for October.

According to Goodreads, I’ve read 182 of the 220 books goal for the year.  September made up 15 of those.  I got behind for lots of reasons it seems this month.  And at the moment I’m writing this, I am behind by one book!

Here is a list of books I read in October, and I’ll link to my review if I’ve finished it:

  1. Dating-ish by Penny Reid
  2. The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis
  3. Beard with Me by Penny Reid
  4. Baking Me Crazy by Karla Sorensen
  5. Call Me, Maybe by Stephie Chaman
  6. Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid
  7. A Lie for a Lie by Helena Hunting
  8. The Burning Shadow by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  9.   Weight Expectations by M.E. Carter
  10.  The Second Me Met by Maya Hughes
  11.   Happy Trail by Daisy Prescott
  12.   Kiss Me Again by Emma Hart
  13.   The Book Worm Crush by Lisa Brown Roberts
  14.   #Heart by Cambria Hebert
  15.   Love in Due Time by L.B. Dunbar
  16.  

I did really good this past month about reviewing everything I read except for the audiobooks I listened to.  And I didn’t get the audiobook I still needed a review from September done either. 

Another stat I want to talk about is books that I don’t finish.  I’m up to 15 for the year, one in October.

My number of posts in October was back up again, I had 48, four more than in September, and still is way over my goal of only one post per day.  I have got to quit signing up for tours!    I’m doing a lot better about quickly scanning tour group emails for any books that either I know I want to read, or else making sure I don’t have anything already scheduled.    Of those 48 posts, 15 were reviews.  I’ve been good with my weekly posts I want to keep up with too.   My rating was the same as last month, 4.8 stars!  I guess that’s what I get when I give up on books I’m not enjoying instead of fighting my way through ones I’m not enjoying.  It also means I guess, that I’m picking the right books to review, since pretty much all of them were review books.

Okay, on with my challenges.

So once again in preparation for NaNoWriMo, I participated in the Blog Ahead Challenged hosted by Herding Cats and Burning Soup.   I am pleased to say that I was successful! As of the beginning of this month, I had 30 pre-made posts ready to go. Now a few will need some changes as the day they actually get posted arrives, like adding a Rafflecopter, or a few were review posts that I didn’t have the review done, just now have the post ready to fill in once I finish the books.

1.  Once again I kept up with my Looking Forward To posts, on Wednesdays as much as possible to tie in with the Can’t Wait Wednesday posts.
October 8th
October 15th
October 22nd
October 29th

I’m still working on visiting other blogs and commenting as much as I am posting on my own blog, but I still haven’t been keeping track of it in my calendar where I was trying to do that.  Don’t know if that’ll ever get going again.

Been doing well on cleaning up my Goodreads TBR with my weekly post and giveaway (except that I keep adding new to Goodreads), as well as even my physical TBR a little.  I think I now have two people occasionally joining in, and you should feel free to join in as well.  Here are the posts for that:

October 5th
October 12th
October 19th
October 26th

2.  My Reading Goals are coming along with the Goodreads challenge as I mentioned above.

3. I still got no writing done in October.  But now that it is November, it is is NaNoWriMo time.  As I write this, it is still the 1st of the month and I haven’t had time to do any writing yet, but I plan to write tonight, I hope.  So by the time this post goes up, I hope I have at least 4000 words.  I am debating whether to start something new, or just keep working on older project that need to be finished or revised.  If you’re also doing NaNoWriMo, come be my buddy on the website, my name on there is Buffywnabe.

Still nothing from my list.  🙁

No new discussions this month. Again. 

And….
I still need some kind of button for the First in the Series Challenge, although once
again, didn’t do any from my list!
Looking forward to in October:
Okay,
so here is my proposed TBR based on my blog tours and review requests for this
month:
  1. The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White – I am reading this as I wrote this post, so hoping I have it finished and a review posted!
  2. Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz – Got the cool ARC package from the author and publisher and hope to get it finished this weekend as well!
  3. Every Stolen Breath by Kimberly Gabriel – Supposed to be doing a review tour and posting on the 5th
  4. Stud Muffin by Jiffy Kate – reading and should be posting a review either on the 5th or 6th.
  5. Rock Fck Club #4 by Michelle Mankin – reading and should be postin ga review on the 7th I believe. 
  6. Song of the Crimson Flower by Julie C. Dao – won ARC from Bookish First I think, need to hopefully read and review maybe on the 10th?
  7. Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley – Part of a blog tour I think, posting on the 11th
  8. No Whisk No Reward by Ellie Kay – Part of a blog tour posting on the 13th
  9. Rock Fck Club #5 by Michelle Mankin – posting review as part of a tour I think on the 14th?
  10. Breakup Boot Camp by Beth Merlin – part of a blog tour posting on the 19th
  11. Outmatched by Kristen Callihan and Samantha Young – part of a tour posting on the 20th
  12. My Bare Lady by Piper Sheldon – part of a tour posting on the 21st
  13. Blindsided by Amy Daws – part of a tour, posting review on the 23rd
  14. It’s Not PMS, It’s You by Rick Amooi – part of a blog tour posting on the 25th
  15. The Lineup by Meghan Quinn – part of a tour posting on the 27th
  16. The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring – I have the ARC of this one, hoped to have it read last month, but since I didn’t, hoping to read this month
  17. Michigan Vs. The Boys by Carrie S. Allen – I did not get this ARC read last month as planned, so maybe this month?
  18. Salvaged by Madeleine Roux – I have an ARC of this and am behind on reading!
  19. The Memory Thief by Lauren Mansy – I meant to get this ARC read last month, but didn’t
  20. The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh – Started this last month, but haven’t finished yet
  21. The Locker Room by Meghan Quinn – I’ve already read this one, but am listening the audiobook so will probably post that review sometime soon for a tour. 

Hopefully I will get the audiobooks I haven’t reviewed yet posted on my blog.  And fingers crossed I can get all these done for tours!  November is already looking crazy busy from that list, plus trying to write for NaNoWriMo. AND, I’m going to be presenting at the American Association of School Librarians in Louisville, Kentucky mid-month, so that will be a few days that keep me from doing what I’d do normally.  Hoping there will be some authors there to meet, although I haven’t seen any lists yet.


With
another crazy month, I’m skipping the Best of the Bunch thing again and just
going ahead and wrapping up this post.   Hope everyone had a great October, and here’s to an even better November!  I was glad for finally getting fall weather, but it lasted like two weeks and then we got snow in the last week of October, and I was NOT ready for that.



How was your October?
 

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10 responses to “October 2019 Wrap-Up Post and Looking Ahead to November

    • Thanks. I've changed my mind again I think, don't know for sure what I'm doing, but I think I'm just working on maybe finishing up a story I already have started. Hope to actually have some time at a write-in tonight to get some stuff done! Thanks for stopping by!

  1. I am so sorry you were sick most of October. I hope November finds you feeling much better. Congratulations on your new car! That is much better news. Moving is such work, and unpacking can be a real chore. It sounds like you are making progress at least. It sounds like you had a good October in reading. I hope you have a wonderful November!

  2. I've been following most of your posts and have been impressed with how many you do. I'm happy you were able to get a new car. I need to sort through the books I've read and decide if they are keepers to make room for unread books that are on my TBR. Little Free Libraries as well as our local library will be getting books.

    • I usually keep a book for sure if I've bought it. But as you know, I get rid of a lot, if not most of my ARCs these days, unless they were ones I requested or knew I wanted ahead of time. Thanks for stopping by!

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