My Stats Exploded!|July 2020 Wrap-up and August Goals

Is it just me, or did July feel like the longest month we’ve had this year?
What did I even do this month?

My friends and I finally launched the business we procrastinated starting for three months, my dog got a drastic haircut, my family binge-watched all the Star Wars movies, and I learned that I’m not going back to school in the fall.

I think I’m finally somewhat used to quarantine now. Maybe.

(Poll: should I start writing about my quarantine experience? For future historical primary source documents? For posterity?)

Just like my June wrap-up, this post will be divided into three different sections:

• Reading
• Blogging
• Goals

Reading:

I didn’t read as much this month as I did in the spring, but I still managed to read 12 books in July! And overall, I enjoyed a lot more of the books I read this month than the books I read in June, so that’s a win.

2 – 2.5 stars:

I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter– Another one for the list of books I should have read in middle school.

3 – 3.5 stars:

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennet– The romance in this was a little too risque and a lot too cringe for my tastes

The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes– this was an okay thriller, but I wanted more

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins– my review here!

If You’re Out There by Katy Loutzenhiser– this was a decent contemporary/mystery, but the ending was anti-climactic

4 – 4.5 stars:

A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro– my review here!

The Outsiders by S.E. Hilton– It’s very impressive that the author wrote this book at age 14. But I still can’t get behind the name Ponyboy.

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson– my review here!

One of Us is Next (One of Us is Lying #2) by Karen M. McManus– this had some unexpectedly surprising reveals, and I was absolutely thrown by the twist in the last chapter, but… what the heck was that ending, Karen M. McManus?

The Real McCoys by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr– I read this book with the fourth grader I’m tutoring, and it was legitimately funny. If you want to feel like an elementary schooler again, this is a pretty fun and very quick read.

5 stars:

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys– my review here!

Good Girl, Bad Blood (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #2) by Holly Jackson– my review here!

Blogging:

I didn’t even realize how much my blog grew this month until I checked my stats before writing this post!

I reached 1,000 views in July, which is more than double my views from June. I’ve also started to get some search engine traffic. How this happened, I’m not exactly sure, since my blog ranks on the 50th page of Google or something, but somehow I’m getting a few search engine views now.

I posted consistently 3 times a week for the entire month, and I reached 50 posts total last Wednesday!

I also gained ~90 followers and I’m now almost at 200 followers (Subscribe? Please???)

Here’s a list of my posts from this month:

Book Review: Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

The BEST Books I Read Last Month|June 2020 Wrap-up and July Goals

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Book Review: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

The Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag|2020

Book Review: Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Book Review: A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro

These 5 Things Will Definitely Make Me Put Down a Book

Book Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Book Review: Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

The Outstanding Blogger Award

My Favorite YouTubers

Book Review: Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson

Goals

July Follow-up:

I pretty much failed at my goals from last month…

1. Pre-write and schedule blog posts to give myself more time to write– I definitely did NOT do this.
2. Read more slowly– I would say that yes, I definitely improved in this respect. I only really skimmed one book this month.
3. Get off my phone– umm… my screen time is still 4-5 hours, so I failed this one too. BUT, I spent less time on Instagram, which is definitely the most toxic time-waster. (I spent more time on YouTube though) This one is really hard to fix when we’re still in quarantine! I spend the entire day on my laptop when I’m not on my phone anyway.

August Goals:

1. Write book reviews right after finishing a book/take notes while I read- I’m probably not going to be able to write as many book reviews this month, since, quite frankly, I’ve just run out of books to read. But I’ll try to put more thought into my reviews and write them while the book is actually still fresh in my mind.
2. Make it a habit to write in my planner– I just got a 2020-21 planner; I’ve been writing in it some, but I keep forgetting. I like the way planners make me feel, but I always forget to update them. Let’s fix that.
3. Spend less time on my phone– I’m going to keep this goal going since I failed it last month.

Hopefully I can reach my goals this month!

Edit- WHY does WordPress keep delaying my scheduled posts? I scheduled this post to go up at 7:30 but it didn’t go up until 7:49… and the time wouldn’t update when I changed it. Does anyone else have this problem?