Frappes and Fiction is Changing…|August 2020 Wrap-up and September Goals

It’s September! Do you know what that means?

It means that the BEST season has finally arrived, with the months of September, October, November, and December (aka the best months of the year). I am so excited!

Maybe I’ll write a post sometime explaining why this is hands-down the best part of the year, but first I need to reflect on August.

August was actually a pretty eventful month- my definition of eventful being relative to the rest of quarantine, of course.

I went to the beach, I finally got my driving learner’s permit, and I honed my procrastination skills.

I progressed from being depressed about quarantine to being angry about quarantine to being bored of quarantine, then finally to being almost, slightly, grudgingly used to it.

Things have started to pick up for the school year, which starts next week for me, so I will be spending this entire week in an attempt to get myself together before the first day of online school. I am so excited, mostly because a week from now, I will be getting Dunkin for the first time in six months.

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

• Reading
• Blogging
• Goals

Reading:

August was a pretty consistent reading month for me: for the first time this summer, I rated no books below three stars. I also went on a huge nonfiction binge. (Nonfiction recommendations post coming soon, by the way!) In total, I read 9 books in August.

3-3.5 stars

With Malice by Eileen Cook– review here!

All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban– review here!

Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson– I kept getting distracted when I was listening to this audiobook… that may explain the low-ish rating

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline– review here!

4-4.5 stars

A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa B. Sheinmel– review here!

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain– this book is about the psychology behind introversion and extroversion and how and why our society favors extroverts. It is extremely interesting

Bomb: The Race to Build – and Steal- the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin– Another nonfiction. This one is about the Manhattan Project and the role Soviet espionage played in the lead-up to the Cold War. VERY interesting.

The Real McCoys: Two’s a Crowd by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr– I read this so I could buddy-read it with the elementary schooler I am tutoring

5 stars

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys – review here!

Blogging:

I had a good blogging month, although I definitely could have tried harder to prioritize my blog.

I gained around 50 followers, increased my monthly views, and almost doubled the monthly number of comments I received!

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

In case you missed any.

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

Book Review: With Malice by Eileen Cook

The Sunshine Blogger Award

The Anonymous Bookaholics Tag

Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Reacting to my Old Writing Part 1|(11-year-old me thought she was a literary genius)

The Liebster Award

Book Review: A Danger to Herself and Others by Alyssa B. Sheinmel

Reacting to my Old Writing Part 2

What is your Favorite Genre?|ft. My Controversial Opinions

Book Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

15 Places on my Travel Bucket List

The folklore Book Tag

Book Review: All Your Twisted Secrets by Diana Urban

Goals:

August Follow-up:

1. Write book reviews right after finishing a book/take notes while I read– Ehh… I did this for about half of the books I read this month, but there were definitely times when I succumbed to procrastination
2. Make it a habit to write in my planner– I was on vacation for much of August, so I didn’t start doing this until this past week
3. Spend less time on my phone– Okay yeah… I failed miserably at this. I have been forcibly cutting back this week, but for most of August I did a large amount of scrolling. My screentime average for my phone- ONLY my phone!- hovered around 4 hours per day for the entire month.

September Goals:

1. Add variety to what I post– I’ve been saying often that I’m going to be writing more list posts and posts that are not book reviews or tags to kind of add some variety to my blog. I will be putting this into action in September!
2. Don’t go on my phone right after I wake up– this goes along with my excessive phone usage problem. Since my alarm is on my phone, I always go on my phone and check social media right when I wake up. Since I always inevitably see something that annoys me or just stresses me out, it sets the tone for the rest of the day. I also then end up scrolling for an hour while I eat breakfast and procrastinate everything and feel guilty and end up ruining the morning and feeling lazy for the rest of the day.
3. Focus on school– as I mentioned earlier, (online) school starts for me next week, which brings me to the titular part of this post:

Frappes and Fiction is Changing…

Okay, maybe that’s a little dramatic. But I am going to have to make some adjustments going into the school year.

This year I am taking 5 AP classes and about a million extracurriculars, and on top of all that, I’m taking the SAT in October. You know what they say, junior year IS the hardest.

In short, I don’t know how I’m going to have time to do anything. Thus, I’m going to be making a few changes to my blog:

1) I’m changing my posting schedule

Starting next week, my posting schedule will be adjusted to Wednesdays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM ET (11:30 PM UTC/GMT)

This is the same as it is now, except I won’t be posting on Mondays anymore. In the future, I may adjust it to Saturdays only.

2) I’m going to be trying to write a wider variety of posts

Including book recommendations lists, blogging tips, random articles and tags. There may be a decrease in book reviews because it is going to be very hard for me to read a lot on top of everything on my plate. I will try my best, though!

That’s all for today’s wrap-up! How was your summer? How are you managing the transition into the academic year?

Like always, please: