November 2021 Wrap-up: Well, That Was Interesting

So. November.

*Long silence*

To be perfectly honest, this month was not that great. I was quite stressed and did not have a good mental health month, for one thing, but Thanksgiving break at the end of the month was fun, and now we’re in the hands-down BEST part of the year: that little window between Thanksgiving and Christmas during which the air is filled with anticipation and there’s holiday music playing in every public space.

Life Update

This month I…

• turned 17
• started listening to Christmas music
• went to my first hackathon
• re-set my life during the break!

Now, without further ado, let’s move on to the more interesting portion of this wrap-up…

Reading

I had a pretty average (below average) reading month this month; I read 5 books, 4 fiction and 1 nonfiction. Here they are:

Fiction:

Dreamy Days & Random Naps by Mawson Bear (children’s/picture book)-

I received an ARC of this book, and the review is going to be posted Friday; stay tuned!

Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie (mystery)-

A pretty fun installment of Poirot; I thought the idea of solving a 16-year-old case by calling up all of the people involved and piecing together their narratives was interesting, albeit just a *tad* unrealistic.

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell (thriller)-

This kind of psychological thriller book is my total guilty pleasure, and yes, this one was entertaining but definitely unrealistic. It kept me mostly on the edge of my seat, but I figured out the reveal probably 20% of the way through the book, and the fact that the main character took so long to realize the obvious felt contrived.

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (mystery)-

Aaaaand the second book in my Thanksgiving break Agatha Christie binge.

When will all these murderers learn to stop murdering people when Poirot’s right there?

I always find it very hard to keep all of the characters and timelines straight in Agatha Christie novels, so I can never ever solve the mysteries, but they are very fun to read. 

Considering the fact that I had five entire days to read however much I wanted, I’m a bit sad I didn’t get further along my TBR, but that’s okay. Let’s move on to the blogging section of this slightly dry wrap-up…

Blogging

I had a considerably better blogging month than reading month! Which is always a plus.

This month, my blog reached 15,000 all-time views, and my search engine traffic continued to increase. I had 99 views from search engines this month.

I also started posting on Instagram and redid my ~aesthetic~ to make it look less disturbingly ugly:

Here are the November blog posts I wrote this month, in case you want to check them out:

My November Blog Posts:

I Just Submitted My First College Applications: A Reflection

October 2021 Wrap-up: Autumn, Applications, & Artful Avoidance

The 4 New Releases I Absolutely Need to Read

Book Review: As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson (A Rant) | SPOILER REVIEW

I Taught An AI To Write My Book Reviews | RNN Text Generation With Tensorflow

Book Review: The Shining by Stephen King

“Don’t Read the Reviews”: Social Conformity, the Hype Train and How Reviews Might Influence Your Bookish Opinions

Goals

Last Month’s Goals

1) Take more time to relax

I spent the entirety of Thanksgiving break doing literally nothing except for reading and watching YouTube on the couch. Thus, I’d consider this goal accomplished.

2) Actually post my posts and book reviews

Yep! I actually posted a pretty good amount this month, despite having school and everything to balance as well!

3) Turn off your phone and lengthen attention span while working

I didn’t do well with this at the beginning of the month, but after I kind of had a life reset after break, I’ve been doing better, being more productive and generally more focused. So I’d say this is half-accomplished and should remain a December goal.

This Months’ Goals

1) Get at least 6 hours, 45 minutes of sleep a night

I’ve finally figured out the secret to my life. I cannot function on less than 6.5 hours of sleep. Throughout the fall, I was getting 5-6 hours of sleep on school nights and it just… wasn’t working. This week I found the sweet spot between balancing my busy schedule and being able to sleep a healthy amount.

2) Drink water or tea in the morning instead of coffee

You guys. I love coffee, but I can’t deny it. Quitting my morning coffee has made me feel so much better. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I stopped drinking coffee this week or that I’ve managed to sleep about an hour more per night than I was before, but I have been feeling way more healthy and in a better mood. I will try keeping this up in December.

3) Read more slowly and make sure I understand everything that I read

So, sometimes I’ll finish a book and immediately forget what I just read. That’s alright if I’m reading for entertainment, sure, but I want to make sure I am reading… well, that I’m reading well. As I mentioned before, when I’m reading something like Agatha Christie, which contains lots of different characters and complicated situations, it’s hard to keep track of and I often feel like I’m not understanding the book because I’m trying to read too fast.

All in all… I want to take time to slow down.

Well, that’s it for my November wrap-up!

How was your November? What was your favorite read of the month? Let me know in the comments!

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