July Wrap-Up
July has just turned to August and already the leaves are changing colors.
Patches of green faded to yellow and spots of orange. Fluttering to the ground where they’ll wait for winter to rot.
Has it always been this way? Stumbling upon the seasons as if returning to the scene of a crime.
Or have I just now noticed? All the teeth marks indented in my skin from time taking bites of me.
Summer is quickly speeding toward fall and yet the dog days haven’t even arrived. They’re only seasons. Why do they feel like mile markers?
The finish line is coming. And what is time except a race we’re all trying to win but always lose?
July has just turned to August and already the leaves are changing colors.
…
Hello, August ❤
July absolutely flew by, and August marks some big milestones for me. I turn 29 on the 14th. One year closer to that scary 30 mark, which is a mental crisis of its own that I won’t get into lol But August also marks a new career journey. I started a new job this week. Same company, but I now work from home, which is a huge relief. I was driving nearly an hour each way to sit in an empty office all day. It was not fun. My new role will keep me busier and keep me from spending all my money dollars on gas. Win and win.
But enough of August, let’s talk about July.
I smashed my yearly reading goal last month by reading five books and 1,795 pages. Those five put me at 33 books for the year — putting me over my yearly goal by three. I also read a lot of different genres, which feels good.
I started with YA fantasy by finishing the Once Upon a Broken Heart Series, dipped into a horror novella with M.L. Rio’s Graveyard Shift, and fell in love with the modern classic that is The Secret History.
The Secret History was definitely my No. 1 for the month. It was just so compelling. I’m a sucker for an unreliable narrator, and TSH gave me an unreliable narrator fighting for his life against the truth. It was engaging, had the most interesting unlikable characters and was written exquisitely.
If you missed any of my July reviews, check them out here:
- The Ballad of Never After by Stephanie Garber
- A Curse For True Love by Stephanie Garber
- The Ragpicker King by Cassandra Clare
- Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt
As for writing, I hit 40,000 words!!!! My WIP is officially novel length, and while it’s not done yet, that number really felt incredible to hit. It makes everything feel real. This is a real book. It’s a great motivator to keep writing and bang out that first draft (no matter how messy it is).
I recently wrote an action scene as Darian and Alyx try to find necromancy spell book in an abandoned cathedral. Here’s a piece:
Alyx’s boots crunched as they entered the cathedral, scattering shards of glass and blown in twigs from nature overtaking the structure. Wind whistled through the broken windows and the exposed roof collapsed in from a fallen tree. The waves continued to crash against the cliff side, shaking the wood around them with each violent burst.
The cathedral was in shambles. Desolated by time. Wracked by unuse. Pews were rotted through in pieces. The beams holding up the vaulted ceiling creaked under the pressure of the sea. Dirt turned the once-red carpets into a flowerbed of weeds. Light flooded through cracks making the shadows darker and the air shine with motes of dust and desertion. Cooled wax drips clung to the candles, wicks worn down to stubs, lining the walls and lying across the floor.
Alyx wrinkled her nose at the smell of mold and a musty melange of mud and stagnant water. Everything in her body screamed to leave. Her shadows scurried across the debris, anxiously pulling at her skin as they poked and prodded the darkness. They tugged the shadows to them, making Alyx shiver from the cold.
“Where to start, where to start,” Darian sang so close to her she could smell the sickly sweet scent of his breath. He was dipping into something, she just couldn’t figure out what. He apparently didn’t drink but he swigged her flask just last night. But his euphoric giddiness wasn’t alcohol. This was something harder. The thought made Alyx queasy.
“Be quiet,” she said, holding an arm out to stop him from getting ahead of her. Her shadows quivered. She reined them in just enough to keep one loop around Darian’s wrist. He smiled goofily at the chill of the touch, examining the dark circle and giving it a questionable tug. “Stop that.”
”You cuffed your prince, my dear.”
As for hiking, we only were able to visit one trail in July because life was so busy (or rainy. We hit up the Troxell Point Trail at Prince Gallitzin State Park. It looked promising from reviews on AllTrails, but when we got there it wasn’t maintained at all. The grass was taller than our dogs in most spots, it wasn’t well marked and there were spiders literally everywhere. I HATE spiders with a passion, and while I expect to find some creepy crawlies while hiking, these were big ass spiders that left me so anxious. After about two miles we turned around and went to the marina instead to take a morning stroll … spider free.
Other than that, I finished my big Snorlax I started crocheting in June. He came out so cute, even though I got lazy and decided not to make the fingernails lol I also made a cute little ghost and tons of coasters just to do easy projects.
We also went to Kennywood, an amusement park in Pittsburgh, with family. I have these moments sometimes where it hits me out of nowhere how fast my nieces and nephews are growing up. This was one of those days. We had three of the older ones — 14, 15 and 16 — and just spending the day together made me realize they’re like almost adults. They’re not 4 years old anymore. It’s a weird feeling. My 16-year-old niece told me to hold onto my boobs on one of the rollercoasters lol Her and my 14-year-old nephew went on a death trap (the spinning circle picture below). They made me laugh all day as we waited in lines in the heat that made us all the sweatiest we’ve ever been. It makes me wonder if those days matter as much to them as they do to me. … Brb crying.
And that was July ❤
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