November 2018 Wrap-Up

November was a bit of a stressful month for me. As I mentioned in a post at the beginning of the month, the anxiety and depression medication I was on was making things significantly worse and I was really struggling with staying motivated and positive. Fortunately, I’m currently on a different type of medicine and things seem to be working out much better. It was also a busy month in terms of work and most weeks I took on quite a bit of overtime which was financially beneficial but mentally exhausting. Here’s a look back on the month of November:

The Blog

At the beginning of November, I announced the Read the World challenge, where each month I would pick a country and read books translated from that nation. In November I chose China as the country of choice. The amazing Meonicorn from The Bookish Land did a wonderful guest post about seven books from the past 70 years of Chinese history, which you should definitely check out. Coming out later today will be an update to the challenge, so keep an eye out.

I finished and reviewed some great books this month:

• A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
• Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson
• Foundations of Chinese Civilization by Jing Liu
• A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
• The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han by Mark Edward Lewis
• Grimenna by N.K. Blazevic
• Our Frail Disordered Lives by Mary M. Schmidt
• Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

This month was full of fun book tags as well:

• The Five Ws Book Tag
• The Greek Gods Book Tag
• Mystery Blogger Award

There were also some reading lists and posts about reading and writing in general:

• Carl Sagan Day
• The Four Chinese Classics
• Holiday Gift Guide: Harry Potter Edition
• My Book Bucket List
• Why Journaling is Good for You and Tips for Getting Started
• Tom Baker Has Written a New Doctor Who Novel!
• Guest Post: 7 Chinese Books in the Past 70 Years from Meonicorn

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Writing

I had full intentions of participating in NaNoWriMo this month, but due to the worsening depression I was experiencing at the beginning of the month, I decided not to stress myself out even more by doing that.

I’m currently working on a writing project that is a post-apocalyptic novel with some science fiction elements. Right now I’m in the stage where I’m just planning out the plot points and trying to come up with an ending I’m happy with.

For you writers out there, does anyone else struggle with naming your characters? The plot and settings come to me fairly easily, but I cannot for the life of me come up with names that I like. How do you do it? If you have any suggestions, leave your comments below!

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Personal Life

My boyfriend and I have been working so much this month, which hasn’t left much time for fun. Toward the middle of the month, we did go to the Million Bulb Walk at the Botanical Gardens in Norfolk, VA, which was really fun. Sorry for the blurry photos, I am the least camera-savvy person you will ever meet.

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We’re heading to Washington D.C. for a much needed day trip soon, which I’m really looking forward to. If you have any suggestions on cool bookish places to check out, let me know in the comments!

I hope all of you have had a wonderful month, and continue to have a perfect December! I appreciate all of your comments and likes, and the support I’ve gotten regarding the post on my struggles with anxiety and depression. Thank you all so much!