I lived all 30 days of November but I barely remember any of them.
Somehow, I condensed a year’s worth of activities into a single month.
When I started the month, I thought I’d be fitting writing sessions between social engagements, horror movies, and book rereads.
HA.
Here’s what happened instead:
- I moved and spent several weeks unpacking, culling kitchen equipment, and putting art on my walls
- I befriended a bunch of local queer writers who love tea and are great at making plans
- I missed my chance to rewatch V For Vendetta on Guy Fawkes Night
- I woke up at 4:30 AM to catch a train to Portland with 60+ other Seattle writers
- I hosted an improv show where I changed my outfit a whopping thirteen times
- My friend Russell and I made vegan cheese and FINALLY watched Hocus Pocus
- I visited my brother and sister-in-law in Spokane and spent the whole weekend watching Stephen King movies
- After three years of rivalry, I finally befriended my brother’s dog Maxwell
- I saw Frozen II on opening day and CRIED MY HEART OUT
- I watched Russell perform in The Originals in West Seattle
- My friend Wez talked me into watchingย JoJo Rabbit…and I have not recovered
- I celebrated a partially-vegan Thanksgiving with my very accommodating family
- I got my parents hooked on Dirty John (we binged all 8 episodes in two days)
- I attended Sasha Velour’s fantastic drag show Smoke and Mirrors at the Moore Theatre
- I saw Head Over Heels at ArtsWest in West Seattle. (It’s a campy Elizabethan musical set to songs by the Go-Gos. If you can, GO SEE IT!! I loved it so much! It’s showing until the 29th!)
- VERY IMPORTANT: my hero Billy Dee Williams came out as genderfluid
- I won NaNoWriMo
I want to focus on that last one for a bit.
Winning NaNoWriMo
First off, here’s my fancy winner badge.
I cranked out 50,000 words for a story and characters I love.
And…I feel pretty good about it! The story definitely needs polish, but I’m proud of what I wrote!
As for books…
I didn’t read as much this month, but I did make a little time for books.
Notable November Book Happenings
I finally read His Dark Materials in its entirety
And I cried. I cried so much.
It was moving!
I even liked the elephant aliens! And the small people!
(Balthamos, though, was my favorite.)
I hereby retract all criticisms of Phillip Pullman, except for the notes about Will Parry.
Call Down the Hawk came out
I truly don’t know how to feel about it.
It’s SO DIFFERENT from The Raven Cycle.
Declan’s my favorite Lynch brother now?
Ronan sucked a pack of wild sun dogs into a water bottle?
I JUST DON’T KNOW.
I made my peace with Katniss Everdeen
You may have seen me complain about Katniss on this blog.
Can we please stop idolizing her? I really need people to stop justifying their enjoyment of The Hunger Games by calling Katniss a role model.
HOWEVER, rereading the The Hunger Games made me realize that I underestimated (and underappreciated) Katniss. The horror and trauma I missed the first time around really hit me during the reread.
I have yet to see if the rest of the series holds up.
(I don’t think Catching Fire will, but stranger things have happened.)
(Also, I am not on board with EITHER ship. Leave Katniss alone.)
I bought two bestsellers in hard cover
I NEVER do this. It’s too pricey and I usually end up hating the books I buy.
At my last Powell’s trip, though, I tried this radical strategy of only buying books I really wanted, even if they were expensive bestsellers.
Long story short, I bought In the Dream House and considered rereading it the second I finished.
It’s that good.
I befriended a local bookseller
This is an exaggeration.
In truth, I asked an employee at my local bookshop if they had a copy of Astro Poets and this guy SNAGGED ME AN INCOMING COPY.
He is my new best friend and I support everything he does.
That’s it for my busy month.
I hope December will be more relaxed.
I have many books to finish.
WOO HOO YOU WON NANO!!!! Congrats!!! ๐๐๐๐ But thirteen outfits though????? I couldn’t be dealing. I barely make it out of my pjs most days ๐ณ๐๐
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THANK YOU!!!!
Haha, I had a simple base outfit and threw jackets and/or button-down shirts on top. Some of the improvisers lent me their coats.
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