November Happenings

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 watching 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.