My November 2024 Round Up
Happy November, y'all!
Greetings!
Would you believe me if I told you that November is my favorite month of the year? I’ve already talked about the writing challenge I’m doing this year, but I also love November because I get to light candles and drink tea more than I normally would. This month I’ve compiled some cool books, great music, and updates on my life and writing for the month of November! Let’s dive in.
What I’ve Been Reading Recently:
The School for Whatnots by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Quick Plot Summary: Max and Josie are best friends, and even though they’re both going to move up to different middle schools, Max is determined to stay friends. But when Josie suddenly stops contacting him, Max must find out why his relationship with Josie suddenly went dark – and discovers some shocking secrets in the process.
This book was really good! I enjoy the way Ms. Haddix writes her books; her writing style is fresh and fun and great for middle-grade readers. There’s also a unique plot with some science-fiction elements (robots, secret corporations, that kind of thing) for readers who like more mysterious books.
We Still Belong by Christine Day
Quick Plot Summary: Wesley has a plan to get through the most exciting day of her life: ask her crush out, celebrate Indigenous People’s Day, get extra credit from her teacher on the poem she wrote in the school newspaper. It sounds easy, but when problems arise throughout the day, Wesley realizes that planning out your day and living your day are two very different things.
I adored this book! Not only was it a beautiful representation of Indigenous people, it was so funny and heartfelt. It takes place over a single day as well, which I thought was amazing!
What I’ve Been Listening To Recently:
This month, I listened to a lot of fun music. With Spotify Wrapped coming up, I’m trying to listen to as much music as possible, so I have lots of suggestions!
“Memories” by Aimee Carty is a wonderful song, filled with lyrics about her grandparents and how precious memories are. It’s a beautiful song fit for the fall season.
My family and I have watched three of the five Pirates of the Caribbean movies in the last month or so, so I thought I’d recommend the Czech Symphony Orchestra’s rendition of the title theme!
I’d also like to recommend this instrumental by Ophelia Wilde, titled “the fairy”. Ophelia also has a music channel where she posts instrumental music compilation videos; I’d recommend checking it out.
A Writing Update:
I’m going to take a minute to talk about realistic goal-setting in my writing, because for me, that’s really important. Right now, you could say I’m “behind” in my word count goal for the month. But truthfully, I’ve already written more in the last couple of weeks than I’ve written in the past month. I have to remind myself that I’m in a later year of high school – I have assignments due and Substack posts to write too.
I set a writing goal for this month that I truly believe I can reach. If I put my mind to it, I can do anything. But I haven’t been forcing the words to come, because I want them to come naturally.
This month, so far, I’ve written 6,526 words. And that’s amazing! I’m already so proud of myself.
If you’re “behind” on your word count goal, this message is for you too. It’s going to be great. Be proud of the process.
A Life Update:
This fall, I’ve been trying to see the world from different kinds of perspectives. I’ve been filling out questionnaires for my characters and letting them speak on paper. I’ve been giving feedback every week for a group of writing friends. I’ve been taking notes for subjects like chemistry (specifically molecular structure right now, which has a lot of perspective!). I’ve been reading books with protagonists of all ages, genders, races, and walks of life. I’ve been watching the leaves in my backyard shrivel and die. I baked Guatemalan banana bread for a class and thought about how it was different from my grandmother’s.
I’m reading a book right now called Love From A to Z (too soon to give a review!), and each character has a journal in which they record their observations as Marvels or Oddities. A Marvel is something that strikes you in a good way, like how I’m sitting here watching the sun dance across the curtains. An Oddity is something that’s not particularly great, like when I woke up super early this morning.
It struck me while I was reading that the world is made up of Marvels and Oddities. Every day. Every second. And a lot of the time, we only look at the Oddities.There’s always something going on we could be doing, even if we’ve worked extremely hard on the rest of our to-do list..
A few weekends ago, my family went to a Czech-themed town in the US. I’m partially Czech, and it was so fun to walk around and look at everything that reminded me of my ancestors.
And then I saw THIS sign:
As hilarious as the sign was, it also carried a deeper message: that nothing needed to happen in 1897 for the building to be here today.
How’s your November going? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
I made banana bread this month and thought I'd share!
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