Monthly Wrap-Up: May 2018

Posted June 1, 2018 in Blog Fests & Hops, Blog Updates / 10 Comments

May was another busy month for me, particularly at work where student GCSE exams are well underway and many reports are due. But I’ve had lots of fun times at the weekends where I’ve been able to let my hair down a little.

We took our daughter around the fair, went out for a meal with friends, attended a baby shower and visited a wildlife park. This week, we’ve been off work for half term so we went to the cinema, had a BBQ for my little step-brother’s birthday and dressed up for a 1940s dance.

 

Blogging

May was a good blogging month. I actually wrote some reviews! I also joined in with the We are the World Blogfest for the first time. I had to make a lot of behind-the-scenes changes to make my blog GDPR compliant; I updated my privacy policy and added consent checkboxes just about everywhere.

Because I had a week off work, I finally managed to catch up with the backlog of blog posts that I’d marked as ‘read later’ on Feedly, reply to all my comments and visit everyone back. I feel much more on top of things!

I’ve started visiting more blogs for the The A-Z Challenge Road Trip and I’ve also signed up for the Summer 2018 Comment Challenge. My partner is Olivia from Olivia’s Catastrophe and we’re aiming to comment on each other’s blogs at least 5 times in June.

Total Blog posts: 17. You can read all my May posts here.

Blogfests/events: Insecure Writers Support Group, We are the World Blogfest, Book Blast: Once by Ronel Janse van Vurren.

Books completed: 2

Sever by Lauren DeStefano

Book cover for Ink by Alice Broadway

 

 

 

 

 

Books reviewed: 3. Rooms by Lauren Oliver, The INFJ Writer by Lauren Sapala, Ink by Alice Broadway.

Comments: 163

New followers: +4 on Bloglovin‘, +24 on Twitter, +4 on WordPress, +3 on Google+ and +1 on Facebook.

Thank you all for joining me, I really appreciate it!

 

Creative Hobbies

No new artwork, but I have been working on my novel. I was a bit stuck on certain plot points and character arcs but I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere now and it’s starting to make sense. My main struggle with it has been that I keep getting lots of new ideas for how things could go and then falling down a rabbit hole of research instead of just getting it written. I’m still really excited about this project though and am looking forward to sharing some excerpts on the blog soon.

 

Tv & Film

Films watched: We actually went to the cinema twice this month which is unprecedented since we rarely get to leave the house without our mini-me these days.

I saw Infinity War at the beginning of the month which I really enjoyed despite it being an emotional rollercoaster. I thought they managed the large cast of characters really well. As soon as it was over I had to look up all the fan theories online and I’m really excited about what will happen in the next film.

We saw Deadpool 2 earlier this week, which was just as funny and cringe-worthy as the first one. I like how he keeps breaking the fourth wall all the time and cracking jokes about the X Men.

I watched a couple of films on DVD as well:

  • The Land Before Time: The Great Migration- cute and not as heart-breaking as the original thankfully.
  • The Al Jolson Story-this was a gift from my grandad and quite an interesting story about the entertainer’s rise to stardom in the 1920s and how it affected his marriage. 60-year-old Jolson provides the voice for the songs, but a younger actor plays him.

I’m sure I watched a few more but I can’t remember what!

TV shows:  I’ve mainly been following Britain’s Got Talent and Harry Hill’s Alien Fun CapsuleThe Handmaid’s Tale is back on but I’ve been putting off watching it because it’s a bit depressing and I haven’t been in the mood. I watched a bit of Star Trek: TNG and the cartoon Black Panther series on DVD.

 

Quote of the Month

Happiness is meeting an old friend after a long time and feeling that nothing has changed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goals for June

  • Schedule blog posts at least a week in advance
  • Post 4 book reviews
  • Read at least 3 books
  • Post to Instagram at least 4 times
  • Visit at least 50 more A-Z challenge blogs
  • Leave 5+ comments on Olivia’s Catastrophe

 

Before you go…

How was May for you? What are your goals for April?

 

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10 responses to “Monthly Wrap-Up: May 2018

  1. I particularly appreciate the phrase you used “rabbit hole of research” since your novel is an Alice retelling! +10pts.

    So glad to hear you enjoyed Deadpool 2! Lets all agree to forget the tiny legs scene forever though. XD

    I just started season one of The Handmaid’s Tale – I didn’t watch it last year because I felt it would be really dark and heavy and I didn’t need more of that but WOW is it good. Terrifying, but good.

    Here’s to a happy June! Good luck with your goals!

    • Thanks, Amber! Everyone in the cinema was laughing at the tiny legs scene, I was cringing! The Handmaid’s Tale is such a great series. I find it so tense to watch as I just want to see her snap and destroy everyone, but she has to keep smiling and pretending to go along with everything. I’m not sure I could be so patient in her situation. I think I’d do something foolish and get myself killed quite quickly.

  2. Oh man, for you to be able to comment at least 5 times on my blog I need to put up at least 5 posts! I’ll try and do it because I do aim for a post every week… I am glad you liked both of the Superhero movies you saw! You give me high hopes for tomorrow. And I totally understand about the GDPR side of things. I was hard at work with understanding and adapting as well. It sounds like you did so much this month DD: The dance sounds cool, and baby showers are always fun too. I hope you’ll have a great June x

    • I’m all about the superhero movies at the minute 🙂 May was a busy month, June has been so far too. I feel like I need another week off already. I’m on countdown for the summer holidays now.

  3. You’ve been busy! I love that you do art. Something I would love to take up. Last day of school is tomorrow! Yay! ♥️

    • I wish I had more time to work on my skills, then I would also have more confidence to share it here. Hope you enjoy your break from school!

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