Sunday Summary – July 16, 2017

 

 

Usually, I try to take stock in the first week or so of July, evaluating where I am and where I would like to be by the end of the year. The first two weeks of this July have been so busy I haven’t been able to do that yet, so I thought I might do it now, along with weekly reflections.

This week in writing

The last two weeks I have sadly not been able to work on Memories and Magic, and I’m starting to get twitchy about it. After this weekend, I should be able to get back into my regular routines, but I am a bit behind where I hoped to be by now.

Goals:

• Finish re-writing Part 2 of Memories and Magic by  the end of August
• Finish re-writing Part 3 by the end of October
• Finish revisions by the end of the year

… This is possibly ambitious. There’s quite a bit to rewrite and expand upon. And I’ll once again be doing two uni subjects. But I would love to have this ready for readers by the end of the year.

This week in reading

After speeding through five of the Series of Unfortunate Events books by Lemony Snicket, I am back to The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig. I’m also listening to The Art of Purring by David Michie. This is the sequel to The Dalai Lama’s Cat, which I read some weeks ago and really enjoyed.

I’m well on track to reach my goal of 75 books for this year (and surpass it) and I don’t really have any other reading-related goals.

This week in blogging

This keeps trucking along. I’d really like to have a bit more time to commit to blog hops, or memes on other places like Twitter, but I always seem to commit and then fall off the wagon after a week or so. So at the moment, my aim is just to keep posting regular reviews along with WWW Wednesday posts and the occasional tag on this blog, and WIPpet Wednesday and Sunday Sessions posts on Letting the Voices Out.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

I’m still enjoying free time at the moment; next semester starts at the end of July. I’m going to be doing one core subject and one elective this semester. I proved to myself last semester that I can do two courses at once and still maintain my good results. I’ve only got 18 months left of this degree now. I’ve been enjoying it, but I also look forward to not studying any more.

This week in health and fitness

I’m really not sure where I am on this at the moment, for a couple of reasons. When I weighed in last week, I appeared to have lost 5.4kg, which seemed unlikely, but I was willing to take it. This week, I appeared to have gained all that back.  I am also experimenting with not counting calories and just trying to be sensible about what I eat. So I may have really gained 5kg (unlikely) or there was an anomoly. Either way, it will take a couple of weeks to sort it out.

Goal: reach 74kg by the end of July. This might also be ambitious, but I’m aiming high.

That’s my week. How are you going? 

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Sunday Summary – June 18, 2017

 

 

After a bit of an absence, Sundary Summary makes its return.  I think I should be able to keep this up now. Though to be honest, the past week hasn’t been the greatest to report on!

This week in writing

I’ve been trying to revise a chapter every day of Memories and Magic, though that hasn’t gone as smoothly as I’d hoped. A number of reasons have factored into that, including fatigue and illness, but I’m hoping these will clear up soon and I’ll be able to get back into a proper routine with it.

 

This week in reading

I’m still reading Dracula by Bram Stoker very slowly, and I have just switched to the paperback format for Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (from audio). I have accepted I’m probably not quite going to completemy April-June TBR, but I’m going to come pretty damn close!

This week in blogging

For first time in several weeks, I have managed to return blog comments and visit fellow blog hoppers. I also posted two reviews this week, again the first time I have managed this in a while: Magic Study by Maria V. Snyder and The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David Michie. Not only that, but I have two reviews already scheduled for the coming week as well!

I’ve also started a new series on my writing blog, titled Sunday Sessions. Each week, I’ll reflect on some aspect of writing, whether my own writing or just in general.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

I handed in my last piece of assessment for the semester on Tueday June 6, and it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders. And you probably don’t remember the assignment I was working on at the start of May, that I was quite convinced I’d fail… but I got a78 for it! Which may not sound like much depending on where you study, but at my university 80 is a high distinction.

This week in health and fitness

Fitness has taken a back seat the last few weeks, and I know I need to pick it up again. I always feel so much better when I’m exercising regularly and eating well. My restart was going to be this week, but then I got sick. I’m hoping that I’ll be back on my feet soon enough and able to continue with this journey. 

That’s my week. How are you going? 

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Sunday Summary – April 16, 2017

I know, I know, two posts in one day! But today did seem the most appropriate day for my previous post, being the end of the month, and since I didn’t do a Sunday Summary post last week, I wanted to get one done today. So here we are!

This week in writing

I finished the first draft of Memories and Magic nearly two weeks ago now. It came in at about 51k. It needs a lot of revisions and I can envisage it getting up around 60k or so in further drafts. I have been thinking about a possible sequel and doing a bit of brainstorming for that. I’m also considering doing the Story a Day in May challenge again, so watch this space tomorrow!

this week in reading

I’ve finished quite a few things over the last couple of weeks. You can read my April Wrap Up here for a full list. Hoping to get a bit further with my challenges over the next month!

This week in blogging

Because I’ve been so busy with uni work over the last couple of weeks, I ended up taking a mini hiatus from blogging, so that I didn’t feel the weight of needing to visit other people. I’m also a bit behind on reading, which has left me a bit behind on reviewing. But after tomorrow, I’ll be much less stressed about uni, so I’ll be able to start making up for my absence.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

My 4000-word report is due tomorrow. I’ve got the thing written, I’ve just got to go through and add in references (I did a lot of reading and then just keyboard-smashed, so the references need to be inserted). It’s not my best work, but given how stressed I was about this a week ago, I’m just glad to get it in. I’ve done the maths, and I’d have to do pretty freaking badly for a mark on this one paper to lead to failing the whole course.

This week in health and fitness

Heh. Once again, I have gained back the weight I lost at the start of the month. It’s easy to blame Easter, but it’s really my own lack of willpower at times like Easter that does it. And when colleagues bring chocolate fudge in to work. However, now that I’ve finished the Beginners calendar on Blogilates, I can follow along with the monthly calendars, which means that there won’t be a gap while I’m waiting for new exercises. I’m hoping keeping consistent with that will keep me consistent overall.

Other highlights this week

My partner and I have had two great theatre outings this week. The first was to The Play That Goes Wrong, a West End comedy that I had wanted to see ever since seeing a scene from it on the Royal Variety Performance back in 2015. The second was a stage adaptation of Dracula by shake & stir theatre, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that it has been a long time since a piece of theatre affected me so much. I was still pacing around my kitchen an hour after we returned home because I was all a-buzz. Just the way the set, lighting and sound design all interacted with the performers made for an incredible show. I’ll stop gushing now but here’s the ad to give you just a glimpse of it:

That’s my week. How are you going? 

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Sunday Summary – April 16, 2017

 

This week in writing

The official ending (by which I mean, the actual last chapter/scene/line, not the general ending) of Magic and Memories is eluding me! I kind of know roughly what I’m after, but getting there is hard. I did write 2509 words this week, though.

I also had a very vague idea for a sequel last night. So maybe I could work on that when I finally put this one in a drawer for a few weeks. Though I also saw the new Beauty and the Beast movie on Friday night and now I want to write something sweeping and romantic.

this week in reading

I finished both The Man from Snowy River by Elyne Mitchell on audio and Soulless by Gail Carriger. I wasn’t as into Soulless as I had hoped, but The Man from Snowy River was a really fun adventure! I’ve now go two contemporary YA novels on the go at once, and I keep getting them slightly confused.

This week in blogging

I have responded to all blog hop participants and comments on my own blog. Woo! I have a review of Soulless scheduled for tomorrow, too, and I should be finished reading The Secret Science of Magic by Melissa Keil in time to review that for Friday.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

I did some study work yesterday but I have suddenly realised how close the due date for my 4000-word report is. So I am going to have to spend a lot of my free evenings working on that this week and the next. I also realised I have a small research proposal for my other class due this week and I have no idea what I want to research! Ahhh!

This week in health and fitness

I wasn’t expecting much in terms of weight loss this week, seeing as how I have been eating a fair amount of chocolate and according to my own logging, I wasn’t really creating a calorie deficit. So imagine my surprise when I discovered I had lost 800g this week! I’m also six days out from finishing the Blogilates beginners calendar, and I have really toned up thanks to it. I’ll post some progress shots next week after I finish it.

Other highlights this week

Remember a while back I said to watch this space for an ‘OMG YOU GUYS I’M GOING TO NEPAL!” announcement. Well, I spoke to my doctor about the trek I wanted to do on Wednesday, and she has some advice for me to go on with in the lead-up, but essentially “OMG YOU GUYS I’M GOING TO NEPAL!” In 12 months, which is ages, and it feels so abstract that I am not the slightest bit excited by it yet, but it is happening. This is the trek: click the banner to read more.

That’s my week. How have you been doing? 

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Sunday Summary – April 09, 2017

 

This week in writing

This was a bit of a slow writing week; I only wrote on three out of seven nights. There were various reasons for this but I won’t bore you with them here. I did hit 50k, though! I noticed some structural issues which were going to be too hard to fix as part of the current draft, so I’ve sort of skipped over a section of the story with the intention of fixing that all in the next version.

this week in reading

I finished both Puberty Blues by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey on audio and Walpiri Women’s Voices in print this week. I have started listening to The Man from Snowy River by Elyne Mitchell and reading Soulless by Gail Carriger.

This week in blogging

I have responded to the WWW participants but not to WIPpeteers! Oops! I only realised this this afternoon. However, I do have it on my Habitica to-do list and I’m hoping to still make it around before I reset the linky on Tuesday. I reviewed Puberty Blues on Friday and have a review of Walpiri Women scheduled for tomorrow.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

This was the first week of the mid-semester teaching break so I didn’t have tutorial questions to answer or anything like that. I intended to do some more work on my significance report this weekend than I ended up doing, but I have reserved some relevant books at the library and will try to spend a few nights after work doing some research. By Easter weekend I will hopefully be able to start writing. It’s a 4000 word report due May 01.

This week in health and fitness

Not much in terms of weight loss this week (I over-ate the last couple  of , but it was really exciting to take a “two weeks in” photo and compare with the photo I took before I started doing the Blogilates workouts. Even after two weeks, there was an obvious difference in how I looked. I’m already more toned. So that has motivated me to really keep going with the routines. Yay!

That’s me for this week. How have you all been doing?

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Sunday Summary – April 02, 2017

 

This week in writing

I didn’t quite make my goal of reaching 50k on Memories and Magic (this did have a “with” on the beginning of the title, but I’ve decided it’s better without) by the end of March, but I did reach 49k today! I wrote a total of 3031 words this week, which is the best I’ve done for a while. I have no idea how long this draft is going to be! The villain is still decidedly not defeated! While I have no qualms about A More Complicated Fairytale being on the shorter end of the novel spectrum, I am pleased that this one will be closer to the standard. I’ll  keep working away at this one, and hopefully the end will be in sight, maybe by the end of this month!

this week in reading

I finally finished A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab. As I’ve already mentioned here, I think that will be my last Schwab book, as I’m just not that into her. I also finished He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly, which I won in a GoodReads giveaway. It reminded me both why I love the thriller genre and why it sometimes annoys me.

This week in blogging

This is how a good blogger behaves! I replied to all the comments on my Wednesday post and visited both WWW participants and WIPpeteers by Thursday evening. I also got my Conjuring of Light review up on Friday, and have my he Said/She Said review scheduled for Monday. I’m on the ball!

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

I nearly didn’t hand in my assignment on time on Tuesday! but I realised with a couple of hours to spare, and got it submitted Tuesday morning. After that, I didn’t really do a whole lot of study, though I did do some reading yesterday and find a few resources for my next major assignment.

This week in health and fitness

I weighed myself yesterday for the first time in a few weeks and am pleased to report I have lost the weight that I had re-gained. I think (hope) that I have found my stride and I should be able to keep up that momentum. I have made myself another 5kg in 3 months goal, so hopefully this time, I will be successful!

That’s me for this week. How have you all been doing?

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Sunday Summary – March 26, 2017

 

This week in writing

This week felt so much better after having a week’s rest. I’m back to working on With Memories and Magic, and I’m feeling it again! I did an extra writing session today, for a total weekly word count of 3227, which is my highest weekly total since mid-February. I’m hoping to reach 50k by the end of March!

this week in reading

I’m still going with  A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab. It’s enjoyable when I’m reading it, but I’m not itching to pick it up again whenever I’m not.  I’ve also started He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly, which I won in a GoodReads giveaway. I wanted to read something in hard copy during my study breaks today, as taking a break from the computer to read ACOL on the tablet seemed counter-productive. I’m not far enough into it yet to really have an opinion.

This week in blogging

While I responded to comments on this blog, that’s about all I managed this week. I had study commitments taking up most of my time, meaning visitng other people’s  blogs barely even occurred to me. This coming week will have to be a “do better” week. Since I haven’t been finishing any books, any reviews are delayed, too. Boo.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

Today I finished the Linguistics paper I have due on Tuesday. For a while I thought it was going to be an “Ahh, I don’t have enough to say!”- type paper, but then I ended up meeting the word limit without too much trouble. I need to start thinking about my two big assignments soon, as time will start getting away from me and I won’t have anything planned.

This week in health and fitness

This week has been “get my shit back together” week. For the most part, I ate better (there were a couple of not-so-great days) and on Thursday I started the Beginners calendar from a blog I just discovered, Blogilates, hosted by Cassey Ho. I’m going to try doing the four week program without any additional exercise and see how I look/feel at the end. I also plan on weighing in for the first time in a while on April 1, so stay tuned next week for that result.

Highlights this week

Despite neither of being huge fans of stand-up comedy, my partner and I decided to go along to a couple of Canberra Comedy Festival shows this weekend. The first one we saw was called Women Can’t Take a Joke, and it was an all-women lineup. There were some acts we liked better than others, but overall it was fun. Last night, we went along to the Clean Comedy Spectacular, which was actually more our thing, since things like dick jokes and swearing don’t really appeal.

That’s me for this week. How have you all been doing?

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Sunday Summary – March 19, 2017

 

This week in writing

This was one of those weeks where I could either do work at work, or I could do work such as writing at home. And there was also some uni work thrown in there. I was just not going to manage both. Obviously, I have no choice about those two things, so writing had to be put on the backburner. Honestly, I think it was a good thing. While I haven’t quite written all the scenes that are in my head for my contemporary Wizard of Oz retelling, I’ve returned to With Memories and Magic and I’m feeling really motivated, which is a sign the break I’ve taken was exactly what I needed. I met with some writing friends today and wrote 1000 words on it, and it was in a scene that was causing me trouble before I took the break. so that’s a sign it was exactly what I needed.

this week in reading

In the couple of weeks since my last Sunday Summary, I’ve polished off a whole heap of books. Even with some disctractions, I still feel I’m doing reasonably well on my March TBR. Yesterday I finally started A Conjuring of Light by V. E. Schwab, the third and final book in the Shades of Magic series. I’ve been a bit apprehensive because I was disappointed by the second book, but so far, so good!

This week in blogging

While I am yet to visit the WIPpet Wednesday blogs for this week, it is still on my radar. I have it on my Habitica to do list for the week, which should mean it gets done either later tonight or tomorrow. I did, however, reply to all comments on my blog and receiprocate WWW Wednesday comments. I’ve also updated my 2017 Reading Challenges pages. I have a review scheduled for tomorrow but I’m not sure I’ll have finished reading anything in time for a review to be scheduled for Friday.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

Here’s an ephiphany I had today: doing the assigned reading can help you understand the terminologies being discussed in class! What a surprise! I’m  shocked! Not really, of course, but I was reminded of it the hard way today, after angsting for a couple of weeks about not understanding a particular framework then realising there was a reading on it two weeks ago. I didn’t get quite as much done as I’d hoped today, given that I spent from 1pm to 8pm at the library, but I’ve given myself some good groundwork to continue with the next assignment, so I’m actually feeling pretty motivated and on track.

This week in health and fitness

I’m actually not going to address this topic at the moment. I’ve sort of fallen off the wagon, I guess, but I’ll be reassessing my goals on April 1 and then I’ll go from there.

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Highlights this week

This week at work, staff received a talk from a very inspirational woman named Lucy Perry. While the title of the talk was Focus on Leadership, a lot of what she spoke about was women’s rights, and the work she has done with leading charitable non-profit organisations. I came out of it feeling incredibly inspired, and requested an info pack for the 2018 Trek for Rights event being run through Inspired Adventures in conjunction with UN Women. I have sent off an email with a few more questions, so there’s no firm commitment yet, but hey, in a few weeks, this section might be reading “OMG I’M GOING TO NEPAL, YOU GUYS!”

That’s me for this week. How have you all been doing?

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Sunday Summary – March 05, 2017

 

This week in writing

As stated in my previous Sunday Summary, this week I started work on my contemporary Wizard of Oz retelling, which was titled The Yellow Brick Roadhouse until I realised that a roadhouse was not the word I wanted (i.e. for a boarding house/hostel-type thing). So now I’m title-less and have to think of another pun. I’m still finding the right voice for it so I’ve only written 1952 words this week, but it’s getting there. I’m just writing scenes as they come to me, rather than trying to write in order with this one.

this week in reading

I finished the utterly charming A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty on audio this week. I have already got the next two books from the library (my library’s Overdrive didn’t have them, sadly) and I plan to start them as soon as I’ve finished Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan. This is a good sequel to Unspoken in some ways, but in others, it feels like barely anything is reallly happening. BTW. my March TBR has pretty much gone out the window. I don’t know why I even bothered writing one, really.

This week in blogging

I got back on my game of visiting all the WIPpeteers within an hour on Friday night. This is something I need to keep up as we move further into the semester, as blogging time is going to be at a minimum over the next few months. I visited the WWW participants whom I follow and who commented on my post, but didn’t visit any additional ones. It’s about quality, not quantity, though, right? I’ve got my A Corner of White review scheduled for tomorrow and I’m hoping that I’ll have one for Untold scheduled for Friday.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

Well, I’ve made a start! And I have a to do list. I spent about four hours at the library yesterday, but wifi was not on my side, and while I had a few things downloaded in advance, turned out it was not quite everything I needed. I also got up early this morning and finished the worksheet that is due tomorrow, so I’m feeling not too bad.

This week in health and fitness

As I mentioned last week, I’ve decided to start weighing myself on a Monday rather than a Sunday for various reasons, so I don’t have a figure for you today. But I’ve exceeded 10k steps every day this week, and reached my 5 day exercise goal. My eating habits were reasonably good but I didn’t log everything I ate every day (particularly Friday, when I had three pieces of brownie). Time will tell, thouugh, how this all balanced out, I guess!

Other Highlights This Week

On Friday I had a job interview for the position I’m acting in now (hence the three brownies). If I’m successful in this recruitment process, the position would then become my permanent one. I don’t think it could have gone much better! As far as I can tell, I gave strong answers and gave good examples for all the questions, and I managed not to ramble too much (and when I did ramble, I picked myself up on it, stopped and said, “Sorry, let me go back here.”). Hopefully that will get me high on the list of suitable candidates. The issue is not so much that I would be deemed unsuitable for this one, just that several of my colleagues also applied and are equally suitable. I don’t envy my managers having to make this decision.

That’s me for this week. How have you all been doing?

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Sunday Summary – February 26, 2017

 

This week in writing

This week hasn’t been a good one for writing, unfortunately. I have been exhausted by work, and on top of that became quite stuck on a scene in With Memories and Magic, so I went three nights without touching it. When I thought about it, I realised I’ve been working on this draft for about four months straight, and longer if you consider the work I did on Operation: Sugarplum before expanding the story into its current form. No wonder it was starting to get hard.

With that being the case, I decided to ditch my previous goal of having the first draft finished by the end of February and starting a new project in March. Instead, I started banging out some words on a Wizard of Oz retelling I have planned, titled The Yellow Brick Roadhouse. So far my total words for this week is only 1184, but I haven’t written yet today, so my weekly total will hopefully be a bit higher than that.

This week in reading

I’m nearly finished The Fearless Traveler’s Guide to Wicked Places by Peter Begler. I’ve enjoyed it for the most part but I do wonder if the target middle-grade audience would find it a bit long and boring? After this, I plan to read the two books I’ve had from the library for ages, Untold, the second book in the Lynburn Legacy series by Sarah Rees Brennan and Adverbs by Daniel Handler.

This week in blogging

I did well on this front this week! I visited all the WIPpeteers and returned all the comments from WWW Wednesday participants that I received. I also managed to reply to all the comments received on my Wednesday post.

I have a March TBR post scheduled for Wednesday and was hoping I might have finished Fearless Travellers in time to post the review tomororw, but that will be done by Friday.

THIS WEEK IN STUDY

Semester one for the year has commenced! And I’ve done absolutely nothing so far! But I have some good news. I only found out this week that I received some credits from undergraduate course, meaning I have only seven (possibly eight, I’m waiting for confirmation) courses left in my MA. As I had already decided to attempt doing two courses per semester again, this means I could be finished by halfway through 2018, rather than 12 months after that, which was the previous best-case scenario.

This week in health and fitness

This week has been another bleh one, but I’ve got my partner serious about our health again this week, and we’ve got healthy meals prepared for the  next week or so. As a result, I’m hoping to see some serious change.

I’ve also decided to start weighing myself on a Monday morning from March, rather than Sunday. I don’t  know if it will make much difference, but in theory I’ll have been to the gym at least once in the two days preceding that, so I might see a bigger change.

That’s me for this week. How have you all been doing?

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