July Wrap Up and August Goals

July sped by so quickly I barely feel like I had time to keep up. July was also a month of rethinking how I structure things, particularly my ROW80/goal setting habits. I think, from now on, I want to use ROW80 more as a structure for setting my monthly and quarterly goals, rather than as it’s own strict goals timeline. I’ll still be posting weekly updates on a Monday, but I’m not sure if I’ll be full on participating with ROW80 in such a structured way. I just don’t think it works with my life.

If you want to see my July goals in detail, you can find them on this posts. But here’s the wrap up:

• Words: 23,242/31,000. I’m so pleased with this result. No, it isn’t 31,000 words, but it’s over 23,000 words that weren’t there at the beginning of the month!
• Books: 8.25/8 books. My reading goals shifted slightly this month with my mood. All in all, I read the following books
  – Clockwork Princess, Cassandra Clare
  – The Bane Chronciles, Cassandra Clare
  – City of Heavenly Fire, Cassandra Clare
  – This Savage Song, V.E. Schwab
  – Our Dark Duet, V.E. Schwab
  – Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor
  – Days of Blood and Starlight, Laini Taylor
  – Wilde Like Me, Louise Pentland
  I also started Dreams of Gods and Monsters, but I’m only 25% of the way through.
• 5/6 chapters uploaded to my CP drive. Again, I’m counting this as a victory.
• 29/31 Instagram posts. I enjoyed the freedom of not following a bookstagram tag for this month, but I’m really excited to do the #ReadWriteRepeat tag hosted by my friend over at Ríona O’Inabha
• 28/29 blog posts. I only missed one post this month, and that was because it was a crazy month filled with crazy things, so I’m not mad about it.

July felt so busy that it sometimes felt like I wasn’t getting anything done. Putting it all down and looking at it now though, July was damn successful! Go me!

August Goals

• Add 20,000 words to Blood of Queens. The story is starting to get well and truly underway, and I’m finding myself excited to sit down and write, so that’s a good sign for productive things to come!
• Read 8 books. So far, my August TBR is:
  – Dreams of Gods and Monsters, Laini Taylor
  – A Darker Shade of Magic, V.E. Schwab
  – A Gathering of Shadows, V.E. Schwab
  – A Conjuring of Light, V.E. Schwab
  – Strange the Dreamer, Laini Taylor
  – Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy, Cassandra Clare
  – Lady Midnight, Cassandra Clare
  – Lord of Shadows, Cassandra Clare
  Obviously, this is pretty optimistic, but I like feeling optimistic and I’m desperate to read all of these books. Also I have a special plan for September so I can’t afford to have these roll over
• Participate in the #ReadWriteRepeat bookstagram tag.
• Continue blogging regularly
• Continue regularly uploading CP chapters

Let me know what you think of my slightly updated goals strategy. I’ll be back next Monday for a check in. Until then, happy reading/writing/blogging/lurking.