After taking three days off from working on my novel and blogging it’s time to reflect on the month. Every time I participate in a NaNoWriMo event I always swear it’ll be the last and it is the last time until I forget how crazy it makes me. lol
This year Camp Nano was definitely complicated by undeserving drama in my personal life. All of this taught me I can write through hurricanes, but now after two days of not working I’m still tired. I still don’t have a title for Book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga. Though, I do have a good idea of the next 2-4 books in the series. Some exciting things are in store of the Hemlock Wolves and their mates. Also, some danger brews in the future. To be honest, I’ve spent a lot of the last two days staring into space and daydreaming about future scenes.
Camp NaNoWriMo was fun for the most part. Mostly, it just proved to me I can write through almost anything if I have an idea I’m passionate about. I met my word count and surpassed my word count goal for the month, but I still have a third of the book to write. So, it’s a victory, but it feels like such an odd time to celebrate.
April was my busiest month of 2019 so far.
I’m relieved April is over, but tomorrow I’ll go back to writing on book 5 of the Hemlock Wolf Pack Saga.
When I announced to my friends I was not only participating in Camp NaNoWriMo in April 2019, but also participating in Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon and a month long readathon I got some weird looks. Ever since I was a kid, my life revolved around stories. Telling them, reading them, imagining how everything could be different if one thing changed. What I couldn’t predict was the drama coming into my life in April. I planned to read a book for all of the prompts in O.W.L.s Magical Readathon, but that didn’t happen.
The announcement video. This is full of information. Yes, schedule willing I’ll participate in the N.E.W.T.s as well in August 2019.
So What Did I Read for O.W.L’s Magical Readathon?
I’m happy to announce I did meet the requirements for my Journalist/Writer path. So, as long as I get my N.E.W.T.s in August I’ll be good to go. Let’s talk about the requirements for my chosen path first.
I needed:
History of Magic: Read a book published at least 10 years ago.
Muggles Studies: Read a contemporary novel
One other O.W.L. of my choice: I chose Astronomy which mean I needed to read a book with ‘star’ in the title.
History of Magic O.W.L.
For my History of Magic O.W.L. I didn’t have to look far. I read two books this month that met the requirement, but one also met my Herbology requirement.
History of Magic O.W.L. – Check!
I read The Downsiders by Neal Shusterman published in 1999. Yes, I know that doesn’t sound old enough to be for History of Magic, but that’s 20 years ago. I don’t often glance at publication years, because it has the habit of making me feel old. lol But for this challenge I made an exception.
Downsiders was a wonderful YA book about a city built under NYC. In many ways it was a coming of age novel that explored what we believed about ourselves and how complex societal beliefs evolve.
Muggle Studies O.W.L.
I don’t read a whole lot of contemporary fiction, but I do love novels by Catherine Ryan Hyde. She writes emotional fiction in my opinion. I’ve yet to read a book by her that I didn’t enjoy. She also has a few LGBT titles as well.
For my Muggle Studies O.W.L. I read Heaven Adjacent by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It’s another great book by this author. Her writing always pulls at the heart strings and digs into the soul.
Astronomy O.W.L.
For my astronomy O.W.L. I read The Chaos of Stars by Kiersten White. This was a modern take on Egyptian mythology that did not fail to entertain.
Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L.s: Read a book with a land animal on the cover.
Maggie Hemlock Books 