Monthly Highlights - November 2016

   November literally flew by. I don't think I've ever felt like I lost so many days so quickly. I blame NaNoWriMo for everything. December ought to be less hectic.

   Anyways. I was too lazy (... or busy ... *shrugs*) to keep good track of everything that happened this month. We'll see how much I can track down and tell you guys about ...

   - Thanksgiving. Obviously. Much food (PIE), board+video games (Settlers of Catan, you guys <3), and singing. It was a blast. And I tried Turkish Delight for the first time! It is ... not what Narnia makes it out to be. But it was okay *shrugs*.  It's kinda like sticky, fruity candy covered in powdered sugar - depending on what flavor you eat.

turkish delight and me *nodnod* I personally like the green ones best

   - My younger sister (Skylar) played in her orchestra's concert and it was so fun to watch her perform (even if we already knew the songs - because she practiced like mad at home, dedicated thing that she is). She's crazy talented on the violin, I love listening to her play. Especially if it's a Narnia/Lord Of The Rings song - not that I'm biased xD.  

   - We set up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving! We were too excited to wait much longer than that - putting up the Christmas tree (and starting to play Christmas music - which I did the day before Thanksgiving xD) heralds in the Christmas season for us, and it's so much fun to do.

   - NaNoWriMo consumed everything for most of the month. But that's for the nest section ...

   - NaNoWriMo. That's honestly it. It took up all the writing things - I had no time for anything else! But at least I hit 50k, so yay for me xD.
   It was exhausting and hard, but most definitely worth it. And I was part of the most epic Google Hangout ever - we were all insane and hyper and super encouraging there. Definitely wouldn't have made it without them *highfives to all my Hangout buddies*
   I actually don't have much to say for this bit. Lots of madly banging on the keyboard and hoping words come out + insane conversation with friends when all my brain cells had been killed by words. It was lots of fun, and I'll definitely be doing it again next year xD.

   *blinks* Wait, I feel like I've forgotten something ... oh, snippets! *sighs* Oh gracious me. Alright, well, I guess I said I'd give you guys some (in an earlier post), so here they are. Entirely unedited, so don't judge.
   *takes a deep breath and shares the words*

   *looks at the snippets*

   *decides to pretend I never showed you* Carry on.

   *blinks*

   Yeah, so compared to last month's 29-or-so books, this is a pretty pitiful amount. But you know what's to blame for that ;). At least they were all pretty good books! I'll give you my thoughts on a couple of them ...

   - Some Kind Of Happiness (by Claire Legrand) I got this because the lovely Katie Grace raved about it crazy much, so I figured there must be something to it xD. And OH MY there was. I loved this book - and it's not the type of book I would normally read. I didn't want it to end, but at least the end was so well done. Definitely deserved the 5 stars I gave it (AND it was the only five star book I read this month *nodnod*).

   - Howl's Moving Castle (by Diana Wynne Jones) I still owe it to Tracey, Christine, and Deborahhttps://deborahocarroll.wordpress.com/ for pestering getting me to read this book. It is epicness and I love it so much. The characters are so amazing and quirky, and even as a third time re-read, I was still able to give it 4 1/2 stars. Which is a big deal because 1) I don't normally re-read books and 2) when I do, they normally get much lower ratings. But this book didn't get a low rating because it is epic, obviously.

   Ooh, also, I won another book this month! My friend Hosanna was having a giveaway for her novella, The Mystery Of The Midnight Trespasser and I was super stoked to win it - it looks great on my shelf and I'm excited to re-read her lovely book. You could should check it out, I think it would be a fun to read aloud to siblings (not that I ever would - I'm terrible at reading aloud xD).

   - Mary Horton got hacked (well, sort of, anyways. She basically knew what we were doing xD) by her friends from the Hangout. It was a blast to write this post congratulating her on beating NaNoWriMo, so go check that out *nodnod*.

   - Sarah Margaret's blog also got (kinda) hacked - and it was a Narnia post for her birthday. There was SO much excitement surrounding the making of this group post. 

   - My friend Hanna Rothfuss did one beautiful post about adoption after another ... and then she did another :D. She's an epic writer, go check her out, too.

   - Hannah White did an amazing post about comparison. Basically all her posts are goals and she's so crazy inspiring all the time. You all need to go follow her *shoos you away*

   - Abbie told everyone why they should play a musical instrument. And now I kinda want to get more serious about piano and violin again ...

   - Liv Fisher did a review on Fantastic Beats and Where To Find Them - a movie I really want to watch *nodnod*

   - Evangeline Yackel did an awesome post about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I still have very mixed feelings about that book.

   - Morning had the EPIC idea to put together an end-of-the-year blogger yearbook. So hurry up and jump over to her blog so that you can be a part of that, because you are not going to want to miss out on this.

   - My friend Micaiah is starting an Advent series on her blog that looks like it's going to be fun + she's having a giveaway, so you'll definitely want to check that out.

   - Abi Ellison is RELEASING A BOOK *shrieks happily* She shares the release date in this post here, so go check that out and remember that date ;).

   EDIT: (yes, my goldfish memory is coming into play again, but I had to add this xD) - Hanna also posted the first part of Catania's Forest, a serial story she wrote. It's a retelling of The Little Drummer Boy that she'll be posting through out December. *shoos you away to read that*

   -- Last month's goals -- 

   - Ace NaNoWriMo. It happened, it happened, you guys! *dies*  *does not think about All. The. Editing. that will have to happen*

   - No requesting library books. HA, no xD. I just couldn't help it! ... but at least I only got a few *shrugs*.

   -- This month's goals --

   - ... not making goals this month. I'll just let things happen as they do. It's Christmas season - which either means lounging around and reading a book or panicking about last-minute things that still need to get done. 

   Hopefully it is the former xD. 

   (because we all know that I'm constantly rambling xD)

   Actually, I don't have anything super planned out for December. I'll probably being joining in the Beautiful People linkup and I have a book (an anthology call 'Once') that I'm supposed to review, but other than that I have no idea. I'll just go with the flow *nodnod*.

   So THAT was the insanely writer-ly November of mine. Hope you guys had a good one, too - and I hope that it was a little less crazy than mine was xD.

~ Savannah Grace

How was your November? Tell me of all your adventures! And what are some posts that you guys want me to do in December?