Hello, friends! I had a pretty busy July. A lot of my month was scheduled around and related to my trip to Virginia! For about two weeks, I was traveling to/from and staying with my aunt and cousins in Virginia. More on that to come, so let’s go through the list!

academic

This month I’ve been reading ThePenguin Book of First World War Poetry. As my professor told me when suggesting this book, the poetry of WWI really captures the essence of people’s attitudes during that time. I’ve learned a lot about how dynamic people’s attitudes were during the war, which will help me develop diverse characters in my novel.

activities

Since this month was so busy, I only worked the first half of the month and then took a couple weeks off for my trip to Virginia. This was my first real break of the summer, and it’s been nice to have the chance to relax.

creative

The month of July is Camp NaNoWriMo! If you didn’t know, NaNoWriMo is a writing event that occurs every November, during National Novel Writing Month. During the month, writers try to write 50,000 words on whatever project they’re working on.  But that’s only in November. Throughout the rest of the year, the organization that does NaNo every November also puts on “camp” versions of the writing challenge, once during April and again in July. During the camps, you can participate with friends or fellow writers, where you set your own word counts and join cabins together to keep each other accountable.

I’ve tried NaNo a few times and never finished – unsurprisingly, this time was no different. With the disruption of my trip and everything that went into it, I really only worked on NaNo at the beginning of the month. However, I did succeed in small ways, of which I’m very proud. I finished the first act of my novel, Louna, which is ten scenes and roughly 30 pages. I’ll talk more about acts and structure in another post/video, but basically, my main character has accepted her call to action and the real drama of the story can begin!

I also filmed a short little video for my channel. It’s the Story Ideas Writing Tag, so if you like writing and you like tags, you’ll maybe enjoy it. Here’s the link.

I’ve also just released my Virginia vlog so check that out as well. It’s a little snippet of my trip, where I tried to capture the essence of my experience.

inspiration

At the beginning of July, I got really into This Might Get, the show by Grace Helbig and Mamrie Hart on YouTube. When I say I got into it, I mean really into it. As in, I binged the entire series that was out at the time (roughly 90 episodes), and I’ve been keeping up with it ever since. Grace and Mamrie are some of my favorite YouTubers, and their show is absolutely hilarious. The episodes are short, so if you need a quick laugh, I’d definitely recommend.

In addition to This Might Get, I also binged all of Queer Eye on Netflix, in which 5 gay men make over the lives of people who need it. I’m obsessed with interior design, I love seeing transformations, and I adored how this show addressed important subjects in a very accessible and normalized way. I cried in almost every episode, sometimes multiple times. I would definitely recommend this show if you love funny gays, character development, and heartwarming content.

On my trip with my cousins, I watched Mama Mia! for the first time. It’s such a fun film, and the sequel, which we saw together, lives up to the entertainment of its predecessor. I’m ready to move to Greece and start a girls’ group.

Near the end of my trip, I stopped by St. Augustine and hung out with my best friend Ray. Together, we saw Ocean’s Eight and it was fantastic. I was a little surprised because I heard so many reviews saying it wasn’t that good. But it was fun, it was empowering, inspiring, cunning, and just a really great time. A movie doesn’t have to have mind-blowing effects or a convoluted plot to be entertaining. It had strong, diverse, and unique characters, that made me really consider the possibilities of criminal life if this English degree doesn’t work out.

While I’ve been wrapped up in research and all that, I made a goal last month to start reading more for fun this summer. I decided to go all in for this goal and read the 700 page Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare. I’ve loved the Shadowhunters stories since I started them in middle school, and Cassandra never disappoints. My plane rides gave me lots of opportunities to read, and as usual, Cassandra Clare’s writing reads so fast. Considering the book came out last summer, I figured it was time to read it, especially before the final book in the series comes out. As expected, this story was enticing and entertaining. I finished the whole book, and I’ll be slowly dying until the next one comes out in December.

personal

So the main event! As I’ve said 500 times, I went to Virginia this month. I wanted to visit Virginia for two major reasons: I wanted to visit University of Virginia and I wanted to visit my family before they move. After I get my undergrad degree at Flagler, I have the option of going to grad school to get my MFA in Creative Writing. One program that really interested me was UVA’s MFA program, so I wanted to check out the school and see how I felt about it. My cousin goes to school there currently, so he gave me a tour. I also wanted to visit my family who lives in Virginia since they’re moving; my aunt and uncle are relocating to the Mediterranean for work, while both of my cousins are in college, one continuing at UVA, and the other starting at Southwestern University in Texas.

On Monday July 16th, I drove to Orlando, where I spent the night with my roommate/best friend’s family, who drove me to the airport on Tuesday. Why Orlando? Well, it was cheaper, I could leave my car there without paying for parking, and I was supposed to attend a concert in Orlando right after my trip, but that concert was cancelled. This was my first flight alone, so I’m very fortunate it went well (at least my flight there did). I flew to Virginia on Tuesday,  where my cousin Thayer picked me up, and later, we picked our other cousin Lindsey up. Lindsey and I both live in Tallahassee, but we flew separately because I left from Orlando. We like to complicate things.

For a week, we hung out together, visiting DC, UVA, Harper’s Ferry, and, of course, the mall. Lots more details are in my vlog, but for now, just know that it was amazing. I loved the sights, the weather, and the atmosphere of the Virginia area. I also loved getting to spend time with my cousins, especially before all these big life changes start happening.

While my initial flight back to Orlando on July 24th, was cancelled, I got a refund and a new flight the next day. I was blessed enough to get to stay with my family an extra day, which I used to catch up on YouTube and work on this blog post! After flying back to Orlando July 25th, I drove up to St. Augustine and stayed with Ray for the evening. Then I drove home to Tally on the 26th, and tackled my pile of laundry.

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That’s what I’ve been up to this month. Did any of you try or succeed at Camp NaNo? Any good travel stories? Comment and let me know. Feel free to like and follow if you enjoyed this content.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!