What an absolutely crazy week! It’s one of those weeks where you feel like your head is spinning. My job has been insane more so than usual, but that’s not the main thing that’s getting to me right now.

My child, my heart, my life . . . is starting high school in 10 days.

I just . . . I can’t . . . HOW DOES THAT EVEN MAKE SENSE! She was just a little baby not that long ago and now she’s starting high school???? It completely blows my mind.

Plus, as I think I have mentioned here before, she has had a lot of issues with school. She was diagnosed with a learning disability and has been put on a new plan in order to help with that, but I still had to withdraw her from school at the end of last year to deal with her anxiety, depression, and suicidal tendencies. It was terrifying. She is doing better now, finally on some medication that is really helping her cope with life, so she should have more things in place to help her with school. Still, it’s a brand new school and a fresh start, which is a good thing, but is also scary as hell.

I will say that her guidance counselor at this new school is great. We met with her during registration and Ash absolutely loved her. So that’s a good thing. She knows she has at least one ally there. Her best friend is also going to the same school, although we don’t know if they will have any classes together yet.

I will be better after Freshman Orientation, which is next Wednesday. Until then, please excuse this little emotional outburst. She’s a difficult kid sometimes, but I love her more than anything.

The blog is still going strong, although I did bust my mini goal of blogging every day in August – I missed last Sunday. Oh well. Not a big deal. It’s been really busy with reviews and blog tours lately. I’ve been reading so much! Which, I have to say, after fighting through reading slumps for the better part of two years, feels really good. Speaking of reading, let’s take a look at that, shall we?

Reading progress August 9-15:

• I read chapters 14 through 28 of Altered by Vicki Stiefel, which finishes that book. Be sure to check out the blog tour going on for it (my post is next week).
• I read pages 43 through 240 of The Art of Taxidermy by Sharon Kernot (I had to keep up with pages as it doesn’t really have chapters), which finishes that book. That review will be coming next week as well.
• I read chapters 34 through 54 of Pharaoh’s Star by Olivia Hardy Ray, which finishes this one too! This is for another blog tour coming up later this month for me, but it also fit into my Disney-A-Thon prompt for reading something dark and/or mysterious.
• I read chapters 3 through 6 of Captive by Aimee Carter. This one has slowed down a bit since starting the Disney-A-Thon, but I’ll get back to it soon.
• I started ISAN by Mary Ting, reading chapters 1 through 15. I’m part of a blog tour for the second book in this series, Helix, so I gotta read the first one first!
• I started Stain by A.G. Howard for my next prompt in the Disney-A-Thon, which was to read a book with a dreamy cover. This one definitely qualifies! I read the prologue through chapter 15.
• I also started Winning Westeros by several authors. It’s a collection of essays and is very different from what I usually read. I found it on NetGalley and figured I’d give it a try. I read the foreward through chapter 6.

Just looking at that makes me tired, but also makes me feel pretty accomplished. And, since I said that I would do this, I figured I’d let you in on my secret for keeping up with all this stuff: reading schedules on big post-it notes in my daily planner. Here is one example:

For each NetGalley review or blog tour, I have a target date of when I want to finish it. For blog tours, of course, the date of my post is assigned. For NetGalley, I try to post my review on the closest Thursday to the release date (since traditionally, my reviews go up on Thursdays, although I’ve posted them other days of the week sometimes too). I try to finish the book two days before I need to post the review, just to give me time to process my thoughts. Then I give myself 10-12 days to get through the book. The post-it has dates and target page numbers for me to get to each day. I do not schedule reading on the weekends, usually keeping the schedule restricted to work days since I can read sometimes at work if it’s not busy. At times, depending on the book, I will get ahead of schedule, or finish the book early – great! More time to spend on books (like Captive, for example) that don’t have a specific deadline.

Yesterday, I had five of these little buggers in my planner. Today I only have three since I finished two books ahead of schedule. Progress!

Is it excessive? Probably. But it works for me and makes me feel productive and organized. I have always loved to-do lists and the ability to cross things off said to-do lists. It settles me. Makes me feel like I’m in control of things when life seems so out of control.

So with that little insight to my psyche, I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Categories: Weekly Wrap-Up

Tags: Weekly Wrap-Up