2023 Wrapup Post: More Reading Than I've Ever Done, ALMOST DONE WITH COLLEGE, Writing (??)
Hi friends! The TIME HAS COME. What time, you ask? The time for that yearly wrapup I do every single year!
I absolutely love these posts--they're such a fun little time capsule for me as a person. I've changed so much since 2017, and it's been super fun to look at the six (6????!!!) years of blogging I've done and see all my change and
Music of 2023
I didn't honestly listen to tons of music this year. I had a few favorite artists and a few genuinely heart-wrenching songs that got me, but I actually ended up getting way way way into podcasts and podcast-style YouTube this year.
Some favorite artists:
- NOAH FREAKING KAHAN. Stick Season (and especially the extended version) is just the story of my life. I actually wish I could still gatekeep Noah Kahan. I don't normally do that with artists, but guys *sobs* guys. So many people listen to Noah Kahan and I KNOW that none of them are from rural New England. The vibes of his music are great regardless of where you're from, but songs like You're Gonna Go Far, Northern Attitude, New Perspective, Homesick...it's the kind of thing that only Noah's target audience are going to fully understand (and that's okay!) As a kid from rural Maine...wow. Wow. Wow.
- PVRIS. Brooke has been trying to convince me to get into PVRIS' music for a very long time, and this year I finally relented. And she was right, of course.
- Fall Out Boy. I've always loved Fall Out Boy, but this year WE GOT A NEW ALBUM and it was everything my emo kid heart could have wanted.
- Fleetwood Mac. I read Daisy Jones & The Six this year and decided to look into the band that inspired the book, and GOSH they lived up to that. Daisy Jones was good and all, but FLEETWOOD MAC. It's just another level. Obsessed with this coked-up band from the '70s and their diss tracks.
- Paris Paloma. I LOVE me a good feminine rage track.
- Gracie Abrams. I haven't really been into the whole sad girl with a guitar genre, but Gracie's lyricism truly hits another level. She's so vulnerable and soft and I just love it with my entire heart.
- Alec Benjamin. Y'all deserve another male singer on this list. Also I love folk-sy boys who sing about their feelings. We need more of that.
Books of 2023
Y'all, this was my biggest reading year since 2018. I wish I were joking. That year I hit 110. This year? ALREADY AT 116 ON THE 16TH OF DECEMBER, BABY. Final count? More than that.
I've already done a ton of posts on my reading for this year, but I'll just tell you all the books I gave five stars this year. These are all books I recommend (not all of them to everybody. I will give content/trigger warnings if they apply; look for the *).
- Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis
- *Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare (normal Shakespeare levels of crudity and sexuality, meaning it's clean if you don't comprehend Shakespearean English and nasty if you do)
- *That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis (extreme violence)
- Miracles by C.S. Lewis (sensing a pattern?)
- Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis (reread)
- Illuminare by Bryn Shutt
- Munich, 1938: David Faber
- Holding on to Hope: Nancy Guthrie
- *The Odyssey by Homer (it's a classic. There's a lot of violence and a lot of nudity, etc. It's ancient Greece)
- *Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games series reread; watch for violence)
- The Two Princesses of Bamarre by Gail Carson Levine (reread)
- *A Name Long Buried by C.M. Banschbach (2nd in a series; pretty intense violence, language, and depictions of PTSD)
- Into the Churn by Hayley Reese Chow
- The Traitor's Game by Jennifer Nielsen
- *The Cruel Prince by Holly Black (reread; some sensual stuff and violence)
- *A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (7th reread; clean but an extreme look at grief)
- *Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (reread; very very intense, with themes of murder, assault, and other very dark elements, but with a LOT of hope)
- *Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross (THIS WAS SO GOOD. Some sensual content but it's also incredibly sweet)
- Becoming Free Indeed by Jinger Duggar Vuolo
- *What is a Girl Worth? by Rachael Denhollander (this is a memoir that is INCREDIBLY intense in dealing with the Larry Nassar case. It's very graphic and very vivid. It hurts to read but it's worth it)
- Of Sea and Smoke by Gillian Bronte Adams
- The Plague by Albert Camus
- *The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black (see The Cruel Prince)
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shafer (the book is way better than the movie)
- The Heart of the Curiosity by H.L. Burke
Writing in 2023
I have issues y'all. I can't write as obsessively as I used to and so I blame myself for that. I did a few projects here and there, but I think I can honestly say this is the first year in a long time I haven't finished a new WIP. That stings a little. But that's okay. Truly.
Because writing isn't about the rush. It's not about the slamming through projects. It's about learning and it's about joy. This has been a year of many, many, MANY doubts and much self-introspection. I wanted to do so much more this year, but I didn't. And I'm realizing: That is okay. I'm allowed to not have a thousand words per day. I'm allowed to struggle with writing. I'm allowed to need time.
Eventually, I will be done with a bestseller.
Here's the handful of little projects I've put together:
- I did a little bit of querying for one of my older WIPs. It didn't get anywhere, but that's okay. I'll be rewriting that draft (yet) again before too long.
- Edits on A Deal of Knives and I really do think I'm going to try to do things with that book someday? We shall see.
- I started slowly but surely working on Dragon Tales and we're at like...60k? I'm not paying much attention to word count this time, because it's not really affecting the actual story. So many rewrites are needed anyway that I can't focus on that.
- Lots of academic writing. When you're an English major, you don't write much fun stuff. But I'm enjoying my academic studies.
Life in 2023
JANUARY: I moved back to college//started bullet journaling//took 17 credits on top of my part time job//at this point, I thought I could do everything
FEBRUARY: saw The Horse and His Boy on stage//deadlifted 80 pounds//hung out with my sister
MARCH: ran a debate tournament//worked more than I've ever worked in my life//hit 800 followers on Insta
APRIL: turned 21//ran a symposium//spent so much time at home
MAY: visited Smoky Mountains National Park//went camping//new job//ran graduation
JUNE: read SO MANY BOOKS//got into audiobooks//hung out with the grandparents//applied for internships (oh well)
JULY: cleaned out my email inbox (this is HUGE y'all)//VBS at my church//vibed//my sister graduated from high school!
AUGUST: helped run a wedding//orientation//hung out at the library
SEPTEMBER: got cast in a play//hospitalized (again)//made SO MUCH MONEY from babysitting
OCTOBER: visited my friend in Missouri//survived Homecoming//went to another friend's wedding//went to the mountains//lots of beauty and lots of amazingness
NOVEMBER: actually, my entire life this month was Clue//I played Yvette (the French maid) and ended up as the accidental stage engineer//still read a ton
DECEMBER: trip to California//home for Christmas//YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
So that's about all for me! Let me know some things that you did in 2023, and maybe your top book or song for the year! I'd love to hear about your life :D
5 comments
Oh my goodness, it's so crazy that you've been blogging for six years! Crazy and awesome. :)
ReplyDeleteAhhh what an amazing reading year! 116 books by the 16th? Congrats!! And SO many good books on your five-star list! To name just two I love...Surprised by Joy is incredible, and I'm hoping to reread it this year. I read Peace Like A River for the first time ever this year, and I LOVED it. Gave it to my mom for her birthday, too. :)
"When you're an English major, you don't write much fun stuff." FACTS. Also true when you're a Landscape Architecture major, although when you're an LA major you don't write much, period. (I wrote a ten-page paper at the end of the semester for one of my professors and that made me so happy, lol.)
"at this point, I thought I could do everything" <<me every time a new semester starts
My sister and I were just talking about how much we wish we lived somewhere we could see the Horse & His Boy stage play! Was it amazing?
Happy New Year! I hope 2024 is a good one for you. :)
I know! I can barely believe it.
DeleteThank you!!! Ended up at 125, somehow (still not sure how). Those are SO good and I'm so glad I read them this year!
Those ten page papers are so fun, haha. I love them.
I'm trying SO hard to battle the ADHD and actually know my limits because fresh me is not the same as midterms me, but IT'S SO HARD
It was so good!!!!! Obsessed with the staging from it :D
You too!!!
Absolutely loved this whole roundup of 2023! Looks like you had a YEAR and did some many incredible things. I'm praying for a blessed 2024 for you, dear Faith. <3
ReplyDeleteI did! Thank you so much :D
DeleteI know I'm so late to this, but I'm glad your year was so full!! ❤️ That's an incredible amount of books, my girl, like WOW. I totally fell off reading in 2023 and maybe read a dozen? If that. XD But I've been getting back into audio and ebooks and have already finished two this year and I'm working on a third. So, hopefully this year, I might make it to two dozen, lol
ReplyDeleteCheering for you!
Alexa
Hello, friends! Do make yourselves comfortable and stay for a while--I'd love to chat with you! I simply ask that you keep it clean. :)