April 2023 Wrap-Up

May 2, 2023 Kat Impossible10 Comments

April Wrap-Up

April – on the blog – didn’t really go as planned. It really took me a lot of time to get some content out, but towards the end, I managed to post a bunch of reviews. I’m pleased to still (sorta) be on track with my reading. Let’s dive into what I’ve read this past month! It’s quite the random collection, if I dare say so myself:

You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry (3.75 stars)
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki by Baek Se-hee (3 stars)
Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee (3 stars)
Don’t let the cover for this one fool you. I don’t think I would have picked it up based on the cover alone either.

As per usual, click on the covers to get re-directed to Goodreads, where you are always welcome to add me as a reading buddy! OR find me on StoryGraph, which I adore more and more as an alternative. My own reviews you’re able to find by clicking on the titles in the list above, if there are posts for them.

I think it’s fair to say that I have established a regular reading habit by keeping up my streak of reading at least one page per day for 57 DAYS now! It might not seem like the longest stretches of time, but we all have to start with the little steps to get there. I’m definitely not the fastest reader anymore, but I am consistent. Here’s what my April looked like in terms of pages:

A chart showing the daily pages read in April 2023

In terms of my reading goals, that means I’m right on track with the number of books and still wildly behind when it comes to the number of pages. Reading just 2-4 pages might keep my streak going, but it does not do much to help with my 15,000 page count goal. Maybe I did just aim too high … OR I will make it later this year.

In Other News

April came and went like so many other months. The year started out so slow, but now everything just keeps passing me by. While there were some really stereotypical April days, I think the spring-like weather helped with my mood and just generally spend more time outdoors. That, in turn, helped lower my stress levels and I feel like I ended the month much calmer and with a generally better attitude than in a long time. I just wanna believe that good things are happening.

I Went to Another Book Event

I don’t get to go to very many bookish events where I live, so this was another special one for me. Abla Alaoui is a successful German musical actress with Moroccan roots, who happened to publish her first novel. She currently playing Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical in Vienna and luckily also did her first ever reading there.

With about 70 people present, it still felt like a very intimate affair with loads of her friends from the musical business stopping by. She read quite a few parts of the book and all of them sounded funny and relatable. I’m really looking forward into diving in – which is a rare occasion with German books for me.

You can find more info on “Bissle Spätzle, Habibi?” here.

I (sorta) Participated in Camp NaNo

I signed up, I wrote the first couple of days and then I just forgot about it? I don’t know if you can call it participating or not, but I have 3,721 words more than I had before the month of April, so I will count it as a success. I’m eager to get the first three chapters done as I want to share those with a select few readers before diving further into the story. We shall see how that goes …

An author once told me that they let some trusted people read the first 3 chapters of their WIP and then determine whether to continue, change stuff or scrap it.

So … would any of my moots be interested in reading some BUB chapters? They're not done YET, but just checking? 👀 pic.twitter.com/DpzCirrINk

— Kat(ja) 🔮🌙✨ (@Kat_Impossible) April 14, 2023

I Got a Bit Obsessed with TikTok

Yeah, I downloaded TikTok. Yeah, I now have an account (which you can find here) and it really sucked me in the way I always knew it would. Since I’m not really focused on creating content – I’m just messing about with that part a little bit and have already managed to have terrible timing with the videos I did make – I really like what the algorithm has put together for me. So far, it’s fun! I think, as long as I don’t let it take over my life, it should be fine!

I Fell in Love with Movies Again

This might sound weird, but I don’t know if any of you actually know what my job in Berlin was. Either way, to this day, it was my favorite job I ever had. I was part of the distribution chain for movies and I loved going to the cinema. I’ve lost that sense of wonder about movies a little in the past couple of years, but I got to watch an Austrian film and I just fell in love all over again. I found a trailer with subtitles and it’s a really quirky one, but I’m so glad I got to see it on the screen and see my city be utterly romanticized.

MY OTHER POSTS

TV SHOW/MOVIE RELATED

TRAILER POSTS

I hope you’ve had a fantastic and relaxed start into the month of May! Did the uptick in sunshine hours also help you get some motivation back? Let’s chat!

April 2022 Wrap-Up

April 30, 2022 Kat Impossible27 Comments

April, true to its name, was a wild month for me. I really surprised myself with the amount of books I read, even though I’m still a couple books behind what I wanted to achieve. I’ve been working hard on getting ready for the next installment in the reading experiment series and I ~~think~~ hope you will all love it! Let’s take a look at some books I devoured:

One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid (4 stars)
In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan (1 star)
Utter nonesense.
For Every One by Jason Reynolds (5 stars)
So beautiful and timely for me, I broke out into tears.
Notes on Camp by Susan Sontag (3 stars)
Not entirely applicable today anymore, but still interesting enough.
You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense by Charles Bukowski (2 stars)
A reread that didn’t work any better the second time around.
Essays in Love by Alain de Botton (2 stars)
As much as I like de Botton’s style of writing, I do not vibe with his statements.
Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield (4 stars)
A really beautiful tribute to a loved one.
My Policeman by Bethan Roberts (2.5 stars)
Pretty iffy for the most part.

As per usual, click on the covers to get re-directed to Goodreads, where you are always welcome to add me as a reading buddy! OR find me on Storygraph, where I’m more active this year. My own reviews you’re able to find by clicking on the titles in the list above, if there are posts for them.

In terms of stats, I’m really on top of my reading goals and even have some leeway. However, and this is my predicament, I’m quite on a time crunch with three more books, which I sort of have to finish by May 15. I don’t know if I took on too much, but I’m going to try my best to get it done. Maybe the above list partly gives away who the reading experiment will be about, but I just cannot wait to actually share it with you!

Reading stats taken from The Storygraph App for my progress on my yearly reading goals

I’ve complained a lot these past months and you know what? I just don’t wanna do that anymore. April was full of surprises – some good, some bad – and that’s just how life goes sometimes. It wasn’t my most creative month in terms of blogging, writing or drawing, but I can feel that hunger coming back. That need to write down a story or capture an image in my own style. I’d say that’s a good sign and maybe if things calm down a little over the summer, I’ll get a chance to do more again.

Speaking of summer – I’ve made quite the plans for myself. I want to teach myself how to rollerskate! I know how to iceskate … in theory. I haven’t done it in a really long time, but I need to get back into finding activities to do outside. And while I really enjoy my regular trips to the zoo, as soon as the weather gets better it’s just packed and I have no desire to be among the masses. So … now I just need to find a shop that sells rollerskates here (harder than you might think), because I don’t want to order them online and gamble on the size fitting.

MY FAVORITES OF THE MONTH

This VERY clearly has to go to Heartstopper! I cannot remember the last time I was so enarmored with a show and felt so happy watching it. At first, I was a bit worried that I might be too old for it and that it might hinder me from really getting into it, but I ended up just falling head over heels for the entire thing.

The main cast of the show Heartstopper — credit: Netflix

A lot of the time these days, queer representation in media is either super traumatic, dark and gritty or glorifies the coming out experience that is rare for most people in real life. With Hearstopper, it really felt like they balanced genuine struggles with wholesome and positive vibes. You knew not everything was going to be sunshine and rainbows all the time, but simultaneously, it had a precious and uplifting message. I’m glad kids growing up now get to see content like it. Also, I have officially adopted Nick Nelson as my fictional son. I’m sure his brother August Flynn will be happy to welcome him in the family.

Nick Nelson portrayed by Kit Connor — credit: Netflix, he’s just my fave!

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOGOSPHERE

Please also visit some fellow bloggers and share the love! Here are some posts I enjoyed in the past month:

This ties in with what I said above, but Maria really captured why Hearstopper was so fantastic!
Stephanie talked about some poetry, which is a soft spot of mine!
Sabrina and Vera were kind enough to include me in a post about their favorite book bloggers and consequently melted my heart.
Lay discussed some scary books (and we’re not just talking horror here).
Sophie created a super fun summary of book to screen adaptations she watched.
Caro recommended some historical fiction. (I’ve actually read a couple of those, which was a shock to me!)

MY OTHER POSTS

MOON KNIGHT REVIEWS

TV SHOW/MOVIE RELATED

TRAILER POSTS

I hope you all a lovely and not too wild April! Here’s to a brilliant May ahead of us!

April 2021 Wrap-Up

May 1, 2021May 1, 2021 Kat Impossible17 Comments

I can’t believe April is over already. I’ve had all these plans and ideas for the year, but once again, little of that is going according to said plans. Anyway, I managed to read/listen to three books and that’s what we will start this post with. It’s not a huge amount of reads, but my motivation in the reading department is a continuous flow and ebb.

Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin (4 stars)
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
This book not having a rating has nothing to do with the quality of the writing, but simply with my decision not to rate and review books by friends and people I know. Elena is an old blogging buddy and I was so happy to see her dream of releasing her own romance novel come true. I HAD to support that and had a really good time reading The Spanish Love Deception. Romance isn’t my usual genre, so I don’t feel super qualified to comment on it anyway, but the banter between Lina and Aaron was so much fun.
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman/audiobook (3 stars)
I still don’t know how people sit through audiobooks, because I’m apparently a very visual reader and completely space out after a while. The fact that The Sandman had a fantastic voice cast (with the likes of James McAvoy, Kat Dennings, Michael Sheen, Riz Ahmed and many more) and thus making it more of an audioplay than audiobook helped immensely. Still, I struggled with paying attention a lot … I keep trying this medium, but apparently it’s just not for me (as I’ve talked about before in this post)

As per usual, click on the covers to get re-directed to Goodreads, where you are always welcome to add me as a reading buddy! My own reviews (where there is one) you’re able to find by clicking on the titles in the list above if there are posts for them.

At the end of April, I took a little social media break and I’m basically still on it and it feels quite nice. It’s not that anything in particular happened that drove me away, but I did not enjoy being constantly glued to my phone and putting my entire energy into that thing. After a while, it also spiked my anxiety to voice my opinions, despite no one ever coming for me and I just decided to dip out for a while. I’m not completely gone and if anyone needs me, it’s fairly easy to contact me, but I just thought I’d let you know why my timeline is a little bit more quiet. It definitely helped in eliminating one of the many excuses I had created for myself in order to not pursue any of my creative ideas (be that writing, drawing or something else entirely).

For those of you who are interested in the status of my Canada-move, it’s still very much looking grim. I have decided to apply for another extension of the visa once that is possible (you can only do so 30 days before yours expires), but that I cannot put my life on hold for this any longer. I’m currently taking steps to figure out what I might be able to do instead and how I could move on, but it’s all a process. This really still is my biggest dream and giving up on it is soul crushing to even contemplate.

My creativity still isn’t at a peak, but I can feel some of it returning. I may or may not have splurged on some new materials that I’m excited to work with, even though I still have to get acquainted with a lot of them. I don’t think I will post any portraits or other drawings in the near future, but rather just try to get a feel back for myself without having to put anything of it out into the world yet.

MY FAVORITE THINGS

As much as I struggled with the fact that the finale of the Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiered on the same day and at the same time as Shadow and Bone, I loved doing those weekly reviews. They may not have sparked as much engagement and views as some of the WandaVision content, but it was nice to dig deep on content I feel so passionate about. I’m still unsure whether to go through the trouble for Loki, but at the same time, I felt a big hole this past Friday without anything to review. Please, let me know in the comments which other shows (besides Loki) you could imagine me doing weekly or in depth seasonal reviews for! I obviously can’t promise anything, because I don’t know if I will always have the time for it, but I enjoyed the routine and if you *want* me to talk about something in particular, I’d really like to know what, so I can at least think about it!