Hey all, Sam here.
Oops…I definitely meant for this to be up a couple days ago, and that definitely did not happen. I got distracted by other stuff, which seems to happen a lot. But, it is time to talk about all the things I read, wrote, blogged about, and visited over the past month. Overall I think I’m decently happy with what I accomplished, although I did drop the ball on a couple categories.
I will definitely say that I’m already prepping up for what to do for the blog next year, so hopefully I can manage to follow-through on my hopes and plans. But, again, I will talk about that in a post towards the end of the year or very beginning of next year.
Well, that’s all for the intro portion of today’s post. Let’s jump into what you actually came here to read about, which is books and writing and all that.
Reading
While November wasn’t my best month for reading, it was still pretty solid. A few of the books I read were actually a bit longer too, which was nice. I won’t take long to get into this so let’s just run down all the books I read and my rating for them.
This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne — 4 stars
A Crimson Covenant by Aimee Donnellan — 4 stars
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Pink Ranger by Tini Howard, Amy Jo Johnson, and Daniele Di Nicuolo — 5 stars
Revenge of the Baskerville Bloodhound Vol 1 by S.arang, To Walk (Redice Studio), and Step on a LEGO — 3.5 stars
His Grace, the Duke by Emily Rath — 5 stars
The Second Death of Locke by V.L. Bovalino — 4.5 stars
For Whom the Belle Tolls by Jaysea Lynn — 5 stars
How to Write Romantasy by Jenna Moreci — 3 stars
The Book of Magic by Charlie N. Holmberg — 5 stars
The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow — 4.5 stars
Writing
Oh boy, this was absolutely a bust. Because of cleaning the house in preparation for my mom’s visit, and also falling deep in the hole of playing the currently ending season of Diablo IV, I did not dedicate much (if any) time to writing.
That doesn’t mean that I wasn’t thinking about my characters or the story, because I was. It just wasn’t enough for me to actually consider any of it as actual progress.
I think what my goal is for December is to get a more solidified outline for the rest of the story so I can more easily sit down and write in 2026.
Blogging
I did not get as many blog posts up as I had hoped to do. I actually have another four or five that are about 70% drafted still on the blog. The plan had been for them to be scheduled the week of Thanksgiving and through the end of the month, but then my mom was visiting, and getting ready for the big holiday meal and all that meant that I didn’t have as much free time to get them finished. It is one of my top priorities to finish those partially written posts and get them up ASAP. Then I’ll finish whatever other posts I can before my end-of-year top reads and plans for next year blog posts.
Book Review: Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree
NetGalley Review: This Gilded Abyss by Rebecca Thorne
NetGalley Review: Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
NetGalley Review: A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J Penner
Trips/Conventions
We started our month by going to a local Ren Faire. It was the second year of being held and they definitely have been working on improving the space, and there’s still plenty of room to grow. We’re excited for the future of the event.
David made himself what he calls a wendigo shaman outfit, and I went with a simple non-corseted outfit loosely inspired by one of my D&D characters.
That’s it for trips in November, and we don’t really have much planned for trips until winter is over, so this is going to be basically a planning only section for the next few months.
Well, there you have it, my November wrap-up. I’m curious to see what this wrap-up will look like for December. What I can absolutely say for sure is that I’m ready to leave 2025 behind, and I very much hope that 2026 turns out better.
That’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 