Happy Sunday!

On my old blog, I used to make lists of the books and movies that would be releasing that year. It was a nice reference for me to have throughout the year - especially for the upcoming movies.

So I’m doing it again this year. Here we go.




(These are for all the books that I don’t know specific release dates for yet. If/when I do learn them, I will update this post with the new information.)

The Blood Race #3: Resurgence (K.A. Emmons). I still haven’t read Worlds Beneath yet, but the first book was just so inspiring for me as a writer. I can’t wait to read the next two! Side note: I did force tell my friend to read it. XD (You're probably reading this right now, so I’ll just say: I figured you probably wouldn’t like it as much as I did, but hey, at least it’s checked off your TBR now!)

Uprising (Ivie Brooks). I CAN'T WAIT for this book. Ivie is one of my blogging friends, and she’s putting so much love and work into this book, I just KNOW it’s going to be good. (I’m actually not a huge fan of dystopian, but I really don’t care - the synopsis sounds great!)

100 Days (Abbie Emmons). This isn’t the actual title (I believe), and it’s set to release in summer. I’m not a huge fan of contemporary, either, but Abbie is AMAZING at writing characters, so it’s going to be great! So apparently I only like fantasy. Fine. Sue me. 



I know people wanted me to put The Wicked King by Holly Black on this list, but a) it already released, and b) I haven’t read the first book. But it released January 8th. 

Black Blood (S.D. Grimm). I haven’t read the first two books of this series yet, but it’s on my TBR pile! It releases January 29th.

A Winter Grim and Lonely (Nicki Chapelway). (Nicki, correct me if I’m wrong about any of your release dates. XD) I haven’t read any of Nicki's work, but all her books sound so good! If only I wasn’t so stingy with my money..... It releases sometime in January, although for some reason Goodreads wouldn’t let me find the release date. -_-



How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World. I just know I’m going to cry over this movie, okay? Because the directors said that it was going to follow the ending of the books, and I went, "OH SHOOT." But I guess we'll find out on February 22nd.

The Deceiver's Heart (Jennifer Nielsen). Again, I haven’t read the first book of this series yet (the Traitor's Game series), but, again, it’s on my TBR list! I read the Ascendance trilogy, by the same author, and thought it was really good! This book releases February 26th.



Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Tomi Adeyemi). I'm so excited for this book! I reread the first book (Children of Blood and Bone) a week ago, and now I’m all ready for this one! (But if Inan dies . . . I WILL NOT BE OKAY.) This will come out on March 5th.

To Best the Boys (Mary Weber). Okay, confession time: I have never been the biggest fan of Mary Weber's books. I’m not a huge fan of her writing style, to be honest. But the synopsis of this book sounds so good, I’m going to give her another shot. TBtB also comes out on March 5th, so apparently that’s a good day for book releases.

Captain Marvel. I’m really hoping that this movie is good. It HAS to be, because it’s going to lead into Avengers: Endgame, at least in part. This is Marvel’s first movie with a female main character, so I’m interested to see what happens! It comes out on March 8th.



Avengers: Endgame. I'M JUST SAYING, THIS MOVIE CANNOT POSSIBLY BE MORE EMOTIONAL THAN THE LAST ONE. of course it can, what am I saying. When it comes out on the 26th, you’ll probably see a review post about it, kind of like what I did last year. Anyways, I’m planning on bringing the tissues.

Dalkieth (Abigail Harder). April 27th is when Goodreads says that Abigail will release her book! I’m super excited; I haven’t been following Abigail for very long, but she’s a great person (plus a Lord of the Rings fangirl!).

The Story Raider (Lindsay Franklin). Yet again, another sequel to a book I haven’t read. Hopefully, if I’m lucky, I can read The Story Peddler (the first book) before April 30th, the release of this one.

A Winter Dark and Deadly (Nicki Chapelway). Again, I got the release date off Goodreads, and it said sometime in April. Again, this book looks excellent, though I haven’t read her other works. (Sorry! Hopefully this year!)



Romanov (Nadine Brandes). I saw Anastasia the musical last weekend, which was AMAZING, so I’m totally ready for this magical retelling of the Romanov's! It releases on May 7th.



Sorcery of Thorns (Margaret Rogerson). I don’t know anything about this book, except that it comes out on June 4th. The title sounds very cool, though!



Spider-Man: Far from Home. I LOVED Spider-Man: Homecoming (aside from some content) so I’m looking forward to seeing this one! Also, he’s going to be a junior in this movie. #relatable This movie releases on July 5th.



Artemis Fowl. *sigh* Okay. I saw the trailer for this movie and . . . I think it’s going to be another Percy Jackson. It looks weird and not like the book. Maybe that’s just me, I don’t know. I’ll still probably see it on August 9th, but I may have to bring a friend so I can rant.



Coral (Sara Ella). Like with Sorcery of Thorns, I know literally nothing about this book, except that it’s by an author that writes books with interesting premises. If I’m lucky, I’ll read her other series’ before September 10th, when this one comes into the world.


None! At least, none that I could find that looked interesting. Writers, this just means less procrastination for #NanoPrep. XD



KOTLC #8 (Shannon Messenger). Because you HAVEN’T HEARD ME RAVE ABOUT THIS ENOUGH. XD We don’t know what the title is yet, or what it’s about, but it’s KOTLC. It’s going to be amazing. There isn’t a release date yet, but I bet that it’ll come out this month.



Star Wars: Episode IX. I was veeeery hesitant over this movie, as The Last Jedi . . . wasn’t my favorite movie ever (but that talk is for another day). I’m hopeful that this one blows me away and is a nice send-off to this trilogy! It is said to come out on December 20th.

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Okay, and now for the announcement that I told you about in the title of this post.

I’m going on hiatus.

What does this mean? Well, I’m going to be absent on Blogger and Goodreads (because those are the only social medias I have XD), and I won’t be commenting on all your lovely posts. I WILL respond to emails or Google Hangouts, however, so those of you who want my email, shoot me a message in the “Contact” form on the sidebar!

I’m hoping that I’ll be back after about two weeks. There’s a writing project that I NEED to get done by the end of January (it’s supposed to be a Christmas present to my cousins), and besides that, there’s some stuff I need to figure out soon. When I come back, there will be a post talking about this in more detail.

So, yeah. I hope you all have an AMAZING rest of January, and I’ll hopefully see you sometime soon!

-Nicole

HAPPY NEW YEAR! *confetti cannon explodes*

Man, it feels like the last time I saw you was last year!

*facepalm* No, that wasn’t funny. Forgive my poor attempt at humor.

2019 has already started off EPICALLY, and I can’t wait to see what happens! But, of course, I decided to set some goals for myself to try to make this year even more awesome.

Let’s see how I do. . . .


So, I split my goals up into five categories: improving my quality of life, being healthier, reading, music, and writing. Because heaven knows I won’t have enough to do in the new year.


Complain less. Something I’ve realized this year is that I tend to be pretty optimistic when I’m around people I barely know (like when I’m at work). On the other hand, though, when I’m around close friends and family, that optimism just . . . drains away. This year, I want to at least somewhat improve my attitude.

Spend more time in prayer. In 2019, I’m planning to continue my daily Bible reading, and also add in an examination of conscience every night. Our school also houses a chapel, so this year I want to utilize that opportunity more.

Spend more time with my family and friends. Because SOCIAL MEDIA SHOULD NOT BE MY LIFE. (Yeah, you can expect a phone rant to be coming sometime this year. Be ready. XD)


Exercise more often. Hahahaha. Ha. Ha. Yep, this ain’t happening, but it’s nice to dream. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I don’t exercise - at all.

Well, I guess that even a little exercise would achieve this goal . . .

Eat healthier. My family’s going on a big calcium push, and I want to actually try and hit the % daily goal for each day.

Think before I talk. Yes, this is going under “acting healthier.” It’s mental health. Don’t ask.

But seriously, one of the things I love about writing and talking online is that you can always change what you’ve written before you post it. In real life, I tend to just say random stuff and then hope everyone understands what I’m saying. And trying to explain Chemistry to someone is a lost cause. So hopefully, this year, I can make the quality of my speech better.


Yep, I’m going to try and read 100 books this year! (Most of the goals here concern book series that I want to finish this year.)

Finish the Ilyon Chronicles. I got the first two books for Christmas, and that has given me motivation. (I think the last book comes out this year?? So this is perfect timing!)

Finish the Tales of Goldstone Wood. Yet another series that I started, but didn’t finish in 2018. I have the last three to go!

Finish the Wingfeather Saga. I read the first book and really enjoyed it! (Peet the Sock Man was probably my favorite character.) I hope that I’ll have time to pick the rest of this series up in 2019!


Write/compose my first song. You’re not going to hear anything more about this goal until I actually do write a song, and I don’t know when that will be. So if you look through future posts, waiting for updates on this, you probably won’t see them.

Do well in singing competitions. Because for SOME bizarre reason, my music teacher likes putting me in all these singing contests - WITH JUDGES. If that doesn’t strike terror into your heart, nothing will. XD

Learn a new huge piano piece. This year, I learned a ten-minute Avatar: The Last Airbender piano medley, which was EPIC. (Although my brother now hates that song . . . oh well. XD) This year, I have my sights on either a HTTYD piece or a Harry Potter medley . . . but this will probably have to wait until summer, so I can get practice time in.


Keep up with my blogging schedule. Hopefully this isn't too hard - the Sunday schedule seems to be working pretty well for me! 

Finish the first draft of the Silver Sword. Yep, you read that correctly: my NaNo 2018 project STILL isn't done. I figure I'll finish it during the first three months of this year, after I finish another project.

Finish draft 2 of The Inhumans #1 + possibly write book 2? I SO WANT TO WRITE BOOK 2. But I really need to outline the entire trilogy first, and then rewrite the 30k first draft of book 1. (I'm thinking that it will be expanded to 50k, but I'm not sure.)

Go to Realm Makers.

Yes.

You read that correctly.

I AM GOING TO REALM MAKERS 2019.

*eternal screaming and flailing*

Although I'm super nervous about doing this (it's my first writer's conference and I'm going to try PITCHING *horror*), I'm also super excited! I hear a lot of my blogging buddies talking about how it's so amazing, and I've wanted to go to a writer's conference for some time.

*more screaming*

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Well, those are all my goals for 2019! It's a lot, I know, and if you read through this entire thing, CONGRATULATIONS! *showers dark chocolate*

-Nicole