Category Archives: The Weekly Hufflepuff

The Weekly Hufflepuff #73 // I Got An Internship???

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A day late but oh well

I wanted to post this yesterday but I was tired before I went out, then when I came back I was even more tired adgnjs

I FINALLY finished Ace of Shades and I’m pissed at my reading slump because I really did love it and I could’ve finished it so much faster?? I also finished Two Spells, which I reviewed on Goodreads. I didn’t enjoy that one at all, nor did I enjoy Honey, Baby, Sweetheart. It was free on Riveted (might still be? I don’t think this one is up for the entire month) and it had an interesting premise (abusive relationships, ‘kidnapping’ an old lady to reunite her with an old love and a road trip) but boyyyy it was a mess and so is my review on Goodreads thus why I’m not posting it here as well.

I finally read The Brightsiders (I have no idea why it took me so long considering Queens of Geek is one of my favourite books and this was one of my most anticipated releases?) and I loved it SO FRICKIN’ MUCH. The bi rep was amazing, just like in Queens of Geek, great relationships (platonic and romantic), abuse rep on point, anxiety rep, so much queer rep, multiple non-white characters (Chloe owns my heart I love my black bi non-binary child) and just?? It was everything? It’s SO QUEER I love it so much. Full review to come hopefully soon*

Lastly I’m rereading the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy before the movie comes out this Friday (!!) to sort of stay patient because I can’t wait for the movie I love this series so much

Oh and I started Sadie, since that’s coming out next month and I don’t want to read it at the last possible moment. I’m not that far in yet but so far I like it.

* No one remind me of all the books I read in June that I still haven’t reviewed hsjfdhsj

GUYS I GOT AN INTERNSHIP???? It’s at an art magazine and I’m just so excited!! I won’t be writing anything for the magazine itself as everything is planned and written far in advance so it’s not really do-able for me to write anything, but I may get to write something small. I will be writing for the website though, so that’s exciting too.

I also got a job??? As of this week I’ll be working at Ripley’s Believe it Or Not and I still can’t believe (haha see what I did there) I actually got hired?? I’ll still be working at the Stedelijk Museum when I can, but that was already freelance work anyway after my first year ended last Summer so I wanted something a bit more stable.

Other than that… I’ve been going out with friends and family, doing some fun stuff here and there, relaxing… I have terrible memory so I remember like 10% of it but last week I spend a few days at my best friend’s house since she lives at the other side of the country (which is not that far compared to most countries but it still a few hours away with the train and since we don’t get free transport during the Summer it’s not that easy to see each other. Highlights: my friend repeating ‘behhhh’ over and over again at goats, feeding cute baby goats, making edible cookie dough (and eating it duh), me sucking at Mario and Sonic at the Olympics (I’m so sorry I did you dirty Yoshi please don’t cry), eating THE BEST fries I’m in love why are they on the other side of the country and obviously just spending time with my friend. Other than that who knows what I did not me adbjhs This is why I try to do wrap ups each week but I’m lazy

🐝 The Writing Hufflepuff 🐝

💛 Let’s Celebrate Winning Camp NaNo With Some Snippets! // Part I
💛 Summery Contemporary Mini Reviews // The Summer I Turned Pretty, Alex, Approximately and The Museum of Heartbreak
💛 5 Books That I Need To Be Turned Into Anime
💛 The Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag // You Want Me To Pick One For Every Question??

📷 Aesthetically Dreaming 📷

📸 Tips for Studying Abroad
📸 Dreaming About These Aesthetic Instagrams // Surrealism Edition
📸 Nalini Malani and Immigration and the Oppression of Women

💛 Lu @ It’s Lu Again shares her 7 fantasy expectations
💛 Olivia @ Purely Olivia talks about her one major problem with Harry Potter and shares other thoughts related to the series
💛 Amy @ Bursting With Books is back!
💛 Eve @ Twist in the Taile shares their YALC 2018 recap
💛 Lily @ Sprinkles of Dreams talks about why we need (more) confident female characters
💛 Em @ Yellow’s The Word talks about her trip to Amsterdam. I linked back to Day 4 because it links back to all the previous days so you can easily find those
💛 Amber @ The Literary Phoenix shares five things she learned from Camp NaNo
💛 Elm @ Just Call Me Elm Or Something talks about when writing becomes stressful

How has your week been? Read anything good? Are you excited for the To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before movie? Let me know in the comments!

The Weekly Hufflepuff #72 // Writing What Is That I Don’t Know It

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HOW ARE WE HALFWAY THROUGH JULY ALREADY CAN TIME JUST STOP PLEASE

I started Ace of Shades at the end of June and am still reading it. I am enjoying it, but the beginning is a bit slow and I’m just in the mood for contemporaries. So meanwhile I’ve been reading quite a few of those as well. Riveted has some summery contemporaries up for free this month which were perfect for my mood. In theory anyway lol. I didn’t enjoy The Summer I Turned Pretty, though it was a quick read, and The Museum of Heartbreak was cute but not much else? Alex, Approximately is a new fave though. Absolutely loved it. Expect a mini review soon! I also read Fawkes, as that came out this week and I needed to get my review up but… Eh. Not much happened? And finally I read a short manga called Cotton Candy about two girls falling in love. Though a bit short, it was really cute.

I skipped last week’s wrap up because I’ve been struggling with my mental health, stress and just lack of inspiration and motivation when it comes to writing (and thus blogging). It’s been really difficult for me to actually do something, which definitely has to do with the pressure of finding an internship. I absolutely hate writing motivation letters and that’s really getting in the way of me actually taking care of things. I did end up writing one for a job and now I feel like I need to take a nap for 1000000 years. I haven’t heard back yet which is not helping for my stress.

But that doesn’t mean I haven’t done anything these past two weeks. The start of last week was actually pretty good, especially writing wise. I actually ended up writing quite a bit, but then by Thursday I didn’t really have much time and tadah before I knew it I was out of the flow and it’s been really difficult to start again, with me feeling anxious about it again. The reason I didn’t have time to write on Thursday was because I went to Scheveningen with my best friend,which was definitely fun because it’s been a long time since I went there. It’s a seaside resort in Den Hague and since the weather was really nice it was beautiful to look at. I loved walking down the pier (which we did several times).

On Friday I got a haircut which I barely told anyone about, so it’s been fun seeing people’s reactions because…

I am no longer Rapunzel. I had been thinking about it for quite some time now but I was too scared to actually go through with it, so I didn’t even mention it to my mom. Two weeks ago I finally found the courage and showed my mom a picture of what I was thinking of (Kimberly from Power Rangers 2017) and since she was excited, that made me decide to just do it. I did have shorter hair when I was 13 but not quite as short as this, and I started to grow it out again at 15 so it did take some getting used to, but I’m really happy with it*

* My first reaction when I looked in the mirror was ‘BOY DO I LOOK GAY’ so mission accompished

On Tuesday my mom and I took my grandpa to Stedelijk Museum, where I work, which was a lot of fun, especially since he hasn’t been there in quite some time and a lot has changed since then. Though honestly that man needs to stop moving like he’s still 18 because the amount of times my mom or I had to grab him before he fell over on some piece of art was getting exhausting sdjgsh

On Thursday my mom and I went to the Efteling, which is a fairytale themepark in the Netherlands, which I had been looking forward to for quite some time now, but we kept waiting because one of our favourite rides was closed due to maintenance. Unfortunately this week they changed the info on their website, saying they didn’t know when it would open again, so we decided to just go this week since not all of the elementary and secondary schools are out for the summer yet and according to the park’s website Thursday would be less busy than the other days after that. Which was true! The longest we had to wait was 40 minutes, which is doable. We even managed to ride some of our favourite rides multiple times. I’m thinking of doing a post on the Efteling on my other blog, but if I do I’ll share it here in a wrap up.

Talking about why I often don’t write felt really good, especially after getting all of your lovely comments. It’s good to know I’m not alone (although obviously I don’t wish this on anyone!) and it really helped. After writing that post I immediately opened word and wrote quite a bit, which I really didn’t expect. Things were going great for the first half of the week, as I mentioned before, to the point that I wrote around 6000 words. I honestly thought I was going to be able to keep that up and reach 10k, which is half of my goal for this Camp NaNo. I chose that goal because I didn’t want to pressure myself too much and I have no idea how many more words I need to finish this? I’m SO close to finishing it. Like I’m about to resolve a huge plot point, but am I writing? No, because my stupid anxiety is getting in the way again. Even though I desperately want to write. Granted, I didn’t always have time to write these past two weeks, but I’ve spent hours doing nothing except scrolling through social media because I felt like crap and I hate it.

I did suddenly write a little bit yesterday evening. I’m not sure how happy I am with it, but I try to keep telling myself that it doesn’t need to be perfect and that’s what editing is for but dskgj Gotta love having anxiety and being a perfectionist :’)

Here are some tweets to sum up the time I actually spent writing:

HAHA YES I ACTUALLY DID THIS. All day I was struggling to get started because I was so tired and then all of a sudden I got inspiration?? For another WIP?? Thankfully I did end up working on my actual Camp NaNo project after but still

Here’s a snippet that I actually like:

wOW whAT a CoInCIdence ThAT it’S VAleNTine’S

Anyway, I’m hoping to get some writing done today so fingers crossed that my anxiety will just go away for a few hours

🐝 The Writing Hufflepuff 🐝

💛 Why I Often Don’t Write Even Though I Love Writing // A Cry For H e l p
💛 Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour // Not Really That Epic?
💛 The Book Blogger Insider Tag // Did I Just Expose Myself As The Bad Blogger I Am
💛 Fawkes // Bored and Confused??

📷 Aesthetically Dreaming 📷

📸 Plan Your Feed With Preview App
📸 The John Rylands Library // Absolutely Gorgeous and Magical

💛 Nyx @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books did The Book Aesthetics Tag
💛 Shai @ Cade Under Books shares seven favourite Harry Potter characters
💛 Sophie @ Sophie’s Corner shares 4 reasons to do Camp Nano
💛 The Orangutan Library talks about telling vs showing
💛 Fadwa @ Word Wonders pairs up books with songs
💛 Holly @ Nut Free Nerd talks about her trip to Edinburg
💛 Julianna @ Paper Blots shares 10 things about her new WIP

I’m probably going to be a bit inactive for a while, both when it comes to writing blog posts and bloghopping. I’ll blog when I feel like it, but I’m mostly going to try and focus on my writing when I do feel inspired and motivated. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. Oh! I almost forgot woops. My giveaway ended yesterday, and I’ll be emailing the winners later today! If I don’t forget because let’s face it I’m Dory dsgjh

How is Camp NaNo going for you? Should we start a support group?? Are you enjoying your summer? Let me know in the comments!

The Weekly and Monthly Hufflepuff #71 June // Sad Because Pride Is Over, Freaking Out Because CAMP NANO HELP ME

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Y’all I’m so sad Pride Month is over??? It went by so fast I blame exams because I couldnt’ fully enjoy it because of them but on the plus side those were probably my last ever exams??? SO YAY

💛 Cinderella Boy by Kristina Meister ⭐⭐⭐ – A fun, cute read and if it weren’t for the slow beginning this would’ve been a sold four-star read. If you want a genderfluid Cinderella, queer Prince Charming and queer kids fighting back then look no further

💛 Autoboyography by Christina Lauren ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I STILL HAVE NO WORDS FOR THIS?

💛 Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee ⭐⭐⭐⭐ – This was such a fun and cute read! Plus the main character is ace and while that is definitely discussed, it’s not the main focus. It’s just a part of who she is.

💛 Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – SUCH a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy! Absolutely loved it. A perfect Riordan read. Loved that we got more focus on Magnus’ hallmates as they’ve been quite absent in the other two books, that it was Ramadan during their quest so Sam was fasting, the power of friendship!!, Magnus being a loveable bean, the slowburn between him and Alex, Alex being Alex… God I loved it

💛 Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertali ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – There is a conversation in this that did make me a bit uncomfortable, especially since it wasn’t addressed, but despite that I really loved and enjoyed it. The moment I started it I felt like coming home and I read it in one day. I will definitely address my main problem in my review, and it is possible that I’ll change my rating to four stars, as I rated it five after reading the adorable ending. I need to gather my thoughts a bit more

💛 I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – I HAVE NO WORDS FOR THIS ONE EITHER I WAS JUST ABSOLUTELY BLOWN AWAY AND I’M SO MAD AT MYSELF FOR NOT GIVING INTO THE HYPE SOONER AND PICKING UP OSEMAN’S BOOKS

All in all a perfect month! My only three star read was still a gem that I love very much and look! at! all! the! queer! books! A perfect Pride reading month

Ahh this was such a weird week?? Like it started out pretty relaxed but then the end of it?? SO MANY PLANS. Thus why I’m writing most of this in advance because this weekend is a busy weekend. Last Sunday we went to a friend of my mom’s for her birthday in the late afternoon. This friend is basically family to me and her son is like my brother. At some point in the evening we decided to take a walk and that ended in us going to all the playgrounds in the neighbourhood lmao. The next day we went to one of the playgrounds again, and discovered there were also trampolines!! We are in our twenties but we had the best time 10/10 recommend. The day after that he texted me that he had gone to the playground again, as he biked past it and noticed that it was deserted 😂 I can just imagine the headline: ’24 year old has the time of his life at deserted playground’

what was going on inside my mind when he texted me

Tuesday was a ‘relaxing’ day at home in which I finally got around to cleaning my room and reorganising my shelves as I didn’t have enough space for my newest books (this includes books I got for Christmas which I never got around to finding a place on my shelves for since I left for Manchester not long after) and uh I ended up taking quite a few books off my shelves for good? I’m not sure yet what I’ll do with them, but of course I’ll make sure they’ll find a new home.

Wednesday I took the time to blog, but I don’t remember much else? Thursday my mom dragged me to the beach. I’m not very fond of the beach but she loves it, so I went with her but dansgh sand

me @ sand

Don’t get me wrong it was still a fun day but I prefer to not go again until like,, next year. Friday I spent at home as I had to take care of some blogging and school stuff and my weekend was pretty full. Though I did leave for a bit to go to a YA/comic books/manga sale at my favourite bookstore and found some gems! As usual I’m too lazy to take a picture but I found some Pokemon Special XY and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphirevolumes that I didn’t have yet, volume 2 of Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat, Ms. Marvel volume 4 and Labyrinth Lost (that same day I found out it had queer rep?? I DID NOT KNOW THAT?? WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THAT)

Saturday I went to my best friend’s dorm as it was her last weekend in Amsterdam (for now) because her internship is finished and we decided to celebrate that. Before our celebration we went to a protest march against the seperation of immigrant families in America. It was the first time for both of us that we went to a protest – somehow we both always missed them until afterwards? I always see them on social media or the news and I’m like ?? how did y’all find out about this. I was a bit anxious because you know, anxiety, but everything went fine and while I wished a lot more people had showed up, it was already great to see everyone who did.

In the evening we had dinner at an all you can eat tapas restaurant which was really good, except for the loud, rude, sexist men not far away from us. Thankfully they left us alone, but sgjh I felt uncomfortable.

Today I’ll be meeting up with another friend and just enjoy the weather. It’s ridiculous how warm and nice it’s been lately. Usually the weather is really nice during exam time and then the moment that’s over and I actually have the time to enjoy it, it’s back to regular Dutch weather. But now?? Nope. Gotta love that climate change

CAMP NANO HAS STARTED AND I’M NOT PREPARED AT ALL HAHAHA.

I’m hoping to FINALLY finish my unnamed contemporary – it would be the third time I use this project for Camp NaNo and third time is the charm right? RIGHT? I really want to finish it (or at least work on it) but I also don’t want to pressure myself?? But if I don’t pressure myself I never write??? Like seriously for someone who claims to love writing I barely ever write dkngjsh

Oh but while on the beach I did get around to writing a few ideas/plot points for the sequel to the unnamed contemporary asdfdgk They’ve been going around in my head ok I had to write them down before I forgot I didn’t mean to work on the sequel

🐝 The Writing Hufflepuff 🐝

Reviews

💛 All Of This Is True // Boring, Flat Characters and Possibly Redeeming A Character Who Commited Sexual Assault???
💛 Cinderella Boy // Genderfluid Cinderella and Queer Kids Fighting Back

Pride

💛 LGBTQIAP+ Comics You Should Read Part I
💛 LGBTQIAP+ Comics You Should Read Part II
💛 LGBTQIAP+ Books I Want To See Turned Into Movies Part I
💛 LGBTQIAP+ Books I Want To See Turned Into Movies Part II
💛 The Pride Tag // In Which I Shower Becky Albertali With Love
💛 I wrote a guest post for Bethany @ Bethany and Books about growing up bisexual in Amsterdam

Writing

💛 My Current Writing Ideas/Projects That Are All Gay Duh + Aesthetics!

Wrap ups

💛 The Weekly Hufflepuff #69 // HAPPY PRIDE Y’ALL
💛 The Weekly Hufflepuff #70 // I’M A FREE ELF also 21 now ahhhh

Other

💛 My Fourth Blogoversary??? + Aesthetics Giveaway!

I would’ve loved to blog more, especially about Pride, but considering I had exams until the 19th I think I still did pretty well?? Plus apart from my All of This is True review and my blogoversary post sort of all of my other posts can be seen as Pride related as well lol

📷 Aesthetically Dreaming 📷

📸 I (awkwardly) introduced myself and the blog
📸 I shared a photoshoot of some ‘under the sea’ photography
📸 I did the photography tag in which I shared my best photo, favourite instagrams and my love of cats
📸 I shared some of my favourite Instagrams (theme: Paris)
📸 I talked about the struggles of being a photographer
📸 I shared my photography essentials
📸 I shared 6 LGBTQIAP+ artists for Pride
📸 I looked at the pros and cons of a Canon camera and iPhone 6
📸 I talked about the South-African lesbian photographer Zanele Muholi
📸 More LGBTQIAP+ Artists To Share!

💛 Aimee @ Aimee, Always gives 5 reasons why the bookish community rocks
💛 Lu @ It’s Lu Again talks about whether LGBTQIAP+ rep in YA is varied enough
💛 Anna @ Reading Peaches shares some LGBTQIAP+ books with the hate to love trope
💛 Mel @ A Word and a Whisper shares their favourite moments of Pride Month
💛 Hannah @ Mortal Reader talks about her experience at the Harry Potter Studio Tour
💛 Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books shares 15 contemporaries to read during summer
💛 Shai @ Cade Under Books shares 5 graphic novels with f/f relationships
💛 Lia @ Lost in a Story talks about romance in media, aphobia and happy endings
💛 Jordyn @ Jordz the Bibliophile talks about people not taking YA seriously
💛 Julianna @ Paper Blots shares 12 Asian-inspired fantasies coming out soon(ish)
💛 May @ Forever and Every shares how she keeps track of her reading and I don’t know how they do it?? SO ORGANISED WHAT

Seriously how is it July already. Does anyone else remember how everyone was complaining how slow January was?? AND NOW IT’S JULY? How was your June/Pride? Did you do anything special? What was your favourite read this month? Are you prepared for Camp NaNo? Let me know in the comments!

The Weekly Hufflepuff #70 // I’M A FREE ELF also 21 now ahhhh

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Exams are over and though I’m still waiting on one grade I’m like 99% sure I passed it so guess what

I’m really trying not to think of the fact that I should look for an internship soon hahaha *help me*

It’s been a while since my last wrap up. Last time I had just started Autoboyography – by now of course I finished it and it was beautiful I still haven’t written a review because 1) what are words 2) exams 3) i’m exhausted 4) words???

Seriously I have no idea how to formulate my thoughts. Which is fun because meanwhile I have read other books I want to review but guess what!! Words?? I don’t have any! Okay dramatics aside I think I will be able to review at least some of them, we’ll see. I’m really trying to listen to my body and not push myself to much, so it’s possible that not all of the books I want to review will actually be reviewed, but we’ll see.

I’ve also read Tash Hearts Tolstoy, Magnus Chase and the Ship of the Dead and Leah on the Offbeat and I loved all of them very much. I’m still very emotional about the latter two (though Tash was a lot of fun as well!) and uhh hopefully review to come?? I really do want to review them but we’ll see what happens. Oh! I’ve mentioned it in other postsbefore but in case you missed those: Autoboyography and Tash Hearts Tolstoy are up for free on Riveted this month! There’s no catch, you just need an account and then you can read a new selection of free books each month.

Oh and I started I Was Born For This yesterday! I’m not that far in yet but I like it so far.

Oh boy it’s been a while so a lot happened but my memory is terrible so we’ll see. I’m in the mood for some bullet points so let’s go with that

💛 I almost dragged my literature teacher (you may recall that I had to read an islamophobic, sexist and homophobic book and that my teacher loves this book) on my literature exam as we had to write a review (unexpectedly!! the entire term all the teachers were like: we’re not going to teach you how to review literature/film/art but guess what!! my literature teacher lied!!) on the book and I legit started to write something along the lines of ‘islamophobes would definitely enjoy this book but if you’re a little bit smart and know something about Islam you wouldn’t and then I realised that I was calling the person responsible for my grade islamophobic and stupid adbgsdh Like she deserved that drag but this woman is super petty and I needed to pass so that I didn’t have to reread that stupid book. But I did politely ‘drag’ her in my survey on the class, where I criticised the class itself (we’re really going to study one book, by a white straight cis man who is also islamophobic, sexist and homophobic. All she said about it was that she thought he was none of those things. That was in the first class, before anyone of us had started the book and she wanted us to form our own opinions. Then she never asked after those opinions) I also mentioned the homophobic comments because what she said was not okay!! (she read a homophobic line from the book as an example of ‘humour’ in the book and described another author as ‘actively homosexual’ like did y’all know i was passively bisexual apparently so!!) I really hope something will be done but I don’t have much hope. At least I said something.

💛 I had my exams and so far passed with flying colours?? So yeah studying my ass off was worth it! Sorta. Did I mention I’m exhausted

💛 I saw Love, Simon again and loved it even more this time around which I didn’t think was possible but here we are

💛 It was my birthday but I keep forgetting that I’m now 21 and keep calling myself 20. But hey that’s progress because before my birthday I would sometimes call myself 18 and that’s very very wrong

💛 I caved and bought a Nintendo Switch with my birthday money because LET’S GO PIKACHU. A NEW MAIN POKEMON GAME NEXT YEAR. A NEW ACE ATTORNEY GAME (when though??). For now I got Mario Oddysey because my mom was like ‘you should buy a game or what is the point’ and she had a point there. It’s been a long time since I played games like that but it’s so much fun?? Incredibly frustrating and I’ve been cursing like a sailor but fun!

💛 I also was given books of course! I’m too lazy to take a picture so here’s a list: Starfish (because I needed a physical copy), Leah on the Offbeat, The Brightsiders, I Was Born For This, Children of Blood and Bone, Ace of Shades, A Thousand Perfect Notes and Quests for Glory (The School for Good and Evil #4)

me this summer

💛 There was an event at the museum where I work so I took my best friend with me and uhhh it was basically a sitcom episode sdfbj It’s a long story but it involves me running away from tour guides (colleagues that I had never met before and hopefully never will again), them seeing me both times, my friend cursing my lack of sneakiness and my friend who’s not interested in art practically running towards an art work because I told her someone had slashed a knife into it years ago and losing me in the progress. Basically it was a mess but it was hilarious.

I probably forgot some stuff (a lot of stuff?) but uhh these are the highlights? I think? They’re the ones I remember anyway. I did struggle with my mental health again but as I’m feeling better today I don’t really want to talk about that.

I can’t believe I’m actually adding a writing section!! Of course I haven’t really been able to write thanks to school and exams, but yesterday I was suddenly hit by a burst of inspiration for a WIP I’ve been stuck on for a very long time now. It’s one of my very first WIPs (I kind of count it as the second one since it’s the second one I actually sort of finished (as in I finished the first book and started the second but then started to rewrite the first one. And then started to rewrite the first one AGAIN)) and I hated the plot. Absolutely hated it. It’s pretty much a Buffy the Vampire Slayer rip off (I was like 12 or 13 I didn’t realise it at the time ok), full of plot holes and a lot of stuff just doesn’t make sense. Oh and horrible tropes that I can’t stand now. I was ready to just let it go, except I loved my kids. I actually wrote a post about this last year

So a while ago I sorta got a lil bit of inspiration already, but there wasn’t really much there yet. But yesterday? Out of nowhere something came to mind and now I have almost three pages in Word with ideas and I’m PUMPED. I’m not going to write it yet as I want to work on my current WIP and finish that one first (and maybe write the sequel first too) but I’m just so excited?? I’m so happy I found a plot that so far works for my kids.

me yesterday

For years I called it The Chosen Ones but my current working title is ‘the not chosen ones’ because they’re no longer chosen lol. There’s still a lot I need to figure out but that’s okay. I’ve got something and that already makes me so happy. It’s VERY different from the original, which is weird but since I hated the original I’m more than okay with that.

This is the current blurb:

Rose Clark vividly remembers the night her parents were murdered – and now it seems their killer is back. Determined to catch the killer herself, Rose finds herself caught up in something she would’ve never dreamed of.

It’s very short but I like it so far. I’ve never written a blurb for the previous plot but basically it was about two teenagers (one of them being Rose) who were ‘chosen’ to prevent the devil from returning to earth. Over the years things already changed a lot from the original WIP, but now??? I barely recognise it lol. But it’s good because for the first time in a long time I’m excited to work on this WIP again!

🐝 The Writing Hufflepuff 🐝

💛 LGBTQIAP+ Comics You Should Read Part I
💛 My Current Writing Ideas/Projects That Are All Gay Duh + Aesthetics!
💛 LGBTQIAP+ Books That I Want To See Turned Into Movies
💛 Cinderella Boy // Genderfluid Cinderella and Queer Kids Fighting Back

📷 Aesthetically Dreaming 📷

📸 I shared some of my favourite Instagrams (theme: Paris)
📸 I talked about the struggles of being a photographer
📸 I shared my photography essentials
📸 I shared 6 LGBTQIAP+ artists for Pride
📸 I looked at the pros and cons of a Canon camera and iPhone 6

I’ve barely read any blogposts since my last wrap up which is really annoying because I was keeping up with posts so well?? I haven’t really had the energy or been in the mood to read posts since my exams ended this Tuesday, so I don’t have that many to share

💛 Mel @ A Word and a Whisper created The Pride Tag
💛 Kat @ Life and Other Disasters celebrated her fifth!! blogoversary
💛 May @ Forever and Everly shares her Pride month recs and their own Pride TBR
💛 Olivia @ Purely Olivia talks about why she loves multiple POVs and shares a few favourites
💛 Aurora @ Aurora Librialis shares 5 non-canon ships aka the gay ships we deserve
💛 Lia @ Lost in a Story shares her Pride Month TBR
💛 Bridget @ Bridget and Books shares some recs based on ‘if you liked this’

Wow that is one big wrap. Or at least it feels that way. Sorry about that?? I had a lot to talk about I guess. How has your past few weeks been? How is your Pride so far? My rainbow shoes gave me huge painful blisters even though I’ve worn them quite a few times now this is homophobic especially since it’s Pride!! What have you been reading? Are you prepared for Camp NaNo? (why did I have to bring up Camp NaNo I’m not prepared AT ALL) Are you done with school for the year? Let me know in the comments!

The Weekly Hufflepuff #69 // HAPPY PRIDE Y’ALL

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Wow and another week bite the dust* what a surprise does time even e x i s t

ALSO HI I’M TURNING 21 IN LIKE THREE DAYS I’M NOT FREAKING OUT HAHA

On the plus side I’m seeing Love, Simon again in TWO (!!) days for my birthday because the cinema close to my house (and heart I love it it’s so small and cute and the atmosphere is just great??) is having a pre-showing. I just subtly moved my laptop with the webpage about the pre-showing on the screen so it was facing my mom and she was all excited ‘you want to see it again?’

* I have a terrible sense of humour please forgive me

Last weekly wrap up I mentioned having started All of This is True and not being sure how I felt about it yet. Well I finished it and guess what!! I was highly disappointed! Full review came out yesterday*

To cheer myself up after reading that… thing… I immediately started Cinderella Boy because I needed a cute queer Cinderella retelling with a genderfluid protagonist. I’m happy to announce that I finished it on Friday, on the first day of Pride

The first half was super slow – it was cute, sure, but I was also bored?? But then things picked up and it got really good. Also that epilogue killed me.

* Haha I really hope so I’m procrastinating writing that review by writing this post ahead of time hahahaha help

I’m scheduling this in advance as I don’t think I’ll have time tomorrow, but I’m hoping to also have started Autoboyography by the time you read this. If you want to read Autoboyography as well – wow this sounds like sponsored post IT’S NOT I JUST WANT TO SPREAD THE LOVE AND LET Y’ALL KNOW THAT DURING THE MONTH OF JUNE A.K.A. PRIDE MONTH AUTOBOYOGRAPHY, THE ENTIRE BOOK, IS UP FOR FREE ON RIVETED. Just sign up, which, again, is free, and shouldn’t be restricted to your location (I expected it to be for Americans only but my lil Dutch self was able to sign up??) AND THEN YOU CAN JUST,, READ AUTOBOYOGRAPHY FOR FREE (and other books as well)

So the beginning of this week still wasn’t too great, but I feel a lot better now and am so excited about so many things?? Like seeing Love, Simon again, it being Pride, my birthday coming up, all the amazing books I plan on reading this month (especially once exams are over), freedom being near, nice weather!!, hopefully being able to write after exams, The Bold Type* and Voltron coming back** and blogging! My brain keeps screaming Pride related ideas at me and I’m just like,, pls calm down,, I don’t have that much time but honestly? My heart is yelling ‘HECK YES BRAIN’ and just,, Once I finished writing this post there’s a good chance I’ll write a Pride related post?? Because I really really want to and sure I can wait until after exams but nope i don’t want to do that!

* I mean not only is this an AMAZING show but also!! the main ship is between a black woman (she hasn’t used a label yet on the show but she’s definitely attracted to both men and women) and a lesbian muslim!!
** @ Voltron remember you promised us there’d be LGBTQIAP+ rep,, now would be a good time buddies chop chop

Um honestly I don’t really remember much about this week? I had school for two days because my literature class on Tuesday was cancelled (and that was supposed to be the last one now I have to suffer this Tuesday adgbjsh) and other than that? I’ve been trying to do some schoolwork, reading, blogging, playing some Pokemon* and just relax. I don’t think I did anything special?? Oh but the reason I’m scheduling this is because my mom and I are going to a museum again (two actually, if everything goes to plan)

* @ Pokemon yo I thought there wouldn’t be a game this year what u doing fam now I’m going to need to get myself a Switch do I look like a millionaire to u there goes my money afsgdj

🐝 The Writing Hufflepuff 🐝

💛 I announced the relaunch of my photography blog
💛 I reviewed Anger is a Gift, a powerful look on police brutality (plus it’s super queer!!)
💛 I wrapped up May??? Where did May go??*
💛 I reviewed All of This is True which I unfortunately found quite boring and I have some concerns about the way a character who commited sexual assault was written

* Lol it sounds like I’m asking about May @ Forever and Everly

📷 Aesthetically Dreaming 📷

📸 I (awkwardly) introduced myself and the blog
📸 I shared a photoshoot of some ‘under the sea’ photography*
📸 I did the photography tag in which I shared my best photo, favourite instagrams and my love of cats**

* So yeah I took those photographs in an aquarium that blog post title is a LIE sue me I ain’t going under water I’m terrified of the ocean
** Yes cats not pugs pugs are my first love but I do love cats very much too

💛 Aimee @ Aimee, Always shares 12 YA books that are being released this month
💛 May @ Forever and Everly wrote an important discussion post about the own voices label and the negative pressure it puts on both authors and reviewers
💛 Savannah @ The Book Prophet wrote an own voices discussion post Native American representation
💛 Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books shares tips on how to find blogging inspiration
💛 Sarah @ Written Word Worlds wonders if there’s too much romance in YA
💛 Lu @ It’s Lu Again did the 20 Questions Book Tag
💛 Saida @ Erucchii’s Books and Recs did my Your WIP in Gifs Tag
💛 And so did Marrill @ Books and Ravens 

How was your week? Read any good books? Are you celebrating Pride? Are you excited about The Bold Type and Voltron? Let me know in the comments!

The Weekly Hufflepuff #68 // My Mental Health is Currently That Gif Of Captain Holt Saying ‘Everything is Garbage’

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How is May almost over already what is this sorcery what even is time

I finished Anger is a Gift and I’m dead. So so intense, but so so good guys. Please pick it up (it’s out already because I’m slooow but hopefully I’ll have my review up this Thursday). I pretty much immediately started All of This is True because it’s coming out this week. I’m definitely getting my review for this one up after the release date as well but oh well 🤷🏻‍♀️ Can’t be helped. I’m not really sure how I feel about this one yet? It’s intriguiging but also a bit underwhelming, mostly because of the writing which I’m not really impressed with. But we’ll see!

Well this week was terrible! My anxiety has been through the roof and today I’m still not doing so great. I can’t really talk about what happened, but something triggering happened this week that honestly made me feel like I took SUCH a step backwards when it comes to my mental health and now I’m just,, really struggling.

That said, it wasn’t entirely garbage, as I went to the Moco Museum with my mom yesterday which was fun and I also had to work on Friday evening, which was a welcome distraction. But my anxiety won’t really,, go away. I mean, it never truly goes away, but it’s been very present this week no matter what I do or what happens.

Fingers crossed that this week will be better

Oh but on a lighter note, I really love my new design and am so so happy I decided to change it already after all! I had been sick of my old design for so long now, but I had trouble finding a theme that I really liked. I don’t know why the current theme didn’t catch my attention earlier? Oh well I’m using it now and I’m happy with it

Two posts, which I’m honestly happy with! I used to post three times a week plus a weekly wrap up, but that’s just not do-able for me right now, so I changed my schedule to twice a week (plus a possible wrap up, depending on how I’m feeling on Sunday) and look! I made it!

💛 I reviewed Over Raging Tides, a fun female pirates book
💛 I talked about books I apparently loved according to Goodreads but I don’t remember them

💛 Julianna @ Paper Blots talks about her writing in the Rising Author Tag
💛 She also talks about some tired and overused discussion topics
💛 Elizabeth @ Redgal Musings did my Your WIP in Gifs tag (Irish Folk retelling of The Little Mermaid)
💛 And so did Savannah @ The Book Prophet (#OwnVoices Native American rep)
💛 Vivian @ Writing With Style talks about writers influenced her the most
💛 The Orangutan Librarian gives some great writing advice
💛 Annie @ Blossoms and Bullet Journals shares 7 reasons why she loved Summer of Salt
💛 Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books talks about her WIP in the Milestone Writing Tag
💛 Farah @ Smiling Dreamer is back!
💛 Chiara @ Delicate Eternity shares 5 reasons why you should watch When Marnie Was There
💛 Olivia @ Purely Olivia shares 5 reasons why she still reads and loves middle grade fiction
💛 Cait @ Paper Fury talks about her favourite and worst things about being an author

Despite my struggles with my mental health I’ve actually been kinda throwing myself into blogging?? Why can’t I do that when my mental health is better adlgkfsj I’m actually kinda keeping up with the blogs in my wordpress and bloglovin feed and even trying to branch out and find other posts to read. I’ve actually kinda been neglecting school, though also not really because I DO feel like I’m kinda keeping up with it, but I’m just used to giving it my all, putting all my time into it, working ahead etc. so now it just feels weird?? My anxiety is of course not helping because it keeps telling me that I’m behind!! And I should work on school!! Or I’m going to fail!! Which is ridiculous because I know I probably won’t (did you notice the ‘probably’ because I did sdkgjh) but… Ugh

me @ my anxiety

I just can’t wait for school to be over for the year tbh even though that means I’ll have all the time worry about next year and internships and freelance work and then graduating hahaha

How are you guys? Hopefully doing better than me, if not sending you lots of hugs. Read anything good? Find anything good to watch now that B99 is on hiatus? Let me know in the comments!

The Weekly Hufflepuff #67 // Uhhhhhhh *insert witty title*

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Yes a weekly wrap up on a Monday but it’s okay

It’s been over a MONTH since my last weekly wrap up and?? I don’t know how that happened?? I did talk about some personal stuff in April’s wrap up (IT’S ALMOST TIME TO WRAP UP MAY HOWWWW) but I didn’t share any blog posts that I read?? Be prepared to get lots of great posts thrown in your facesMy memory is failing me and I have no clue what I’ve read since my last wrap up (both weekly and monthly) so I’ll just talk about what I’m reading right now which is okay because it’s SO GOOD. I was hooked from the first page and I immediately knew Anger Is A Gift would be a new fave. It’s coming out tomorrow so I should have finished it by now so I could have my review up but… I requested it not that long ago thinking I wouldn’t get accepted anyway, but then I DID and now I’m kinda screwed. But I’m halfway there so my review should be up next week at the latest*

* That’s what I thought when it came to Starfish and that took me a MONTH hahahaSo last wrap up I didn’t talk about what classes I’m following this term, which surprises me because I remember being prepared to RANT but then I just forgot because school is eating my brain. Oh well

Anyway, in either your third or fourth year you need to choose a specialisation. I chose culture, which means I’m taking fine arts, film, literature and philosophy of culture. Fine arts and film are a lot of fun, philosophy of culture is okay – it’s not a lot of philosophy, mostly it’s history and a lot of it I already knew? And then there’s literature

Now I know what you’re thinking: ‘Michelle, you’re a book blog! Are you saying you don’t like your literature class?’ hahahaha

That’s exactly what I’m saying

Okay but hear me out. My entire class is focusing on ONE book. ONE. A book of course written by a white, abled straight cis man, who also!! Is incredibly islamophobic, sexist and homophobic!! So the book we’re reading?? A MESS. My teacher? LOVES IT. My anxious ass? QUIET. I really wish I could speak up but,,, ugghh. Anxiety. The teacher doesn’t seem to have a problem with the book at all. She even went out of her way to say that she doesn’t think it’s islamophobic. Oh and the sexism?? ‘so absurd that it’s unrealistic’ yeah the main character thinking women shouldn’t vote is so unrealistic hahahahaha and the objectifying of women? Doesn’t happen!!! Never!! But to make matters worse there was this:

”Do you guys think there’s any humour in this? I do”*proceeds to read aloud a quote that I personally found homophobic/lesbophobic but apparently she thinks it’s funny!!*

And of course a few people laughed

Meanwhile I felt like I had been slapped in the face and was about to cry

So yeah. FUN

But my other classes are a lot more inclusive! Not as much as I’d like, but still. Plus at least they’re not this woman :) We have to fill out surveys for each class each term, so I’m definitely going to say something about her and her class. Maybe I’ll find the courage to speak up in tomorrow’s class now that I’ve finished the book but that woman makes me really anxious (speaking up itself already does sdjgh)

Anyway what else happened?

💛 EUROVISION. Eurovision was once again a blast, though there was not enough weird Eurovision stuff, glitter and gay. Also I don’t like the winner. I had SO many faves why did my two least favourite ones end up first and second. Countries were robbed. Not enough meme material. But it’s Eurovision and I will always love it

💛 MY OTP GOT MARRIED AND IT WAS BEAUTIFUL AND PERFECT AND GINA RODRIGUEZ FINALLY APPEARED ON B99 AND IT WAS PERFECT AND ROSA’S REACTION WAS ICONIC AND RELATABLE AND SUCH A MOOD (don’t want to spoil anyone so I’m being vague lol)

💛 Two weeks ago I had to take care of the neighbours cat and she was the CUTEST thing #blessed

💛 Uhhhhhhh

💛 I seriously need a PensieveSince my monthly wrap up I wrote four posts wow so much many posts much impressed

💛 I reviewed My Name is Victoria which was,,, okay? But the plot twist at the end ruined it for me
💛 I also reviewed Starfish which was INCREDIBLE and my favourite book of the year nothing will surpass it
💛 I shared my reactions to the Hogwarts Mystery game
💛 I shared another playlist for Monthly Mixtape

I can’t wait for summer break to get here and I swear if I don’t pass my exams and have to redo them my school is going to catch these hands💛 Emma @ The Book Crunch shares her favourite YA books that feature mental health issues
💛 LaRonda @ Flying Paperbacks recommends some contemporaries that deal with mental health as well
💛 Julianna @ Paper Blots reviews My So-Called Bollywood Life which sounds like a great book so check out her amazing review
💛 Ilsa @ A Whisper of Ink talks about her writing in the Rising Author Tag and shares some amazing snippets
💛 Annemieke @ A Dance With Books celebrated her blog’s third birthday
💛 She also wonders if these days 3-star ratings are bad ratings
💛 Eri and Alexis @ Lacy Literacy talk about their day at YALLWEST
💛 Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books shouts about 10 books she rarely screams about but feels like she should
💛 She also wonders if you have to review books to be a book blogger
💛 Oh and of course she once again made me even more excited about her WIP by doing my Your WIP in Gifs Tag
💛 Amber @ The Literary Phoenix talks about the worst movies adapted from books
💛 Sarah @ Written Word Worlds talks about stereotypical YA characters and created a quiz to figure out which one you are
💛 Kat @ Life and Other Disasters wonders if you fight for your tv show
💛 She also created another great writing tag called The Milestones Write Tag
💛 May @ Forever and Every recommends YA Asian books 
💛 She also reviewed Furyborn and rants about the messy and vague bi rep which you should really read
💛 Ever wondered how to write a shipable OTP? Elizabeth @ Redgal Musings has a guide for you
💛 Holly @ Nut Free Nerd talks about book blogging as a feminist space
💛 Lu @ It’s Lu Again started a new blogging series called ‘Coming Out Series’ and I can’t choose which one to share so: Part 1 about LGBT+ Rep // Part 2 about 2018’s LGBT+ themed books // Part 3 in which she reviews Autoboyography
💛 Aimee @ Aimee, Always shares 5 things Children of Blood and Bone made her do 
💛 Vivian @ Writing With Style talks about how she avoids inconsistencies in her writing
💛 Amena @ Nerd in New York talks about how blogging changes the way she reads
💛 Inside My Library Mind shares all you need to know to start using Edelweiss
💛 Chiara @ Delicate Eternity gives 5 reasons why she enjoyed Ace of Shades
💛 Cristina @ Girl in the Pages talks about YA books set in college
💛 Fadwa @ Word Wonders shares how she manages to not drown under blogging and reading
💛 And last but definitely not least, Cait @ Paper Fury announced her second (!!) novel

I have four more weeks to go until summer break* but it feels sooo much longer. Probably because I never even got to properly rest from last school year dskngjhd I have so many blog post ideas and I’m so excited about blogging again, but it’s hard to find the time and energy to be honest. Even though I don’t want school to dominate my life (which I’m kind of succeeding in?) I just can’t bring myself to blog as much as I’d want to. I also really, really want to change things about my design** and technically I could make time, but I’d rather use that time to write posts and blog hop. It’s starting to bug me though, I really want to change things haha

* If I pass everything please I’m begging you
** You may have noticed I changed my ‘summary’ and ‘review’ banners in my review

So yeah after I scheduled this post I got reaaaally annoyed with my old design and realised that the new posts I’ve got planned (emphasis on planned I haven’t written anything lmao) wouldn’t be done justice soooo LOOK NEW DESIGN. And a few new graphics. It’s not done yet, as I need to replace a bunch of other graphics and I want to clean up my categories more (you may have noticed that my menu is a lot smaller, but I want to come up with more categories and just order everything better) So if you only see one post from me this week blame the new design lol 
Are you almost done with school? (please don’t tell me if you’re done this week I will cry out of envy) How are you hanging in there? Read any amazing books? Did you cry at the Peraltiago wedding? Let me know in the comments!