Melody’s March 2018 Wrap Up

This has been sitting in my drafts waiting for a final read through and for me to add photos so here we are ha ha. March was pretty, great. Madcap Writers Retreat took place and it was EVERYTHING. Oh my God. I didn’t want to leave and I wish I could go back. Oh man. I also met my CP, Lucie at the retreat for the first time in person, after having met online through Publishing Crawl five years ago. I am so so so happy that I did everything that I could to go to that retreat and I am so excited to see what awesome work the writers at that retreat make.

Myself and New York Times-Bestselling Author, Laurie Halse Anderson at Madcap Retreat 2018

On my way to the retreat, I visited my sister who had her first baby a few days before. I’m an Aunt for the first time!! Ahhh!!! So exciting!!!

When I got back from the retreat, I basically crashed hard for a night and then drove myself into the ground at work and I’ve been recovering ever since. Only in the past few days have I truly been able to take a moment to breathe and relax. I took advantage of my Movie Pass and went to see the movie, Love, Simon because I absolutely loved the book it’s based on by Becky Albertalli. My heart burst and tears came when Simon had one on one talks with his parents. Oh man, my heart! This movie was so beautiful and it probably goes down as one of my favorite coming of age movies. I also binge watched the new Netflix comedy, On My Block and it is so good! Here’s the synopsis:

On My Block, co-created by Lauren Iungerich (Awkward), Eddie Gonzalez and Jeremy Haft (All Eyez On Me), is a coming of age comedy about four bright and street-savvy friends navigating their way through the triumph, pain and the newness of high-school set in LA’s South Central neighborhood.

I don’t want to spoil anything for you, I went into it knowing nothing about the series and really enjoyed just giving myself over to the first 10 episodes of the series that are out. My friend, Meg recommended I watch it and I had seen it on Netflix but hadn’t actually taken the time to see what it was about or anything so I’m glad that Meg was insistent on my checking it out because it is everything! It’s so adorable and funny and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I also attended PaleyFest for the first time. I’ve been wanting to go for YEARS, watching all of my favorite TV bloggers and peeps go and finally, I was able to attend. Although, I was only able to attend one panel because vacation days from work aren’t endless and I used those for the retreat. So I only attended one panel but boy did I make it count. I went to the Queen Sugar panel and I was already excited about it but it truly was the icing on the cake after having come back from the retreat (which was all about writing cross-culturally). I’ll talk more about the Paleyfest panel closer to the new season of Queen Sugar! Also, Ava Quote RTed me and I can’t not mention that because OMG.

As for moviess? Well, I had a grand old time this much watching movies. Ready Player One was amazing event though it changed a lot from the book. While I was disappointed not to see the book come to life and see some of my favorite moments from the book, the movie on its own is absolutely fantastic so I can’t even be too upset ha ha. Love, Simon is another movie that I saw in March that just…wow. One of my favorite coming of age movies ever this goes down as for sure. The audience, myself included, was a mess and got choked up on multiple moments. What a fantastic movie and we already know how much I loved the book.

As for books, I didn’t get a lot of reading done because I was too busy binging the new season of Santa Clarita Diet and other shows, as well as slowing starting multiple books but mainly just trying to figure out a plan to rewrite my own manuscript. So, there’s that.

Vegan Stuff

I tried Tierra Cafe in Downtown LA. It’s inside a tiny food court and the prices are GREAT and the food is super flavorful and filling and did I say great? I’ll definitely be back again. Outside of that, I’ve just been sticking to my usual Bodhi Bowl and Veggie Grill. But I’ll be getting back to my YA Treats Instagram project this summer so I shall venture out more soon!

E-book/Book/ARC/Audiobook Haul
* Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon
Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson, Illustrated by Emily Carroll

Interviews
Michelle DeFraites (BET’s The Quad)

Books I Read

If you’d like to keep track of my reading progress as it happens and reviews as they are posted, feel free to follow me on Goodreads!

Audiobooks That I Listened To (Own/Library):
1. I’m Fine…and Other Lies by Whitney Cummings
2. Annihilation  by Jeff VanderMeer

My top read this month was: Annihilation  by Jeff VanderMeer

Movies & Documentaries I Watched

Watched in March 2018
Annihilation (Movie Theaters)
Gemini (Movie Screening)
Love, Simon (Movie Theaters)
Ready Player One (Movie Theaters)
Sharknado 5 (Netflix Streaming)
Radius (Netflix Streaming)
Wind River (Netflix Streaming)

My top three favorite movies this month were: Gemini, Ready Player One and Love, Simon

Until next month, happy reading and viewing!