fairy skeletons.: Month in a Nutshell: April 2015

I've decided I'm going to start doing monthly recaps, since I've enjoyed reading recaps from other bloggers and I'd like to start opening up a little more about my daily life here on the blog. So without further ado, here's your wrap-up for the month of April 2015!

On the blog

• I participated in Beautiful People and talked about the main sibling dynamic in my WIP, On the Midnight Streets: my heroine, Chantilly Rosewater, and her younger sisters Chamomile and Velvet.
• I recommended "Gray Girls" by Tess Walsh for Fiction Friday #14. 
• I received the Cake Book Tag and the Addictive Blog Award from my good friend Alyssa.
• I finally made my first #WatchMeWrite video and showed everyone my drafting. (It's actually quite boring. I'm sure people only watched for the music.)

That one time I was offline *gasp*

• During the first weekend of April, our district-level speech and debate tournament happened! It was boatloads of fun and plenty of drama went down, and it was less nerve-wracking than usual because our school was hosting. I got to finals in Original Oratory (the only event in the entire competition I might be semi-okay at), but sadly I didn't place. But lots of team members are advancing to our state-level tournament now, and I'm really happy for them! 
• (I really love speech and debate, even though I'm basically a complete mediocrity.)
• During the second weekend of April, I performed at a small recital and ABSOLUTELY FAILED. Thankfully, though I managed to shore myself up fairly quickly and save the piece before it wrecked itself completely.
• I spent, um, a lot of time practicing piano. Every day. Like I do every month.
• I advanced to Level Two of my second degree black belt in taekwondo! (I still can't beat you up. We all prefer it that way.)
• High school is still... *sigh*. But hey, what was I expecting?
• I participated in a master class for piano with a really wonderful pianist who was super cool and very insightful. 
• We started a unit on analyzing film in our literature class and it is vaguely tolerable. (We're watching The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.)

I've been reading

• The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski, which was disgustingly beautiful and also devastating. If you need me, I'll be in the next room trying to piece my heart back together.
• Rules of Seduction by Jenna Mullins, which was fun but kind of bland, and the characters made some spectacularly terrible decisions.
• Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, which was enthusiastically recommended to me by Alyssa and for good reason (reasons like Shakespeare love, apocalyptic creepiness, and an eerily beautiful and realistic presentation of the end of the world as we know it).
• Blood and Salt by Kim Liggett, which was the book by my Freshman Fifteens COMMON ROOM Anthology mentor, and Kim's book was as awesome as her mentoring. Which is to say: pretty darn great.
• Currently: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, for literature honors. I'm enjoying it so far but am still developing my thoughts.

I've been watching {television}

omg omg guys this show is everything i NEVER knew i wanted

I've been slowly but surely getting into the CW show The 100. It's essentially Tumblr's fault that I've gotten on the bandwagon, because The 100 takes up about half of my dashboard and I'd been wanting to see what the fuss was all about. And GUYS. I am so into this show it's not even funny. If you are at all interested in powerful women, moral ambiguities, diversity, dynamic relationships, and a (literally) killer cast of characters, WATCH. THIS SHOW. 

(Those of you who follow me on Tumblr have probably become suddenly aware that I've fallen in love with The 100 because I've been spamming you all with Raven Reyes. And, you know, everyone else. But mostly Raven.)

I'm done with the first season so far and I JUST. I CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF EVERYTHING.

I even tweeted about it:

Um, GUYS. I finished the first season of #The100 and I just want to say a) MY FEELS ARE BROKEN and b) this show is PHENOMENAL.
— christina im (@clocksandcages) April 13, 2015

But the responses I got to my tweet were terrifying:

@clocksandcages After The 100, feels are never the same again.
— Cassie Rose (@viridianhues) April 13, 2015

@clocksandcages ohohoho... Just wait till season 2!
— Adelyn (@Adelyn_Ann) April 13, 2015

So this basically sums up my thoughts about season two:

@Adelyn_Ann *eyes widen* I AM AFRAID. (But inexplicably VERY EXCITED.)
— christina im (@clocksandcages) April 13, 2015

omg omg guys this show is everything i ALWAYS knew i wanted

Wolf Hall is basically the PERFECT TV Tudor England period drama and that is that. There is POLITICS EVERYWHERE and the costumes are ACTUALLY PERIOD ACCURATE and SO IS (to some extent) THE SOUNDTRACK. Oh my goodness I might actually die flailing about this show.

It just started airing here in the U.S., so I'm only up to the fourth episode (and there are only six total so what will I do with my life when this ends?). It's giving me an interesting lens on the events of this time period (Henry VIII's divorce from Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn's reign, execution of Thomas More, etc.), which is definitely helpful, since I did a Renaissance Fair project on More that didn't exactly go into his... moral ambiguities, let's say. The entire cast delivers absolutely stellar performances, with special shoutouts to Damian Lewis as Henry VIII, Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell, and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn.

Hey here have some Claire Foy because SHE'S MY FAVORITE. PROTECT ANNE BOLEYN even if she is incredibly ruthless and conniving.

look she's amazing

Help, someone teach me how to Instagram

Spring appears to have well and truly sprung - and I have the strawberries in my shortcake biscuit to prove it.

A photo posted by Christina (@clocksandcages) on Apr 5, 2015 at 3:07pm PDT

This lovely came in the mail from @kim2legit2quit this week, along with a wonderful postcard. Thank you, Kim, and I can't wait to dig in <3 #bookstagram #VSCOcam

A photo posted by Christina (@clocksandcages) on Apr 24, 2015 at 11:58pm PDT

Links of interest

• A fabulous hashtag called #VeryRealisticYA was started on Twitter by the equally fabulous John Hansen. Basically, it's all about what young adult novels would be like if they were... y'know, actually sensible and realistic once in a while. A huge variety of Twitter voices quickly jumped in, and the hashtag even started trending! (You have no idea how much this excited me.) Anyway, my good friend Alyssa Carlier did a recap, and it's great.

• Cait listed some "disgustingly talented teen authors" (her words, not mine, but I agree wholeheartedly).

• Ava discussed how femininity is seen in literature and said basically everything I've ever wanted to shout out on the topic. 

• The title, cover, and back cover blurb for the sequel to A Darker Shade of Magic: A Gathering of Shadows! AND IT'S... AHHH. (Also, Alyssa did a fangirly post full of caps and squealing and theories.)

...and that was my April! How was yours?

(PS: How did you like this recap? Are there any components you'd like to see added?)