Monthly Rewind: February (and Some Questions for You Bloggers)

I almost don't know where to start on my Monthly Rewind - February was . . . Intense.

At any rate, it's March (the month of appropriately mad weather for Michigan), which means it's time for the monthly link-up with Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction. Instructions on how to join are here.

You may or may not have noticed that I was pretty absent for most of February. There are a few reasons - 

First, I picked up a second part-time job a couple weeks into the month, and both my time and internet access have become even more limited than normal. That being said, I'm still here! 

Working two jobs has also upped my caffeine intake, and made me seek out coffee from less savory places (like the gas station). I'm normally pretty spoiled because the coffee at the bookstore is amazing. Not so amazing at the gas station. But hey, it's coffee. I think.

Secondly, I've been having an endless amount of annoying problems with Blogger and Google+. They are currently refusing to let me comment on anyone's comments, or even read them when I'm logged into my blog. 

I didn't realize what a goldmine TOP* gifs were . . . until now ^^

Ugh. 

Anyhow, after much deliberation, I'm considering moving my blog to a different platform, or possibly my own domain.

Which leads me to these important questions:
1. Is it worth buying an actual domain name?
2. What blogging platform do you use, and why? Do you like it? Is one better than the others?

Any advice/feedback would be really appreciated! (Oh, and since I can't read your comments - note the contact form on the top right-hand side of the blog- thanks!)

And now that I have that out of the way - February in Review!

On the Blog and Reading fronts, my hectic schedule made hash of things - and I only managed 5 posts :(

-Current mood-

• Beautiful People - Couples Edition - the Writer Link-Up, helped me investigate two of my characters from The Butler Did It and determine if they were in a relationship or not. They still say "no." But you'll have to read it to decide for yourself ;P
• Continuing the inevitable February theme, I posted a list of my Top 10 Favorite Literary Couples. And there was some gorgeous fanart, as the cherry on top.
• Maybe my favorite Top Ten Tuesday ever - The Top 10 Songs that Need to Be Books. They all need to be written already!
• Top Ten Books I Ended Up Liking (In Spite of Myself) I included plenty of reasons, and a few disclaimers. And I totally restrained myself from gushing about Tom Imura.**
• I ACTUALLY FOUND TIME TO WRITE A REVIEW of Stars Above (The Lunar Chronicles) by Marissa Meyer. 4 stars

My reading count for this month was even worse - I started about 15 books, and finished only two of them! 

The first was Stars Above, and the second was The Guest by
Hwang Sok-yong. I'm not sure if I'll review it or not. It's about the 52 day massacre in the Hwanghae Province of North Korea during the Korean War. It was moving, disturbing, horrifying, and profoundly important if you're looking to understand a little more of the North/South Korean relations, the relationship of Korea with the West (especially the U.S.), and the two huge "foreign guests" of Christianity and Communism. It wasn't light reading, but I was glad I read it. I'm just not sure how to explain it in a review! (A funny place for a writer to be in, let me tell you).

I am also reading through a manuscript for a friend, so that's taken plenty of time and attention. 

And if you're interested, here are some of the books I'm currently reading:

Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

The Star-Touched Queen (ARC) by Roshani Chokshi

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald

Small Data by Martin Lindstrom

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

Also in reading, Intisar Khanani's (novel-length!) follow up to Sunbolt, Memories of Ash, has a release date!! This is easily one of my most anticipated books of 2016. It's out May 30th - so just 3 months to wait!! In the meantime, there will be a cover reveal on March 16th, and it will be up for preorder on that day as well.

Off the Blog:

• I started the second job (at a new local brewery)
• I started yet another novel (I have very bad habits.) More about this in a minute.
• I turned 27
• I made lots of kimchi and discovered kimchi stew (soooo good. And kimchi fried rice is almost better!!)
• I basically did a lot of cooking, now that I think about it . . .
• One of my best friends got engaged and I get to be a bridesmaid (my second time)!
• The only movie I watched was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Because Matt Smith - Eleventh Doctor as MR. COLLINS)***, I watched none of the Oscars, and watched an unhealthy amount of YouTube videos when I should have been sleeping after 12-16 hour work days. 
• And to be honest, if anything else happened in February - I don't remember it. I was probably sleeping. My ability to fall asleep anywhere on anything at anytime just turned into a superpower.

Looking Ahead:

Hopefully I'll finish a few of those books this time around, and have some time for reviews! I'm also thinking of doing a series of editing posts on The Last Coffee Shop - to help me actually edit it, and because it would be fun. Thoughts? My major goal for March is to do at least one edit through.

Oh, and that book idea I mentioned above) - it won't go away. So I started writing it. It's basically a vintage sci-fi + western + Hallyu wave + high fashion novel in the world of TLCS (though not a sequel). The MC's voice is stuck in my head - he's an angry teenage model (yes, that's he) on the run from a truly freaky family situation. He takes refuge at a greasy spoon space diner, which is run by a posse of (former) warrior women who specialize in fried chicken. Because I just can't write anything normal. If you'd like to see a glimpse into it, here's the link to my Pinterest board.

Also, I plan on plugging away at The Butler Did It, and reading everyone else's wonderful posts (I did a lot of reading posts in Feb, but rarely had the energy to comment, lol)

So that's it for me folks. How was your February? Do you have any big plans for March? What are you reading? And please tell me your thoughts on the blog move idea/domain name :) I'll give you all the virtual cake if you do!

Footnotes:

*From BIGBANG. SO MANY GIFSSSS

**Yes, I know he's fake. No, I will not get over it.

***Not as bad as I thought it would be, and Matt Smith was hilarious.