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January 2017 Dares (and New Year’s Resolutions)

by Kellyn Roth |
January 2, 2017

Wow. Can you believe that it’s 2017? I sure can’t. I mean, I can believe that it’s 2017 … I’m not, like, doubting its existence or anything, but … wow! 2016 was such an amazing year! Almost nothing went wrong. Almost everything went right.
But now we’ve got to move on to a new year. It isn’t 2016 any more. It’s 2017. Again, wow.
Time for a quick recap of what I accomplished in December.
Yeah, I know, I just said we have to move on … but whatever. I’m a girl. Girls aren’t necessarily consistent; it’s a well-known fact.

Reading

  1. Read five books. Check! I think I read something like ten … though I can’t be sure because I’m running late and the internet is bad (SNOWED IN!), so I’m not going to open a new tab and check Goodreads to find out.
  2. But one of those has to be Ivy Introspective. Check! Read it through twice. So there.
  3. Finish A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Check! Wow … such a good book … but the content. *sigh* VidAngel for books, guys. Someone’s gotta invent it …
  4. Read at least two books for enjoyment purposes only. Check!
  5. Write a reading update post. Failed. However, I chose to fail this one (because I decided not to do reading update posts), so does it really count?

Writing

  1. Outline Interpreting Callie James. Failed. Sorry, but there just wasn’t time. Okay, you’re right; I’m never busy and there was plenty of time.
  2. Finish writing Flowers. Failed. Uh … I wrote a little more, but …
  3. Don’t even look at At Her Fingertips. Failed. I think I’m in love with this book. I literally downloaded it to my Kindle and read it for fun … and I wrote it. I am so creepy and narcissistic and … eesh.
  4. Read through Ivy Introspective, doing some serious revising. Check! Twice, actually. I’m really pleased with the progress I made this last month.

Blogging

For Reveries:
  1. Get back on schedule. Failed! Uh … I changed the schedule … so … XD
  2. Host three guests posts. Failed! I only hosted one. But, on the other hand, this was a stupid dare. Pretend it doesn’t exist.
  3. Thank your 195 followers. Check!
  4. Get 196 followers. Check! Oh. My. Gosh. You guys are fantastic! But did I see that right?! 224 FOLLOWERS?!?! Wow. *passes out oreos* By the way, if you’re a new follower and I haven’t talked to you … that means I’m not a creepy person who walks up to everyone who (probably accidently) follows her and starts talking to them. Because that would be creepy. XD
For Reveries Reviews:
  1. Empty the review pile. Kinda. I would have done this, but I added a bunch of books to the review list (which I wasn’t supposed to do), so … yeah. It’s hard to tell …
  2. Write three reviews a week. Failed. I did for one or two of the weeks … but for the most part, I didn’t. And you know what? That’s okay. I spent time enjoying Christmas and revising IvIn and who needs to read that many reviews? Certainly not the (few) followers of Reveries Reviews!
  3. Share those reviews here. Failed. Uh … go read them! Check! XD

Life

  1. Read the Bible every night. Kinda. I read it every month in December except the 30th and the 31st. And that’s Bailey’s fault. *glares at Bailey* You see, my dear reader, Bailey came over on the 30th, we forgot to read the Bible, and she kept me up until 5 o’ clock in the morning! No, it wasn’t my fault at all … Anyway, I was too exhausted to read the Bible the next night … at midnight … after we were done celebrating (which I barely survived, by the way). XD
  2. Pray every night. Kinda. I never remember if I did or not in the morning, so … I’m just gonna assume I did.
  3. Spend some more time with Riley. Kinda. We did hang out a couple times, but he h the worse smell about him just now …
  4. Spend time with friends. Check! I’m saying ‘check,’ as I definitely spent more time with them in December than in November. There was the band concert, a birthday party, a get-together, and a lot of emailing back and forth (though that doesn’t really count). And then Bailey and I had two sleepovers, which was AMAZING.

Based on my dares, I had a pretty mediocre December, but it was actually amazing. Don’t pay attention to all the red and orange.
Now, on to a bright new future …

Reading

  1. Read twenty books. Whoa! That’s a lot more than I normally shoot for!
  2. Review all twenty of those books on Goodreads. I’ve started to realize that if I don’t review books immediately after I read them, the review sounds like I didn’t read it at all. However, if I get on Goodreads and do the review as soon as the book is finished, it works for me (and for the author, because they get a better review!).
  3. Read at least one nonfiction novel. I mean not for school. I mean for the shear joy of reading nonfiction. Because I want to, not because I need to. Hahaha. Right. That’s gonna happen …
  4. Read at least one novel of a genre new to you. I’m thinking science fiction or contemporary romance or something. Comment any recommendations!
  5. Read at least one novel your friends are dying for you to read. Bay, Sarah, S. Isabell, and Claire – thoughts?

Writing

  1. Finish Flowers. Although I don’t know if I’ll be able to. If I don’t at least get Parts 3 and 4 finished, I give y’all permission to shoot me. Not really.
  2. Finish revising Ivy Introspective. I want to move onto another draft by February – an editing draft. This will probably take me a couple months. I want to ask some people to beta-read by April or May at the latest.
  3. Write at least three more chapters of Beyond Her Calling. I’ve decided against a series of blog posts for the Experiment in Pantsing, but I do want to keep writing the novel, slowly but steadily.
  4. Put five hours of work into outlining Interpreting Callie James. Telling myself to do something for a certain amount of hours is new to me, but I’m going to try it. With all luck, I’ll actually get some work done.
  5. Write 500 words of some novel/novella/short story every day. Once you watch the video down there, you’ll understand why (basically, it’s my lame rendition of the 364K race). Yesterday I wrote 639 words. Today … well, let’s just say it’s gonna be a long evening.

Blogging

  1. Fix/create pages. I want to put some serious work into the pages of Reveries in this next month. As you can see, I’ve done a little, but I want to do a lot more.
  2. Get 225 followers. What? I find 224 to be a rather odd number … even though it’s technically an even number …
  3. Keep to the schedule. I can do this, guys! I really believe it’s the best schedule I’ve ever come up with, and I’m excited to try it out!
  4. Comment on other peoples’ posts. Yeah … I actually need to dare myself to do this … that’s how pitiful I am at commenting on other peoples’ posts …
  5. Have fun with it! Because blogging needs to be fun!

Life

  1. Read three chapters of the Bible every night. My friend Bailey and I are reading through the Bible in a year. I’ve got to read eight chapters tonight to catch up. We’ve already read the first eighteen chapters in Genesis (kinda cheating, but it ain’t a race!), so we have a little bit of an edge, though.
  2. Practice the guitar/clarinet regularly. As with every other time I’ve set this goal, I don’t actually expect to, but what the hey
  3. Go sledding. I was sick and/or super busy when the snow was at its best, so I haven’t gotten to sled yet this winter despite the awesome snow! So this is the time to do it now that we have another six inches or so.
  4. Drive more. We didn’t go anywhere in December – or at least I didn’t – so I didn’t get a lot of driving time in … or at least not as much as I usually do. So I need to drive more in January!
  5. Exercise. Got to keep up these guns. *flexes arms* *looks pitiful* *cracks up* Yeah, I don’t have any muscles, actually … even my heart is two sizes too small. *subtle Grinch reference*

Well, that’s all my dares for this month. Now, it’s time to move on to some New Year’s Resolutions (which are more like goals, but whatever).

Well? What do you think? Can I turn sixteen!? It’s such a hard goal! I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it!

When I had my friend Bailey over a couple days ago for a sleepover, we did the vlog Q & A! It was a lot of fun. But the videos wouldn’t work. So we had to do it again. XD
Yeah, it was pretty sad … but I think the next batch were better than the first. Although we were definitely sleepier in the second round.
And now, Kellyn and Bailey’s Q&A Vlog, Part 1!

Now comment … or my pet zombies will come for you. *lightning, thunder, etc.*
~Kellyn Roth

What do you think of my thoughts?

57 Responses

  1. Kell, I recommend The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making for trying a new book. It makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE which is why it is so awesome. And it teaches vocabulary, so, go figure. Good luck turning 16!

  2. Idk if youll be able turn 16 kell… I mean it was really hard for me to turn 16…all the…. everything….idk.
    Haha so you kniw how were making fun of not being sure if your gonna tun 16?? Well I found a reason why u seruiosly would not be to acccomplish that!!!;; DEATH!! Yeah if u die u wont turn 16!! (Thats super morbid isnt it!) 😉
    For a book….idk Iwant u to try hp but I know youll hate it so I want u to try th first book in the Mark of the Lion series by francine rivers! I loved those books 😉

    1. Wow … true. *glances about* You don’t think I jinxed myself, do you? XD
      *is wary of Francine Rivers* *can’t remember why* I’ll think about it. I think I’m gonna put all the suggestions in a poll and have people vote.
      Well, the vlog’s up! 🙂

  3. Hey, Kellyn, if you want to read a great nonfiction book, try the diary of Anne frank(if you haven’t read that already..). Its sad….but she’s a great writer…

  4. AHH!! 😀 Love the vlogs. The Q&A rocked- I got a good laugh, you two are awesome! Can’t wait for more. ;D ( Also, those puppies are crazy cute. Oh goshers.)
    AWESOME GOALS, KELLYN! *Cinderalla song voice* You can do it, you can do it…. =) I am excited for beta-reading IvIn (because I totally am. You can’t shake me off now, LOL!) (please… see, I said please, so now we’re all good! 😉 ), and the blog tour, AND EVERYTHING!! You are an amazing author!
    Hm. 16? Not sure, hon. We may die. Probably won’t make it. Leave us behind, as we fall….. HAHA, kidding. ;D Hopefully you can do it!
    Your confidence for driving is inspiring. 🙂 I’m sure you can rock that out, too. And YESS I feel you, I really want to drive to Taco Bell when I get my permit lol. Small, yummy goals for driving are best. 😉
    Love the post, and vlogs, Kellyn! God bless you. Happy new year, let’s make it awesome. ♥
    -Ang

    1. Yeah, we … tend to get crazy together. It’s good over video … 😉 Really, though, it was a ton of fun and cool. Find out anything new about me? 😛 Just kidding.
      16 IS a big number to go for … and only 364 days to go there. Well, less. Eight months. 😉

  5. So you liked A Tree Grows in Brooklyn?? Yeah … it really does need a filter, though I think that it really fits with the time/book. A friend (sorta kinda a friend … or use to be … I don’t know) recommended this to me, and let me borrow it. And he was a guy. That made it a little interesting. 😉

    1. It was fantastic! Loved it to pieces. I agree that it fits with the time/book, and I probably wouldn’t change it so much as just … read it without seeing some of the language and such. Somehow. XD

  6. Ha, ha! I love your one writing one about downloading your book onto the Kindle and reading it. I do that sometimes too. It feels really creepy when I enjoy it this much, but sometimes I actually forget I wrote it. 😛
    I recommend Red Rain by Aubrey Hansen if you want to try out Sci-fi. 😉

    1. I know; it does feel a little creepy, but it’s kind of satisfying in a way? Especially if you’re not in a critical mood. 😉
      Thanks for the recommendation! 🙂

  7. So you liked A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN??? I can understand about what you meant that it may need a filter… I guess that it’s just the book’s time/author or whatever. It fit, though. I had a sorta-friend (who’s a guy) recommend it to me and let me borrow his copy, and that fact made it a bit weird while reading it… Anywho, good luck with 2017!!

  8. Yay, my questions got answered! 😉 I guess it was good that you had to redo them ’cause my questions were answered…a blessing in disguise. 😛 (Seriously, though, killing off characters is a great feeling…or hurting them…or watching them suffer.)
    Good job on what you accomplished in December and good luck with your January Dares! If you want to read contemporary romance, one of my favorite romance novels is “Chances Are” by Traci Hunter Abramson. The main character, Maya, has cancer, but she’s super independent and just awesome in general (and also from India, which is cool), and Ben…awww he’s such a gentleman and so great. It’s also totally clean. And for science fiction, I haven’t read much of it, but I recommend “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card. There’s some swearing in it, but otherwise it’s really awesome to read.
    Also, your New Year’s Resolutions sound great! (You have twenty? How dare you have more than me! Such an overachiever… 😛 ) I didn’t hear all of them because my little brother had two friends over while I was watching it who were loud, and I also have a bit of a headache ’cause I’m sick, but what I did hear sounded great. I think you should take the job if you have an offer! I mean, you’ve got to start somewhere, right? *needs to look for a job somewhere* *will probably wait until summer, though*
    Anyway, good luck with it all! You’re so awesome! 😀

    1. It was a blessing! And the lighting was better in the morning, anyway, so …
      I’ve heard people talking about Ender’s Game for forever … I’ll definitely add that to the list. 🙂
      (Yeah, overachiever, crazy lunatic, whichever you prefer …)

      1. Yay! It was fun! I’ll have to check out the second one…do you have it up yet?
        Well, it’s a good book, so we can’t help but talk about it. 😛 I got into an Ender’s Game phase early 2016 where I read a lot more of the Enderverse than I had before…there’s so many books! I didn’t even finish the main series…just kind of skipped around a bit. The first one is still the best, in my opinion.
        (Overachiever is fine, thanks.)

        1. We got the second one up. I was supposed to get the third up today (well, Friday, but who’s counting?) but … sickness. XD It’s not bad (I did a full school day and such – though at home, of course, ’cause I’m homeschooled, so it isn’t much of a trial), but I didn’t want to do anything more than I absolutely have to … so yep. Third one hopefully coming Wednesday. 😀

          1. Ooh, yay! I’ll have to go watch it! Oh noo, I hope you feel better soon! I was sick last week and it wasn’t fun at all. (I mean, missing school and reading was kind of fun…but not that fun…)

            1. Yeah, I’m just doing school, though. It’s not awful, but it’s not good, either. 🙂 So yeah, I haven’t gotten the third vlog out because … sickness, mostly. I wasn’t feel up to it Monday. But hopefully … soon … 😉

  9. Kon-Tiki. If you don’t mind fish. And The Battle of Britain by Quentin Reynolds is good, plus it can count as Flowers research. Ok, ok, you wanted novels. The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne.

        1. Sorry, that’s privileged information … I’m not allowed to reveal it to, um, people named Josie. Right. People named Josie. Or people named anything but Kellyn G. R. Roth. (what? I just came up with those initials … just in case there are a lot of other Kellyn Roths out there …)

          1. Why does this world have a bias against people named Josie? We’re humans too, you know! Humans who definitely do NOT want to steal your identity.

  10. Ohh that’s SO COOL how you have goals/dares for each month instead of just a big lot for the whole year. I LOVE IT. And sounds like January is going to be super busy for you too? Eeep. You’re amazing! I plan to read 20 books this month too hopefully.? I’m on track currently but who knows what’ll happen haha. Anyway, BEST OF LUCK with your goals!

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