February 2017 Dares

Well, it’s time for another round of dares! *shivers* Seriously, though, guys! How time flies! (Wow, I’m a poet! Which … is actually true … unlike most of the stuff I post on this blog … haha, what? I did not just say that …)
Before you sink your juicy whites into this pearly post (wait …), a brief announcement. This will be the only post on Reveries this week, I’m afraid. I need more brain space. ;)Next Monday, however, we’ll resume with our regular schedule.
Now, on to the dares! Well, you know, a recap of last month’s dares, anyway, because obviously you want to end with fresh hopes instead of faded ones … because I seriously fail at everything I tell myself to do here … but anyway! On with the show! Er, post!

(See the original dares here.)

1. Read twenty books. Check! Twenty-two (counting the book I intend on finishing right after I push ‘publish’). You can view them here.
2. Review all twenty of those books on Goodreads. Failed. This was a stupid goal, anyway …
3. Read at least one nonfiction novel. Failed. I’m just not good at nonfiction … reading it … writing it … you should have seen the essay I wrote on The Lone Ranger … I went on and on about the magic … XD
4. Read at least one novel of a genre new to you. Check! I’m right in the middle of The Remnant by William Michael Davidson. I’ll have finished it by this evening!
5. Read at least one novel your friends are dying for you to read. Failed. *shrugs* I just don’t love my friends enough, I guess …

1. Finish Flowers. Failed. I’m almost done, though. Just one section to go …
2. Finish revising Ivy Introspective. Check! Well, I think I’m finished revising, anyway. Revising is one of those things that tends to go on and on and on …
3. Write at least three more chapters of Beyond Her Calling. Failed. But this was a purposeful fail. 😉 Seriously, though, I’m putting aside other projects for a time to work on TDS and IvIn.
4. Put five hours of work into outlining Interpreting Callie James. Check! Six, actually. *big grin*
5. Write 500 words of some novel/novella/short story every day. Failed. I didn’t even try … and even if I had, I didn’t keep track, so I wouldn’t know …

1. Fix/create pages. Check! Look at my lovelies! (Yes, I do refer to the pages of my blog as ‘lovelies.’ Don’t judge me …)
2. Get 225 followers. Check! 242! You guys as so amazing! 🙂
3. Keep to the schedule. Check! At least most of the time …
4. Comment on other peoples’ posts. Kinda. I did comment on other people’s posts sometimes … but not all the time. *facepalm* I should be arrested for unlawful bloggering …
5. Have fun with it! Check! Although no more than usual … so is that a fail? I don’t know …

1. Read three chapters of the Bible every night. Check! Well, I read a section of the Bible every night, anyway …
2. Practice the guitar/clarinet regularly. Kinda. As in, “not really.” Once again, I’ll call attention to the fact that I was sick …
3. Go sledding. Check! Went sledding with Bailey and her brothers on the 7th. I know, because that was the last time I saw her … *sobs* I did see the rest of my friends last Tuesday and will see them again tomorrow (band practice), so yep. I’m not totally miserable … but I am semi-miserable. *nods*
4. Drive more. Failed. We were sick and snowed in, a painful combination …
5. Exercise. Failed. Once again, SIIIIIIIICK!

And now that THAT’S out of the way … February’s dares!!! (And yes, I did need three exclamation points. Exclamation points are sugar in the coffee of prose. The word ‘defenestrate’ is the cream.)

(subtly hints what weather I expect from February … because snow is fun … but I’m not used to this much … and it’s starting to drive me crazy …)

1. Read and review ten books. Eh. Not hard. *shrugs* You’re not even trying, are you, Darer?
2. Short-review one book each day. Well, that’s a little more challenging. I have to get on Goodreads and type up a two or three sentence review of books I only rated and never reviewed. Still … I think something bad must be coming.
3. Finish off your current read-to-review list. And there it is! Wait … my read-to-review list is only eight books long. *glares at Darer* You taking it easy on me … something bad is gonna happen …
4. Read 3 books recommended in the comments of January’s dare post. These will be randomly selected, although I do want to get around to read all the books you recommended. And … hopefully this will be pretty easy …
5. Read one classic. I really need to do this! I’ve been slacking in my classic-reading as of late. Again, not too hard … *suspicions grow*

1. Finish Flowers. Well … that’s hard in the respect that I’m being very careful in my writing of this book, trying to include everything I want to include without crowding it, but still …
2. Read through Ivy Introspective twice. Hopefully I’ll be able to make a lot of progress with IvIn in February. I want to finish up back-groaning, about-to-die editing in March and maybe ask for beta-readers in April.
3. Figure out the plot of The Dressmaker’s Secret. Which basically means know where I’m going. Because, despite popular opinion, ‘It’s So Much Fun Not Knowing Where You’re Going’ is just a song. Not a life plan.
4. Alternate days of TDS and IvIn. For instance, one day I’ll work solely on TDS, the next on IvIn, and so on. This is gonna be hard. For instance, I sold my soul to TDS today, but all I can work on is IvIn! I’m messed up …
5. Don’t let other projects interfere. Hahaha. Like that’s gonna happen. Why don’t you just say ‘take a flying leap over the moon and try to land on your feet’ or ‘build a rocket’ or any of those other things I can’t do?!

1. Build up ‘Resources‘ page. This definitely needs to be done, as you can see! Let me know if you have any ideas or recommendations. I’d love to include them. You can contact me or comment on that page (or this post).
2. Get better at graphics. Haha. Not happening. Just … not happening. No chance, Jim. (Wait … who’s Jim? Well, he’s my granddad … but … uh … he has nothing to do with this post … I mean, he’s the best granddad ever! But he has nothing to do with this post … and … I’m so confused now …)
3. Be professional, fun, and original. I doubt I can be any of those, but I’m definitely going to give it a chance this month! I try so hard to be professional, but then I ramble. And I try so hard to be fun, but then I get professional. And then I try to be original, and … stuff like this happens. So if I start, you know, being weird … that’s why.
4. Don’t enter any more blog tours. I don’t know why, but I seem to think that my review blog is some free-for-all where I can post anything I want whenever I want to post it. Well, that’s not what Reveries Reviews is. It’s a respectable book blog, mmkay? It has a schedule. I don’t know what that schedule is, but … it does have a schedule! I’m already participating in (or hosting) three blog tours in February. So that’s it. Zero, zip, zilch. Wait … I guess it’d be … three, trio, tres?
5. Write a post for Send the Light. Sorry, ladies! I’ve been sick and busy and … honestly, I have no legitimate excuse, but I’m doing my best. I don’t really have any ideas. I should probably just, y’know, pick a random chapter and do a Bible Study Hack, but … eh. *grasps for creativity* *grasps at straws* *grasps a treasure chest*

1. See people more often. I’m done being a hermit. I think I need to get out of the house at least twice a week (not counting church … should we not be sick and start going to church again … because it’s embarrassing to sit there hacking for two hours … especially since your little brother is a drama king …).
2. Be consistent with Bible-reading and instrument-practicing. Every month I set this as a goal because I always need to improve on these two things! They should be habits, mmkay? Especially Bible-reading. Although I admit that Bible-reading is getting to be a habit with me … kinda. Like, I hate myself if I don’t do it, but if I do it, I either read less than I should or a month’s worth. XD There needs to be a balance … especially since I’m starting to feel over-saved.
3. Earn $10. This is totally random. I do need money, though …
4. Don’t become overwhelmed. You see, I have extremely high standards for myself. Granted, these standards don’t involve anything I don’t care about (grades in certain subjects, dusting, and feeding the cat, for instance), but they are high standards. I also hold everyone else to my standards (at the same time expecting them all to be, you know, lamer than me). Just kidding … kinda … okay, mostly kidding, but there’s a thread of truth to it …
5. Take pictures. Because I need to do this more often. Of course, I do take, like, 200 in one sitting, so …

THAT’S IT?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME, DARER?!?! One of the dares of legit ‘don’t become overwhelmed.’ Where’s the tension? Where’s the excitement? Where’s the intrigue?!

What were your goals for January? Did you accomplish them? Are you satisfied with the way last (or rather this) month went? Will I be able to accomplish all I’ve aimed for in February? What are your goals for this coming month? Comment! Or else … LOOK NINJAS! *steals chocolate*

Sincerely,

~Kellyn Roth