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May 2018 Dares

by Kellyn Roth |
May 5, 2018

*blinks* Okay, so, April was … pretty crazy? And I only half-survived it, but I’m here, and I’m better, and it’s all good. *two thumbs up*

I’m still reeling a bit from April (five days into May, I know, it’s hard to adjust!). So making plans for May feels distant. Combined with the fact that it’s my last month of school … wowza.

Let’s just not think about May for a few hundred words and recap what happened in April. Because maybe if I can think about what happened I can figure out process it all. *shudders*

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April 2018 Dares

April 2018 Dares

Reading

  • Cut back on reading as much as you can.Β Check!
    • I read nine books, which is only 1 less than before.
    • But 2 are school books.
    • And 1 was my own book.
    • And 1 was a reread.
    • And 1 was a short story.
    • So I count it as “Check!” πŸ˜‰
  • Focus on WW2 research.Β Kinda.Β 
    • I read a lot of stuff about WW2 in school …?
    • But otherwise, not really. Definitely not specialized research.
    • Later, later …

Reading Stats for April

Read:Β 9 books

Classics:Β 2 (The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, The Diary of Anne Frank)

Historical Fiction:Β 3 (A Borrowed Dream by Amanda Cabot, Somewhere Still by Denitta Ward, The Letter by Willowy Whisper)

Nonfiction:Β 2 (The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, The Diary of Anne Frank)

Contemporary:Β 3 (The Missing Piece by Libby May,Β The Journey by Alleece Balts, The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall)

Favorite Book of the Month:Β At Her Fingertips The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. Generally not a nonfiction fan, but this one was good!

Least Favorite Book of the Month:Β Somewhere Still, I guess? I gave it the lowest rating, but I think Anne Frank was harder to get through. It wasn’t a bad story, but I had some serious problems listed in my review here. It was still pretty cool, though.

Most Anticipated:Β At Her FingertipsΒ The JourneyΒ by Alleece Balts (really looking forward to this one for a long time! It was almost everything I’d hoped for!)

Least Anticipated:Β Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (bleck … still not sure what to rate it because it’s an incredible account but it’s boring, and I hate Anne!)

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Writing

  • PublishΒ At Her Fingertips.Β Check!
  • Write 10K ofΒ Once a Stratton.Β Check!
    • I did it! I actually wrote quite a bit more than that, actually! I’ve now finished the first draft at just under 60K.

Writing Stats for April

April was the first round of Camp NaNo, but due to the publication of At Her Fingertips, I didn’t take it that seriously.

Camp NaNo

I set a goal of 10K of Once a Stratton and ended up writing about 15,000 words (???) of Once a Stratton as well as bits and pieces of various other projects (Alice Unanswered, a couple stories I’m keeping secret for now) to make a grand total of 24,593 words for the month.

My stats from Camp NaNo:

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As you can see, there was some mixed growth. On the last day I actually added everything up as well as wrote 8K, so that’s why the sudden upwards spike. *coughs*

Once a Stratton

First draft completed! Looking for alphas towards the middle of this month.

Beyond Her Calling

I actually have a couple alphas taking her apart now (soooo manyyyyy ploottt hollllessss!). If you’re interested in alpha-reading (deadline June 1st), let me know.

Alice Unanswered

37,441. So not a lot more, but any progress is progress. #obviousstatement
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Blogging

  • Host a blog tour.Β Check!
    • Hey, it worked! πŸ˜‰

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, and Day 7 are still up and can be viewed.

Blogging Stats

All-Time Followers: 595

This Month’ Followers: +14 email/blog followers, +a lot of social followers

Comments: 253

Likes: 213

Views: 1,772

Visitors: 440

Most Popular Post:Β At Her Fingertips, Blog Tour: Day 2Β (I guess because it was the official start to the tour?)

Runners Up:Β At Her Fingertips, Blog Tour: Day 1Β andΒ At Her Fingertips, Blog Tour: Day 4Β (The first is obvious ’cause Day 1 and the second is because of the characters! If you comment on that post, they’ll still answer your questions, by the way!)

My Favorite Post:Β The #1 Way to Spread the Good News!Β (There will probably be another Christianity post on the … 16th, I believe? I can’t remember my schedule exactly, but somewhere around then!)

Most Popular Non-Tour Post:Β Finalizing Tour Details and ProofreadingΒ (My guess is because of pretty ARC pictures! πŸ˜‰ )

Runner Up:Β How to Push Through a First DraftΒ (Surprised this one isn’t more popular as my writing posts usually do pretty well!)
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Life

  • Read the Bible.Β Check!
    • Not at the start of the month.
    • However, in these last couple days, I’ve finally figured stuff out, and now I’m reading the Bible every night.
    • I’m going through Romans! Just a couple verses a night … it’s deep!
  • Try to chillax. At least a bit.Β Kinda?
    • In these last couple days, yes, and even a bit towards the end of the blog tour.
    • I’m good now, but I was pretty bad all month. πŸ˜›

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Stuff That Happened in April

  • My other little brother’s birthday.

    • Turned 11 on April 20th.
    • Same day as Adolf Hitler.
    • No comment.
  • I released At Her Fingertips!

    • SO EXCITED!!!
    • Be sure to check out the blog tour – you can still view the posts and such.
  • More graduation planning.

    • We’re getting closer, I think.
    • Or at least a little closer.
  • Work has been a little crazy.

    • We just switched over to our summer schedule.
    • It is hard to get used to.
    • I cannot tell you how many times I have told a customer, “Oops! I’m looking at our May classes! Hold it a second while I switch to summer …”
  • AWANAs ended!

    • Now what will I do with all those free Wednesday nights …
    • #partaaaayyyy
  • My dear friend A. Lei turned 16!

    • Congratulations, my dear!
  • Phone shenanigans.

    • This is an inside joke.
    • MUHAHAHAHAHA.
  • Am feeling much better.

    • So … I’ve been acting a bit like a dramatic teen recently.
    • But, y’know, God is greater than my sillyness.
    • So I feel much better now. πŸ™‚

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May 2018 Dares

Light reading month, heavy writing/blogging month. I hope.

May 2018 Dares

Reading

  • Keep caught up with challenges and such.
    • I’ve been failing at this these last couple months … *coughs*
  • More WW2 research.
    • JUST DO IT.

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Writing

  • Get through the second draft of Beyond Her Calling.
    • Or at least through the alphas. πŸ˜‰
    • I might not make all the revisions this month.
  • Get through the second draft ofΒ Once a Stratton.
    • It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m going to do my very best.
  • Write at least 15K.
    • Doesn’t matter what I’m writing, but about 500 words a day written is a good goal, so yep!

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Blogging

  • Start getting WordPress.org set up.
    • Y’all may not know this, so I’ll explain.
    • WordPress.org is the self-hosted version of WordPress.com.
    • I’m working on getting Reveries switched over. (Don’t worry; the only change will be the look and the address, and you’ll automatically be signed up if you follow my blog already.)
  • Put out quality posts twice a week.
    • This has been a real struggle in the past.
    • I DON’T KNOW WHY BLOGGING IS SO HARD!!!
    • (Yes, I do; it’s because I overthink everything …)

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Life

  • Read the Bible, pray, and journal every night.
    • I just gotta keep it up.
    • So it always ends up being a dare.
    • Even though I fail a lot.
    • BUT … I’m a changed woman, so hopefully that will be different this month.
  • Finish school.
    • EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!
    • Can you believe I’m going to be graduated?!?!
    • NO MORE SCHOOL! SO LONG, SUCKERS!!!
    • (I feel like this announcement needs even more exclamation points. So.)
    • !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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What Will Be Happening in May?

  • Graduating from high school!

    • I cannot express how excited I am about this.
  • Last month of a full work schedule.

    • In the summer I’ll only be working two days a week with occasional subbing.
    • This way I’ll get time to volunteer and enjoy summer and write!
  • Band concert.

    • I cannot tell you how badly I need to practice.
    • Help?
  • Lotttttssss of alpha reading and revisions!

    • Again, help? πŸ˜› Just kidding.
  • Moving the blog to WordPress.org.

    • Or, at least, I hope so!
  • This has already happened, but … YESTERDAY WAS MY MOM’S BIRTHDAY!!!

    • How old is she? Well, I’m a good daughter, so I’ll never tell. πŸ˜‰
    • Just FYI: May the 4th is all about Kell’s mom. Not Star Wars.
    • Star Wars sucks compared to my mom. <3

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Annnnndddd … that’s about it! I have a lot of work to do this weekend, so I’ll draw the post to a close now. Thanks so much for hanging with me through it. Y’all are awesome.

TTFN!

~Kellyn Roth~

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p.s.

How was your April? Were you here for the release? Did you enjoy those posts? Did you have a favorite thing about the blog tour? What are your plans for May? Any special goals you’d like to share?

What do you think of my thoughts?

19 Responses

  1. Kellyn, do you help in Awana? Or do Awana?I did not know this…. I do and I’m excited for it to be over too. ? I had a crazy group this year that made me want to pull my hair out!
    Congrats on finishing school. ⭐️?

    1. I help with AWANAs … my sister and I teach a class. πŸ™‚ It was a fun group, but it’s nice having an extra couple hours at night just to relax before bed. πŸ˜‰
      Thanks!

  2. Romans is definitely deep! I’ve read the hiding place and anne frank’s diary. anne was surely an interesting girl. πŸ˜‰

    1. Yep, Anne is INTERESTING, that’s for sure. xD Her mind is like, “Boys, boys, everyone is treating me unfairly, why is everyone so much happier than me, boys, random worries, boys.” πŸ˜‰

  3. Awesome month! Congrats on graduation! (I have a couple more years to go… ?)
    Good luck with setting up the .org version! (I had a lot of trouble when I was doing mine, but hey, it might just be me being me. ?) I’m excited to see how your blog will look when it’s done, though! ? It’s SO worth setting up in the long run.

    1. Thank you! (Aww, sorry! Hopefully it will go faster than you think possible. πŸ˜‰ )
      (Yeah, I’m figuring it will take me a while to figure it out … πŸ˜‰ Yes, definitely! I’m thinking it’s going to be absolutely gorgeous!

  4. Great goals on the Bible reading, prayer, and journaling!!! I started on goals like that a couple years ago! It’s difficult you keep up, but soooooo helpful! πŸ˜‰ Journaling helped me a lot with figuring out all my crazy thoughts!!! πŸ˜‰

  5. Congrats on graduating! πŸ˜€ πŸ˜€ So are you graduating a year early?
    And hopefully the weather will get better so I can read outside and go kayaking and hiking again soon! It’s been really windy and rainy lately. πŸ™
    And I loved your tour! It was so fun to be a part of it and interview Peter! πŸ˜€

    1. Yep, I’m graduating at 16 … combined junior and senior years, lol.
      Ooh, fun! Not the weather, but the kayaking and hiking, haha. πŸ˜‰

  6. YES I WANT TO ALPHA BEYOND HER CALLING
    YESSSSS
    Okay, now that I’ve read the rest of the post I can respond to other stuff as well, haha. πŸ˜›
    I read the Diary of Anne Frank a couple years ago and it was kind of weird…especially the whole weird romance thing. I really don’t remember all that much from the rest of it…except that it sounded way cooler than my journals did when I was her age. πŸ˜›
    OH AND CONGRATS ON FINISHING ONCE A STRATTON! That’s awesome! πŸ˜€
    And good job on getting a bunch of your dares done last month! *high fives* And I’m glad you’re having good experiences with the Bible and God! I think I need to get more in depth in my scripture study…
    AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUR MOM (MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH HER!) AND TO YOUR BROTHER! πŸ™‚

    1. I went ahead and just sent it to you. πŸ˜‰ If you don’t end up having time, just read it at your convenience … or not at all! Up to you. No pressure. πŸ˜›
      YES! Right! I don’t know what I thought about it! Seemed to be a lot of thoughts about boys and weirdness and just … I don’t know. I didn’t really understand her, and since it’s just some random girl’s journal, there wasn’t any true plot, sooo?
      Thanks! I’m so glad it’s over after over a year working on it … πŸ˜‰
      THANKS! I’ll tell her! πŸ˜›

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