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April 2020 Dares & March 2020 Wrapup

by Kellyn Roth |
April 8, 2020

Hey, only a week or so into April, and I’m already here! I’m getting better. Well, a little better.

You know how tough it is to be on time when you’re busy … and stressed … and hiking way more than you ever have before …

Everyone is going crazy, but I’ve chosen to stay calm and go about my life – and hopefully get more stuff done!

Also, I think caution tape indicates more of a suggestion than an actual rule … right?

They're more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules ...

I won’t speak on this nonsense any more except to say that I’m sorry for those of you who are struggling financially, who have had important life events cancelled or made almost nonexistent by our crazy government, who are getting less than what they paid for as far as schooling goes, and who are struggling with fear and anxiety.

God is bigger than this, and your life is bigger than one event. Maybe this will be a wake up call for America – maybe we will realize that we need to fight for the freedoms we have always enjoyed as citizens once again.

Whatever the conclusion, don’t stress it. It’ll be okay.

March 2020 Dares {& Other Stuff} Wrapup

  • Finish Ivy Introspective.
    • Check!
  • Get Ivy Introspective to my beta-readers.
    • Check!
  • Update categories & keywords for all my published books.
    • Failed. I didn’t get to all of them!
  • Ask my designer about the feasibility of editing paperback covers.
    • Failed. I need money. Money, I do not have.
  • Continue keeping ahead of the game on the writing emails.
    • Check! Ehhh … mostly? I think it’s okay.
  • Relaunch Reveries Co.
    • Check! I didn’t have a blog tour or anything, but I did my best.
  • Organize a splendiferous blog tour for Love Lifted Me by Faith Blum.
    • Check! At least, I hope it was splendiferous.

Random Stuff That Happened

  • Of course all this Covid-19 stuff!
    • One of my jobs is cancelled for who knows how long – I’ll probably get it back whenever the gymnastics academy opens, but I don’t know when that will be.
    • I’m considered an essential employee as a PSW. Which I think is a good thing because my little guy’s dad has a weird schedule because he’s a surgeon.
    • ALSO, now is the time to go hiking, y’all! Or to fast food. You get your food faster, the trails aren’t packed even on nice Saturday afternoons … SWEET.
    • Also, I get more of Bailey. And Ian is home! I want to be more frustrated than I am. There are some things that drive me crazy, but it’s more online than in reality.
  • Differing work schedules were interesting!
    • Yay?
  • I’ve gotten legitimately nothing done.
    • Whoops.
  • Paisley is not a complete wreck on a leash.
    • Sometimes I wonder, but once you get a leash on her (it takes some coaxing), she’s half-decent. If a bit confused. She’s very used to being a free dog.
  • Honestly, not that much happened.
    • It’s just … life. Life goes on, y’all.

April 2020 Dares

  • Get Ivy Introspective to my editor.
    • Yay! I’m so close! This book feels like a hot mess right about now, but I’m getting there, little by little.
  • Continue to consistently send emails to my lists.
    • I’m … at least caught up with my writing email list? I keep getting behind on the other ones, but then, I don’t have such a clear idea of what I want to send to them? Which I really need to sit down and outline out, but you know. Busy, busy.
  • Keep working on Reveries Co.’s blog.
  • Actually exercise with some frequency.
    • Ehhhhh … I mean, I’ve gone hiking a couple times? And I played basketball with Dad, Bailey, my brothers, and her brothers? Once? So … we’ll see how this goes. I wrote down a routine and everything, but I haven’t gotten much further.
  • Read through the New Testament.
    • Yup! I’m pretty excited that I haven’t fallen super behind yet! I keep picking away at it. Hopefully I’ll keep it up!
  • Read three (3) books.
    • I feel like I’m in an eternal reading slump, but I need to fight it!
  • Practice my instruments at least a few times.
    • This has … not been happening as much as it should?
    • As in since our band practices got cancelled, I have not practiced. At all.
    • I mean, not that I was practicing a ton before (if at all), but now it’s nada. And that needs to change. At least a bit.
  • Write at least 30k.
    • I’m so behind, y’all! I’m worried I’ll never catch up, but I haven’t felt like writing, and I haven’t had time, and I just … ugh.
    • Lately I’ve been worried I’ve lost a bit of my touch, and that’s almost proving to be true, and it’s spooky!

Well, that’s the gist of it. As of late, I’ve been very tired and worn out, and it’s hard for me to focus. I’ve also had an inordinate amount of physical (and sometimes emotional) pain.

That said, I’m getting through it, keeping on, and doing my best to not let any of the above get me down!

TTFN!

~Kell~

p.s.

What did you do in March? How’s your April going? Any goals/plans/etc.? What’s one thing you’ve had more time to do recently? And are you actually doing it? 😉

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10 Responses

  1. I mostly just did what I usually do in March…work, try to write, get distracted by the Internet. Since I’m still considered an essential worker, I do still have work, just not that much. I’ve only worked twice so far this month.

    Oh well, it just gives me more time to write for Camp NaNo…which I am failing spectacularly already.

    1. Haha, yup, same here. 😛 I still work regular hours at my other job, but it wasn’t quite as much – 3 days a week for 4 hours or so versus 5 days a week for 3 hours or so, usually. And any special events, of course, were dropped – so I suddenly went from maybe 30-40 hours a week to like … 10-15? Ish? Which is nice.

      Same, though. 😛 I don’t know why, but my ability to write this month is zilch!

  2. Working on my novel last month was tricky with COVID-19 putting a damper on things, but I feel like I’ve gotten my groove back this month so far. I’m hoping to stick with that and not let the stress get me down if it pops back up. Besides, I’m working on memorizing some verses (hosting a Focus on Jesus Scripture Memory event on my blog, WritingToInspire.blogspot.com, if anyone’s interested), and that’s keeping my focus on the only One who can calm the storm of this pandemic. I’m also reading books and binge-watching Monk episodes with my parents (we’re in season six now, and I’m already sad that they only made eight seasons and we’re nearing the end…). Lots of fun stuff going on here, but grocery shopping is kind of weird and awkward right now. I’m really hoping shopping is back to normal soon.

    1. All sounds like awesome stuff! We’re probably in season 7 or 8 of Monk, and I’m sad it’s ending, too! It’s been a while since we’ve watched an episode, though, because my dad is a moody watcher. He’s used to things coming out once a week, so he never wants to watch more than one in a row – and sometimes it ends up being every other week. 😛 But that does mean it lasts a little longer!

      1. I understand that! It was hard on me when I first got DVDs of shows I liked, because, like your dad, I wanted that weekly dosage. So I draaaagggggggged out watching the seasons through by watching only one episode a week… on the same day of the week the show used to air, if I remembered that information. Now, though, I binge-watch if I feel like it and don’t really worry too much about it.

          1. When we lived out in the country when I was little, we didn’t have cable, so I had to watch at my grandparents’ place if it wasn’t on the channels you could get with bunny ears. We watched a ton of movies back then.

            1. Yup, I mostly grew up watching movies and then the Netflix discs – so really nothing modern, haha! 😛 I would go over and watch TV at my grandma’s – just Animal Planet, which was my favorite.

  3. I have been staying in and ordering my groceries on line. I have read a lot and watched television. Trying to sort out a lot of things that need to be tossed out into the garbage. I am on a cleaning out binge. I finished reading a two part series. The Dublin Saga by Edward Rutherfurd. Part one had 700 plus pages and part two had 800 plus pages. Finished a biography on Lucy Maud Montgomery by Mollie Ollin. I have now just started Emma by Jane Austen. Stay well and safe.
    Marilyn

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