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June & July 2020 Wrapup + Planning for the School Year

by Kellyn Roth |
August 8, 2020

Before we starting on ANYTHING ELSE … I DECIDED TO RENAME THIS BLOG! I mean, really, I just decided to use an old name combined with a bit of a new one that describes what I kinda feel is my … aesthetic. Per se. *shrugs*

SOOOOOOO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, I’D LIKE TO INTRODUCE:

Lilacs & Reveries. That’s right. My favorite flower, which also has become kinda a symbol of my childhood and who I am to me, combined with Reveries. Which is my writing roots. Which just represents … all the reasons I write. And more. It’s just perfection.

Take a quick tour around this one page which I redesigned slightly! (So far just the sidebar, really, and I made some tweaks to the homepage of the blog itself.) We’re getting there!

And hopefully the content on this blog is going to be a lot more fun from now one. (My sidebar sorta explains what I’m going for. Which is basically … whatever I want!)

Eventually I’m also going to get some pro graphics designed and so on, but I still want a sorta … thrown together on Paint vibe. Because … reasons. 😉 (There IS no reason. It just is. Let us move on from our flippancy.)

What do you think!?

So … about that actual post.

About halfway through the summer, I decided to rethink alllll my dares/goals, and now I’m also rethinking a lot of my school-year goals!

So now, at the beginning of August, I feel like it’s a good time to reexamine what I’ve done this summer (intentional or no, haha!) as well as try to work through my school year a bit more. (And that’s … a WIP. So that’s gotta be fun to talk about because some of it is like, “I don’t know?? MAGICCCC!”)

Anyways. Let’s dive right in to the controlled mess than often is my life. 😉

Summer 2020 Dares (Wrapup? Ish?)

20 DARES FOR SUMMER 2020

  1. Publish Ivy Introspective & sell 20 copies by the end of the summer.
    • So far I’m at 17. Which I think is pretty good given that I have most of August to get the final three! Of course, this isn’t really an accurate measurement because it’s free on Kindle Unlimited.
  2. Get At Her Fingertips and Beyond Her Calling ready for an editor.
    • Nope! I know already that I won’t achieve this one. Decided not to because I need a break!
  3. Finish the first draft of The Midwife’s Daughter.
    • Same as above.
  4. Launch the new writing course with Faith Blum and Zach Sollie.
    • We haven’t launched it yet, but we have it mostly prepped.
  5. Set up welcome sequences for both email lists.
    • Nope! I have both partially completed, but I decided to put this chore onto the back burner for now.
  6. Set up a freebie for the writing email list (brief course).
    • I mostly just brainstormed for this one.
  7. Organize my street team.
    • Somehow. There are still things I could do to make it better!
  8. Put together a Facebook group based on Katie Phillips’s suggestions.
    • No – but I did decide to put it off.
  9. Organize at least one if not two online events for authors in my genre.
    • I’m working on organizing one now.
  10. Put together a writing, launching, & marketing plan for Her Lord’s Book Club.
    • Not a plan in the way I meant it – in that I don’t have firm dates. But I do have it all written it up for whenever I have time!
  11. Read at least ten books.
    • And counting! I’m so glad I’ve gotten back to reading.
  12. Catch up on reviews, particularly on my blog.
    • Nope, but I have caught up somewhat on review copies!
  13. Spend more time encouraging and supporting other indie authors.
    • Ehhhhhh … I’ve given it a lot of thought, and tried to think of ways to do so, but my efforts have been quite minimal. (Sorry, guys!)
  14. Consistently post on my personal blog.
    • Somewhat! There have been more posts than some summers – but not as many as I’d like.
  15. Consistently post on Reveries Co.’s Instagram and blog.
    • Yup! This is one thing I have kept up on this summer.
  16. Sketch out 5-year and 10-year plans. Figure out long term goals.
    • Well, the thing is … most of my long-term plans have been made uncertain lately. So I’m still working on this.
  17. Hold a birthday scavenger hunt at my house & invite my friends.
    • We’re planning on it! We also did another scavenger hunt in July.
  18. Learn to drive stick shift somewhat comfortably.
    • This is another thing that didn’t pan out.
  19. Cuddle lots of puppies.
    • Aubrey took too long to come into heat, so this will have to be more of a fall activity this year! Puppies coming this September.
  20. Stay sane but not too sane.
    • Failed. 😉 Maybe next year I’ll stay a lil’ sane …

August 2020 Goals & Trying to Make a School-Year Plan

As I’ve mentioned (or have I? I can’t remember!), I’m a bit stuck. It’s hard for me to wrap my head around my schedule or what I’ll be capable of doing!

My main plan for this month is to:

  • Have fun (which for me is just staying home as much as humanly possible)
  • Make a battle plan
  • Try to reset my brain a lil’ bit

And if I can do those things, I’ll consider myself an accomplished woman. *glares at Caroline Bingley* for expecting more of me*

*Note to my mom in case you read this: I think that’s why I don’t like the name Caroline. So our whole conversation is moot.

I also really want to bring this blog back to the fun place it used to be. I want it to be my haven of rest – again, like it used to be.

Basically, my biggest goal for this school year is to find a healthy rhythm. To be healthy, I guess – and that is more spiritual/mental health than anything. (I will NEVER give up Dairy Queen. NEVER. They shall drag my cold dead body away from those tasty fries.)

I also want to be ME as much as possible. Lately I’ve discovered that a lot of the things I thought were me had disappeared. And that’s okay. God gets to do what He wants. He’s God.

But hey, I have good, fun qualities tucked in with the bad & the boring, and there’s no use in smothering those good, fun qualities & saying that my only worth was tucked up in things I can’t control. *glares at self for being so stubborn* *even though I know the only person I can’t control is myself*

I like to pretend my mild obsession with Keira Knightley is a loveable character trait, for instance. *whispers* I know it isn’t. Just humor me. Humor me, y’all …

But more specifically … I like writing fun, light-hearted, meaningless, arbitrary, ridiculous, impossible-to-understand-because-there-is-no-rhyme-or-reason-so-don’t-search-for-it things while still maintaining a sense of consistency.

So I’m going to try to do that more often on this blog. And I’m also going to be keeping track of my journey to developing a more healthy writing life! #meaningnotdying #noreally #nodyingthisyear #noneatall

Sound like fun? Well, come along for the ride!

If you’re here to watch me be professional … *winces* … Nah. Try my email list, maybe? Though I feel like my darned personality keeps leaking through there, too. *taps chin* I don’t know. You’re on your own.

LET’S DO THIS THING! Whatever it is.

TTFN!

~Kell~

P.S.

Well … that was a lot to take in! For me, though probably not for you. I like to imagine all my blog followers are intelligent enough to understand me more than I understand myself sometimes. 😉 True/not true? All making sense?

Okay, so what do you think?! Also, do you set goals? And what does a healthy life look like to you (not as far as eating well because I AM ANTI-HEALTHY EATING HOW DARE YOU but as far as all the other healths)?

(And no, I’m not entirely serious. You can eat healthily if you want. Just don’t involve me in it. I don’t even like eating unhealthily, y’all.)

What do you think of my thoughts?

7 Responses

  1. Ohh, this was fun. I’m looking forwards to your posts. 😀 It’s gonna be awesome.
    I have not set goals, but I should. Although with the moving, everything’s tipsy-turny. (Look at that, autocorrect created a new word. It’s basically as good as topsy-turvy, too!) As for healthiness… well, Corona is doing a great job at ruining my plans to get healthier physically. Mentally, though, I’m just going to keep writing, keep reading, keep digging in the Bible, keep talking to friends, and keep watching Babar. XD

    1. Thanks, Katja! I’m looking forward to them, too! Hopefully they’ll all come out as scheduled. 😛

      At first, I was doing a lot better as far as working out and such goes when Covid-19 started, but now I’m lazy again. 😉 Back when it was a novelty for me to get out of the house and be rebellious, I went and exercised, but now it’s just like … *shrugs* Eh. Not enough rebellion. So I’m not motivated. 😛

    1. It’s so hard coming up with them, though! Like I feel like it used to be easy back when (e.g. … last month …) I was all reckless and just set these high goals and didn’t worry about anything else, but now I’m trying to be all thoughtful and cautious and … eek! I do not care for that.

  2. I’m so proud of you for a great book release, girly! *hops and hugs* I can’t wait for all of your other projects… they sound amazing! And I relate so much to your sanity dare, wow. ??

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