My 2022 Resolutions

Hi there. I try not to focus on New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, I gave up stating mine publicly for a few years. I can tell you, they were mostly about weight loss anyway, and a lot of good that did me (sarcasm). However, this coming year, I am going to talk about resolutions I made for myself because I’d like to stick with them and I think I am ready to do that.

I decided that for each category of goals, I’d like to have a generic goal and then a focused goal. You’ll see what I mean.

Reading

My reading generic goal in 2022 is to read 30 books. I know that is such a low number, but I haven’t read much the past 2 years. I think this is a good starting out goal and that I can manage to complete it. I want to read. I am getting back into reading and I am enjoying it once again. I think 30 is a good jumping off point as I can always adjust to read more (or less) if I want.

I am going to document the books I read on the Storygraph app as Good Reads didn’t hold my interest. Now it is owned by Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and it is less appealing to me. I heard a Booktuber talk about Storygraph so I am going to give it a try. I am also going to keep a reading journal as well. I am very excited about this.

My reading focus is to read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. My dad took me to see the 2002 movie in the theaters. Afterwards, I wanted to read the book, which my dad owned. I got maybe 10 pages in? At this time, I was not a reader. I only read books that were required reading for school. I didn’t become a bookaholic until my mid to late 20s, although I did choose to read for myself from time to time in my teens and early 20s, but it wasn’t often.

Anyway, The Count of Monte Cristo was difficult for me, but I did try again a few years later. Again, I gave up under 30 pages. I didn’t enjoy reading much and especially not classics (unless we are talking Edgar Allen Poe, whom I was obsessed with).

As a tribute to my father and the memory I have of going with him to the theater to see the movie, discussing it, and him handing the book to me to read, I am going to tackle The Count of Monte Cristo once more. And with my love of reading and my love of the classics, I am going to finish it by the end of the year.

Writing

My writing generic goal in 2022 is writing more. Being more active on here. Giving you a mixture of reviews, short stories (on and off WATL), maybe some author interviews, and blogs. I hope that Jen becomes active again on here and we can collaborate on ideas and posts. I know she is planning to write again and I look forward to it.

My writing focus is to write 8,000 words per month, preferably on the idea(s) I have for a novel(s). I would like to be finished the first draft of one of my novels by the end of the year and have all the research done for another novel and maybe the start of a draft for that one.

That means, I would have to write 2,000 words a week. That equates to just under 300 words a day. This is definitely doable as long as I stay motivated. If I miss a day or two, I just have to make up the word count and how hard will that be if I am on a roll? 300 words is easy to write. I feel like if I start writing with a decent amount of time on my hands, I could easily do 2,000 words in one sitting, but if not I have that safety net of “Well, I got in 300 words today so I hit my goal.” Then I can brainstorm and work out any issues I had from this day to conquer the next.

Traveling

My traveling generic goal is to go to 12 new places. This can be anywhere in the tri-state area (NJ, PA, DE). That means, once a month, I would like to do something out of my comfort zone. For example, by the time this blog is posted, I will have been to the Philadelphia Zoo. Have I been there before? Yes. However, they are doing a holiday event with lights and I am looking forward to it. Plus, I haven’t been there in years. I would count that as a “new” place, but I am also trying to go to actual new-to-me places. I also don’t want to count the same place twice. So if I go to the Philadelphia Zoo again for a different event, it wouldn’t count.

My traveling focus is to do 2 big trips/vacations this year. This means more than a day trip and hopefully to other states. I know we are planning to go to CA, so I’d like to get another trip in as well.

Personal Goals

I was debating whether or not to put this out there, but I think I will. My major personal goal is to start and maintain a YouTube channel. I have been wanting to do that since 2013, when I have a Facebook post documenting that I tried to film a video. In January of 2020, I sat down and filmed a video. Or at least tried to. It didn’t work out. The attempt got deleted.

July of 2020, I filmed 2 videos and almost finished editing one, when I got major life changing news. The type of videos I was going to make wasn’t going to work out because of it. So the edited video and the second unedited video were deleted.

September of 2020, I switched my camera settings to a better quality and filmed another video idea. However, my computer did not support those settings and I wasn’t going to pay for a converter, so I deleted that video as well.

In 2021, I kept battling myself on what type of videos to do. Book, weight loss, or travel content. I had finally decided on travel/book mixture because I could document my newest journey of starting out as a travel agent (it’s a part time job for now).

Ultimately, I think for now I am going to just do book content for now and go from there. Hopefully, over time I can throw some travel content in there and tie it into books (by visiting bookshops wherever I go, going to a location that I read in a book, or something along those lines).

Another goal of mine, and one I make every year, is to lose weight. I had a goal to lose a certain amount of weight by March of 2022, but that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. So I am hoping to be down that amount by September of 2022.

Conclusion

I am hoping that with this out there on a public website, I can take my resolutions seriously and meet my goals. There are a lot. I think some of them will be put on the back burner, but I am going to try not to let that happen.

Do you have resolutions for 2022? If not, why not? If so, what are some goals you have?

books, booktube, document, Focus, goodreads, journal, novels, reading journal, resolutions, storygraph, travel, writing

Did I Keep My 2021 Resolutions?

2021 Resolutions

Read More. Write More. Get out in nature. Travel if I can.

#1. Read More

Did I read more in 2021? HA! Not as much as I did in 2019, but definitely more than 2020. You see, 2020 was the year I had many forms of depression. Especially because of the pandemic and the shut down. However, there were other factors contributing.

I honestly think I can count on one hand how many books I finished in 2020. 2021 started off that way as well. Picking up books, getting 1/4th to 1/2 of the way though, putting them down never to be touched again.

I did finish some books such as The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, The Deep by Alma Katsu, The Shadows by Alex North, We Have Always Lived in The Castle by Shirley Jackson and a few others.

My mental health is returning and I feel so much more myself than I have in over a year. The last two books mentioned in that list were ones I finished in the last week of November. I am already over 100 pages into a new read. It’s one I started before, but never finished.

So by the end of 2021, I hope to have read close to 10 books. Anything over 5 would be great and would make me feel like I am making progress.

#2. Write More

I think I have written more this year than in 2020. I can’t remember if I started a potential novel last year or this year, but I worked on it more in the early months of 2021. I have gotten practically nowhere.

I have tried to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) every year, even though I give up within the first week. This year, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I was busy working on a story submission for a job. I was planning to jump into NaNoWriMo afterwards and get a late start, but I came up with a story idea and I haven’t finished the core plot or characters yet. I want to get all the major details down first.

If I had to take a guess, I’d say I wrote less than 2020. Honestly, though, it’s probably the same.

#3. Get Out in Nature

In 2020, I was so sick of being stuck in my house by the end of the year, that I started to go on trails and to parks to walk on weekends. I even bought some hiking boots which work VERY well as snow boots. It was so invigorating. I wanted to do more of it.

If I am honest with myself, I always made plans with myself to go to the Nature Preserve 3 blocks away from my house every weekend and never did.

I did go back to the gym for a couple of weeks, though. That was until the worst part of my year and life happened. Which I will explain in the next part.

#4. Travel if I can

My dream job would be a travel writer/blogger/vlogger/agent. Anything with travel. I have always had a dormant wanderlust and it finally broke free a few years ago. However, my bank account said “HAHA, you’re crazy if you think you can afford it.”

We had saved to visit friends in Texas during 2020 and made the flight reservations about 2 weeks before the shutdown. So when that all happened, the airline gave us credit.

May 31st, also known as Memorial Day in the United States, my father passed away from the cause of the pandemic. It was the hardest thing I ever went through. My dad’s parents died when I was very young. My mother’s parents I wasn’t super close with so when they passed it was rough, but manageable. Plus, when people get older, you sort of prepare for it with each passing year.

The only other time where I was completely devastated to the point where I was just a walking shell of myself was in 2011 when a very close friend from high school committed suicide. He had called me about a week earlier to make plans for when he was up on leave (he was in the military) and also to talk through everything that happened to him recently. We stayed on the phone for hours and I thought he would be ok. Clearly, he wouldn’t be and I was not prepared at all for the news. It still hurts.

After my father died, I was a wreck. I was not myself and knew I wouldn’t be. I had daily mental battles with myself and I was on my way to be a walking shell again. I had to get away and reset.

I remembered that airline credit, called my friend in Texas, booked a flight, and was in Texas less than a month after my dad’s passing. It was so last minute, my friend was still working in the days I stayed there.

That not only reset me back to myself as much as it could (it would be months before I felt the way I feel now), but it also made me yearn for more traveling.

November was a hard month. My dad’s birthday was in November and Thanksgiving, too. A major family gathering holiday. So I knew I would need to get away for a little bit.

Cym and I made a trip to go to a small mountain town one weekend. It is definitely a tourist town and the worst thing was that the shops opened late and closed early. The best thing about it was the views and the company. It was an absolutely gorgeous town and it was a much needed vacation.

In conclusion, I did travel more than 2020, and I hope to travel more in the future.

What Now?

I will be working on setting resolutions for myself in 2022. I will probably make a posts about those at the end of the month. I wanted to make this post now because I didn’t post in November like I wanted to.

Murder at The Jail

Welcome back:

Hi. It’s been a while and now it’s awkward. Well, not really. That’s how blogs work, right? There’s a lot of posted content and then silence. Maybe some periods of sporadic writings, but then more silence.

Well, that seems to be how MY blogs go anyway. Jen, Cym, and I were talking about reviving this website starting the first day of October. Posting everyday if possible, then life happened again. I did make a promise that I would post this month. I had a lot of ideas, but just not enough energy or motivation. However, I am going to keep that promise.

I am going to try to get at least one post a month here. Everything and everyone has been reminding me that I am a writer. I like writing. My husband told me about this job where I would be writing and getting published, and instead of throwing myself into the research for this job, I did nothing for it. I still have time to create something (all I have to submit is a total of 600 words – 100 for the summary of the story and a 500 word writing example) and submit it. I will be working on that next (I have everything worked out in my head, I just need to sit down and type). Then, last night at a wedding, my husband’s childhood friend’s fiancé said to me “See, I would want to write my own vows like they did, but I would need a ghost writer.” I immediately went “I’d do it. I have a degree in Writing Arts. I write.” Immediately after, in my head, I said to myself, “but do I?”

Enough about my excuses and questioning my life. I am here to tell you about the ONLY spoopy October event I was able to go to this year. I was SO excited for it and I am excited to share it with you.

Background of the event:

Years ago, the name of a local tattoo parlor was given to my mother-in-law when she asked one of our friends where he got his tattoos done. Let’s call it “Alien Ink” because I don’t like giving out names of places close to where I live. I like the mystery of “Where do I live in New Jersey?” Alien Ink was owned by a husband and wife (let’s call her Tara) and they were even featured on a ghost show because the place is haunted. My mother-in-law went to get a tattoo there a few years ago. Her best friend and I accompanied her, but I had to leave at one point, and they experienced something afterwards. Legit haunted.

The couple had a nasty split up. She got to keep the building and has renamed to (let’s say) “The Jail,” but the now ex-husband has been continuously trying to ruin Tara’s career. When you type in the old name of the business, it now redirects to HIS new studio (which was the reason she had to rename it). He has been slandering her name as well as her new boyfriend’s name. AND HE TOOK THE DOGS (insert super angry face here). So, Tara has been trying to get back on her feet.

My mother-in-law and her best friend decided to get similar tattoos there to symbolize their friendship and help Tara out. My father-in-law even helped to build a new sign for the building. While getting worked on, Tara talked about an upcoming event they were going to hold at the shop. It was called “Murder at The Jail.” This would be a free show where they would display artwork done by serial killers and host some local vendors. Of course, my mother-in-law and her best friend were interested and knew that I would absolutely want to go as I am a huge true crime junkie. This event weekend was sandwiched between two weddings and I wasn’t going to let anything keep me from attending as it would be the only weekend in October I actually didn’t have any plans for yet.

Murder at The Jail:

The event was to take place from 1pm – 8pm. I suggested we go to it, grab dinner, then go look at local houses that were decorated from Halloween. However, there were some hiccups and we didn’t get to the event until about 7:30pm. I was worried I wouldn’t get to see everything (I didn’t know how many pieces of art would be displayed) so I hurried inside hoping the others would follow close behind.

After signing in, we made our way back to the main room where Tara tattoos clients. There were a decent amount of tables and easels containing artwork from Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, Nicolas Claux, Richard Ramirez, and others. After a quick look, we went upstairs where there were things to purchase like Tara’s own artwork, soaps with serial killer’s images on them (with or without “blood”), bath bombs in the shapes of skulls, and body scrubs/butters that were named after serial killers.

It got a little crowded, so I headed back downstairs to look closer at the artwork and buy shirts from the event/parlor.

Some The Artwork:

I took a few photos of the artwork (sorry about glares). This is just a small percentage of what was there. Just a forewarning, some of these paintings may contain actual blood.

By Richard Ramirez aka The Night Stalker
Charles Manson and Sharon Stone by Jeremy Jones
Halloween and Pennywise by Charles Rienhardt
Self portrait by Nicolas Claux aka the Vampire of Paris
By Charles Manson
Pogo The Clown (his own clown persona) by John Wayne Gacy aka the Killer Clown

After Thoughts:

I really hate the glare/reflections on those photos, but nothing can be done about it now. And honestly, that’s besides the point.

Some people may see this as glorifying terrible people, criminals, the scum of the earth. I totally understand and sometimes I question why I really enjoy true crime podcasts/shows/documentaries/books. After all, they will live in infamy as long as they are remembered. So why not let them die completely?

On the other hand, the one that wins out for me, is we need to recognize these events in history so that we are aware of the signs and aware that not all people, no matter how they present themselves, can be truly evil at the core. This way, we can hopefully protect ourselves and others.

I don’t know if I would ever go to another event like this, in all honesty. I thought it was absolutely cool and some of the artwork was just phenomenal, but I think, at least for me, I must keep a balance. Learn about the serial killers and their actions, but try not to completely humanize them (even though they are/were humans albeit, messed up ones). Keep them at a distance. I don’t want to be perceived by others as if I glorify or worship them because that could not be further from the truth. It’s something I have to give more thought to.

Wrapping Up:

What are your thoughts? Are you into true crime? Would you attend an event like this? Why or why not? I am very interested to see people’s take on this.

-K.

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Happy, happy, happy mail!

Wow, long time no talk! All of us here at Writing Across the Lines have been dealing with a ton of different things in our lives. Plus, the pandemic didn’t help. Yes, we were home most of the time, but we still were crazy busy.

I, for one, have been distracted the past few months with making what is called “happy mail.” Happy mail is essentially a penpal letter with extras. For example, I like to include stickers, washi tape samples, tea, and Project Life cards. I also like to make different things such as “loaded cards,” “envelope flipbooks,” and “shaker cards.” Shaker cards are fun because they add an extra element to your happy mail.

I tend to go through phases when I am making my happy mail. I watch my favorite YouTuber, Vivian of “The Paper Letter Blog,” and I see what others have sent her or what she herself has made and I put my own twist on it. I usually make all of my penpals a certain style and then when I have sent one to everyone, I find a different style to try. Currently, my style is making “flipbooks” out of macaroni and cheese boxes. I do this by covering the box with pretty papers, tape or glue envelopes inside, fill them, then decorate the outside. The featured image of this post is my most recent happy mail to my co-moderator on here, Cym! She hasn’t gotten it yet, but I hope she loves it.

Now, you may think that you need to spend a lot of money on things to make pretty mail, but that’s not true. Yes, you can get things like a “fuse tool” or a “crop-a-dial,” which fuse plastic and set eyelets, respectively. However, there are a ton of things you can do to make your happy mail look extra lovely! For instance, as I mentioned before, I like to recycle macaroni and cheese boxes for my flipbooks. I also have been saving all of my cardboard because it can be covered with scrapbook paper and cut into shapes. You can also use things like yarn and Elmer’s glue, which can be found in a lot of households. Vivian has done a few videos on how she also recycles things to make into pretty mail.

One other tip is to visit thrift stores if you have them in your area. I have gotten so many things at my favorite thrift stores, including a bookbinding machine/laminator, scrapbook paper pads, stickers galore, and my beloved electric typewriter (99c!!!). Not only do you get supplies for insanely cheap, but you also get to help out the charity connected to the thrift store.

Of course, you can also visit your local craft store, but they can be kinda pricey. One store I like to visit for craft supplies is Tuesday Morning. They’re kind of like a Ross or HomeGoods, but they have a HUGE selection of craft items at insanely discounted prices. For example, I got a Sizzix “Big Kick,” normally a $100+ device, for $49. They have a ton of dies there for it, which aren’t cheap. I’ve gotten a big set of crafting tools that included a hot glue gun, fuse tool, and Dremel-like tool for $30, whereas it would normally be much higher than that. Heck, the fuse tool alone costs that much! If you have a Tuesday Morning near you, I HIGHLY recommend you take a visit. They also have things like home goods, toys, fancy snacks, and bedding, but I go for the craft aisle.

If you are interested in starting on happy mail, that’s awesome! Getting more people reading and writing to each other helps us connect in these uncertain times. I have penpals in NJ, MD, TN, PA, NM, even Australia and Finland! I’ve grown so much closer to some of these friends because of our correspondence, and I treasure their friendships.

If you want to take a look at Vivian’s videos, including her P.O. Box openings (where I get a ton of inspiration!), you can find her YouTube page here. If you want to see the things that I have made myself, you can check out my Instagram @box5crafting. If you need help or are unsure where to start, you can feel free to message me on there and I will gladly point you in the right direction.

I can’t wait to see what you guys create! Keep crafting!

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