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June 2021 Project Report

By Jared Dees

Here is my monthly report on projects, goals, and the lessons I learned along the way.

My 2021 Goals

Professional Goals:

526,675/ 523,080/1,000,000 words for kids (A part of my #1millionwordsforkids goal) (+3,595 words)

675/1,000 Resources (Videos/Worksheets) for Members of The Religion Teacher (+19 resources)

Personal Goals:

21/24 Books Read (+4 books)

36/73 Books of the Bible read from beginning to end (+0 books read)

50/100 30-minute workouts (+6 workouts)

How I Spent My Time in June 2021

I track every minute of time I spend working on projects using an app called Toggl (here is why). Here is a list of the top ten projects I spent the most time on last month:

  1. 11:19 – The Religion Teacher Email & Customer Service
  2. 8:34 – Daily Review
  3. 7:52 – Morning Preview
  4. 5:57 – @jareddees Social Media
  5. 5:40 – Kindle Vella Projects
  6. 4:38 – Theoloji 101
  7. 4:29 – The Religion Teacher Blog
  8. 4:03 – The Religion Teacher Saint Worksheets
  9. 3:19 – Make It Book
  10. 2:54 – The Religion Teacher Videos

Total Time: 83:10 Hours

June 2021 Highlights & Lessons Learned

Kindle Vella Projects

Amazon’s new serialized reading platform launches in July 2021. I decided to release a few serialized stories to correlate with the launch.

Starting today. #kindlevella pic.twitter.com/nwsaVFnogB

— Jared Dees (@jareddees) June 18, 2021

As an author, I am very excited about Kindle Vella. Up to this point, I have been publishing serialized stories here on my personal website. For the most part, these stories have been buried and overlooked unless I feature them in my email newsletters. Kindle Vella gives me the chance to publish stories directly to readers on a platform meant for reading.

I decided to publish a couple of stories that have been sitting on my desk and desktop for a very long time. They aren’t quite long enough to be books, but I want to get them out into the world. Kindle Vella gives me the chance to get readers and feedback for both of these unpublished works.

I had another story idea to encourage kids to become entrepreneurs that I wanted to test out as well. I finished one episode and outlined a few more.

Kindle Vella launched during the first week of July and here are the three serialized stories I have started so far:

Itsy-Bitsy Quitter: The Three Secrets to Sticking With It
No More Mess: The Day the Floor Fought Back
The Sixth Grade CEO: Lessons in Life and Business for Kids

Theoloji 101

I created a book proposal for Theoloji 101. I wanted to get some feedback from an editor and publishing company. The conversation convinced me to be my own creative director and publisher for the project. I’m excited to move forward and turn this unique project into an actual paperback book. More to come soon.

The Religion Teacher Saint Worksheets

I’m still working towards the goal of 1,000 resources for members of The Religion Teacher. I’ve already created more than 130 saint biography worksheets including last month’s Apostles Worksheet Collection. Now I’m moving on to the other major New Testament saints. I don’t have a definitive number of saints in mind, but I like the idea of a collection of 150 saint biographies and reflection questions.

I also hit a milestone of 100 member videos and graphic organizers and added some Spanish translations of the Gospel worksheets I created years ago.

1 Million Words for Kids

If you look back at the monthly reports for the last couple of years, you will notice one consistent goal: write 1,000,000 words for kids by the time I turn 40.

Well, I failed. I’m just a little more than half way to my goal.

But in all honesty, I look at what I have accomplished since setting this goal and it makes me happy:

  • 7 published books for kids
  • 8 (or more?) unpublished books for kids
  • 100s of fables
  • 1,000s of parents subscribed to newsletters

You will continue to see my updates towards the one million milestone for as long as it takes me to get there!

I failed.

In 2018 I set a goal: "Write 1,000,000 words for kids before I turn 40."

Today is my 40th birthday and I've only written 526,675 words for kids.

So I failed . . . but not really.

👇 pic.twitter.com/khymGwrwQS

— Jared Dees (@jareddees) June 23, 2021

The Make It Book

Last, but not least. I started a new project on Racket.com. I’ve been sitting on a book for authors, artists, and creators for years. It is the reason for the 1 million words for kids goal. It is the reason for the 1,000 member resources goal. It is the reason I am able to work as a full-time author and stay-at-home dad.

The book is 75% written already so I decided to start sharing it piece by piece on a new audio platform called Racket.

I'm writing a book on @racket100.

Here's why:

1) The book is 75% completed, and just sitting on my hard drive.

2) The ideas in the book helped me become a full-time author and they will help others, too.

3) I love the idea of publishing in public.https://t.co/22yZ8vKEzi

— Jared Dees (@jareddees) June 17, 2021

July 22, 2021 Filed Under: Monthly Reports

About Jared Dees

Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children.

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Jared Dees is passionate about sharing practical resources to teach faith. He is best known for his website The Religion Teacher and is the author of many books including 31 Days to Becoming a Better Religious Educator, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children. See all of Jared's Books →

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