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Jared Dees

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November 2018 Project Report

By Jared Dees

Welcome to my November 2018 Project Report. My goal with these monthly reports is to help other authors, entrepreneurs, leaders, or anyone else who wants to make an impact through their work. Each month It share how I spent my time as an author and creative entrepreneur and the successes, failures, and lessons I learned along the way.

How I spent My Time in November 2018

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 projects I spent the most time on last month:

  1. 22:05 –Speaking (Wisconsin Directors of Religious Education Federation & Preparing Others)
  2. 18:57 – NaNoWriMo Novel
  3. 12:01 – The Religion Teacher Email & Customer Service
  4. 5:07 – Weekly Review
  5. 4:06 – Morning Preview
  6. 3:10 – Daily Review
  7. 2:48 – Accounting and Setting Up Business 401(k)
  8. 2:46 – The Religion Teacher Newsletter
  9. 2:39 – Formative Fiction Newsletter
  10. 1:24 – Freelance Writing (Catechist Magazine)

Total Time Spent: 85:44

Here is what I produced last month:

  • Worksheets: 00
  • Articles/Blog Posts: 00
  • Newsletter Emails: 00
  • Videos: 00
  • Books: 0,000 words (0000 words of nonfiction / 0000 words of fiction)
  • Workshops & Webinars: 0

2018 GOAL UPDATE

In the past I tried to focus only on mission and vision and not specific performance goals. I’m trying something different this year and setting some big goals for myself as a entrepreneurial author. You can find my goals here. This is the progress I have made so far:

73% / double the number of members TRTm members (audacious goal)

3,162/5,000 copies sold of Christ in the Classroom (good/great)

1/1 published work of fiction (good)

6/7 paid speaking gigs (expected)

62/50 Read 50 books (good goal)

55% Paid Off / Pay off mortgage in 2020 (good goal)

24:39 PR / Run a 5K under 23:00 (good goal)

Incomplete / Start a support ministry for startup founders. (expected goal)

You can read about the process I used to set these goals along a scale of success here: A Simple Process for Setting Bigger Goals.

November 2018 Highlights and Lessons Learned

#NaNoWriMo2018

I wrote a novel!

Well, I wrote a 20,000 word children’s book.

I don’t think I’ll ever publish it. It was a great learning experience and prepared me for the many other works of formative fiction that I am going to work on in the future.

I’ve written a lot of short fiction before, but writing something book-length was really great. Just writing “The End” was such a fun thing to do.

View this post on Instagram

I just typed “THE END” in my #nanowrimo2018 book. ???????????? It is the first novel I’ve ever written. It’s a kids book. It’s short with short chapters and not the full 50,000 words that #nanowrimo is supposed to be, but still I got to the end. Now I realize this Winston Churchill quote is taken out of context, but it fits really well for how I’m feeling right now. This is not the end (and not only because I have A LOT of rewriting to do on this thing). This book is just the beginning. I still have 999,940,873 words to go until I reach #1millionwordsforkids! The journey continues! #writerslife #amwriting #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #documentdontcreate #nanowrimochallenge #kidsbooks #faithandfiction #loveyourneighbor ????

A post shared by Jared Dees (@jareddees) on Nov 29, 2018 at 11:50am PST

#1MillionWordsforKids

In conjunction with my first fiction book, I announced a public challenge to keep myself accountable as a writer. I will write one million words for kids by the time I turn 40 (June 2021).

I am already more motivated to put in my writing time and increase my productivity so I can get as much practice as a writer as possible. I’m looking forward to documenting this process on Instagram for the next two years:

View this post on Instagram

Write 1,000,000 words for kids before I turn 40. That's my writing goal for the next 2 1/2 years. I have four nonfiction books for adults in print right now. I've written hundreds of articles for adults in my career as an author, but it wasn't until 2018 that I wrote a single word of fiction. In every sense of the word, I am a beginner. So, why 1 million words? Do you know what separates a professional from everyone else? They don't give up. As I started writing fiction this year, I felt more embarrassed about it than anything I have ever created. I can already feel myself wanting to quit right now as I finish my first novel for #NaNoWriMo2018. I would rather stick to things I'm comfortable doing: nonfiction books, workshops, webinars, and tools for teachers like worksheets, videos, activities, lesson plans, etc. The point is to put in my 10,000 hours towards mastery. If I want to write and publish fiction at a professional level, then I have a lot of catching up to do. Some attribute the 1,000,0000 Word Rule for beginning fiction writers to Ray Bradbury or Jerry Pournelle. Others say it was David Eddings who first came up with this advice. I'm not sure where the challenge originated, but I do know one thing: One million words is a lot! It is going to be a lot of writing–way more than I've written before. To put this in perspective, 1 million words is about: 13 Harry Potters 100 Magic Tree House books 3,000 fables Nevertheless, I'm excited to get started. I'm declaring this challenge today and I will be tracking my progress here along the way before my deadline of the summer of 2021. Progress: 53,644/1,000,000 #1millionwordsforkids #1millionwordschallenge #1millionwords #documentdontcreate #amwriting #writersofinstagram #authorsofinstagram #nanowrimo

A post shared by Jared Dees (@jareddees) on Nov 19, 2018 at 12:00pm PST

Workshops in Wisconsin

I had a great time presenting three workshops in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The people were great and they responded very well to a long few days of listening to me. It was a great way to end the year on a high note as a speaker.

View this post on Instagram

Four workshops in three days with the good Directors of Religious Education of Wisconsin this week. Their passion for passing on the faith was an inspiration to me. My biggest takeaway from my conversations and talks with them: Find out what is working for others and incorporate some part of that success in your own work. #wdref #missionarydisciples #catechesis #evangelization #evangelizingministry #christintheclassroom #religiouseducation #catholicconference #faithformation #buildingblocksofdiscipleship

A post shared by Jared Dees (@jareddees) on Nov 8, 2018 at 5:20am PST

December 20, 2018 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, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, 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, To Heal, Proclaim, and Teach, Praying the Angelus, Christ in the Classroom, and Beatitales: 80 Fables about the Beatitudes for Children. See all of Jared's Books →

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