106 Posts

My goal was 97 posts, so mission achieved. That’s one every five days, and the entire month of November. You can catch up on them all at https://rarasaur.com/2020/

8.5 hours of reading: approximately 51,000 words.

(Based on my theme’s output per post, added up. The numbers are approximated on 100 words per minute.)

This is pretty sparse for this space, but given the global pandemic, my hip surgery, my stroke-healing, my unexpectedly impoverished state, and America’s reckoning with race and justice– I’m going to go ahead and give myself a full gold star here. I have been distracted, living, or — well. Trying to live.

Most popular post

Thanks to a feature on WordPress Discover, How to Heal has more comments on it than any of all time, and over 2000 likes. The previous champion it usurped was the first post I wrote after coming back from prison, This is Not a Test.

$ Goals

My Ko-fi year (https://ko-fi.com/rarasaur) goes from November 1 to October 31, and that length of time met my goal of $580. Just barely, actually– the final bit came in on the last day, which made for fun celebrating!

This coming year there was a much stronger start, and I’m already at $440. This went immediately to my $99 WordPress fee, my domain renewal (which is no longer included), CheerPepper.com domain renewal, all of which come due in November, and half a year of my PO Box ($210) which came due in December. I used a bit of the left over for cards and stamps, sending out holiday cards to readers in 11 different countries, and 100 “just checking in, and here’s a blog post to read” letters to incarcerated folk and nursing homes around the country.

If you’re good at math and postage/print costs, you’ll realize that I already went over budget, but I didn’t really because the lovely Dinah hired me to get her blog — With Angels and Elephants— up and running, and that’s really what funded the letter writing campaign.

I’m really grateful. Blogging doesn’t have to cost anything or much, but communities need fuel, accessibility, preservation, and connection. Your donations pay for all of that.

Personal favorites

about writing:

• https://rarasaur.com/2020/10/26/rara-borboleta/
• https://rarasaur.com/2020/03/31/soft-voiced/

about quarantine:

• https://rarasaur.com/2020/04/27/journal-shoulder-peeks/
• https://rarasaur.com/2020/04/13/i-make-the-bed/

about health:

• https://rarasaur.com/2020/04/07/prepositions-of-pain/
• https://rarasaur.com/2020/04/19/stroke-toilet-loaves/

in notes to self:

• https://rarasaur.com/2020/03/23/hello/
• https://rarasaur.com/2020/10/22/self-check-in/

2021 Blog Goals

• 97 post goal again, but to pace them more so it feels less clumpy.
• 65,000 word count.
• NanoPoblano 2021! All 30 days. Maintain the Facebook link ups and CheerPeppers.com site.
• 12 audio posts to Rarasaur Instagram, like https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFKxaMihp7t/
• Revive the Rarasaur shop which I had to take on vacation because of COVID closures.
• Be more timely about replying to comments. I say this now because I’ve had a couple good weeks of health, and I’m feeling brave. Fingers crossed it holds up and I have the energy for this one. If not, there’s always 2022, ha!
• Figuring out some sort of system for featured posts. It’s truly arbitrary.

And there we are.

What are your goals? What’s a post or blog-goal you’re particularly proud of? (You can link to something in the comments. I have to approve all links, but I will absolutely approve it, and then read it.)

It’s two weeks to the end of the year, and I’m going to focus all the writing I have in me on books that need completing. That means I’ll be missing #PepperDay (on the 22nd) — but I’ll still be around to read and cheer.

Thanks for all your likes, comments, reading, and secret reading. Thank you for teaching my words in your classrooms. Thank you for sending letters or DMs or messages that let me know that I’m still on your radar. Thank you for making space for my books on your shelves, for sending your readers my way, for re-posting, for sharing, for tweeting, for quoting me in your Instagram captions. Thank you to those who marathon-post with me in November, and those who read us. Thank you for rooting for me, praying for me, and loving on me — I feel it all.

And thank you to the writers. Even though I’m more of a lurker myself these days, your words are still always the first I read in the day, because there’s no better way to wake up to the world than through the ways you all have painted it.

I guess, just, thank you for existing. Please keep that up, you’re doing great.