I Donated My Hair / Good Causes PART 3

Please Note: This post is pre-scheduled. I’m caring for a loved one receiving treatments, so my replies to comments and return visits to bloggers will be delayed. I will get to it eventually, though. Promise. Thanks for your understanding!

Good Causes:

Causes and Donations - Books, Animals, and People / PART 1

Good Causes to Support / PART 2

Every New Year, I like to cut several inches off my hair to shed the old. With long hair, it’s easy to do this, but even a trim for other lengths could be symbolic. Plus, it keeps your hair healthy.

I like having long hair. Really long hair. For me, it’s an insecurity thing. My long hair has been my security blanket. My shield. It physically covers up my body insecurities…my neck and back from my spinal deformities (scoliosis and other related issues). That’s why my plan was to keep my long hair, cut off several inches, let it regrow throughout the year, and repeat every New Year’s Day.

However, my mom was diagnosed with Stage 3-B lung cancer (non small cell adenocarcinoma) in December. (No, she’s never smoked.) She started chemo and radiation therapy in January. 

Before she started treatment, we were told she’d lose her hair.

But even before all that, my mom kept dropping hints about how she liked my hair short.

In the past, whenever I cut my hair, I tended to cut it above my shoulders for a new look and feel. And I do like how I look with short hair, but my insecurities have stopped me from cutting it that short in many years.

Then my mom was diagnosed and we prepared for her to lose her hair. That’s when I decided to cut my hair short in support of her and to donate my hair in honor of her.

Here’s the before and after:

Year of Yes / Books for Writers

Please Note: This post is pre-scheduled. I’m caring for a loved one receiving treatments, so my replies to comments and return visits to bloggers will be delayed. I will get to it eventually, though. Promise. Thanks for your understanding!

This year I am bringing back my Books for Writers feature. This will be a once-a-month feature.

I did this once before in 2017.

The books I talked about in 2017:

The Grammar Bible

Guerilla Marketing for Writers

Writer’s Market

Bird by Bird

Feng Shui for Writers

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing

Your One Word

The Artist’s Way

Children’s Writer’s Word Book

YEAR OF YES BY SHONDA RHIMES

BLURB & BUY @ BOOKSHOP

While this book isn’t exactly for writers, writers can benefit from it.

You can read Year of Yes for the reading challenge for writers I’m hosting called Read With Fey. You can join it on The StoryGraph here. But you don’t have to be on The StoryGraph to participate! Check out all the details here: Read With Fey: Challenge For Writers

A Look Back At My 2021 Reading Challenges

Please Note: This post is pre-scheduled. I’m caring for a loved one receiving treatments, so my replies to comments and return visits to bloggers will be delayed. I will get to it eventually, though. Promise. Thanks for your understanding! And prayers and healing vibes for positive results to the treatments would be much appreciated. ❤️

In my last blog post I celebrated 10 years blogging and announced a reading challenge for writers that I am hosting called Read With Fey. You can join it on The StoryGraph here. But you don’t have to be on The StoryGraph to participate! Check out all the details here: Read With Fey: Challenge For Writers

I love reading challenges!

Last year (2021), I participated in FOUR different reading challenges. The most I've ever decided to participate in, and I joined them at all different times throughout the year. Because I participated in so many, I wanted to highlight them and the books I read in a post. I'll share them here in the order of when I joined them.

I hope you enjoy viewing my 2021 reads/challenges.

GOODREADS CHALLENGE:

I set a Goodreads goal to read 30 books. Thanks to graphic novels, short books (middle grade and YA), and picture books, I exceeded this goal. I read 95 books.

REMINDER: All reading counts as reading. Graphic novels are real books. Picture books are real books. Reading graphic novels, short reads, and picture books certainly do count toward reading challenges. Don't let anyone tell you that only novels of 300+ pages count. All reading is valid.

You can view my Goodreads challenge here.

***

ALPHABET BOOK CHALLENGE:

HOSTED BY @FABLESANDWREN AND

@STARLIGHTBOOKTALES ON INSTAGRAM

THE GOAL: Read a book that starts with each letter of the alphabet (J, V, X, Z had to be somewhere in the title to count). There were also a few extra challenges like: a color in the title, one-word title, starts with the same letter of your first name, and #, which I took to mean a number in the title/subtitle.

Here’s my completed graphic we were given to use to share our progress to our Instagram stories:

THE BOOKS I READ:

Read With Fey: Challenge For Writers + 10 Years Blogging!!!

Please Note: This post is pre-scheduled. For the next couple of months, I’ll be caring for a loved one receiving treatments, so my replies to comments and return visits to bloggers will be delayed. I'm even behind on December's and November's comments. So sorry! I will work on those today and ones that come in for this post when I'm able. Thanks for your understanding! And prayers and healing vibes for positive results to the treatments would be much appreciated. ❤️

READ WITH FEY: CHALLENGE FOR  WRITERS

Created by me (Chrys Fey), the Read With Fey challenge is for writers at all levels. The goal is to read *10 non-fiction books for writers during 2022.

Challenge Starts: January 1, 2022

Challenge Ends: December 31, 2022

Goal: Read *10 books for writers by the end of the year.

*Are 10 books too many? Set your own goal!

Just because I’ll be aiming to read 10 books doesn’t mean you have to!

However many books you read is an accomplishment.

Why Should You Join?

Every book you read could inspire you, educate you, and give you SPARKS. And you can read at your own pace.

Why Else Should You Join?

Every book you read for the Read With Fey challenge can count toward your personal reading goals.

Which Books?

Any books for writers! The books can be about marketing, publishing, the craft of writing, basically any non-fiction book that’d be useful to you as a writer. All formats (eBook, print, audio), re-reads, library borrows. It all counts!

For ideas on what to read, check out my Books for Writers list on Bookshop.org by clicking here.

How To Join:

There is no formal sign-up form, so ANYONE, ANYWHERE, and at ANYTIME can join in WHATEVER way they choose.

You can, however, join the Read With Fey challenge on The StoryGraph here to track your progress.

Or you can make a Goodreads shelf for the challenge, a spreadsheet on your computer, a checklist in your journal, a blog post(s), or whatever you want to do. This challenge is flexible for YOU. 

However you decide to do this challenge, please consider announcing your participation on social media as a post or story, tweet, blog post, YouTube video, etc. If you do, a link back to this post would be much appreciated.

Hashtags for social media: #ReadWithFey #ReadWithFey2022

The StoryGraph: Because reading challenges on The StoryGraph only work right now with prompts and not a set number, I created three optional bonus challenge prompts. These bonus prompts DO NOT have to be completed, but to help you add any and all books you read to the challenge on The StoryGraph, I made a bonus prompt called “Use This Bonus Prompt For ANY Book For Writers.” You can use it multiple times, even to add all of your reads if you have to. By reading one book per bonus prompt (three books total), you will technically have the challenge on The StoryGraph completed. lol

To add a book to your challenge, first mark the book as read with a date for 2022. Then on the book’s page on The StoryGraph, scroll down until you see “Add to Reading Challenges” on the left sidebar. If you joined Read With Fey, you’ll see it listed there. Click on it and then select the bonus prompt that qualifies. Only select one.

I’ve never hosted a reading challenge on The StoryGraph before. There was a bit of a learning curve, and I hope they’ll make a set number goal as an option in the future, so I’ll see how I like it. 🙂

Click here to join the Read With Fey challenge on The StoryGraph.

Click here to check out my Books For Writers list on BookShop.org.