Jaclyn Paul's Blog, page 7

What I read last month: May 2019

In What I Read Last Month, I recap the previous month’s reading and often shamelessly copy and paste from my Goodreads reviews. You can read previous months’ What I Read… by clicking here. Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links, but despite wanting to support writers by buying books, I get most of mine from the library.

What I finished in May I enjoyed Nic Stone’s Dear Martin well enough, though I struggled a bit with the style and structure. This book uses a script format for some pas...

What I read last month: April 2019

In What I Read Last Month, I recap the previous month’s reading and often shamelessly copy and paste from my Goodreads reviews. You can read previous months’ What I Read… by clicking here. Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links, but despite wanting to support writers by buying books, I get most of mine from the library.

In a truly unprecedented turn of events, I got three books ahead of schedule on my Goodreads challenge last month. I credit coming down with the flu and spending the bet...

What I read last month: March 2019

In What I Read Last Month, I recap the previous month’s reading and often shamelessly copy and paste from my Goodreads reviews. You can read previous months’ What I Read… by clicking here. Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links, but despite wanting to support writers by buying books, I get most of mine from the library.

Continuing my quest for brevity, I’m going to stick with last month’s format. Yay for books!

Updates: what I finished in March I made it to the end of Darkly Dreaming D...

How I fight impostor syndrome by doing stuff I’m bad at

A theme has emerged for my mid-30s: I’m obsessed with doing stuff I’m bad at.

Weird, right? I’ve been labeled gifted and talented for pretty much my whole life. Toward the end of high school, my mom advised me to go to college for something I was “good at.” And that made sense. It seems wasteful for people with high aptitude not to pursue a field that aligns with their strengths.

But talent doesn’t guarantee success. In fact, it sometimes did the opposite for me.

Take music, for example. I...

Recent reads (January-February 2019)

In What I Read Last Month, I recap the previous month’s reading and shamelessly copy and paste from my Goodreads reviews. You can read previous months’ What I Read… by clicking here. Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links, but despite wanting to support writers by buying books, I get most of mine from the library.

This is kind of a lazy version of What I Read Last Month. I’ve been trying to find a balance between brevity and substance in all my writing lately: in my emails, my blog post...

Year in books: 2018

Every year, I try to compile a ranked list of my reading. Sometimes I even remember to post it publicly! This is by no means precise, but I always have fun remembering all the books I read and looking for any trends (or blind spots).

I didn’t read any fiction that blew me away in 2018. The books at the top of my list were all good, but I would’ve loved another reading experience like The Hate U Give. I guess the relative scarcity makes those books all the more special.

Random stats

Just for f...

Business Diaries #1: where I’m at in January 2019

This post is part of Business Diaries, where I document my journey to grow a business around my blog The ADHD Homestead. You can read the full series here.

I’ll get into the nitty-gritty of my writing business in future posts, but first an introduction:

I founded The ADHD Homestead in 2014 with a dedicated but tiny audience. I felt committed to the blog, but didn’t immediately couple it to my professional identity. Who knew if it would take off, or if I’d be able to stay the course?

Several y...

2018’s surprise successes & 2019’s few-but-mighty goals

Remember that long list of goals I posted last fall? And how I said I usually don’t do big goal lists because I think they’re a terrible idea?

I stand by all of it. Maybe it works for some people, but it never has for me. I get excited about the actual goal-setting, but I have a lot of trouble keeping track of my goals after Day One.

That’s not to say I don’t have accomplishments to celebrate in 2018, or plans for an even better 2019. And I want to share those with you!

I hope to continue mai...

What I read last month: November 2018

In What I Read Last Month, I recap the previous month’s reading and shamelessly copy and paste from my Goodreads reviews. You can read previous months’ What I Read… by clicking here. Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links, but despite wanting to support writers by buying books, I get most of mine from the library.

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

DNF

It’s rare for me not to finish a book. I’m vain about my Goodreads Challenge, yes, but I also have ADHD and feel sensitive about unfi...

I deleted my Facebook data. It was harder than I anticipated.

Almost a year ago, I stopped using my personal Facebook profile. The contempt and incivility around the 2016 election left a bad taste in my mouth. Subsequent articles I read about how Facebook can affect our beliefs and relationships further soured me on the experience. Beyond that, though, I noticed how good it felt to take a break. Despite all the validation I sought from Facebook, I deeply appreciated the time I spent away from it.

I’d taken a big break once before: I deactivated my accou...