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May 2026 Recap
Introduction:
Hey everyone! I hope you had a great month and you enjoyed the last of the Spring weather! May was a blur for me! Especially the second half as I started a whole new routine that I'll talk about below, and throw in a week of dog sitting on top of that I was TIRED. Lol Other than that May was full of walks, making sourdough bread, watching birds, and time with family. And of course words written in my manuscript! I'm leaving this month full of gratitude for all the small things and newfound energy!
If you're new to this series, I recap each month to keep track of my year from the small stuff to the big stuff, so when January 1st 2027 gets here I'm not left thinking "What the heck happened in 2026?" It also helps me to stay on track with my goals, as I mainly want to build a consistent writing habit along with healthier habits. If you missed the previous months recaps you can read those linked below.
And if you'd like short weekly updates from me, you can read them on my website here.
Recapping in Four Parts: Writing, Reading, Health, And Other Life Stuff
Habit Tracking
Another month down with my daily habit tracker calendar and I'm still loving it! I'm still showing up, and have proved I am still trying to do too much and showing up 50-60% of the time. lol But it's more than I ever would without it and my main goal of building a writing habit is being accomplished with it! And overall, I showed up 6% more than April. A win is a win. Lol I have definitely set some habits to the side like my daily french lesson and my daily book review over the last 2 months-ish. I will work those back in, but they haven't been a priority and that's okay!
Writing
Habit Tracker: 21/31 writing days. That's 65% and more than April's 57%. Woo Hoo! I am so proud of the days I showed up to write this month because I was so tired with everything going on and I still got my but in the chair and hands on keyboard. Lol I had a tentative release date for the end of May, but I should have known better. I'm not that fast and I am super long winded. I plan for a short book, but I have proved now after several books, that I can't write short. I hope to wrap up everything in June though and I can't wait to share these boys with you! They have my heart! I'll leave you with a one liner today because it's absolutely swoon worthy!
Teaser:
"He smiles and that’s number one hundred and eighty seven this year. I’m already ahead of last year."-Ash
Copyright © 2026 R L Tynes
And there you have it. Our boy's purpose in life is just to make his man smile and be happy. Lol
Don't forget you can find me anywhere here. More importantly, my newsletter will be the best place to get updates from me. If you aren't signed up for that you can do that here.
Reading
No surprise here again, but May was a very low month of reading for me. I went down from April's 8 finished books to 2 books finished. This is proof though that I've made my writing and publishing goals a priority and I'm really proud of this! And it's also because I have dove in on my new health journey and so much of my time went to learning that. Once I'm adjusted to the new routine, reading will go back up. I'm also in this weird mood and have started so many books and can't finish them and even going back to re-reads. I have sooo many books sitting at 60-90% read so I will wrap all those up eventually and have a big surge in my reading goal!
My top read this month was Jamie Kassel's 4th book in her designation series. It's romantic, fun, hot, and I love the unique world she's built of biological kink!
My favorite series I'm reading right now is still The Guns N' Boys series by K.A. Merikan. It is a phenomenal MM dark mafia romantic suspense adventure romance that has sucked me in and taken me on a JOURNEY. I've been to Italy, New York, Germany, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mexico, and Columbia within the span of a few weeks and it's been awesome. It's a true series that follows the same main characters across 11 books. I'm obsessed. It has all my favorite tropes and the audiobooks are fantastic.
Update: I'm currently on pause with this series because I am going back through the first several books to write out a timeline with dates, ages, etc. I am so into this series and want a reference and no other reader or the authors have made one and it's a need. Lol I'll share that here once I get that made! So this is another reason my reading has frozen.
Health
New Plan
I started a new health & fitness journey halfway through the month and have really committed. It's taken up a lot of space, but I already feel so much better with way more energy! I am doing a body recomposition where I lose fat and gain muscle at the same time with regular strength training, cardio, and a slight calorie deficit. I'm not doing anything extreme and this is all out of love for myself and wanting to live a long healthy life and be able to do all the things I want to do. Turning 30 was my wake up call to finally go all in, and I'm proud of my progress already!
Water
My goal is still 3 glasses or 24oz. a day and I completed 25/31 days or 81%! Woo hoo! April was 47%, and I even had 10 days where I doubled the amount, and 2 days where I tripled it! Me and water are doing okay. Lol I also cut out soda at home as my big change. I still drink it if we go out, but it's not a daily thing anymore.
Intentional Movement
I did this habit 25/31 days or 81%! April's was 63%! Woo Hoo! My husband definitely kept me accountable here still with daily walks together and now we added stretches and strength training together! It really does help to have that built in accountability partner, and he has helped me so much since he went on his own health and fitness journey over the last couple of years.
Videos I'm loving right now:
Bridal Arms Series Playlist with Gabby George on TikTok
Sleep (7-9 hours)
I did this habit 23/31 days or 74%. This is on par with last month's 77%. I don't have trouble sleeping, I just love to stay up late and be doing all the things. Lol it truly is my "learning as a hobby" that hinders this.
Skin Care/ Self Care
Morning Skincare: 21/31 days or 68%. Almost on par with last months 73%.
Evening Skincare: 19/31 days or 61%. I finally doubled this habit from last months 30%.
It only took me starting a new workout routine, and then it was so easy to stack this after getting sweaty and gross in the home gym. Lol
I also created a Shop My page where I put all my favorite skin care and self care products in one place where you can easily shop! I am continuously updating it so check back often. I may earn a commission on some products, at no extra cost to you. If you buy through my links, thank you so much in advance for your support!
Journaling
Habit Tracker & Daily Log: 31/31 days or 100%
Journaling, once again, is a reigning habit. It keeps the mental health in the green zone and I'm still digitally logging, while slowly starting the journey into physically journaling with my gratitude journal!
Vitamins
31/31 Days or 100%
I'm still taking a daily multivitamin, fiber supplement, and B12 supplement. I also started Creatine and then just being mindful of my diet. I've been increasing my fiber and protein in my meals, and that has already started to improve my gut health and energy levels tremendously!
I am seriously looking into a machine to make my own fresh milled flour for sourdough. One slice of that per day is supposed to be amazing for gut health. I will report back, but here's the blog post I'm using as a guide!
Other Life Stuff
Time Outside/Birding & Other Nature Things
I walked outside a lot this month as usual, and my steps were doubled by the end of the month because I was dog sitting for my sister. Win Win! I will say I was more tired at first because going from light movement to doing so much more was a huge adjustment, but overall the energy I have now is amazing!
The highlight of backyard birding this month was having my orioles again and having way more than last year! My gray catbirds are also back and love the grape jelly too! They bring a smile to my face every single day! I also saw a new to me Warbler while out at a park this month! Birds are seriously so cool. Literal dinosaurs. I'm so glad this hobby latched itself on to me. I made a year in March and I think I will be a forever birder at this point! I'll drop a few my favorite resources and books below that have become staples for me, but I won't overload you here and will do a separate blog post all about this hobby sometime! The cool thing is I started with birds and now I notice ALL of nature and have so much more respect for it now than I ever have. All the animals and all the plants. I've learned so much over the last year just by going outside and observing.
Birding Favorites:
My favorite birder on social media: The Berd Nerd AKA Angela.
My Favorite field guide: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America
My Favorite Free App: Merlin Bird ID
Films/TV
I didn't watch a ton of movies or tv this month, and had lots of reruns playing in the background instead. My husband and I did watch Remarkably Bright Creatures on Netflix and we loved it! I can't believe we would be crying over an octopus but here we are. Lol and now we will forever think about Marcellus anytime we see one for the rest of our lives . It truly was a cozy movie though with all the coastal New England feels! I was ready to pack my bags and book a vacation up north. I did not read the book though, so I can't tell you if the movie did it justice or not. And for a completely different kind of movie I watched Apex on netflix. Absolutely loved this survival thriller. Highly recommend it if you are into stuff like that! The hubby and I also finished season 3 of Heartstopper and he loved it! We are now both ready for the movie finale this Summer! Woo Hoo!
Family & Home
I cheered my husband on at another 5K race! He has one booked for every month of the year just about, and will finish big with a half marathon in December. He keeps me inspired! I also saw my family for Mother's Day and my grandmother's birthday! It was a fun time getting everyone together doing my favorite thing: Talking. Lol I also baked so much this month and made lots of sourdough bread. I truly love doing this in my bread machine and eating healthy homemade bread. This is still my favorite weekly recipe!
I also got a little into astrology and did my birth chart for the first time. It was cool to read everything, and I like to use it as another tool to understand my personality and how I operate in life, then using that to figure out what methods will work best for me to be successful in things I want to do. I am always on my personal growth journey and this was another cool perspective to explore. I used this website/app if you are interested in finding out your chart!
Conclusion
May was such a fast paced month, and I'm glad to be slowing back down going into June! I am reassessing my goals and habits now that the year is almost halfway over. I am ready to prioritize my health while keeping consistent with my writing and publishing goals. I'm feeling grateful for summer, and all the inside hobbies I'll pick back up now that the weather is turning hot, and I can't wait for all the good things coming my way in June! I hope you have a wonderful month filled with everything you love!
Let me know in the comments below how your May was and if you reached your goals or what you worked on. Do you track your habits too?
As always,
Happy Writing & Reading!
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