Monthly Wrap Up: July 2025

Welcome to another MONTHLY WRAP UP. Woo!

This is where I tell you my deepest, darkest thoughts, laying bare the mind of Kati Daulton. Just kidding. I do talk about the general theme of the month, what I've been stuck on, working on, writing, reading and where I've been.

Mostly it is a conglomerate of my chaotic thoughts, worries, and small adventures. If you can't follow along, I would say "Sorry", but I just think that is the reality of it. So kindly, take a seat, grab a drink, and scroll through this brief summary of JULY!

Themes/Quotes:

"At night, under the circle of light from a cheap metal lamp clamped to the kitchen table, she sits with paper and a pen and pretends she is not afraid. She's trying to live like a writer. Where she gets these ideas about living like a writer, she has no clue. [...] she doesn't know anything. She's making things up as she goes." - Sandra Cisneros in "The House on Mango Street."

A lot of us experience imposter syndrome. I talked about a version of it in my last monthly wrap up. Constantly doubting ourselves, our ideas, our beliefs and capabilities.

When I read this quote this month "she pretends she is not afraid. She doesn't know anything. She's making things up as she goes." I felt seen.

So much of adulthood is making-it-up, I would say (and this may be a hot take) but like 90% of it?

Yes, there are moments and scenarios that require 'best practice', that require 'expertise' and that call for a basic 'knowledge base'. But in an ever-growing world of influencers, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and online content, knowing something and understanding it are becoming increasing different.

At the touch of a button, you can 'know' many things, anyone can be anything and have access to a huge database. The real talent is understanding something. Understanding it because you first made mistakes and did NOT understand it.

Did not do well at it.

Could not make it work or operate or expand or progress the way you wanted it to.

Our identities ought not only be affiliated with our knowledge because we are not what we know. (Someone, please bring Descartes into this). Though many will try to convince you otherwise.

You are not what you know, you are what you do. So sure, in the beginning perhaps you make mistakes, that is typically how it works (relationships, growing up, parenting, jobs, ventures, travel, etc). But you keep trying, keep asking others for help and insight, apply their knowledge, their critical points to your vision and it becomes something impactful, something tangible, even.

It may feel as though you are pretending. It does to me.

Especially as I've introduced myself not by the job that pays me but by the things I am proud of doing. I feel like a fake, or a 'wannabe'.

But with discipline those fears are squashed. With consistency that shame or embarrassment fades.

I get excited about new things, it's actually in my diagnosis... wink wink, but I get just as excited by those around me trying new things. I love to see them try even if it's messy at first, or confusing.

To become the person you want to be, you have to do the things that person would already be doing. You have to pretend you are already living that life. How would your day look? What distractions do you let into your bubble, which do you avoid? Who do you say yes or no to?

Discipline is that thing that moves you through distractions, without it you will be vulnerable to each and every distraction (which sometimes is simply fear or embarrassment). Still learning this one. But preaching it, already.

What I read:

This month I waffled between three main books, all of which were incredibly different from one another. Contrasting not only in genre but theme, voice and topic. One was a medieval horror travelogue; one was a collection of vignettes written in the '80's, and the third was a mystery thriller I read for book club.

"Between Two Fires" by Christopher Buehlman was a medieval horror with fantasy pieces woven in. This book was tough to get through at times because of its pace but also because of the graphic details. It's set in France in the 1300's, during the Black Plague's horrific wipe out in Europe. Following a brutish and dishonored knight, compared often to 'The Hound" from Game of Thrones in reviews, this story combines the gross and ugly of humankind and compares it to the devasting consequences of the plague. It has some angels and demons, though they are placed at odd time throughout the book, using characters from the bible as great mythological beings in this tale.

Buehlman did a good job making it feel like the late 1300's with no respect for women, holding back no grisly thought or action in this travelogue, even with the young female protagonist whose innocence and kindness are the key catapults for change in the main character's life.

It's a mix of redemption, hard truth and examining who the real parasites of sickness are. Initially, it was self-published, I believe, by the author but was later picked up for traditional publishing.

It offers, death, ghastly and up close. A long game for a man's soul.

For me this book was a 3.5 star. I had gone it excited to try something new, and I am glad I did. But it had quite a few parts that dragged for me. With most of the emphasis being on the environment, the gritty and foul dialogue, with a very small cast.

But the themes, the examination of mankind during the Black Death, the contrast of Tomas' harden nature and his charge's soft demeanor-these I found both thought-provoking and interesting.

Were they to make this a film, I would definitely watch.

As a July read, in the middle of the summer, it was odd, but that choice was my own.

I found 'The House on Mango Street'' by Sandra Cisneros to be more appealing, seasonally speaking.

I picked this up in Chicago (as I enjoy reading books about places I have travelled to or plan to go to)-this book was perfect as it took place right in Little Village and Humboldt Park, Chicago.

It's a poetic, collection of vignettes (brief stories or descriptions) that follow Esperanza Cordero has she grows. After reading the introduction of the book, written by the author, I read this as an autobiography (but that's just my interpretation). It was originally published in 1984-but was published again in 2009.

I connected a lot with Sandra's introduction, almost more than with the vignettes, though how she uses poetry is very clever in her writing. It sometimes can sound disjointed or confusing but really that is the feeling she may be trying to convey outside of the specific words used.

This book was a collage of feelings about being Hispanic is a predominantly English and white world, growing up poor, growing up as a girl in a world built for men, struggling as a new writer, and struggling as a daughter. If you plan on exploring Chicago or are struggling to break into the writing world, I highly recommend this book. It was short, it was interesting, and it's stood the test of time, continuing to be a required read in many classes today.

My favorite quotes from this book:

"When she is alone, she savors her apartment of high ceilings and windows that let in the sky, the new carpeting and walls white as typing paper, the walk-in pantry with empty shelves, her bedroom without a door, her office with its typewriter, and the big front-room windows with their view of the a street, rooftops, trees and the dizzy traffic of Kennedy expressway."

"Nor does she want to marry and have babies. Not yet. Maybe later, bit there are so many other things must do in her lifetime first. Travel. Learn how to dance the tango. Publish a book. Live in other cities. Win a National Endowment for the Arts aware. See the Northern Lights. Jump out of a cake."

What I wrote:

I barely wrote on my novel this month. As some things have fallen into place about the future, I realized I have to put it on the back burner for a couple months. Though I did touch on some scenes.

Instead, I printed out what I have and gave it to someone. It's horrible and ugly, I am sure. Full of errors, confusing paragraphs, repetition out the window, and hollow dialogue. But it is out in the real world somewhere being examined by an attentive reader.

I spent much of this month blogging. Writing a blog post is actually much more time consuming than I realized as most people don't read the finer print, instead opting for a skim-through.

Which is completely fair.

But I write my blog posts as both documented records of my travels AND as little wells of information for future travelers, as that is how I research trips, primarily.

Blogs are the medium to long form communication, which means perhaps they are dying out in a world running on short form communication and 10 second videos. With the average attention span (for a TikTok video being between 1.2 and 5.1 seconds).

This month I've written 6 blog posts (which is more than I plan to on average), but that comes out to a little over 20 pages and about ten-thousand words, a little over. My little posts have covered Costa Rica, Guatemala, and The Netherlands.

So even though I may only be working on a couple scenes in my book, I am still writing. Or, like the quote at the top of this post from Sandra Cisneros, "She's trying to live like a writer. Where she gets these ideas about living like a writer, she has no clue. [...] she doesn't know anything. She's making things up as she goes."

I am. That is the name of the game. And I think I see too many people scared to try. Because how long do you have to pretend before you become that very thing?

Where I went:

I actually I spent this month at my home base. The first month in EIGHT that I haven't been out exploring, aside from a little in Chicago.

In fact, I wanted to celebrate all the places I have the privilege of visiting in the past 8 months.

Since December, I've been to Costa Rica, Chicago (again- does that count?), Oregon, the Netherlands, Italy, Utah (explored 4 of the 5 national parks in less than 4 days), & Guatemala!

And there are quite a few more to come!

Spending the month at home was nice, though just as busy as being on a plane every two weeks. I've been working on a few things (most of which will be revealed in a month or two) that I am really excited about.