Wednesday, July 30, 2014

What do the voices tell you?

Hard to believe it is the end of July already! And from the weather we are having here in the Northwoods, winter is just around the bend. Yikes! I am so not looking forward to winter.

Really not a bad book
This week the big goal I accomplished was finally finishing reading, “Sell Your Book Like Wildfire” by Rob Eager. I think I started it last fall. At first, I highlighted in it and wrote notes in an outline for easy future reference. I was so fired up – maybe I got that from the title.

But the more I read, the more I told myself, “this won’t work for my books, I don’t live in a place conducive to this idea, if only I knew this before publishing my books, etc., etc., etc.” Oh, those nasty voices in our heads.

Maybe, when I get my head on straight again, I’ll pick just certain chapters which may work for my books, which may work for me, and then concentrate on those marketing tools, instead of throwing the book down in disgust feeling like a big loser.

 What have the bad voices in your head been telling you? 

Sunday, July 27, 2014

We all need a vacation.

Late yesterday afternoon, the hubby, the dog, and I got home from our camping trip. We had a wonderful time, but when I crawled in the camper in the evenings, instead of writing, I spent all that time journaling about our day and going through the 200 pictures I took each day. Hard to believe we were only gone a couple days. It was so hard to come home.

I have been vacationing in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula ever since I can remember. My parents would go up there camping at least once a year. There was a time when my kids were little and my first husband wouldn’t go anywhere, that I didn’t make it to the UP, but as soon as I ditched the first husband, I started going again. I am so grateful that I was able to convince my second husband to give camping a try. He now loves the UP nearly as much as I do.

And then there’s my dog. He wears himself to an absolute twig, trying to see it all and swim in the lake as much as he can. Such a goof.

It was a good vacation and I needed it, so I am not going to feel like a slacker for not accomplishing more of my goals.

I. READING
A. Weekly goal
1. Read my assigned blog posts as a ROW80 sponsor.  I may have skipped some posts on Wednesday, as we didn’t have WiFi where we were.  
2. Read ten hours a week in one of the books I am reading.  I finished Beth Camp’s “Years of Stone” – I need to write a review of it this week. I haven’t read much else because – see above – plus a friend gave me a three-inch ring binder with the memoir of a friend of hers and I didn’t want to take it camping or start something else.
B. Goals for the Round                           
1. Have finished reading five books.  I have finished two, “The Boy at the Museum” and “Years of Stone”.   

II. WRITING
A. Weekly goal
1. Finish writing those last three chapters in my novel, “Tale of an American Woman”. I did finish one more chapter. Looks like I still may have three left, we will have to see.
2. Edit “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series. Haven’t started yet.
3. Write two blog posts here and three posts to my other blog, The Dino Chronicles. Umm, I don’t think so.  
B. Goals for the Round.  
1. Have finished the first round of edits for “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”. No.
2. Start editing my novel.   No.

III. REACHING
A.      Weekly goal.
1. Promote either one of my books on one other site or in person.  No.   
2. Comment on my assigned blogs for ROW80. No.   
3. Research markets for an hour. No.
4. Walk several streets of town, taking pictures and blogging about it.  No.  
B. Goals for the Round
1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere. Still at one submission, which I heard back on already and it didn’t make the cut. Oh, well, it was a poem, and I just don’t always ‘get’ poems, but I do keep trying.  
2. Have sent a copy of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days” to my clergy-friends for their input. No.  
3. Have finished walking every street in my town.  No.

IV. PERSONAL
A.      Get in Shape
1.       Continue exercising four times a week and running three times a week. No, not even close, but did a lot of walking on vacation.  
2.       Keep off that five pounds I worked so hard to lose. Gained three on vacation.
B. Nonprofit – Tumaini Volunteers
1. Host another picnic or other friend-raiser. Hopefully August 17.  
2. Attend a craft show to sell our Kenyan crafts. My sister is going to see if she can get us in at the Flea Market in Wausau on Labor Day weekend.

 Dino's first swim in Lake Superior. 
 "What is wrong with this stupid stick? Why is it so long?"
 Dino trying to shake off some water. He pretty much stayed damp all day. Can't believe how much hair he left in the truck.
Oh, you want to see more than just my dog? This is of Great Sand Bay near Eagle Harbor. See why I love it up there? 

Sunday, July 20, 2014

What's UP for you today?

I don’t have anything exciting to add this week. My big, unwritten goal was to clean the camper and get it ready for camping. Got that done! Yeah, it looks like a brand-new pop-up. No, not really. It is older than dirt, but as long as it gets us there and keeps us dry and relatively warm. Dino, the wonder dog, was adorable as usual, so excited to get to go camping, yet nervous coz he has no concept about waiting a few more days.

Anyway, here is how I did with the written goals.

I. READING
A. Weekly goal
1. Read my assigned blog posts as a ROW80 sponsor.  I believe I did this.
2. Read ten hours a week in one of the books I am reading.  I’m over half-way done with Beth Camp’s “Years of Stone” – love it as much as the first one. I’m also almost half-way through “God Called – He wants your answer”.
B. Goals for the Round                           
1. Have finished reading five books.  OK, not yet.  

II. WRITING
A. Weekly goal
1. Finish writing those last three chapters in my novel, “Tale of an American Woman”. Nuts, I don’t think I worked on it at all. Where did the week go?
2. Edit “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series. Haven’t started yet.
3. Write two blog posts here and three posts to my other blog, The Dino Chronicles. Yes, I did this.
B. Goals for the Round.  
1. Have finished the first round of edits for “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”. No.
2. Start editing my novel.   No.

III. REACHING
A.      Weekly goal.
1. Promote either one of my books on one other site or in person.  I signed up for yet another social media venue – Library Thing. I don’t know. Probably a waste of time. Let me check it out some more. 
2. Comment on my assigned blogs for ROW80. Yes, I think so.  
3. Research markets for an hour. Umm, no.
4. Walk several streets of town, taking pictures and blogging about it.  Well, I am turning last week’s visit to the historical museum into two blog posts. It is just too bad if anybody thinks I am cheating. Sometimes a person has to make up their own rules as they go along.   
B. Goals for the Round
1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere. Still at one submission.
2. Have sent a copy of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days” to my clergy-friends for their input. I really want to edit this thing at least once before I send it anywhere.  

IV. PERSONAL
A.      Get in Shape
1.       Continue exercising four times a week and running three times a week. If you read my post from Wednesday, you may recall that I was down with an affliction most of the week – hey, maybe that’s why I didn’t get any other goals done. But my affliction really did a number on my physical activity. I think I ran twice but not even a mile either time and exercised maybe three times.  
2.       Keep off that five pounds I worked so hard to lose. The affliction caused me to gain four pounds. You can imagine how excited I was about that.
B. Nonprofit – Tumaini Volunteers
1. Host another picnic or other friend-raiser. Meeting about this tonight.  
2. Attend a craft show to sell our Kenyan crafts. Meeting about this tonight.
C. Church -- Our college kids will be leaving for school before you know it, get them all mentors. I did submit an article for our church’s newsletter, so I got a start. 
March - where's my camper?
April - there's my camper 
June - look how pretty the camper looks in green grass
July - maybe the camper isn't so pretty now, but she's up!That's all any of us can say sometimes.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

I just wanted to go home

Wednesday comes up so fast and the first days of the week are my busiest so I rarely get anything done.  Monday is my normal day to work until seven at night, but this week Monday I had the day off. I spent it with my daughter, her boyfriend and my husband, so actually I got even less done than usual. We went out of town for the day, which was the follow-up to going out of town both of the two days prior. I also became afflicted with a physical set back on Saturday night. It really wasn’t so hard on my body as it was on my mental state. I hate when I let little things escalate and ruin several days in a row, but here I am four days later, and just starting to crawl out of the abyss my body threw me into.

With all that going on, I didn’t get to many of my goals. I wrote another section of a chapter in my novel, read quite a bit in “Years of Stone”, did post to both blogs on schedule.  I didn’t, obviously, do any exercising or running. I did see some cool stuff though.
One of my day trips was to Chalkfest, 40 miles away. 

Can you believe the art work some people are able to create using chalk on the sidewalk?
The one below has to be my favorite. You can't really make out the words written in blue in the middle but it says, “I just wanted to go home.” Writing prompt: Write a story which includes that line. 

Sunday, July 13, 2014

This Goal Right Here

Here we are already one week into Round 3. These weeks go by so fast. But as I think I mentioned (or at least thought) somewhere else, the more goals a person has, the easier it is to say – “ha, I didn’t achieve these other seventeen goals, but I did achieve this One right here!”

May your week be filled with many check marks on your list of goals.

I. READING
A. Weekly goal
1. Read my assigned blog posts as a ROW80 sponsor.  I am still getting going on this, but I think I did hit my mark.       
2. Read ten hours a week in one of the books I am reading.  I don’t know why I set a number of hours here, I think it is so I have something concrete to shoot for. I’m thinking two hours a day over five days. In reality, I have no clue, but I know I read a lot.
B. Goals for the Round                           
1. Have finished reading five books.  OK, like this isn’t even close yet.

II. WRITING
A. Weekly goal
1. Finish writing those last three chapters in my novel, “Tale of an American Woman”. Still not finished, but I did write another chapter. I also did some research. Even though the bulk is written, I still have research to get done, which of course could cause some major revisions, but sometimes I just rather work backwards.
2. Edit “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series. Haven’t started yet.
3. Write two blog posts here and three posts to my other blog, The Dino Chronicles. Yes, I did this.
B. Goals for the Round.  
1. Have finished the first round of edits for “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”. No.
2. Start editing my novel.  I should finish writing the rough draft first. Duh.

III. REACHING
A.      Weekly goal.
1. Promote either one of my books on one other site or in person.  Ummm, I’m trying to think and I think my answer is “no”.
2. Comment on my assigned blogs for ROW80. Yes, I think I did all of them.
3. Research markets for an hour. Not, an hour maybe, but I did find a market for one of my pieces, which I hope to send out this week.
4. Walk several streets of town, taking pictures and blogging about it.  Yes, two days in fact. I walked Wednesday night and wrote about it for Thursday’s blog. Then on Friday I spent an hour at our town’s historical museum and another hour walking the streets.
B. Goals for the Round
1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere. I actually did submit a poem to Wilda Morris’s Monthly Poetry Challenge. What a great start to the Round!
2. Have sent a copy of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days” to my clergy-friends for their input. Um, no.
3. Have finished walking every street in my town. Let me think what kind of percentage I can tell you? I am half-way done with the streets in the main part of town, but still have a lot of the more outlaying streets to walk.
I've walked the streets marked in green. 

IV. PERSONAL
A.      Get in Shape
1.       Continue exercising four times a week and running three times a week. I ran twice this week and exercised, I think, four times.
2.       Keep off that five pounds I worked so hard to lose. I feel so hungry all the time. I know that is just me being crazy. I am seriously not on any kind of diet, but just trying to cut back on the snacks. If you have ever seen me, you are probably thinking “why is she even worried about her weight?” But I think this is the key – if you don’t gain weight then you don’t have to lose it. Doesn’t that make sense?  So everybody should be checking their weight at least a couple times a week, and if that scale starts telling you something you don’t want to know – nip it, nip it, nip it!
B. Nonprofit – Tumaini Volunteers
1. Host another picnic or other friend-raiser. Nothing yet. Everyone is so busy.

2. Attend a craft show to sell our Kenyan crafts. Nothing yet, but we are looking into setting up at a flea market in town for one weekend.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Wednesday check-in already?

I am going to make this a quick post, since honestly, not much has happened since Monday. I didn't go into work until noon today, so I did write a chapter on my novel. I'm hoping at least it will be a novel, but as statistics go, right now it appears it will end up novella-length. I'm not going to worry about it though right now. I also just came from our local writers group. We started the group not even a year ago. As with anything just getting going, there have been lots of ebbs and flows. Tonight, for me, was a low tide. It's a long story, and complicated, and now that I wrote even that much, I have to hope that none of the writers from the group read this...

But, in just a few weeks, I get to go here -
- my favorite place in the entire universe. The best place for me to find inspiration. 

Hopefully I will have more to say at Sunday's checkin. 

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

A Late Start. Drat!

Well, I’m not off to a very good start this Round, having missed the opening day. I had unexpected company last night, my daughter and her boyfriend. I guess that’s why they call this the writing challenge that knows you have a life. Woot-woot! I have a life!

I’m pretty excited to be a first-time sponsor for Round 3. I hope that I don’t fail my fellow bloggers. I also have ramped up my goals again. It’s time to stop being lazy!

I. READING
A. Weekly goal
1. Read my assigned blog posts as a ROW80 sponsor.        
2. Read ten hours a week in one of the books I am reading.  
B. Goals for the Round                           
1. Have finished reading five books. 

II. WRITING
A. Weekly goal
1. Finish writing those last three chapters in my novel, “Tale of an American Woman”. Argh, I am so close and so excited. I had an epiphany the other night so that I know just how everything is going to wrap up. I just need to keep my butt in my chair and my fingers on the keyboard.  
2. Edit “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series.
3. Write two blog posts here and three posts to my other blog, The Dino Chronicles.
B. Goals for the Round.  
1. Have finished the first round of edits for “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”.
2. Start editing my novel. 

III. REACHING
A.      Weekly goal.
1. Promote either one of my books on one other site or in person.
2. Comment on my assigned blogs for ROW80.
3. Research markets for an hour.
4. Walk several streets of town, taking pictures and blogging about it.  
B. Goals for the Round
1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere.
2. Have sent a copy of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days” to my clergy-friends for their input.
3. Have finished walking every street in my town.

IV. PERSONAL
A.  Get in Shape
1. Continue exercising four times a week and running three times a week.
2. Keep off that five pounds I worked so hard to lose.
B. Nonprofit – Tumaini Volunteers
1. Host another picnic or other friend-raiser.
2. Attend a craft show to sell our Kenyan crafts.
            C. Sewing - Finish one projects this Round.
D. Church – Our college kids will be leaving for school before you know it, get them all mentors.


Think that will keep me out of trouble for the next 80 (79) days?