Sunday, December 11, 2016

A Quick Recap

Rumor has it that the end of the year is looming. Did not see that coming. I have Christmas on my radar. But the end of the year? The deadline for a list of goals to be completed? Yikes. Let’s see where I am.

1)        Finish writing my current novel, “The Big House”.  Though I have had the idea for this book in my head for years, and actually the “big house” itself has been in my head since 1974, I only started writing it on August 14 of this year. That was four months ago. In that time, I have written 34,292 words. I’m shooting for 70,000 words total, which would put me at 48% finished. That also puts me at an average of 8,573 words per month. All of which means there is no way I will finish this in the next three weeks. I think I should shoot for 6,000 more words by the end of the year and finish the rough draft by the end of March.
2)        Ready “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” for publication. I was supposed to get the first draft of edits back from my editor on Friday. I did not hear from them, which greatly disappointed me, but I’m not going to freak out. If I don’t get an email by Monday night, I will send them a nudge inquiring as to where things are at. The next three and a half months are going to be nuts enough, if I want to achieve goal #1, as well as see this book released in April.
3)        Continue posting to my other blog,The Dino Chronicles three times a week.  The only goal I have continued to be faithful to and I anticipate that I will remain on track with it.  
4)        Finalize the next trip for my daughter’s nonprofit, Tumaini Volunteers. You think the above goals are enough? So, here I am planning on going back to Kenya the first two weeks of April. What am I thinking?  I am thinking that I miss Africa so much and I need to go back when I have the chance.
In the past week we have:
a.                          Met with two prospective volunteers and gotten their commitment to go with us in the spring. That makes our team me, my daughter and these two, which is a good size.
b.                          We had another craft show yesterday. Didn’t sell a lot of stuff, but talked to a lot of people and gave out our information. In general, when we tell new people about what we do in Africa, we get two reactions – 1] “but there will always be poor people in Africa, we should help the poor in this country first” or 2] “my church does something in Africa, so I donate to them”. Both reactions make me bristle, but I’m not going into it here. I’ve blogged about it enough.
So coming up, we have to:
a.      My daughter and I are meeting on Friday to get re-organized.
b.      I need to post some more items to Etsy, or even just to our Facebook page. Yesterday, as soon as we set up at the sale, we posted a picture to Facebook. We sold two items to people who couldn’t come to the sale but saw things they liked on the picture. I know that doing everything via the Web is the wave of the future – or the wave right now. I still like meeting people in person though (hard to believe since I am a massive introvert).
c.      Make our plane reservations by the first of the year!
5)        Get my body in shape. I’m still working out a few times a week, not as much as I would like, but I am just so busy. My weight is holding its own, so with all the Christmas snacks popping up all over, I’m not going to sweat it.

How about   you? Are you finding yourself so ridiculously busy this time of year that your goals go to the back burner? 
Anything on the table catch your eye? Send me a message and I'll get you more info. 

4 comments:

  1. Yeah, this is a very busy time of the year, that's for sure! You've done pretty well with your goals. :)

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  2. I truly admire the work you're doing, Chris. People all over the world need our help, whether they're in our own towns or on another continent. I've noticed that sometimes people are quick to nitpick others' charitable activities. I try to remember that Teddy Roosevelt quote, that the credit belongs to those in the arena. Good luck with your novel and your nonprofit endeavors!

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