Prepare to be impressed!

OK, got some work done. Finally!

I. READING –

A. Daily goal

1. Read two other blog posts a day. Ah, close, at least one blog a day.

2. Read in at least one of the three books I am reading.  Yes, pretty much did this.

B. Weekly goal

1. Do research on my novel. Not really.

2. Start research for my next novel. Ah, no.

C. Goals for the Round

1. Have finished reading five books. I did finish reading one book. I still need to write a review of it.  

II. WRITING

A. Daily goal

1. Work on something for two hours a day. Had to be at least one hour.

a. Write on my novel. Yes, finally!

b. Write my blog posts. Yes, on schedule.

c. Work on paperwork for the nonprofit organization. Did some. The daughter comes home tomorrow, then this will kick into high gear.

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have finished my novel. Hey, I still have lots of time, right?

2. Have finished all of the paperwork for the nonprofit.

III. REACHING

A. Weekly goal

1. Comment on two other blog posts. I sure did this.  

2. Research markets for an hour.  Hey, I did this too. The Chicken Soup for the Soul series has some books coming up that I could submit to.

3. Keep up on social media, spending not more than a few hours a week on it. I’ve kind of lost interest here.  

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere.

2. Book signing at a local library.

3. Have survived my speaking engagements at two writers’ conferences.

IV. PERSONAL (goals by the end of the round)

A. Running

1. Have run in the 5K on July 4. Done.

2. Continue running a few times a week just to improve my time and stay in shape. I haven’t gotten back up to three miles since the 5K, but am doing one mile a couple times a week.

3. Maybe run another 5K if I find a convenient one.  Not looking good.

B. Family

1. Have settled my mom into better housing. My husband brought home one of Mom’s dressers today, if that is any indication this is progressing.     

2. Have planned that vacation with Hubby in September. I did some research and have presented some options to Hubby. We will see what he picks.  

C. Nonprofit

1. Have submitted all of the required paperwork. This will get going as soon as my daughter gets home.

2. By September 20, have become a 401(c)3 nonprofit organization.

I’m kind of impressed. Now to have a restful evening, coz I have to pick up that daughter at the airport tomorrow! I can’t wait for her to be home. 

Whenever I get down on myself, all I have to think of is this beautiful girl that is a part of my life. 

A Better Report, except for the flies

I wasn't going to blog today, but after all the doom and gloom in my last post, I thought I should write something a bit more upbeat.

I won't give you a play by play of my goal accomplishments, but a quick list looks something like this:

* Read daily in a couple of my books.
* Read at least a blog a day.
* Continued to only think about returning to writing my novel, but did finish writing my presentation for this coming Saturday and also wrote a list of potential contributors to our nonprofit. Oh, and I also blogged on schedule (I can say that now that I am writing this post!).
* Commented on a few other blogs.
* Ran a mile two days this week.
* Started planning our vacation for September. We will probably only be gone for a few days, but I am researching different options, so that the hubby can pick which one he wants to do.

Not fantastic, but a much better report than earlier this week!

Some days are productive. And other days are like a million dead flies on the sidewalk! 

I'm not kidding these are all flies along the Mississippi River in Dubuque. Yikes!

Even I am tired of my excuses.

Well, I haven’t been posting to this blog because there really isn’t a thing to write about. I haven’t gotten a thing done! Notta! I naturally have excuses, wedding in Iowa last weekend, working crazy hours at work. It was too hot last week and now it is cold this week. I cannot make any sort of commitment for next week either. My daughter comes home from Kenya one week from tomorrow, so I think my head will be mushy-mushy until then. Argh! One of these days, though, I will get it together.

I. READING –

A. Daily goal

1. Read two other blog posts a day. Nope

2. Read in at least one of the three books I am reading. Maybe

B. Weekly goal

1. Do research on my novel. Not really

2. Start research for my next novel. Are you serious?

C. Goals for the Round

1. Have finished reading five books. I did finish reading one book. I need to write a review of it, it was really good.

II. WRITING

A. Daily goal

1. Work on something for two hours a day. Not even close

a. Write on my novel

b. Write my blog posts

c. Work on paperwork for the nonprofit organization

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have finished my novel.

2. Have finished all of the paperwork for the nonprofit.

III. REACHING

A. Weekly goal

1. Comment on two other blog posts. I didn’t even do this.

2. Research markets for an hour.  Nope

3. Keep up on social media, spending not more than a few hours a week on it. You will not believe this, but I actually didn’t even do much of this this week.

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere.

2. Book signing at a local library.

3. Have survived my speaking engagements at two writers’ conferences.

IV. PERSONAL (goals by the end of the round)

A. Running

1. Have run in the 5K on July 4. Ok, so truly this is the only thing I really accomplished this month so far.

2. Continue running a few times a week just to improve my time and stay in shape. I haven’t gotten back up to three miles since the 5K.

3. Maybe run another 5K if I find a convenient one.  Not looking good.

B. Family

1. Have settled my mom into better housing. It figures that this is the only thing going anywhere. Mom hopes to move in two weeks, if all goes well.  

2. Have planned that vacation with Hubby in September. I’m starting to think we won’t be going on vacation.

C. Nonprofit

1. Have submitted all of the required paperwork. This will get going as soon as my daughter gets home.

2. By September 20, have become a 401(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Iowa wildflowers. One of many distractions last week. 

Even less than usual this week...

I wasn't going to post here today, because, frankly, I haven't accomplished a single one of my goals this week.

It was another short week around here. We left Wednesday as soon as I got off work to go to the Christian Music Festival in Oshkosh. I had high hopes of at least doing something on the laptop in the evenings, but there was a power glitch - I don't understand it, but no outlet in our hotel room would supply electricity to the laptop and since the battery was painfully low already, I had nothing by the second day.

One day while I was there I did meet up with a fellow writer and we worked on the presentation we are giving at the Writer's Conference in Green Lake in August. So I guess that was one productive thing.

And one morning, I actually went for a mile run around the hotel's neighborhood.

I will try this week to get something checked off, but I already have a funeral Monday and a wedding next weekend. Does it never end???

So, I guess even the inflatables have to relieve themselves. 

Is any shopping cart really too big?

Train going to Canada, I guess. 

Miniature golf, in the parking lot, somehow it's not the same.

(These are random pictures from my weekend. Probably not what you would expect me to take pictures of at a Christian music festival. What can I say.)

what a short week!

How did I do for the week? I think we all have to cut ourselves some slack this week. Not only was it a new round, but there was a Holiday in there for most of us. Maybe this week should be considered a warm-up.

I. READING –

A. Daily goal

1. Read two other blog posts a day. DONE

2. Read in at least one of the three books I am reading.  DONE

B. Weekly goal

1. Do research on my novel. NOTTA

2. Start research for my next novel. I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY I WROTE THIS ONE DOWN.

C. Goals for the Round

1. Have finished reading five books.

II. WRITING

A. Daily goal

1. Work on something for two hours a day. NOT QUITE, A COUPLE HOURS SHORT FOR THE WEEK.

a. Write on my novel

b. Write my blog posts

c. Work on paperwork for the nonprofit organization

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have finished my novel.

2. Have finished all of the paperwork for the nonprofit. I DID FINISH THE ROUGH DRAFT OF OUR BYLAWS

III. REACHING

A. Weekly goal

1. Comment on two other blog posts. I DID THIS FOR THE WEEK.

2. Research markets for an hour.  I CAN SAY I DID THIS TOO

3. Keep up on social media, spending not more than a few hours a week on it.   DONE, AN EASY ONE.

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere.

2. Book signing at a local library. SOUNDS LIKE THIS WILL BE SEPTEMBER 8. I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED AS DETAILS ARE FINALIZED.

3. Have survived my speaking engagements at two writers’ conferences.

IV. PERSONAL (goals by the end of the round)

A. Running

1. Have run in the 5K on July 4. YES, YES, YES, AS IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD. I’M SURPISED THIS HASN’T BEEN ON THE NATIONAL NEWS. I’M PRETTY PROUD OF MYSELF, BUT I REALLY DIDN’T THINK ANYONE ELSE WOULD CARE. HOW INCREDBILY AWESOME THAT THEY DO!

2. Continue running a few times a week just to improve my time and stay in shape. I DID RUN THREE MILES AGAIN THIS MORNING. RUNNING WITH MY DOG DEFINITELY SLOWS ME DOWN.

3. Maybe run another 5K if I find a convenient one.  I REALLY THINK I MIGHT SIGN UP FOR THE 5K HERE IN TOWN ON AUGUST 18. A BUNCH OF PEOPLE FROM WORK SAY THEY ARE GOING TO TRY IT.

B. Family

1. Have settled my mom into better housing. THIS IS AT A STANDSTILL, IT SEEMS.

2. Have planned that vacation with Hubby in September.

C. Nonprofit

1. Have submitted all of the required paperwork. 

2. By September 20, have become a 401(c)3 nonprofit organization.

Bucket List Woes

I know that this round started just a few days ago, and the whole point of this blog is to share the progress made on achieving my goals. Well, this is all about those biggy goals, the lifers. The things on your bucket list.

Riding in an airplane. Check.

Doing work in a third work country. Check.

Visiting a castle. Check.

Spending the night in a castle. OK, a girl has to have a few things left to strive for.

Running in a 5K. Stop right there. This was never on my bucket list. Never, ever. Not in any of my wildest dreams. Not even if they said, "you have to have a hundred things on your bucket list." And I was completely out of ideas by the time I got to 99. Not even then would I have ever said, "ok, I'll just add running this short 3.1 mile race. I can do that." Nope, not even then was this on my bucket list.

And then suddenly there I am.

This is just starting out. I don't know why I already look like I am in pain. 

Rounding the last corner and about to cross the finish line. 

 You can achieve any goal you set for yourself!

YEAH! I have concrete goals!

This time I am going to do this right. It is the start of a new round of ROW 80 – which stands for Round of Words in 80 Days, by the way, in case you aren’t a regular Rounder. This Round begins July 1 and 80 days would put the end around September 20, which is awesomely cool, because I am supposed to go on vacation the following week. If I complete all of my goals by then, I will truly and totally take the week off. (Any of you who know me, know that won’t happen, but a girl can dream. My husband is probably going to dream that will happen too.)

I.                    READING –

A.      Daily goal

1.       Read two other blog posts a day.

2.       Read in at least one of the three books I am reading. (I am usually reading one fiction, one non-fiction and a devotional at a time.)

B.      Weekly goal

1.       Do research on my novel.

2.       Start research for my next novel. (I just thought I would throw that out there. I really need to be thinking about my next book though.)

C.      Goals for the Round

1.    Have finished reading five books. (Not as lofty a goal as one might think because I am   counting the three books I am currently reading.)

II.                  WRITING

A.      Daily goal

1.       Work on something for two hours a day.

a.       Write on my novel

b.      Write my blog posts

c.       Work on paperwork for the nonprofit organization (more on that further along)

B.      Goals for the Round

1.       Have finished my novel.

2.       Have finished all of the paperwork for the nonprofit.

III.                REACHING

A.      Weekly goal

1.       Comment on two other blog posts.

2.       Research markets for an hour.

3.       Keep up on social media, spending not more than a few hours a week on it.

B.      Goals for the Round

1.       Have submitted three pieces somewhere.

2.       Book signing at a local library (which someone else is setting up, so I don’t know much about it yet.)

3.       Have survived my speaking engagements at two writers’ conferences.

IV.                PERSONAL (goals by the end of the round)

A.      Running

1.       Have run in the 5K on July 4.

2.       Continue running a few times a week just to improve my time and stay in shape.

3.       Maybe run another 5K if I find a convenient one.

B.      Family

1.       Have settled my mom into better housing. (I know I mentioned before that I won’t talk about her.)

2.       Have planned that vacation with Hubby in September.

C.      Nonprofit

1.       Have submitted all of the required paperwork to all the places it needs to go.

2.       By September 20, have become a 401(c)3 nonprofit organization. (This is probably my loftiest and least likely to be achieved goal because for all this to happen, no matter how hard we work on this, we have to wait on government agencies for things to progress.)

A little about the nonprofit, since I see I haven’t expounded on it lately. As you know, I was in Kenya the first two weeks of May and my daughter remained there, planning to come home the end of July. While she is there, she is mostly working on finding projects which our nonprofit can tackle, as well as researching all the steps it takes to become a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Our tentative name is Tumaini Volunteers, Inc. Tumaini means ‘hope’ in Swahili, so our tagline will be something like “building hope for a better tomorrow”. But it is all still in the planning stages.

So, there are my goals for the next 80 days. Time to dig in!