Not to brag but YEAH, ME!

I think this has been a stellar week for accomplishing goals. I think I am even going to highlight for you. How was your week?  

I. READING –

A. Weekly goal

1. Read five other blog posts a week.  Yes.       

2. Read ten hours a week in one of the books I am reading.  Yes. I think I will put the moves on “Ragged Hope” and get that finished this week.  

B. Goals for the Round                           

1. Have finished reading five books. I really need to pick up the pace, don’t I?

II. WRITING

A. Weekly goal

1. Work on something five times a week.     

a. Work on “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series. Yes, I didn’t do much, but I did open up the file.  

b. Write on my novel. No.

c. Write my blog posts. Yes, I blogged three times on The Dino Chronicles and once here.

B. Goals for the Round.  

1. Have finished the first draft of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”. No.

2. Have written half of my novel.  No.

III. REACHING

A.      Weekly goal.

1. Have promoted either one of my books on one other site or in person. Yes. So, whenever someone joins my network on LinkedIn, I send them a short message about my book. One of these new contacts messaged me back that she would like me to write my testimony for her blog. So, that’s a good thing. I need to write something up for her today.  

2. Comment on two other blog posts.  Yes.

3. Research markets for an hour.  Yes.

4. Keep up on social media, responding to all messages.  Yes.

5. Have contacted one organization about a speaking engagement.  Yes. I am trying a different tactic. I have been emailing everything to everyone because that is what they ask for. But if they aren’t asking, I think that a letter in the mail might be better received. I am talking mostly about my area churches. I know that my home church has a secretary who is not too internet savvy, so I wonder if she even checks email. But I am sure that she opens snail mail and might actually look at a flyer with color pictures of Africa. So, I sent a letter of introduction along with a flyer for our nonprofit to another area church. I also sent the same thing to a woman at a local Christian radio station. She is the niece of a coworker of mine, so I threw that information in the letter to woe her to my cause.

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere. One so far. Did I tell you about the PR guy for my employer? Last June, when I got back from Kenya, I emailed him to see if he wanted to put an article about my trip on the organization’s website.  I never heard back, but thought, oh, well. The first of the week, I got an email from him, apologizing for not getting back to me sooner. Really? Really??? Is that an acceptable way to do business? And I just complained about my church’s secretary? I mean, I get it if you are an editor for a huge publishing house that gets 100 queries a day. But really? My employer is not that big. Anyway, so I emailed him back that now is maybe an even better time to run an article on me and Africa as our nonprofit just applied for tax exempt status. So, I sent an updated article on Thursday. Will keep you posted. Don’t hold your breath.

2. Have booked three speaking engagements or book signings. One so far, a radio interview on February 18, which I should start prepping for.  

IV. PERSONAL

A. Exercise - Continue exercising four times a week, including running on the treadmill.  Yes.

B. Nonprofit - Continue working on Tumaini Volunteers, Inc., applying for tax exempt status by the end of the Round.  YES, YES, YES. My daughter came over on Tuesday and we finished up the IRS form. She got it in the mail already and now we just have to wait and see. One of our friend's finished our logo, so we ordered business cards with it on. Can't wait to see them. In the meantime, I put yet another item on our Etsy shop.  

C. Sewing - Finish two projects this Round.  Not yet.

As far as my list of 40 things to do in ’14, I crossed off the above mentioned applying for tax exempt status. Yeah, me!

Some setbacks are worth it

My friend from Minnesota came for a visit this weekend. It put me behind on a few things (mostly housework and dieting!), but it is always worth the setback to spend the entire day sharing stories and chocolate wine!  

I. READING –

A. Weekly goal

1. Read five other blog posts a week.  Yes.       

2. Read ten hours a week in one of the books I am reading.  Yes. I am just over half way done reading “Miracle at Tenwek”, and have resisted the temptation to start something new.

B. Goals for the Round                           

1. Have finished reading five books. Not yet.

II. WRITING

A. Weekly goal

1. Work on something five times a week.     

a. Work on “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series. No.

b. Write on my novel. No.

c. Write my blog posts. No, but I am not going to beat myself up over it. I think that I am going to post on this blog on Sundays and only on Wednesdays when I have something exciting to say. I did miss my Tuesday post on my other blog, but I couldn’t think of anything to write, and I think it is better to skip it then to write something lame.

B. Goals for the Round.  

1. Have finished the first draft of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”. No.

2. Have written half of my novel.  No.

III. REACHING

A.      Weekly goal.

1. Have promoted either one of my books on one other site or in person. No. And I don’t exactly know what I even mean by this anymore. I may have to rethink the whole book promotion thing.

2. Comment on two other blog posts.  Yes.

3. Research markets for an hour.  Yes.

4. Keep up on social media, responding to all messages.  Yes.

5. Have contacted one organization about a speaking engagement.  Yes, actually two in the last week. I sent a proposal to the contact person for a Book Festival coming up in April. She got right back to me that they already have their speakers lined up. And I emailed another Book Festival, which isn’t until September, so hopefully they are just now working on their guests.

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere.  No, not yet.

2. Have booked three speaking engagements or book signings. One so far.  

IV. PERSONAL

A. Exercise - Continue exercising four times a week, including running on the treadmill.  Yes.

B. Nonprofit - Continue working on Tumaini Volunteers, Inc., applying for tax exempt status by the end of the Round.  My daughter, my sister and I worked on the tax exempt application for a few hours on Friday and we talked to some guy at the IRS with our questions on the form. I also added another item to the Etsy shop.  

C. Sewing - Finish two projects this Round.  Not yet.

As far as my list of 100 things to do this year, which is actually only at 40 right now, I had said that I would clean my office (which I did) and keep it clean. I am starting to backslide on that one. Drat.  

Somebody thinks that everything I do is WONDERFUL!

Short, sweet and to the point

I. READING –

A. Weekly goal

1. Read five other blog posts a week.  Yes.       

2. Read ten hours a week in one of the books I am reading.  Definitely. When I am reading nonfiction, no matter how good it is, I can put the book down and leave it for days. Right now I am reading “Miracle at Tenwek”, a true story about a missionary doctor in Kenya. The book is ok, but for some reason I just can’t put it down. I also skimmed the entire book “A Lion Named Christian” in two hours, just so I could help my Kinship kid with her project on the book.     

B. Goals for the Round                           

1. Have finished reading five books. I’m not going to count the book about the Lion because I just skimmed it, but I think I will have something finished by next week.

II. WRITING

A. Weekly goal

1. Work on something five times a week.     

a. Work on “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series. No, but I really thought about it a lot. I know, doesn’t count.

b. Write on my novel. No.

c. Write my blog posts. Yes.

B. Goals for the Round.  

1. Have finished the first draft of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”. No.

2. Have written half of my novel.  No.

III. REACHING

A.      Weekly goal.

1. Have promoted either one of my books on one other site or in person. No.

2. Comment on two other blog posts.  Yes.

3. Research markets for an hour.  Yes.

4. Keep up on social media, responding to all messages.  Yes.

5. Have contacted one organization about a speaking engagement.  Yes, last October I had emailed a radio program about doing an interview. I never heard back from them. When I couldn’t sleep Thursday night, at about one am, I sent them another email. I barely even remember doing it! But they emailed me back already Friday morning and set up a radio interview for February 18. Maybe I should do more work in the dead of the night. Oh, and I also have a writer friend who is speaking at a book festival in April. She got me the information about the festival, so I am going to send in my speaking proposal next week.

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere.  No.

2. Have booked three speaking engagements or book signings. One so far, see above.

IV. PERSONAL

A. Exercise - Continue exercising four times a week, including running on the treadmill.  Yes.

B. Nonprofit - Continue working on Tumaini Volunteers, Inc., applying for tax exempt status by the end of the Round.  My daughter and I worked on the tax exempt application for a few hours on Thursday. We also set up an Etsy shop to sell the stuff we brought back from Kenya.

C. Sewing - Finish two projects this Round.  Not yet.

As far as my list of 100 things to do this year, which is actually only at 38 right now, I updated my list of Snoopy collectibles I own. 

Just a few of the Snoopys and other Peanuts paraphernalia. The final total states at 112 items. 

In with the new . . . not really

Welcome to a new Round and that’s all that’s new. I am going to go with pretty much the same goals as last time. I took out the daily goals, because my life just gets too much in the way to dedicate time every day to do something. I also accepted the fact that I am not going to finish both my novel and my second devotional in any sort of structured timeframe. I will finish what I can.  Overall it looks like a pretty wimpy list.

Actually, yesterday morning, I vented for a page about how I was going to quit writing all together. I was going to post that here today and be done with this blog and my other one. I felt it was time to get out of this stinking office of mine and just watch TV for the next year, like normal people. Even maybe learn to play video games.

When I told my husband, he gave me this puppy-dog-at-the-vet look. As if I told him he had to wear the cone-of-shame. “No, honey,” I explained, “I am the one who should wear the cone-of-shame, because I am the one who is a loser.”

Well, I kind of got over that attitude. Kind of. I’m still a loser, but that doesn’t mean I still can’t write about it. So here are my goals for the Round.  

I. READING –

A. Weekly goal

1. Read five other blog posts a week.           

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. Work on something five times a week.     

a. Work on “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”, the second book in the Bible Stories in 40 Days series.

b. Write on my novel.     

c. Write my blog posts.  

B. Goals for the Round.  

1. Have finished the first draft of “The Early Life of Jesus in 40 Days”.

2. Have written half of my novel.  

III. REACHING

A.      Weekly goal.

1. Have promoted either one of my books on one other site or in person.

2. Comment on two other blog posts.   

3. Research markets for an hour.  

4. Keep up on social media, responding to all messages.  

5. Have contacted one organization about a speaking engagement.  

B. Goals for the Round

1. Have submitted three pieces somewhere.  

2. Have booked three speaking engagements or book signings.

IV. PERSONAL

A. Exercise - Continue exercising four times a week, including running on the treadmill.  

B. Nonprofit - Continue working on Tumaini Volunteers, Inc., applying for tax exempt status by the end of the Round.

C. Sewing - Finish two projects this Round.  

I’ve seen people write lists of 100 things to do this year. I came up with 34 things. Again, I just want to be realistic. Crossed item number 1 off of that list. Cleaned my office. See, I’m all inspired already. 

I really should have taken a before picture. It looked like a goat had exploded in here. Not conducive to writing at all.