Chipping Away

Wow, last day of January and we are not having our typical winter weather. It was in the 30’s yesterday and drizzling. Supposed to get some snow today. We will see.

I am on my way to church to do my presentation of my trip to Kenya last fall. I thought about posting this after I got home and letting you know how it went, but this way I will have something to share on Wednesday’s check-in, right?

Last week’s goals were:  

1) Practice my presentation for church – done, and if not, too late now anyway

2) Put together my power-point presentation for the medical people – done, pretty much

3) Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles - done

4) Promote my books on social media once – nope, not at all 

5) Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring – nope, am running out of updates to make, or at least worried that I am boring potential donors. Will work of this maybe later today

6) Send out ten e-letters to prospective donors for our trip in the spring – yes, and I think it was more than ten, actually, and I have received donations from three, with promises from two more

7) Walk/run on the treadmill three times for 20 minutes each day - done

So what do I need to get done in the coming week:

1) Continue to work on my power-point presentation for the medical people

2) Write 1,000 words on the second memoir

3) Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles

4) Promote my books on social media once (I keep thinking I should give up on this, but just don’t think I should)

5) Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring

6) Send out five letters or e-letters to prospective donors for our trip in thespring (I am starting to run out of people!)

7) Walk/run on the treadmill three times for 20 minutes each day

8) Get serious about watching what I eat

Ever since Christmas, I have been telling myself that I need to quit eating all the chocolate and other sweets, and then yesterday, all I had for lunch was chocolate covered peanuts. Argh! I really need to get serious and lose that five pounds which found me in the last few months.

Other than, not much new with the goals. I will keep chipping away.

At the "Concrete Park" in Phillips, coz it was the first picture that I grabbed. 

Making Plans

My goals for the week were:

1) Practice my presentation for church on Sunday - not

2) Put together my power-point presentation for the medical people – worked on it about an hour

3) Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles – on track

4) Promote my books on social media once - not

5) Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring - not

6) Send out ten e-letters to prospective donors for our trip in the spring – sent out nine, jesh, you think I could have done one more

7) Walk/run on the treadmill three times for 20 minutes each day - twice   

Once again it feels like I have gotten nothing done. Yet there is all the yellow, for goals I have worked on, which is all anyone should ask for half-way through the week. Green, of course, is for goals accomplished, but I think that will happen by the weekend.

The thing that has been consuming most of my time, however, is that I got my vacation time approved at work, so now I am plotting and planning how to use that time, meaning I am doing a lot of web-surfing of all the places I want to go to this year. The only concrete thing so far is that tickets have been bought for Lifest in July.

Man, I love having things to look forward to. How about you? Are you making vacation plans for the summer (or spring, or fall)? And do you sometimes get carried away with those plans? 

My husband with his girls at Lifest 2013

A New Project this Week

First of all, this is where I ended up for the week. Kind of.

1) Write 2,000 words on the second memoir – close, 1,884 words

2) Type 2,000 words on “No Body Found” - none

3) Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles – yes

4) Promote my books on social media two times - yes

5) Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring - yes

6) Update the nonprofit’s website – yes, but I need to stop taking credit for this, as my daughter is doing all the work and I am just giving her my input

7) Send out ten letters to prospective donors for our trip in the spring - yes

8) Walk/run on the treadmill three days for 20 minutes each time – yes  

I say “kind of”, because it just doesn’t feel like I even came close to my goals last week.

I powered through work on my memoir last night, and have hit the wall with it. Everything I have so far was taken from the journal I kept when I was in Kenya in 2013. After writing my day’s adventures in my paper journal, I would type it up on the laptop at night. Until the last few days, when I slacked off on the typing, figuring I would catch up when I got home. Until my paper journal was stolen the last day there. I have that whole escapade written down, as though there would be any detail of that day which I would forget, but I still have lost two entire days. I remember some of what we did those two days, but not enough to explain 48 hours. So I might leave that chapter or two blank for now and move on.

Except that I have a new project which needs to consume me this week.

Next Sunday I am doing a powerpoint presentation at church, and though I have it ready, I should still practice as well as get my Kenyan crafts inventoried once again so I can sell them after my talk. Then twice in February I am giving a revised talk to health care professionals. Because this talk has been approved for one CEU by the AAMA, the presentation needs to show the effects of poverty on people living in America and not just in Kenya. For the presentation the end of February, Denise is joining me and we are talking for a full two hours, so I am going to her house this Friday to try to finalize it. Which means I need to put it together this week. And that will be enough for the week, I think.

So this is how my goals look:

1) Practice my presentation for church

2) Put together my power-point presentation for the medical people

3) Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles

4) Promote my books on social media once  

5) Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring

6) Send out ten e-letters to prospective donors for our trip in the spring

7) Walk/run on the treadmill three days for 20 minutes each time   

My talk at my clinic after I was in Kenya in 2013. 

This time

It doesn’t take much to fall completely off the wagon. This is all that I got done on my goals so far this week:

1) Write 2,000 words on the second memoir - Not

2) Type 2,000 words on “No Body Found” - Not

3) Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles – Ok, this is on schedule

4) Promote my books on social media two times - Not

5) Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring - Yep

6) Update the nonprofit’s website - Not

7) Send out ten letters to prospective donors for our trip in the spring – Sent out five, so that is half-way there

8) Walk/run on the treadmill three times for 20 minutes each day – Actually twice  

Ok, so maybe when I look at it all color-coded up, the list doesn’t look so bad. We did however accomplish the one big thing that we needed to for the week. My daughter booked the plane tickets for her and our three other team members to return to Kenya in April. She found good connections and a great price. It was only $3100 for all four tickets, roundtrip. I’m pretty excited – though disappointed that I am not going with, but someone needs to hold down the fort. 

Val, Denise, and Matt get to go to Kenya, while Rachel, Judy and I have to stay behind. This time.

Time to Up the Ante

Today I am headed to my daughter’s for a meeting of the nonprofit. We plan on buying the plane tickets for our four volunteers to head to Kenya the end of March to start our first chicken project. We also need to brainstorm ways to raise the $6,000 for the trip. Our newest member, a young man with a degree in film who is going to produce a short documentary of our work, is going to be coming to the meeting to meet us all and find out more about Tumaini. Also a woman who has worked our business plan is joining us. Hopefully with all these newbies it will be a productive and upbeat meeting. Lord knows we need some good news. On top of the nonprofit, my daughter has a list of stressors and I fear she is going to have a nervous breakdown. All I can say is that I taught her to be ridiculously strong and independent, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a curse.  

At least I am getting something done. My goals for last week:

1)         Write 500 words on the second memoir – done, and then some. Wrote 1498 for the week, having written 5896 total.

2)         Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles – done

3)         Promote my books on social media two times – done

4)         Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring - yep

5)         Update the nonprofit’s website – done, but still have to work on it.

6)         Write the letters to donors from 2015 for income tax purposes –done

7)         Start typing up my story “No Body Found” – typed 1540 words.

Though it is good to see all that green, good that I am reaching my goals, I think I need to up the stakes. Obviously this has been too easy so far this Round. So, here is what we are going to try for this week:

1) Write 2,000 words on the second memoir

2) Type 2,000 words on “No Body Found”

3) Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles

4) Promote my books on social media two times

5) Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring

6) Update the nonprofit’s website

7) Send out ten letters to prospective donors for our trip in the spring

8) Walk/run on the treadmill three times for 20 minutes each day (I’ve been doing this pretty much since the first of the year, but maybe if I write it down, then I am committed to it.)                   

 I know that’s not upping the ante much, but let’s shoot for baby steps. 

I don't know what this picture has to do with anything, I just thought it was cute. Baby Alice, my kitten, yelling at me. 

Go after those goals

Once again I outdid myself.

Weekly goals:

1)         Write 500 words on the second memoir – done, wrote 903 words

2)         Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles – on schedule at one and one

3)         Promote my books on social media two times – only once, but it is only Wednesday

4)         Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring - yep

5)         Update the nonprofit’s website – nope, have to get down to the daughter’s house to work on this with her

6)         Write the letters to donors from 2015 for income tax purposes – Yep, got them done

7)         Start typing up my story “No Body Found” – typed 500 some words. It’s a start, and that’s all the goal specified.

Ok, but this is where I smoked it. I submitted a poem to Wilda Morris’s Monthly Poetry Challenge. So stoked. I am sure I won’t win, because I just don’t get poetry. I write what comes to mind and there it is. If people don’t like it, that is too bad. And because I have nothing else to do, this challenge challenged me to write an entire book of poetry about my sister, her life and her battle with cancer. For a long time, I’ve wanted to write her story as a memoir, but maybe poetry is the way to go. Or not. I’ll have to see what happens I guess.

How about you? Are you going after those goals with an ax? or with a broom? Either way, you have a long ways to go in the Round, so you can get it all done!

                                                                                                                             

have i got too many projects?

Yesterday we celebrated our fourth and final Christmas, so today the tree and maybe the other Christmas decorations are going to come down. Amazing how quickly I get tired of looking at all the snowmen and santas.

When I posted that lightening quick update on Wednesday, I was pretty proud of myself for getting that much done in those few short days. Unfortunately I haven’t done much since then. I am going to blame it on the family coming over yesterday and my need to clean the house all day Friday.

Here’s how my weekly goals panned out:

1)         Write 500 words on the second memoir – done, actually wrote 1,644 words.

2)         Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles – done

3)         Promote my books on social media two times - nope

4)         Update Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring - yep

5)         Update the nonprofit’s website – well, not actually as I am now waiting for my daughter to get it together, but she did ask me for an updated biography and picture of myself for her to post on the website, so I did do that. I think I will say done.

6)         Write the letters to donors from 2015 for income tax purposes – nope

Way back in around 1994 I started writing a story and for some reason it has come back into my head. The working title is “No Body Found”.

One night, when I was still married to my first husband, we went out to eat and were taking backroads home when we came upon a car accident. The car had swerved off the road and was hanging over a rushing river – it was spring so all the streams and rivers were swollen with snow run-off. The driver’s door was open and it would appear that the driver had been thrown through the door and into the river. Luckily three or four squad cars and other emergency vehicles were already there, so there was nothing we could do. The next morning the local radio station reported the accident, saying that “no body had been found at the scene”. The driver however, was later found at home, safe and sound and sleeping off a drunk. The picture of that car inspired a whole different story for me.

Last night I pulled the file out of my writer’s file cabinet. It is 60 hand-written pages, and another file of character bios and a detailed map of the town and surrounding area where they all live. I may start typing it up and see what happens. Because having two books already written which need editing, 4,398 words written on my second memoir, and notes in another file for a second novel is not enough on my plate. Argh. What is wrong with me?

I don’t know, but I’m not going to think about it. I’m also not going to repost my goals for the week, as I am going to keep them the same, with the addition of starting to type up “No Body Found”. All I can say is that for once I have a title for the latest project.

Do you find yourself with too many goals to handle? And end up not accomplishing any? Or are you able to juggle a litany of projects? 

can i post in 5 minutes?

I am going to make this quick as I want to get to bed in five minutes. Right. As if that would ever happen, when it takes a good twenty minutes just to do the bedtime routine. Why is it that Hubby brushes his teeth, washes his face, goes potty and he’s ready for bed. And I have to do at least eight other things? Seems so unfair.

Anyway, here we are a few days into the Round.

Here’s what I wanted to do this week:

1)         Write 500 words on the second memoir – done, yeah, 576 words in fact

2)         Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles – so far on schedule

3)         Promote my books on social media two times - nope

4)         Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip next spring - yep

5)         Update the nonprofit’s website – nope, coz we had computer issues

6)         Write the letters to donors from 2015 for income tax purposes – nope

Well that’s awesome, coz that is 50%. Way to go, Chris.

Ok, that took up my full five minutes. See ya on Sunday. 

My bed waiting for me last night. 

is this too many numbers?

Here we are in the New Year already and a new Round of Round of Words in 80 Days.

What will my goals be not only for this Round, but for the entire year?

For the Year, my writing goals are:

1)         Finish editing my third devotional, “Early Ministry of Jesus”

2)         Finish editing my first novel, “Finding the Way Home”

3)         Write second African memoir

4)         Start writing my second novel, “The Novitiate”  

5)         Research getting an agent

6)         Submit 12 pieces  

7)         Have 4 pieces accepted

8)         Attend a writers’ conference

9)         Blog three times weekly in the Dino Chronicles

10)       Blog twice a week here

For this Round, I’m not sure yet. My head is still looking at the Big Picture. Here is the Big Picture from 2015:

1)      Submitted only seven pieces.

2)      But three of those pieces were published, giving me a success rate of 42%. (Ask any writer on the planet, and they would say that was great. In 2014, my success rate was only 17%.)

3)      On my big long list of all things to accomplish in 2015 – writing, travel, health, family, you name it – out of 42 goals, I achieved 31, giving me a 74% success rate.

4)      I failed on only 8, for a 19% failure rate, and worked on a final 3 things which I just did not accomplish.

I think I like numbers too much. I won’t even start with the three spread sheets of statistics revolving around sales of my three books, maybe because those numbers don’t tell quite the same success story.

I don’t work Monday, Tuesday, or Friday this week on the day job. Yeah for paid vacation! I have a lot scheduled already those days, much of which is working on the nonprofit organization with my daughter. She is planning on returning toKenya in the spring with her brother and two others and we have a lot of money to raise before then.

Let me at least try to pin something down for the week:

1)      Write 500 words on the second memoir

2)      Blog twice here and three times on the Dino Chronicles

3)      Promote my books on social media two times

4)      Update the Gofundme campaign for the nonprofit’s trip to Kenya in the spring

5)      Update the nonprofit’s website

6)      Write the letters to donors from 2015 for income tax purposes 

I guess that’s a start. How are your goals for the New Year and the New Round coming along? 

Numbers that are assigned to each child in the Compassion program