end of Round 3

Here we are at the end of Round 3 of ROW80. Below are my goals for the Round and how I ended up.

 Writing –

1)      My novel

a.       Do one more edit, typing up an outline for each chapter as I go. Done

b.      Spend three hours per week working on a pitch for publishers and agents. Can’t say it was three hours per week, but it was quite a few hours here and there for the last three months.

c.       Decide on a title. I think I have this one figured out, but still want to bounce it around in my head some more. These are the contenders and the winner:

The Way Home

Finding the Way Home

Where the Sky Meets the Sand

When Family Happens

Returning Home

Family Matters Most

A Mother Like That

Just Like That

2)      Blog twice a week here. Usually

3)      Blog three times a week on the Dino Chronicles. Usually

Reading –

1)      Finish reading three books - “More Than a Story”, “My Maassai Life”, “War Brides”. Finished two of them and at least started the third.

2)      Read three ROW blog posts twice a week. Usually

REACHING –

1)      Update my website once a month. Nope, but I updated it once.

2)      Submit three pieces. I submitted two.

3)      Once a week post something promoting my books or myself on each of my social media. Can’t say it was weekly, but I think twice a month was the average.

Personal –

1) Physical

a) Lose ten pounds. I’d love to say this worked out, but it’s only been about five.

                        b) Stop eating junk food and stop snacking between meals. Let’s be honest – no.

                        c) Work out more faithfully

1- Exercise four mornings a week. Sometimes.

2- Lift weights and/or run four nights a week. Hardly ever, more like once or twice.

4)      Spiritual

a)      Read my Bible every night. Ummm, I’ll highlight it in yellow, as an average of four nights per week is more than half, right?

b)      Read a devotion every day. Ummm, probably four or five nights a week, but still not enough to rate a green.

NONPROFIT –

1)      Start planning our next trip. Yes, it is in the works. We have two people for sure who want to go and another three or four maybes. And most exciting of all is that I will probably be the team leader. Cannot wait to return to Africa! We are looking at March or April. I need to find out when Easter is….

2)      Sign up for the fall round of craft shows as fundraisers. Signed up one so far. Looking for some new ones.

As usual, when I am plowing through these goals each week, I feel like I am going nowhere. Yet, when I sprinkle in that green for accomplished goals and yellow for those worked on, it doesn’t look so bad. 18 goals, 7 accomplished, 9 worked on and only 2 total fails.

Now I need to get down to business and finish off the year with even more epic accomplishments. Watch for those new goals being posted here the first of October.

How did you end up for the Round? 

this week's a keeper

I am still making progress on my most recent set of goals, those being:

1)      Write a query/proposal for “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”

2)      Research publishers for it and choose one

3)      Send that query/proposal to the chosen publisher

4)      Begin writing the next novel, with the working title of “The Big House"

5)      Continue to blog on schedule

6)      And be more diligent on working out and losing weight

Earlier in the week I did some work on the query as well as continued research on publishers. I really want to send my manuscript out somewhere, but I know that by jumping in when the thing’s not ready is not to my advantage. All things in their own time.

Most exciting however is that I have continued working on the new novel. Currently I have written 3,338 words on it, which, if I have a goal of 70,000 words, it is 4% written. Oh, boy. I’ve also been doing more research on this novel. It is set in the early 1970s and includes elements of the Vietnam War, a religious order, and a young journalist learning the ropes. That is going to require a lot of research on the part of this novice.

The blogging is on schedule, the exercising is close and the weight – not so much. Oh, well.

I did clean out my office this weekend so hopefully the clean and organized space inspires me to keep going. I’ve also been wanting to take some new portraits for my blogs and website, as my hair is so much longer now. The Hubby took a few last week and here are the ones he took this afternoon. 

What do you think? Any a keeper?

 Had to get a few with the dog, he just never cooperates though.

 (This is the same picture as above it, except I left my wrinkles in this one. Can you tell the difference?)

here's to a good week

I have about ten minutes to write this post and post it and then I have to jump in my son’s truck, drive two hours, have dinner with him, and drive my car back home. The pictures should help illustrate why.

Flat tire in back of Hubby’s Blazer. 

 Son’s truck up on a block. 

 New tire in back of Hubby’s Blazer. 

I am disappointed in myself that I didn’t document the whole process photographically, even on video as the tire deflated before our very eyes. So unlike me to miss something that – um – what would be the right word? Is newsworthy? Whatever, no time to think about it.

This flat turned out for the best. I was late to work on Monday from dropping the flat off at the tire place in town and I ended up super crabby all day and then broke out in cold symptoms around ten am. So I had to explain my whole life to my manager, so yesterday when I noticed that two staff were extra today it was easy for me to plead my case, asking if one of the extra people could work for me and I could take today off.

Yeah! And the sun was even shining all day.

I jumped on the laptop around eight this morning and the beast was actually working for a change, so I wrote 1,222 words on my new novel, which I have given the working title of “The Big House”, because I give up trying to spell Novitiate. 

Okay, that’s it from me until Sunday. Thanks to everyone for their support the last few weeks as my mood, my health, my mother’s health and generally everything else went downhill. I really appreciate it. Here’s to a good week for everyone!

not much turning out right for us

 I had four short sweet goals for last week:

1)      Finish the query for “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”

2)      Write a chapter on my next novel “The Novitiate”

3)      Blog on schedule here and on the Dino Chronicles

4)      Get back on my exercise routine, as I hadn’t even done that last week.  

And how did that work out for me? Not so much. I blogged three times on the Dino Chronicles, but missed Wednesday here. I am going to blame most of that on the fact that my laptop decided to go on sabbatical and just not respond to any of my advances. It just sat there going, “na-ner-na-ner, I’m not going to work for you no matter what you try”. I knew my son was coming home today and told myself not to freak out, to just keep trying to reboot the dumb thing and if nothing worked, my son could look at it today. Sometime in the middle of the night Thursday, when I couldn’t sleep, the umpteenth reboot woke up the beast and it has been working okay since. Still a little sluggish, but overall, working.

I don’t know what to tell you about the exercise routine thing, and certainly not about the hoping to lose ten pounds. I’ve been under a lot of stress, which means I rather sit on my backside and pour food down my throat than do anything more physical than I have to.

I still feel like I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I finally let my guard down enough on Friday to tell my hubby how I have really been feeling. He was naturally supportive and worried. But that just makes me feel worse because he is under more stress than I am. Last night he admitted that he felt he was losing it too. Think they have couples’ rooms on the psych ward?

I’ve been down this road before and I know that my feelings of despair will pass. I do worry about the hubby though. You might suggest he take a vacation. Today is the last day of a five-day vacation for him, during which he really didn’t have any plans and didn’t want any plans, just wanted to relax. Look at how well that worked out.

Anyway, we will figure it out. In the meantime, I typed up a new spreadsheet of my weekly goals. Even though they are about the same goals as I’ve had, maybe looking at them in a different format will jar me out of my complacency. It’s worth a try, right?

Hopefully, I’ll let you know how that is working on by Wednesday.

 I've been thinking that I need some new head shots since I've grown out my hair. Hubby took some on Friday, but even that didn't turn out so well. 

a whole lot of nothin'

When I posted on Wednesday, my excuse was that Mom had been in the hospital. She went home that afternoon and has been doing fine ever since, so I really can no longer justify that as an excuse. I visited her twice on Friday, because it was, after all, my day off, and my daughter didn’t want to go by herself in the afternoon. Other than that, Mommy is off the plate.

I didn’t even blog for the Dino Chronicles. So why didn’t I get anything done this week? It’s beyond me. No, that’s not true. I got a lot done, just none of it my writing goals. Since my daughter came up Friday afternoon, we worked on the nonprofit in the evening and then I went to her house yesterday. After helping her clean her house, we worked some more on the nonprofit, all in preparation for today’s meeting. We have a lot to discuss, so that will take up the entire day today, I am certain.

Also, as I am working on making copies and getting other things ready for the meeting today, my laptop is being an absolute pain. Just keeps freezing up and it won’t recognize the printer. Argh. That has set me back this morning. I know, just another excuse.

Moving on, however, I am going to try to get to these things this week:

1)      Finish the query for “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”

2)      Write a chapter on my next novel “The Novitiate” (that is the working title, but I think I need to come up with something else, as I can never spell that!)

3)      Blog on schedule here and on the Dino Chronicles

4)      Get back on my exercise routine, as I hadn’t even done that last week.

And that’s about it. A whole lot of nothin' and not even a picture.