Done with all of that

Looking over the list of goals that I have assigned myself each week I see that I really have accomplished very little in the past week. No, I’m not going to beat myself up over it. Monday and Tuesday night after work I was at church, I spent the day cleaning house Wednesday, we hosted Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday, and Friday morning I took off to Minnesota with a friend and returned late yesterday afternoon. Hmm? Doesn’t leave too much time for anything other than sleeping and eating.

During that entire mad dash of a week, I was thinking about this blog and my writing goals and personal goals. Trying to put my head where it needs to be, willing my body to follow. I’ve decided that I am done with the list of goals until the first of the year.

Now, I have only two things I want to accomplish by December 31. First, of course, is the whole Christmas thing – the shopping, decorating, cookie baking, party attending, sending out cards. Oh, man, that one just dawned on me. It is so hard to give up the art of mailing Christmas cards to family and friends near and far. Every year, I think to myself – not going to do it, or at least I’m going to cut back. How’s that working for any of you reading this?

Ok, so there is all of that. The second goal is to finish my book proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. Today I was supposed to get back to my editor with my thoughts on all her basic suggestions. It might be a late night getting that done. After the manuscript is back in her capable hands, I need to get going on the proposal and query letter. I’ve sent a few out and now that I have talked to enough experts on the whole process, I can see why those fledgling attempts were failures. I just hope it’s not too late to wow an agent.

Anyway, so that’s that. I’ll still keep you posted but probably with a shortened update.

How are your goals coming along? Ready to hang it up until after the holidays? Oh, goodness, I just looked at the calendar and realize some of you may still be plowing through NaNoWriMo. I give you credit.

A quicky cover that I just threw together for the novel. 

The Days Keep Getting Shorter

This past week was once again way too busy. It feels like the only thing I accomplished was my daily posts regarding mygivingstory, via social media and private message. (You have voted, right? And continue to vote every day?) I guess that’s why we keep a list to show that I did do something else.  

If it is a goal which I accomplished, and it is done for the Round, I’ll highlight it in blue and then drop it off the list next time I post. If it is a goal which was accomplished this week, but I will do it all over again next week, I’ll highlight it in green and keep it on the list. The usual yellow highlight is goal at least worked on and red lettering is not even attempted, a complete fail. If there is no color at all, it’s a goal I just couldn’t work on for whatever lame reason. If new goals are added, they will be clearly marked as NEW GOAL.

A. WRITING

1. Write three posts for my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.  Done.

2. Write a chapter on my new novel, “New Old Spies.” Nope, none.

3. Work on my book proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. I opened the file and read through it, also read through my chapter-by-chapter summary of the book. Didn’t do a whole lot with either one, but I think this should count for something.   

B. REACHING

1. Promote myself or a piece of my writing (whether it be promoting one of my books, submitting a piece somewhere, saying something brilliant about my writing on my social media, etc.). Had the book signing at the First Street Coffee Station. Sold only a few books but did meet some nice people.   

2. Contact three businesses about doing book signings or speaking engagements. Nope, still none. I did get a few more ideas though.  

3. Secure three book signings or speaking engagements. Nope, nadda.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. Now I am three days behind!

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. Done.

3. Read five other people’s blog posts and comment on two of them. Read four other blogs and commented on two. I just don’t seem to quite make this goal, do I?  

4. Read half of “The Great Alone.”  Finished it yesterday morning, in bed, instead of getting up and doing something more productive.

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake, averaging 60 ounces per day. I think I actually drank enough at least a couple days.

b. Exercise five mornings a week and three evenings. It was only four mornings and two evenings. Again.  

2. Home fires

a. Scan 20 old pictures. I didn’t count but am pretty sure I did scan at least close to 20.      

b. Clean the linen closet in the bathroom, in anticipation of ripping up the bathroom floor. Nope, but we did lay almost all of the new bathroom floor, so I’m gonna totally count this.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Promote TV on all of our social media. This is actually what has taken up what feels like my every waking moment. I’ve been promoting our mygivingstory on all of our social media at least a couple times per day. Keep voting for us!.

b. Work on the Policy and Procedure Manual. Nope, did not look at it.

c. Mail out letters to our previous donors, asking for donations to our upcoming project. Done. As I write this, my daughter is working on sending out email letters.   

Thanksgiving dinner will be at my house on Thursday. Then Friday and Saturday I am going out of town with a friend. Umm, will be at church both Monday and Tuesday nights. I don’t work on Wednesday but will be cleaning house most of the day. Yikes! I guess it’s getting to be that time of year.

Are you finding that as the days keep getting shorter, they really are getting shorter? As in, who has time to get anything done!? 

Another Blur of a Week

Well, about all I can say is that I got through another week. The craft sale yesterday was a bust for the nonprofit, but at least I sold five of my books. Other than that, the week was a bit of a blur. Looking at the colors below, it was mostly a blur of yellow, so I guess that’s not as bad as it could have been.

If it is a goal which I accomplished, and it is done for the Round, I’ll highlight it in blue and then drop it off the list next time I post. If it is a goal which was accomplished this week, but I will do it all over again next week, I’ll highlight it in green and keep it on the list. The usual yellow highlight is goal at least worked on and red lettering is not even attempted, a complete fail. If there is no color at all, it’s a goal I just couldn’t work on for whatever lame reason. If new goals are added, they will be clearly marked as NEW GOAL.

A. WRITING

1. Write three posts for my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.  Done.

2. Write a chapter on my new novel, “New Old Spies.” Nope, none.

3. Work on my book proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. Nope, I opened the file and promptly closed it again.  

B. REACHING

1. Promote myself or a piece of my writing (whether it be promoting one of my books, submitting a piece somewhere, saying something brilliant about my writing on my social media, etc.). Promoted my two upcoming events on Facebook. 

2. Contact three businesses about doing book signings or speaking engagements. Nope, none. But at least I did some research and have three places to contact this week.

3. Secure three book signings or speaking engagements. Nope, nadda.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. Still two days behind.

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. Done.

3. Read five other people’s blog posts and comment on two of them. Read two other blogs and commented on two. I’m really slacking on this one.

4. Read half of “The Great Alone.”  Been reading it, so close 46%. Want to be to 75% by next check-in.

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake, averaging 60 ounces per day.  Working on it.

b. Exercise five mornings a week and three evenings. I think it was only four mornings and two evenings.

2. Home Fires

a. Scan 20 old pictures. Nope, but I did take five rolls of our old 8mm home movies into a place to have them put on disc. I’m gonna count that for at least worked on.    

b. Clean the linen closet in the bathroom, in anticipation of ripping up the bathroom floor. NEW GOAL.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Promote TV on all of our social media. Promoted the sale we had yesterday.

b. Work on the Policy and Procedure Manual. Nope, did not look at it.

c. BONUS GOAL. I entered us in the MyGivingStory contest. If you don’t mind, please click on this link and vote for our nonprofit. The top prize is $10,000, the exact amount we still need to build the community center.

d. Mail out letters to our previous donors, asking for donations to our upcoming project. NEW GOAL.

I don’t think I have anything extra going on this week, except for the book signing on Friday. Yeah! Maybe I can get stuff done. 

At the sale yesterday. I usually don't take pictures with my phone and this is why. It looks blurry to me. My daughter says it's coz of some setting on the phone, but I think it's just the phone. My camera does a much better job, hand's down. 

Another Week Down

Really shouldn't have taken me so long to put this together. 

I am once again not going to beat myself up over the lack of accomplished goals. Yet another busy week. Looking ahead? Not going to count on getting all this done by the end of the year. January is coming, though, and the schedule won’t get much lighter until then.

Here’s that list of wanna-be goals. If it is a goal which I accomplished, and it is done for the Round, I’ll highlight it in blue and then drop it off the list next time I post. If it is a goal which was accomplished this week, but I will do it all over again next week, I’ll highlight it in green and keep it on the list. The usual yellow highlight is goal at least worked on and red lettering is not even attempted, a complete fail. If there is no color at all, it’s a goal I just couldn’t work on for whatever lame reason. If new goals are added, they will be clearly marked as NEW GOAL.

A. WRITING

1. Write three posts for my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.  Done.

2. Write a chapter on my new novel, “New Old Spies.” Nope, none.

3. Read through my novel, “The Truth Beyond the River”, one more time before I send it to my editor November 4. Done. Yeah! Ready to email!

4. Work on my book proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. NEW GOAL.

B. REACHING

1. Promote myself or a piece of my writing (whether it be promoting one of my books, submitting a piece somewhere, saying something brilliant about my writing on my social media, etc.). Promoted my two upcoming events on Facebook.   
2. Contact three businesses about doing book signings or speaking engagements. Nope, none.  

3. Secure three book signings or speaking engagements. Nope, nadda.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. Still two days behind.

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. Done.

3. Read five other people’s blog posts and comment on two of them. Read four other blogs and commented on two.  

4. Read half of “The Great Alone.”  Been reading it, but only up to 30%.

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake, averaging 60 ounces per day.  Getting close, I think.

b. Exercise five mornings a week and three evenings. I think it was only four mornings and three evenings. Somehow, I need to keep track. 

2. Home fires

a. Scan 20 old pictures. Nope.   

b. Sew my Halloween costume. Yeah! Got it done at 8:30 the night before. Better than my usual “get up at 4 am to finish it” nonsense.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Promote TV on all of our social media. Promoted the sale we are having next Saturday.

b. Work on the Policy and Procedure Manual. Nope, did not work on it.

c. BONUS GOAL. Worked for a couple hours last night on a grant application for the Rotary Club.

This coming week, I have church functions today, Monday night and Wednesday night. On Saturday, I’ll be at a craft sale all day. So, basically, not looking like I’ll have a lot of free time, but we’ll see.

 Are you finding your days filling up, with no extra time for anything? How do you cope with that?