Looking Pathetic

If you follow this blog via the Round of Words in 80 Days, you know that the first round of the year, the first 80 days, has ended. If I don’t keep plowing along every Sunday, year-round, I can forget totally what I’m doing. As it is, it’s tough enough to keep looking at these goals, telling myself to not give up.  

These first three months I reverted back to having an insurmountable list of goals to try to tackle in 80 days. Previous to that, I tried to attack things just one week at a time. I think I may do that again starting April 1. I have a ridiculous lot of stuff on my calendar already until May. And by May, the whole yardwork thing will be out there. So I’m thinking about it all, but not going to think too much. Just going to see what I can do.

But about this past week . . . Hubby and I helped move our daughter and her husband into a new house on Friday. First thing off the bat, I slipped on the ice. Too bad nobody took a video of it. They claimed that as I struggled to not fall my moves were priceless. Good thing my jeans weren’t.

So here were my goals for January, February and March. If it is a goal which I accomplished, and it is done for the Round, I’ll highlight it in blue. If it is a goal which was accomplished this week, but which I need to keep working on (coz I’m giving myself one more week), I’ll highlight it in green. A goal at least worked on is highlighted in yellow and red lettering is not even attempted, a complete fail

WRITING

1)    Finish the edits on “The Truth Beyond the River”. Finished.

2)    Finish the proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. I didn’t work on it this week.

3)    Write nine chapters in “Old New Spies”. I didn’t work on it this week.

4)    Continue posting three times weekly to “The Dino Chronicles.” No, I didn’t post on Wednesday. Again.

5)    Continue posting here once a week.  Yes.  

REACHING

1)    Submit the query/proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River.” Nope, not yet.     

2)    Submit four pieces somewhere. No, none.

3)    Redo my website. No.

4)    Do something each week, or at least twice a month, to promote my writing. Hmm? Nope.    

READING

1)    Finish reading “The Secret Garden”. Finished.

2)    Finish reading “Once Upon a Road Trip.” Am 63% done.   

3)    Finish reading “All the Place to Go”. Finished.

4)    Read six chapters in “Grin with Grace.” Still at four chapters.

5)    Read an average of five other blogs per week, commenting on three of them. I don’t remember. I only read a few and commented on less than that.     

REMAINING

1)    Empty half the box of old pictures in my office. I only scanned a card box full of obituaries.

2)    Finish my family tree. Worked on it again for a hours and hours. I don’t see this ever getting finished.

3)    Clean six closets or areas in my house.  Done. Finally, something concrete accomplished.   

4)    Continue doing Yoga every day. Yup, managed every day.

5)    Tumaini Volunteers Nonprofit

a.     Get the tax-deduction letters out to our donors by the end of January. Done.

b.     Sign up for two craft sales this spring. Signed up for two.

That does indeed look pretty pathetic. Oh, well, not gonna sweat it. See what I can finish up this week and then come up with a new plan moving forward.  

Not a total slacker

Whoa, I did bake a salmon pie for dinner Friday night. So I'm not a total slacker. 

I truly have no idea where the weeks go, how each day drifts into the next and I don’t have a clue what I did. Argh!

Next weekend, my daughter is moving into her new house. Yesterday, I went down to help her with some cleaning and packing. This Friday, Hubby and I will head down to help with the move. She has assigned me to clean the old house as things are moved out and then clean the new house before they start moving stuff in. Not sure how I can be in two places at once, but we’ll see. The new house is only about a ten minute drive from where she lives now and the forecast is for a beautiful day, so things should go smoothly. Except they neve seem to for my daughter. We’ll all get through it somehow.

But back to me . . .

So here are my goals for January, February and March. If it is a goal which I accomplished, and it is done for the Round, I’ll highlight it in blue. If it is a goal which was accomplished this week, but which I will keep working on, I’ll highlight it in green. A goal at least worked on is highlighted in yellow and red lettering is not even attempted, a complete fail. I think the Round ends this week, so we’ll see if I have any more blue here by then.

WRITING

1)    Finish the edits on “The Truth Beyond the River”. Finished.

2)    Finish the proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. I am still plugging away at it.   

3)    Write nine chapters in “Old New Spies”. Yea! I finally wrote something on it. Only 850 words, but it’s something, right?  

4)    Continue posting three times weekly to “The Dino Chronicles.” No, I didn’t post on Wednesday. Sometimes it’s better to skip it, than to write something lame.    

5)    Continue posting here once a week.  Yes.  

REACHING

1)    Submit the query/proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River.” Hopefully, very soon I will send it off.    

2)    Submit four pieces somewhere. No, none.

3)    Redo my website. No.

4)    Do something each week, or at least twice a month, to promote my writing. Gave one of my books to the co-worker who asked about it. It was her birthday today, so it was like – ta-da – easy present.   

READING

1)    Finish reading “The Secret Garden”. Finished.

2)    Finish reading “Once Upon a Road Trip.” Am 43% done.   

3)    Finish reading “All the Place to Go”. Finished.

4)    Read six chapters in “Grin with Grace.” Through four chapters.

5)    Read an average of five other blogs per week, commenting on three of them. I read five and commented on four.    

REMAINING

1)    Empty half the box of old pictures in my office. I did some, it’s hard to explain, but really not making much of a dent yet.   

2)    Finish my family tree. Worked on it for a hours and hours. I got a message from a fourth cousin twice removed, or something, so was pretty excited to share information back and forth.   

3)    Clean six closets or areas in my house.  Done. Yeah! I’ve cleaned the front hall closet, the desk in my office, the piles of Christmas decorations in the basement, the linen closet in my bathroom, the closet we call the pantry, and emptied my daughter’s dresser as she is taking it to her new house when she moves next weekend.  

4)    Continue doing Yoga every day. I once again missed Monday.

5)    Tumaini Volunteers Nonprofit

a.     Get the tax-deduction letters out to our donors by the end of January. Done.

b.     Sign up for two craft sales this spring. Signed up for two, one in town the first weekend in April and one in the southern part of the state for the end of April. Yeah! Progress finally.

With my daughter’s move coming up, I don’t imagine I’ll get a whole lot done this week. Oh, well, that’s just how it goes. Not gonna sweat it.

How was your week? Going to accomplish your goals for this Round? Have any significant issues come up that have slowed you down? Whatever the case, have a good week and think Spring! 

Find the Good in Each Day

I won’t get into here, but last Sunday night was – well – horrible for my family. So much so that it put a crimp in most of the week. I got through it, though, and actually by the end of the week, there was more to be thankful for than to grieve for. (Read the post on my other blog.)

One of the gifts I received this week was from the moderator from the writer’s workshop I attended last fall. We each wrote a card to ourselves and the moderator would mail them to us whenever the Lord called her to. Mine came Thursday and it was a kick in the butt. Me telling myself that all those characters in my head have stories to tell and who am I to sit on those stories without sharing them with the world. It was pretty motivating.

So here are my goals for January, February and March. If it is a goal which I accomplished, and it is done for the Round, I’ll highlight it in blue. If it is a goal which was accomplished this week, but which I will keep working on, I’ll highlight it in green. A goal at least worked on is highlighted in yellow and red lettering is not even attempted, a complete fail.

WRITING

1)    Finish the edits on “The Truth Beyond the River”. Finished.

2)    Finish the proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. I put in a couple hours Friday and couple more yesterday. I’m getting there. Oh, and I found where I had saved my previous changes so the week before was not a total loss.  

3)    Write nine chapters in “Old New Spies”. Not started.

4)    Continue posting three times weekly to “The Dino Chronicles.” Yes.   

5)    Continue posting here once a week.  Yes.  

REACHING

1)    Submit the query/proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River.” I’m working feverishly at getting the proposal finished. Hopefully, very soon I will send it off.    

2)    Submit four pieces somewhere. No, none. I did come up with a place to submit a short story that I wrote about a month ago. It just needs some work. Okay, lots of work. Oh, and a poem too.

3)    Redo my website. No.

4)    I really need to try to do something each week, or at least twice a month, to promote my writing. On my other blog, Friday’s post was a passage from my novel. Then yesterday some one came up to me who had read it and asked, “I didn’t know you wrote books. Tell me more.” Score!  

READING

1)    Finish reading “The Secret Garden”. Finished.

2)    Finish reading “Once Upon a Road Trip.” Am 27% done. It’s more of a young adult, possibly even high school or middle school read, so it’s going quick.  

3)    Finish reading “All the Place to Go”. Finished.

4)    NEW GOAL: Read six chapters in “Grin with Grace.” Through two chapters.

5)    Read an average of five other blogs per week, commenting on three of them. I read only two but commented on them both. Sorry.    

REMAINING

1)    Empty half the box of old pictures in my office. I did just a very little, but I’m gonna count it!  

2)    Finish my family tree. Worked on it for a few hours.   

3)    Clean six closets or areas in my house. Up to four. I didn’t do any more this week. 

4)    Continue doing Yoga every day. I finished the initial 30-day Yoga Challenge and started a second one.  I missed only Monday.

5)    Tumaini Volunteers Nonprofit

a.     Get the tax-deduction letters out to our donors by the end of January. Done.

b.     Hold a meeting after the team returns from Kenya. Due to things beyond my control, we are going to have to wait until May now for this meeting. All of our board members just have too much going on, so I will scratch this goal next week.   

c.      Work on the Procedure Manual. Our secretary and I still have not come up with a time to do this. But as with the goal above, it looks like we won’t find the time.

d.     Sign up for two craft sales this spring. Signed up for two, one in town the first weekend in April and one in the southern part of the state for the end of April. Yeah! Progress finally.

6)    BONUS GOAL: I sewed new wrist supports for my office yesterday. I put some essential oils in them which are suppose to nurture creativity.

I’m trying not to let the upcoming week scare me. A co-worker is on vacation and how that pans out is I’m the one to work shorthanded. It just is how the schedule works, so I anticipate working late every night. One good thing to look forward to though, is that I have a massage scheduled for Friday.

How is your week looking? Going to have the time to finish off your goals for this Round? Or thinking that it just isn’t going to happen? Whatever the case, hang in there. And find the good in each day. 

Thanks to that horrible Sunday night, a co-worker got me flowers to cheer me up. Aww!

Busy and not Productive

It is still cold here in the Northwoods and we still have a ridiculous amount of snow. The forecast for next week promises temperatures pushing into the mid-thirties. That would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath.

Yesterday, I attended a daylong seminar out of town for my day and then stopped at my daughter’s for a couple hours. They are moving the end of the month, so she is pretty wound up, trying to figure out how to get everything taken care of. Wish I could help her out more, but she’ll figure it out. She always does; she’s my strong-willed child, after all.

As far as my writing, looks like it was a week for yellow. Could be better, could be worse.

So here are my goals for January, February and March. If it is a goal which I accomplished, and it is done for the Round, I’ll highlight it in blue. If it is a goal which was accomplished this week, but which I will keep working on, I’ll highlight it in green. A goal at least worked on is highlighted in yellow and red lettering is not even attempted, a complete fail.

WRITING

1)    Finish the edits on “The Truth Beyond the River”. Finished.

2)    Finish the proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. I knew I didn’t have time to work on it much, so I pulled it up to just look at it. None of my changes from last week were saved. Argh! So back to work I go.  

3)    Write nine chapters in “Old New Spies”. Not started.

4)    Continue posting three times weekly to “The Dino Chronicles.” Yes.   

5)    Continue posting here once a week.  Yes.  

REACHING

1)    Submit the query/proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River.” I once again looked at those agents. Oh, I also did email a friend who said she would give me a recommendation to one of them, so I’m counting that as being productive!   

2)    Submit four pieces somewhere. No, none.

3)    Redo my website. No.

4)    I really need to try to do something each week, or at least twice a month, to promote my writing. Oops, totally forgot about this one.  

READING

1)    Finish reading “The Secret Garden”. Finished last weekend.

2)    Finish reading “Once Upon a Road Trip.” Am 13% done.  

3)    Finish reading “All the Place to Go”. Finished this morning!

4)    Read an average of five other blogs per week, commenting on three of them. I read four and commented on three. So close!   

REMAINING

1)    Empty half the box of old pictures in my office. Nope, didn’t do anything.  

2)    Finish my family tree. Worked on it for a few hours.   

3)    Clean six closets or areas in my house. Up to four. I have cleaned the front hall closet, the desk in my office, the piles of Christmas decorations in the basement and the linen closet in my bathroom.

4)    Continue doing Yoga every day. I finished the initial 30-day Yoga Challenge and am a week into a second one. So, I’m going to change this to yoga every day. I missed two days this week, so have to stick with Yellow.

5)    Tumaini Volunteers Nonprofit

a.     Get the tax-deduction letters out to our donors by the end of January. Done.

b.     Hold a meeting after the team returns from Kenya. We rescheduled the meeting to March 9.  

c.      Work on the Procedure Manual. Our secretary and I still have to come up with a time to do this.

d.     Sign up for two craft sales this spring. Signed up for one! And will probably sign up for another one soon.   

How was your week? Productive? Or busy without being so productive? Looking forward to Spring as much as we are around here? 

The front of my house. I don't know where we would put any more snow. And I don't know where it's going to go when it melts.