A Time For Everything

Hello There Friends!

Hope you're well. Temperatures here in the Lone Star State have finally cooled off, and I am loving the time I can now spend outside of a Saturday and Sunday morning.

It's that time of year when I review my progress on my Fresh Start goals and give myself a grade. So, without further ado, let's take a look at my third quarter standings, along with a few October updates.

1) Finances, Part A: stop spending ~ there are ebbs and flows here because sometimes you just need stuff.

Do I need all the stuff I've bought recently? Yes, but also, I could have waited.

Grade: C

1) Finances, Part B: reduce debt by $2400+ ~ have absolutely met and exceeded this goal; by a wide margin.

Grade: A++

2) Health & Wellness, Part A: Lose 5 pounds per quarter ~ I'm sitting at 10 pounds lost so far, so behind by 5 at the moment.

I've been indulging way too much this past quarter, so I need to make a real effort to watch what I put in my mouth and to get back to walking Rascal now that it's cooler in the evenings.

Grade: C 

2) Health & Wellness, Part B: use my Hinge Health app ~ I've been hit or miss this quarter despite the "appointment" on my workday schedule.

Grade: D

2) Health & Wellness, Part C: start eating healthier ~ covered that above, so...

Grade: F

3) Writing, Part A: Complete / publish A Certain Kind of Man

DONE!!

Grade: A++

3) Writing, Part B: Complete the 1st draft of the next book ~ That next book is Game Misconduct, book six of the Face Off for Love series.

As of this writing, I'm 55K words into the story and hurtling toward The End. My soft deadline is October 31st. Whether or not I complete the first draft by Halloween remains to be seen.

I'm not ruling out finishing, but I'm not holding my breath either. My next deadline is November 30th, but the first draft will absolutely be done by then. I have a publication date of March 17 already scheduled, so I'm pushing hard to make ALL the things happen on time.

Grade: A- / B+

4) Housekeeping / Home Improvement, Part A: Implement a housekeeping routine. ~ NOPE

Grade: F

4) Housekeeping / Home Improvement, Part B: Various home improvement tasks. ~ also NOPE

Grade: F

5) Miscellaneous, Part A: Monthly missives to Grandma. ~ as mentioned in a previous blog, Grandma died in March, so no grade required

AND last but not least:

5) Miscellaneous, part B: Read 12 books in 2026. ~ I have six books under my belt for the year, all read in the first quarter.

But here's a strange turn of events--nothing sounds good. Part of it is that I've been going like gangbusters on my own book, so I tend to read less during that time anyway. But there's just nothing that appeals to me--not even my old favorite fanfiction standbys. What does that even mean?

Grade: C

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So there you have it. Kind of a mixed bag right now.

Catch you in a couple of weeks.