A Time For Everything

Technically, I didn't do so well overall based on my Goals list, but considering all the writing I've gotten done, as well as everything else pertaining to my plan for publishing next year, I feel really great about myself and life in general.


The last one on the list was accomplished in the first quarter. I've written one complete book in the second quarter. And two halves of books in the third. So yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about this writing thing.

I'm feeling really healthy and well despite not reaching the 120lb mark, although I am actively working towards that again by reducing my carb intake and upping the protein. I have faithfully gone to the gym three times a week (mostly) since mid-July. I do skip if my body needs the rest.

Still not walking the dog, although I did finally break down and buy a no-pull harness. I have yet to try it out. But the weather is turning, so maybe it's time to get us both out into it.

As for my writing group jobs, I'm getting stuff done, but mostly because my tenure as treasurer is coming to an end and I'm trying to get everything caught up to hand off to the new treasurer. The website will still be mine to maintain, so I do have to come up with a schedule to stay on top of that better.

I'm still reading like a fiend, because I'm a reader, so that's never not going to happen.

Cleaner house? It stays at a certain level. Would I like it cleaner? Yes. Am I going to be the one to make that happen? Probably only with a cash payment and not my own elbow grease. But that's okay.

Creating any further pod fic may happen in the deep recesses of winter, but it's unlikely for the rest of this year. And that's okay...I created one. So technically the goal was reached.

Well, friends, how are you doing with your own goals at this point in the year??

I'd love to hear from you!

Congrats to Team Canada on their win last night against Team Europe in Game 2 of the Finals of the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Didn't watch the opening ceremony because well...not interested, but I had the TV on most of Saturday. Mostly it was on for company and noise, but I could no longer multi-task when the men's gymnastics came on.

How about those Brazilian men?? Apparently, it's the first gymnastics team they've had in the games in like forever or ever. And they did fantastic.

And watching the men's gymnastics brought back some memories. Really really 'wayback machine' memories.

Back in 1984 when the Olympics were in Los Angeles, I lived in L.A. Mom and I went and saw the torch traveling through the city! And then mostly I remember us watching the gymnastics, both men and women's.


It was the year for US gymnastics--the men's team as a whole took gold, the women took silver, not to mention the many individual medals. (Not quite as many golds there. :P)

Remember, Momma??

So I finally got around to creating a pod fic. I signed up for a fan works gift exchange, and that's what I offered, so that I'd be forced to finally do it.

Forcing myself to just do it was absolutely not a great idea because I learned a couple of very important things. The most important being, it's not as easy as it sounds.

I have a program that's been recommended by many people in my fandom circles who pod fic or pod cast. The second most important thing I learned was that I don't know nearly enough about the software as I should. Primarily features and function. Which I didn't realize I needed to know until I needed to know them. :(

So...I spent several hours one day, holed up in an interior closet lined with blankets, reading a piece of fan fiction into my computer. Don't laugh about my studio because, come to find out, many audio book narrators work from home in exactly that kind of space. I made flubs and noises as I went and re-read the bits I messed up on, until finally I'd read through the whole story.

When I finally started editing it, I realized that there were a still a couple of rough patches I hadn't caught and that I couldn't fix with a basic cut. I was going to have to re-record those bits and splice them in.

The actual splicing in and of itself wasn't hard, but what I realized right off is that you have to recreate your recording environment very closely--maybe time of day, depending on your physical location, but for me it was actually how far away was my chair from the TV tray holding my laptop and microphone, how far away was my mouth from the microphone, how warmed up was my voice?

I ended up having to choose a different, much shorter piece of fic and read it in one long session. Then edit it in several marathon session because I'd already asked for an extension and was down to the wire of turning it in.

It turned out all right, with no glaring issues, but it wasn't as polished a piece of work as I would have liked.

If I decide to pursue this activity, I'll have to devote some time to really playing with the software, with learning the features, with learning how to standardize recording sessions, etc., etc., etc... I'm not sure I have the time to devote to the learning curve right now. But who know?

Are you a fan of audio books?

It's that time to revisit the goals and see how I'm doing... I'll just go down the list (which can be found along the left hand side of the blog..)

1) be a better website person--YES! I've stayed on top of updates and have even done some reviewing for broken links and the like. I'm almost caught up everything.

2) be a better treasurer--YES! I'm pretty much caught up and have instituted some positive changes to the job.

3) get physically healthy and well--I'm feeling good.

4) walk the dog/walk to the post office--No and yes... I was walking the dog, but she's not very well trained anymore so I was having a hard time keeping her under control when we came across other dogs. I had to give up on that for now. I'm going to see about getting a chest-harness thingy to see if that will help. But I do walk to the post office every day that I work at the office, which is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And most days it's too short a walk. I might have to find a longer route there and back!

5) reach 120lbs.--I'm making great progress. Only ten pounds to go.

6) get the house clean(er)--I've done some stuff. Not as much as I want to, but it's happening, which is actually progress.

7) keep crafting--I'm still cross stitching even though the epic birth sampler of love is now complete. I haven't branched out yet as there's nothing that's caught my attention to try. I may go back to rubber stamping. Goodness knows I have plenty of stamps and paper and ink to play around with.

8) create podfic--I've played around with this a bit but haven't done or posted anything official. I've just been too busy to take the time a project needs. Hopefully, the second quarter will allow me some give in the schedule.

9) read and re-read--Yes, of course. I haven't re-read much from last year yet, but as you can see on the right, reading in March picked up a bit.

10) write 10K to 15K word book for a Christmas box set--YES! I wrote 17K words in February. The book is currently out with the other box set writers. It needs a bit of revision, of course it does, but I did it. I've continued working on the epic highlander Sherlock fic and have also returned my attention to a book I wrote last year. After the Christmas book, we've got a Valentine cruise book planned, so I'm going to have to come up with an idea for that soon.

Doing better this year than I have in years past at the 1st quarter mark. Now if I can just keep up all the momentum.

How about you?

I've thought of a few more things to add to my list...

The most important one being to start writing to my grandma again. She lives in Denmark in an assisted living facility and I haven't seen her in years. I haven't written more than a note on the flower delivery card in years either, although fewer years than since I've seen her. And I feel guilty about that, so along with the phone calls to the moms is a monthly letter to Grandma.



In addition to the writing group treasurer job, I am also paid to update the group's website. I'll admit I haven't been as diligent as I ought be about that, so...pledging to do better with that as well.

And as part of that weight loss line item, I'm adding "get healthy and well" back. Not so much emotionally, because I'm fine with that, but physically. I sit so much between work and home and my body just feels blah. It's hard to explain, but I know it's because (even though I walk on the treadmill) I don't use a lot of different parts of my body. All the other things I've planned on doing will help, but I'm adding the potty break calisthenics back in. For as little time as they take, they made a huge difference to me way back when I started this journey FOUR years ago. Going back to basics rarely hurts.

I'm glad to have the goals list a little fuller. It felt incomplete for some reason.

Time to get started!

Welcome to another new year! It's time to put the new goals out there for all the world to see...I usually try for ten, so let's see how many I can come up with. In no particular order...


1) call my moms once a month, both of them -- Yeah, I was really horrible about keeping in touch and now that I'm getting older and my kids are gone, it's hitting home a little harder--also one of my moms complained. :)

2) write -- specifically finish the BBC Sherlock/highlander AU fic, polish and submit the cowboy romance I wrote last year, write a 10K to 15K word story for a Christmas box set my critique partners want to put out into the world next Christmas.

I don't know...should I break these out? I mean, will I not get to count this one as reached if I don't complete any one thing? Technically, yes, I suppose. Well, I'll make them A, B, and C...

--> 2A) finish the BBC Sherlock/highlander AU fic
--> 2B) polish and submit the cowboy romance I wrote last year
--> 2C) write a 10K to 15K word story for a Christmas box set my critique partners want to put out there next Christmas

3) read -- I blew last year's goal out of the water. Final word count was 13,612,336 read. My problem is, though, that I read so dad-gum fast, I rarely remember a fic once I've gotten two or three more under my belt. Only the truly remarkable ones stand out. So I think part of my goal is going to be to re-read some of what I read last year. There's no way to not read new stuff though. And I'm giving up on the official Goodreads challenge. I don't think I've technically won that challenge since I started trying. This year's goal will be easy to reach because I can't not read. But let's give it a number--five million new words and then whatever I re-read...

4) create pod fic -- What's pod fic you ask? Well, it's an audio "book" created for a fan fic. I've been wanting to give it a try as a way of forcing myself to slow down and really read and contemplate a fic (see the above item). I suppose one pod fic would render the goal reached, so let's say I have to create five of them. (Even if I choose really short fics...)

5) reach the 120lb. mark (for real this time) -- I got into the spirit of things again finally at the end of October, but there just wasn't enough time left to lose the last 20lbs. I made great progress, but I just waited too long.
I'm on a roll now, and I've got a new Wii Balance Board coming from Santa so that I can change up the treadmill with Wii aerobics. I'm also planning on (see #8) walking the dog three or four times a week.


6) keep crafting, do a wider variety of crafts -- I did a lot of cross stitching in 2015, which was fine. I enjoyed it, but at Christmas it seems as if I always branch out a little and try new things, so instead of waiting till next Christmas, I'm going to try random things throughout the year. I've got a couple of friends who were inspired by my various Christmas projects, so I may try crafting dates.

7) get my house clean -- Yeah, it needs a thorough cleaning and bad. I mean it's not crusty or anything, but the windows need cleaning, the door jambs and base boards need wiping down, the floors needs a good mopping. One room a month? Eh...I don't know. If I get the living room and kitchen done, I'll call it a win. :)


8) walk the dog, walk to the post office -- Rayna needs more exercise too and I need to add some variety to my routine. I'm shooting for three or four days a week. In addition, the walk to the P.O. box on the three days I work at the office helps me get outside and get some sunshine. I credit it with keeping me on the right side of the line back in 2010. I've gotten away from it, but I think I need to add it back in. Not because I'm riding any lines these days, but because it's a mood booster and healthy.

9) be a better treasurer/stay on top of treasurer duties for my writing group -- I did okay last year, but there's always room for improvement. So this means catching up paperwork on a monthly basis rather than every few months in a flurry.

10) er...

I usually shoot for ten. It's a nice number. I'm drawing a blank, however. I've given up on fixing up the yard for the time being. Money has just been too tight for too long and my hopes have been dashed. :)

I guess I'll stick with nine for now and if I think of something, we'll revisit!

How about you? Have you thought about what you'd like to accomplish in 2016?? Do share!!