A Time For Everything

Image courtesy of IMGBIN. 

I probably could have written this in November or October for that matter.

My attempts at getting back on track with most of the non-writing goals were thwarted.

I struggled more with mental health (as a result of Mom's death) this quarter than I thought I would. I never felt sad, per se, but I had periods of days when I just really felt blah.

I've also been in learning mode and taking in a lot of information and processing it. It took me some time to realize that that had/has also contributed to my feelings of blah and general tiredness. 

There were some external stresses that contributed to my struggles as well, so making extra things happen took a back seat to getting the basics taken care of.

One of those external things was learning that my shadow aka Rayna had cancer. Needless to say, some of my focus turned to making sure she has a good end of life experience. As of right now, she's still with us. However, I think she's taking a turn and it's not going to be much longer before we say our final good-byes. 😢

Even before her diagnosis, I'd planned on taking some half-days off to do yard work once the weather changed. Post-diagnosis, those days became even more important. Rayna likes to be outside but often won't spend a lot of time in the yard without me. And I'm not always keen on being out there.

But after being house-locked for most of the summer when being outside was a break from the stress going on inside my house, I looked forward to fall and cooler temps. Also, once Mom passed, I'd vowed to throw open all the windows and air out my house once the weather turned. I never got to do that as fully as I had hoped. Maybe in spring.

All that to say I spent a lot of time keeping my sanity in check and very little time doing chores, exercising officially, or cooking healthy meals.

But this post is supposed to be a review, so let's review the final quarter of 2022. I'm going in order of the list on the right side...

1) Grandma continued to receive missives from me. I'm all that's left of her daughter, so yeah. I'm even getting more consistent with it. Finally.

2) No exercise other than upping my average daily step-count and doing yard work, although that tapered off after the first real cold snap. I'd hoped to get back to yoga or riding the elliptical, but I just couldn't carve out the time, and I didn't really have the energy these past couple of months.

3) Honestly, I don't know how long cooking & eating healthy lasted this year. And once Mom moved in, that fell completely by the wayside in favor of more carb/calorie heavy meals. She needed them. After that, food was a comfort. Thankfully, I only gained about five pounds. Then lost a few and gained a few. *sigh*

4) Housekeeping just never really got off the ground for me, no matter how much I wanted it to.

5) I kept up (mostly) with my writers group duties. There's a lot of improvement there to be made here, but I think a list of tasks will help.

6) My one book got published and once Mom passed, I worked consistently on the next hockey book. But consistency was mainly wrought in five-minute chunks just so I could "stay in the manuscript" (on a daily basis) as the saying in writer circles goes. That faded the farther into December we went.

7) I didn't spend a lot of time on learning the craft of writing. I spent money on virtual conferences where I can go back and watch at my leisure, but not much time doing so.

8) I added a few things to the Etsy inventory, but didn't double my stock as I'd hoped/planned.

9) The one thing I have done and will always do is READ. Reading is almost as necessary as breathing to me. In fact, I read about 80-ish books this year.

10) I got back on the Goodreads horse somewhat right after Mom passed, but then slowed down again. I don't think I solidified anything really.

This year (2022) will always be the year that everything was knocked off the rails by Mom's move to Texas, her illness, and her death, so I don't know that I can rightly grade myself. Especially for the third and fourth quarters.

I did what I could when I could, and I made it through the year. That, in and of itself, is a success.

As I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts, it's time to rethink writing and to decide what my plan is going forward.

As I've done for the last umpteen years, I'll post my fresh start goals at the beginning of January.

Have a great week and I'll catch you Thursday.

I'm sure you can guess / imagine how I did with my goals in the third quarter.

Not very well.

Not that I was really focused on them since Mom took a turn for the worse and then died.

I'm giving myself a complete pass.

The only two things that got done were reading and sending postcards to my grandma, including the terrible news that Mom--Grandma's only daughter--had passed. Yeesh.

But as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I had/have pondering to do. And boy have I been pondering.

In reality, a majority of my 2022 goals were things other than writing. Okay, barely a majority, but still a majority. Six of ten, to be precise. So most of them can and should remain in play. 

I'll still write to Grandma.

I'll definitely be working on getting our eating habits back on track. 

I'll be (sloooowly) working on trying to fit exercise back into my routine. Recently it's consisted of upping my average daily steps count and pulling weeds, but as the weather finally cools off I may want to spend less time with the weeds.

And housework ... better / more housekeeping is always the intent. I'm slowly, slowly getting things done again. There's no real schedule, which I need, but now that I have a few extra hours at home every day, I have the time and energy to get things done.

I'll always be a reader. Always.

I definitely won't get the Etsy inventory doubled as planned, but I'll keep plugging away at making new patterns. I'm not sure it's worth all the work to be honest, as least as far as the hockey jerseys are concerned. My best seller is still the Harry Potter Spells Sampler... I can create a hockey jersey to order in a day or two, so spending my time on those will probably come to an end. Little to no return on that investment of time.

* * * * * *

As far as the writing--that's really where the pondering comes in. I recently watched a YouTube video by one and only guru, Becca Syme, of the Personality Strengths for Better Faster writing and other things. And what she said...completely true and in context of her topic...is that most books don't sell.

Now her topic and specific point are of no consequence, but the fact that most books published don't sell at all or don't sell at a sustainable rate is important in my decision making.

Do I want to keep writing? Do I want to keep spinning my wheels for little or no return?

To date, I've published twelve individual books and one box set of three books. I've spent close to $4000 on all twelve between cover art, editing, and ISBNs. I've also paid for conferences and travel. I've bought SWAG and taken out advertisements. I've paid organizational dues. At this point, I'm still $650 in the hole after first publishing in November of 2017.

At this point, I'm not planning to attend anymore conferences. There's not enough ROI to justify them. If I do events, they'll local with minimal costs: gas and maybe a small fee, depending on the event & venue. But there's still no ROI for my time and I've discovered that if I don't have physical, print books for these events, then I make zero sales. If I decide to invest in print copies...well that's racks up my expenses amount, doesn't it?

My expenses are at a minimum this year and I'm making enough monthly, that I might bring in just enough to finally break even by the end of the year. Except I'm sure there are things I've paid for or bought that I missed in my original calculation... But neither here nor there.

Do I still have books I want to write? Yes. I'd at least like to finish the two series in progress. That's four more books, two in each. After that...I'm just not sure. My process isn't working as well as I'd like, which has been an issue for a few years. Unless I improve the process some way, some how and make it a little smoother and easier, I'm not sure I'll want to keep going.

I feel like there's a switch on something that needs flipping. But where that switch is or what it turns on--I have no clue. Which is a bit of a problem.

But maybe I can catch up on all my reading / watching / listening to blog posts, podcasts, and webinars about the craft of writing for enough light bulbs to go off that I'll feel comfortable and ready to keep writing after those four books are written and published.

* * * * *

As an aside, I bought my 2023 planner a little early. I wasn't planning on buying it until November-ish, but I couldn't wait. The upcoming year is a clean slate with a few things already lined up to look forward to. I haven't done much but log family birthdays, though, because those are never gonna change. It's still a little too soon for much else just yet. But I just wanted it...

* * * * *

In other news, the annual encore showing of the stage production of Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller is coming along in a few weeks. DH and DD have agreed to go (it's the night of DH's birthday, so I asked if he'd be interested and he said yes! So then I asked DD so we could make an evening of it, and she said yes as well. So yay! I hope they enjoy it as much as I do. This'll be my third viewing... :0)

And that, my friends, is all I've got.

Here's to a great week. Catch you on Thursday.

This is way late due to my unexpected trip out of town, but I had it written and ready to go. No sense in wasting already written words, so here is my scorecard...

1. Sending post cards to Grandma--I'm one card behind. The first one got returned due to a postage glitch and then I ran out of stamps and the local post office has been without its credit / debit card machine. So yeah... But, overall, I'm doing better...

*update...I'm on track now. I sent out cards right before I left and one right when I got back. So yeah.

2. Exercise regularly/up my game--With few exceptions (due to the super cold weather and one late night), I've gotten on the elliptical every day. I've only upped my game in so far as I'm up to 15 minutes worth of effort. I haven't switched out any of the other equipment or added yoga back into the mix yet. But 1st quarter, right? Get the habit established and then we'll add in and switch up.

*update...due to Mom's arrival and all the upheaval from getting her settled and into various doctors appointments, this one is on hold for a few more weeks.

3. Cook & eat healthy/stick to a food plan-- This has been a struggle. I'm a comfort/stress eater and issues with getting my mom here have caused some anxiety. I'm not doing terrible, but I'm not doing great. However, this is one area where I'm really giving ,myself some grace. We'll see how it goes in the 2nd quarter.

*update...due to Mom's health this is now a thing, we are working towards a balance between freshly cooked meals, meals prepped in advance, and easy but healthy "scrounge" meals.

4. Housekeeping--I've stayed on track. I hit the marks each week, but I haven't yet upped the game to any real degree, unless you want to count picking up dog poop regularly. I'll need to decide what to add for the 2nd quarter.

*update...this became a priority for various reasons, but execution will take some time due to the aforementioned arrival / upheaval...

5. Writers Group Treasurer Duties--A+ on this one. I've caught up and kept up.

*update...got a little behind while gone, but now that I'm getting caught up with day job duties, this is back on the priority list.

6. Publish One Book--I'm on track for this. I finished the last of the editing and got the epilogues written this past month. April is for getting all the files created, reviewed, and uploaded to retailers and aggregators. ISBNs have been assigned. Release day is June 24. I'll start working on one of the other two Works In Progress in April, just to dip my toe in, get re-acquainted with the characters and the plot. Then I'll go from there...

*surprisingly, still on track. I had scheduled a lot of lee way here, so barring anything catastrophic, this looks good to go...

7. Hone/Learn My Craft--Doing okay with this so far. I've listened to several of the webinars from one of the online conferences I paid for. But this item is low priority and has gotten bumped a time or two so that I could do other things. But I recently read an admonition that resonated. Any epiphanies in and of themselves from books or webinars or blog posts aren't going to do much. I have to put in the work. I'm not sure what the work is just yet, but I need to figure it out.

*update...not as critical considering everything else right now, so on hold for the time being. There are too many other things on my plate at the moment to worry about this, but because emails don't expire and the conferences I registered for allow me three years of access, I have plenty of time.

8. Double My Etsy Inventory--So far so good. :0) Surprisingly. I took a few minutes a couple of weeks ago to assess my progress, and noting that I was only a little behind, set out a schedule that allowed me to get caught up.

*update...another thing that's fallen off the priority list altogether. On the other hand, due to drama in Etsy circles, I'm looking at creating my own store platform not via Etsy, so I'm researching store templates. But still not a priority--just a thing to do when I need something "fun" to think about/do.

9. Read, read, read--On track. I set my Goodreads Challenge at 104 books and I'm pretty sure I'm ahead of schedule. Granted, my pace has dropped off a little, but that's okay.

*update...I might have gotten behind because I didn't read at all while I was gone. OTOH, I was ahead before I left and I'm a fast reader, so catching up/getting back on schedule should not be a problem.

10. Keep up with Goodreads admin--missed a few check-ins this month, so I need to do that and then write that bi-monthly appointment in my planner.

*update...completely dropped the ball on this, but again, not a priority. I think I'll just put that on hold until the start of the third quarter.

If you set goals for the year, how are you progressing??

Have a great week...

The year is coming to a close and, as I've done every year for the last handful (at least), I’m going to grade myself on the accomplishments of the goals I set for myself.

I’m giving myself a pass or fail, but I’m not judging myself too harshly. We were (and still are, of course) living in a COVID world and the fallout from everything hits everyone at different times and in different ways.

I think I got hit with some depression and worry over the course of the year and that had an effect on my efforts. But there were other factors as well. Some within my control, others not. Having to prepare for my conference was also a problem.

But let’s get going, shall we?

1) Learn about and harness the power of my personality strengths.
--> Big fat fail. Just didn’t have enough brain power for it.

2) Actively cook 1 meal per week; work up to 3 per week.
--> Pass! Doing okay here. Still at it.

3) Lose the 3 pounds I gained.
--> Pass! I’m back within the four-pound swing I have.

4) Publish 3 books.
--> Big fat fail. One project got derailed because of another, and I just couldn’t get things back on track before prepping for the conference got in the way.

5) Get my home gym completely kitted out.
--> Pass… Now, I didn’t get new ceiling fans. But I have all the equipment I want / need, including a TV, so it’s usable and I’m satisfied with it for now.

6) Get a handle on my housekeeping.
--> It took the better part of the year, but I did finally make a list of tasks I wanted to be doing on a regular basis and am making progress with getting those few things taken care of each weekend. There’s still work to be done, but so far, so good.

7) Brainstorm characters and plot arcs for new series.
--> Big Fat Huge Fail! I started off with the detailed character worksheets. I got a worksheet created for all the main characters of a specific series. I was missing a lot of information for each person after the first pass, but I’d planned to revisit each worksheet a couple of times and flesh the characters out more and more with each pass. But I never went back to a single one. I sketched a basic plot for exactly one book. And now I’m not sure I’m ever going to write any of those six books I’d planned for the series. I learned that that’s not a good process for me to follow.

8) Send a postcard to my Grandma in Denmark monthly.
--> Fail. I managed maybe once a quarter rather than the once a month I was aiming for. Part of the problem is—not much happens around here, which is why I went to post cards in the first place.

There you have it. I passed half, I failed half. Not great, but better than I expected going in.

I started thinking about my 2022 goals back in November, and I made a huge detailed list. It’s been a work in progress, but I’ll share the ones that made the cut next week.

Have a super holiday weekend, and I’ll catch you in the new year!

Not to any "very important dates," but I kept meaning to do a report card on my 2021 goals as of the end of the 2nd quarter, but I just hadn't gotten around to it until now.

But honestly there's not much to say...I didn't make much progress on any of them. It was a rough quarter, topped off by a crazy 4th of July.

I'll be sending my Grandma a post card this week though. I'm doing okay there--not quite monthly but averaging every other. I think. Also August is her birth month, so some flowers will be ordered. She gets an arrangement for her birthday and Christmas.

Oh-wait-- I accomplished one thing! My home gym is complete as far as equipment goes. There are some empty boxes that have piled up that need to get tossed and a couple of random items that need to get taken to the warehouse.

I also need to figure out if I can get on the internet on the TV. I can do YouTube and watch my yoga channel, but I also bought another program that I want to try to access from out there.

The three pounds did get gone, although the inches did not. But that's a project for another day, well, another quarter probably. lol

The three I really failed on were learning about personality strengths, getting a handle on my housekeeping, and the brainstorming of characters and plot arcs for a specific series...

I continue to learn peripherally (via a newsletter and a Facebook group) about the Strengths, but I haven't taken that deep dive into *my* top ten as I had intended. And I probably won't get to it this year.

Now, housekeeping I'm working on. I've got a chore or two to do every day this week and we'll see how that goes and ramp up from there.

As for the brainstorming of characters and plot arcs...that series is still a ways down the road, so it wasn't critical that it all get done, but I am disappointed that I didn't make better progress. On the other hand, other things cropped up and that's okay too. I may re-evaluate that plan, spread out the due dates a bit. I can't plan too much of it all in advance though. If I know too much too soon, then I won't have much interest in writing any of the stories.

In other news--it's been a crazy summer for hockey. There was an expansion draft and then there was the regular draft and then there was free agency frenzy. And it was wild across the board. I'm scratching my head about a couple of the moves my Dallas Stars made. But only time will tell how those trades and signings will pan out.

Future road trip plan: Tennessee in 2023 to check out the nations largest Buc-cee's!! Of course it needs to be built first. Hence the 2023. And there are other things to see and do in Tennessee as well. :0)

Hope you're well. Have a super week.

As I've mentioned a few times, the first quarter of 2021 was rough for me. Today, we're going to review the list, assess how I did, and prepare for Q2.

The list is just there to the right and down a smidge. 🠞

Here we go...

#1--learn about and harness the power of my personality strengths...

Didn't do anything with this.

Grade: F

#2--actively cook 1 meal per week...

I've done well with this one. I'm up to two meals. One of them I make on Sunday and the other usually happens as desired. But it happens. so YAY.

Grade: A

#3--lose the 3 pounds I gained over the holidays...

I've probably gained another pound or two considering all the crap I've been eating.

Grade: F

#4--publish 3 books

There will be one published for sure. I can probably get two out. The third will be a challenge unless I buckle down during the next two quarters. Can I do it? Of course I can. Will I do it? Another story entirely. I'll need to take some time to ponder my timelines and make the plans.

Grade: C

#5--get the home gym kitted out...

No work has been done on this project. Although, we did set some funds set aside for the TV and the rowing machine. I need to discuss with DH and bite the bullet, I guess.

Grade: C-

#6--get a handle on the housekeeping...

I had a few flashes of accomplishment, but nothing that became routine.

Grade: D

#7--brainstorm characters and plot arcs for new series...

I am on doing well with this endeavor. There were 13 Sundays in the first quarter. I have 13 worksheets done. However-- Eleven are for the planned series, the other two are for the 5th hockey book I plan to write this year.

Grade: B+

#8--send a post card to my grandmother in Denmark...

I managed to get one sent. I'm a bad grand-daughter.

Grade: D

* * * * *

Now let's look ahead to Q2 and how I'm going to do better...

#1--learn about and harness the power of my personality strengths...

Read the recommended books that go more into depth than the reports I received. Watch videos. Read articles. The plan is to research one a month.

#2--actively cook 1 meal per week...

I've been doing the 1 meal, but I to get myself up to a consistent cooking of 2 meals per week. To do that I need to plan better in terms of menu & grocery list. I worked on that this past weekend.

#3--lose the 3 5 pounds I gained over the holidays...over the last 5/6 months...

Get back on track with my eating and exercise habits. Along with the menu, I worked on an exercise plan this past weekend.

#4--publish 3 books

Take time to ponder what I feel can reasonably accomplish and plan for it. Then I think I need to create some sort of visual to keep in front of me as a reminder/motivational tool. (I.E. book covers)

#5--get the home gym kitted out...

Have that discussion with DH, make the purchases, and clean up the garage space a little more.

#6--get a handle on the housekeeping...

Take the time to decide what tasks I want to become more routine and how often I want them done and then pencil it/them into my planner.

#7--brainstorm characters and plot arcs for new series...

As I'm mostly on track, just keep on keeping on and try to catch up those other two worksheets for the planned series.

#8--send a post card to my grandmother in Denmark...

Nothing to say here but: JUST DO IT.

Have a great week.

So today is Pink Shirt Day... the national day to stand against bullying. It's always the last Wednesday of February each year, so the actual date will shift from year to year.

Back in 2007, a couple of young men in high school witnessed the bullying of another student at their school for no other reason than that he was wearing a pink shirt. I'm assuming it was a "he" even though it wasn't specified since no one would ever bully a girl for wearing pink.

These two young men were apparently able to get the vast majority of their fellow students (of the whole school)  to wear a pink shirt the following day in protest of the previous day's incident...

And Pink Day was winked into existence!

* * * * *

In other news... I actually have some other news...

Guess who took the dog for a walk this past weekend?? Yep, me.

Guess who walked started walking to the post office again? Yep, me.

Guess who's cooking more than once a week? Yep, me again.

Hope you're having a great week. Catch you on Friday.

As promised--here are my goals for 2021. Finally. I know you've just been on tenterhooks waiting, haven't you, lol...

Last year, I had eight, and in previous years, I've had ten. This year...down to seven! But I've got a separate list of behaviors that need to become daily habits, if they aren't already. I won't bore you with the details, although I've instituted a reward system for completing them that doesn't involve food. Right now, I have 6 items on that weekly chart.

If I complete all 6 tasks for four out of six days, I get a puzzle from the Dollar Tree. They cost $1 and come in 350 or 500 piece sizes. They good for my brain and they're fun. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed doing puzzles.

If I complete all 6 tasks seven out of seven days, I've earned myself a trip to Buc-cee's which is a local-to-Texas travel store/gas station chain. They have all kinds of cool things and a wall of beef jerky, trail mix, and a "food court" of sorts with all kinds of deliciousness. Not that I'm after the food. I just love to look around.

In reality, the habits are referred to as Cowtown Commitments because my group of girlfriends (originally Cowtown Critiquers) and I meet via Zoom each week, and we all usually commit to a handful of things to accomplish for the week. Mine are usually the same things every week because one of my personality strengths and comforts is consistency. :0)

I also get stickers, so I have a fun visual reminder of my progress and my goal.

And now drum roll please...

My goals for the year, in no particular order, are:
 
1) Brainstorm characters and plot arcs for bar & grill series. ~ I've penciled in filling out one character worksheet per week. I'll answer what I can answer during the first pass (it's a really long questionnaire) and revisit each one at a later date. I have eighteen characters to flesh out and eight romance plot arcs to come up with. I have fifty-two weeks to fill, and I'm not starting this series in 2021, so it looks like I can revisit everything at least once. Woot.

2) Publish three books ~ Along with needing to write hockey book #5, I have two historicals to work on. One is complete and needs some strategics revisions; the other is almost done, and will need finishing as well as editing and polishing. The plan for these is to show up at my computer every morning. I’ll have to come up with some sort of schedule, but I won’t bore you with that.

3) Harness the power of my top ten personality strengths to do things better and faster. Specifically, to write better faster, but I imagine all aspects of my life will be improved. More on personality strengths on Friday.
 
4) Last year I wanted to complete a household project, namely the home gym in the garage. That didn't happen, but it's happening this year. I only need a few things to complete the project at its most basic level. Of course, two of those things (TV & rowing machine) aren't cheap, but I'll get it sorted out with DH.

5) Lose the weight I gained since Halloween. ~ That's three pounds. As long as I stick with eating low carb/low sugar consistently, it shouldn't take long. I'm not setting my sights on being 100% Keto for a few months though.

6) Get back to the family meal schedule & plan. ~ This equates to three prepared meals a week. Each meal will include a protein and a vegetable or two. Some of these will be on the easy side, like pre-made frozen meatloaf and microwave veggies, but I also want to make the effort to cook something scratch as well. I'm staring with one meal per week and working my way up. This week--beef stew. Yum! 

7) Get a handle on the housekeeping. ~ I keep the basics done, specifically bathroom and kitchen. It includes sweeping, but not mopping. So mopping is going to be the first thing I somehow implement. Dusting comes after that. I’ll decide what’s next once those become routine.

I keep thinking I need to start walking the dog. You may remember this goal from several years ago. She's a chubster and could definitely use at least 3 or 4 outings a week, but I have no idea where in my schedule to carve out the 20-30 minutes needed. I'm not adding it to the official goal list, but I'm keeping it on the radar because it really needs to happen. So the goal is to figure out how to make it happen.

And there you finally have them!!

Hope you're having a great week. Catch you Friday.

For some that means the horrendous year of COVID has passed. Of course, we've still got a ways to go until the return of many normals or the cementing of new normals. By mid-year, vaccines should be available to all who want one. Hopefully, businesses will be reopening and the economies of cities, large and small, across the country will grow and thrive once more.

For the FitzGeralds in general, that means the slowness of the holidays has come and gone, and plans for the business can once again be ratcheted up and set into motion.

For me specifically, it means a fresh start on the accomplishment of my personal goals. Some goals will be recycled from previous years, some will be new, some will be variations on a theme.

Last week, I revisited my goals from 2020 and rated my efforts in achieving each one. I didn't do nearly as well as I hoped. Part of the problem, I think, was that I didn't set actual plans in place to accomplish the individual goals. I also plan to institute rewards. Because who doesn't like to be rewarded?

I'll have my list of goals along with my strategy for accomplishing each one and hopefully the reward soon. I was hoping for Friday, but action plans require a little more thought a time.

The new year also means hockey. The season start in a couple of weeks and if I can be in attendance, I will be.

Have a great first week of the new year. And remember...

 

The list is to the right, second widget down...

Of eight items, I fulfilled the spirit or the letter of exactly ONE goal.

Yikes. It sounds bad. It is bad, I suppose.

Let's hit them one by one in order.

1) Writer to my grandma in Denmark.-- I probably hit 7 months out of 12. Not great.

--> DO BETTER JEN.

2) Cook and eat better. -- My intent was to get back to eating healthier with green veggies at least three times a week. That did not happen. But DH went to the doctor and received some warnings based on blood work. So guess what--now I have way more incentive to make this happen and keep him around a bit longer.

--> MUST DO BETTER.

3) Lose 8lbs and 4". -- I started the year at 126lbs and ended it at 118lbs. That is exactly 8lbs. I swing between 115 and 118. The four inches didn't happen since I basically fell off the wagon at Thanksgiving and will be enjoying food through New Years. Four inches--ha. I probably increased by one or two, truth be told.

--> Back on the wagons come January.

4) Publish 2 books, possibly 3. -- Hockey books 2, 3, and 4 came out this year as did a box set of the first 3... bear in mind book 2 was written last year. Books 3 & 4 were written this year.

--> DO IT AGAIN JEN.

5) Complete a household project. -- Yeah, due to covid, that home gym didn't come to its full potential. Don't get me wrong, I have the equipment and I use it. I just wanted to dress the space up with a new TV (so I can watch yoga videos and DH can watch whatever) and some thick floor mats for aerobics or yoga.

--> Maybe this year.

6) Exercise twice daily. -- I traded in the morning workout for more writing time. Yoga before bed was pretty consistent for a while. Then things happened and I stopped.

--> Re-evaluate my needs and my available time and come up with a new plan.

7) Really learn plotting. -- I took a handful of classes throughout the year and I learned that I'm pretty familiar with the plotting process. Most of the classes I took had a goodly amount of sameness. What I did learn is that there's something else keeping me from writing better faster. I'm on a new trail to figuring out what's holding me back. More on that in January.

--> Find the real issue holding me back. 

...and last but not least...

8) Brainstorm characters and plot arcs for new series. -- Yeah. no. Didn't do that this year, but it's already penciled in, in my 2021 planner to work on one character a week. It's a six-book series, so that means twelve characters minimum, because two romantic leads per book, and then there's a handful of characters who will have background story arcs and show up in each book, so they'll need some fleshing out as well. I'm not sure I'll have 53 characters all told, but at least it'll be done. Once I'm done with character arcs, I can work on plot arcs...

--> Carry this one over and, you know, actually do it.

Might have to think about the ones I'm planning to carry over and come up with more of a plan to actually accomplish them.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, however you chose to spend it.

Have a great week.

 

I know we're all looking forward to 2021 for obvious reasons (looking at you, pandemic)--but I'm also excited about things I've got coming down the pipe...

I'll do a review of my 2020 goals closer to the new year and I'll post my goals for 2021 early in the new year as I usually do.

I'm hoping to ramp up the blog topics a bit and have been percolating ideas for a couple of months now. I'm not saying every post, every week is going to be a scintillating read, but I'm shooting for some themes. Remember Fort Worth Friday? They'll be of a similar nature although no theme will present on a weekly basis.

Hope you're having a good week; and that you're ready for the holidays. I'm just counting the days at this point.

 See you Friday!

I love routines. I'm definitely a creature of habit. Now that the holidays have passed and almost everyone is back to work and possibly school, life and society can return its usual ebbs and flows.

That means it's also time for me to get back on the handful of wagons I fell off starting back in, oh, October. (yikes)

The wagons would include the exercise wagon, the writing/publishing/working on books wagon, the no-carb wagon, and the getting up early wagon.

All of those things listed above work in concert. If I'm not getting up early, I don't have time to exercise or to work on various aspects of my writing/publishing. And if I'm eating way too many carbs, exercise will not be as effective as it could be.

That's not to say I haven't been exercising...I have mostly been riding the exercise bike, but all that does is burn calories so that I don't gain too much weight in the wake of all the carbs I've consumed.

So here are, in no particular order, my goals for 2020:

• Reduce body fat/lose inches--this weekend I got on the scale for an official weigh-in, took a tape measure to my waist and drew some lines on my belly and took pictures. I know what my starting point is for the year, and my targets are a loss of 8 pounds and 4 inches at the waist; the hip measurement should follow.
• Write and publish two books in addition to the book that's already written and on schedule to be published in an anthology in February as well as coming out on its own in May. The other two books will also be anthology length (10K to 15K) and be part of other anthologies. That seems to be my speed for now, although I would like to get back to writing longer books. To that end, I need to do two other things:
• Really learn to plot--I know the basics. I've read enough books over the last decade, but there's a disconnect somewhere in my brain between knowing, understanding, and actual application of concepts. So I'm gonna take some classes and maybe try to find some writer friends who might be willing to tutor me through the process of plotting a book or two. I know this should be more specific, like 3 classes or 5 classes, so that it's measurable, but I may not really grasp things after only three classes. This one will have to be considered achieved when I feel satisfied and confident in my skills moving forward.
• Brainstorm the characters and book plots of a series I've been percolating for at least three years now. I've got most of the characters, their names and jobs/careers, as well as their relationships to one another figured out. But I need to really define their roles in the grand scheme of the series as well as figure out the arcs for each book (which goes back to the plotting issue).
• Decide on and complete one household project--I'm leaning toward getting the garage turned more into a function home gym, but I'll need to confer with DH on this, although I don't think he's gonna have an issue with it. I'll get back to you with the details.
• Cook and eat better--more fish again, at least once a week; more chicken again, at least once a week; green veggies, and salads; drink at least 60 ounces of water a day; more protein in general; smaller, more frequent meals.
• Exercise twice a day--this would be a regular workout in the morning, every morning, and a yoga routine in the evening before bed, except for game days.
• Send my grandmother in Denmark a postcard every month--this is one of those things that's been on the list consistently for years and I just can't seem to get my act together. BUT. With the new bullet journal and planner I should be able to do a better job remembering. I'm going to find 12 postcards and address them and stamp them. That way, all I have to do is pull one out, write a little note and drop it in the mail.

Not the ten I usually strive for, but if I think of something, I can amend the list.

The list is posted to the left, so I have an place to easily find it. It's also in the bullet journal and planner.

Have you set your goals for the new year?

How is it June?

Where has the year gone?

What have I accomplished?

The answers are: it just is; good question with no answer; and not a whole heck of a lot, to be honest.

I wrote a book, so that's definitely something. And a something I'm definitely proud of. The book will be part of anthology to be released in July. More details and a cover when I have them.

I spent a lot of time bonding with DD and at the same time living life, as it were. All that hockey and the playoffs were such great experiences. Sharing it with DD before she leaves home again was super and I'm grateful for the opportunity.

Sometimes things happen for a reason, and even though someone else was supposed to be president, I think maybe I'm here for a reason....

For the last several weeks, I've gotten a lot of writers-group-related tasks done, so there's that too. I want to start my tenure with as much in place and done as I can. I want my President-Elect to be able to easily step into the presidency come next fall, with us both having streamlined the duties of all board positions.

So that's what I've accomplished (along with gaining ten pounds, but whatever).

What are my goals going forward?

Two writers with whom I interact on a mostly daily work on their writing business plan / writing schedule every quarter. I'm sure many other writers do this too, I just don't know them or know this about them. Now, both these ladies write for income. I don't. But I'd still like to actively write/publish at least two books a year. One of my goals for the near future is to really think about my writing process and plan for those two books a year. Plan out the projects, from idea, to character building, to series planning.

I have ideas for two different series at the moment, one with six to nine books, the other with four or five books. At two books a year, I'm busy for the next five years at least. I'm good with that. Ideally, I'd like to publish three books a year, but I'm going to have to build up to that I think.

My other major goal, to lose those ten pounds, but I'm having an awful hard time overcoming my sweet tooth right now.

Hope you had a lovely weekend and may the coming week be productive.

Life is officially back on track. More or less.


DH/Bossman is back in the office. There is a list of "new year" tasks to get done this month. All clients are back at work in full force as well.

Sonshine made it back to Seattle with no issues.

The house is back into some semblance of order except the Christmas trees that I am working on and the plethora of cardboard boxes from all the package deliveries for the holidays.

I got up and went to the gym both yesterday and today like I was supposed to. Besides the last carb intake of cinnamon cakes Sunday morning, I ate properly all day Sunday and planned my menu accordingly for Monday. Remember, no more bread-based carbs for a while...not even my carb-lite tortillas. :(

I haven't worked writing tasks back in to the routine just yet nor the cleaning plan. Getting back to the gym on a daily basis at the early hour I go is going to take me a few days to adjust to in terms of not being physically tired during the day. I may end up in bed earlier than usual for a few days until I get back into sync, so working everything into the daily/weekly routine will take a week or two. And that's okay.

 Hope your new year is off to a good start. See you on Wednesday!!

Happy New Year!!

Hope you had lovely and fun celebrations. As usual, I was helping DH sell fireworks, but this year we had Sonshine with us so it was just like old times. :0) I'm not looking forward to putting him back on a plane bound for Seattle, but once he's gone, it'll be time to knuckle down, get back on the wagon, yada yada yada.

But what does that mean for me in terms of specifics?

1) I absolutely have to write my Grandma on a regular basis. I still have the post cards I bought last year, and it was a good idea, so I'll stick with it. I mean, sometimes writing a letter seems both daunting and tedious when nothing much changes from month to month. The specific goal is to send a post card monthly and a letter quarterly.

2) Still gotta call my mommas too. The once a month timing seems good for this task too, so we'll stick with that.

3) Walking the dog...yup. She needs the exercise and quite frankly so do I. The specific goal to start is to walk her Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I generally work from home those days, so I will take a 15-20 minute break and get the dog and myself out of the house unless it's raining.

Looks like most of last year's goals are being carried forward. But, as I've done for the first three goals, I'm going to set specifics. On we go...

4) Cook and eat better. Meaning no more bread-based carbs for awhile. And then just maybe my carb-lite tortillas at some point. Other than that, more protein and green veggies. More fish if I can track it down in my WalMart that has been re-arranging foodstuff again. Less red meat. More keto, maybe.

5) Re-institute the cleaning plan. I really wanted to hire someone to come in and do some stuff like mop the floors and scrub the bathrooms, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, so that means I have to make a concerted effort myself. So I'll be digging out the box of index cards and scheduling chores. This system is from a book called "Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise" by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. It was recommended by a friend many moons ago.

6) Reduce body fat and maintain current body weight. Losing the four pounds I've gained over the holidays isn't going to be too difficult, so I'm not overly worried about it. Losing the inches is going to be a challenge. The first little bit probably won't be too hard, but once I reach that plateau again...ugh.

Part of the plan involves not eating after 7pm and not eating before 9am. I might extend that daily fasting stint by an hour for a week or so to jump start everything. I don't often eat after 7pm regardless, although I have cheated a bit and have eaten my morning meal anywhere from 7:30am onward. Warm water is a really helpful way of feeling full and defeating the hungries. I'll be drinking a lot of warm water in the next couple of weeks.

7) Work on the writing career, such as it is. I'm not trying to make a living wage off the writing, but I would like to make enough publish a couple of books each year as well as travel to the GRL Conference each October. So the goal for 2019 is to publish at least two books. I have book 7 of the Ten Rigs Texas series 1/3 to 1/2 complete. I also have book 1 of another three-book series at some partial point of completion, not to mention an epic historical (that does need a lot of editorial work) at about 75% completion. I also need to flesh out all the recurring characters for the next 6-9 book series I'm planning.

~*~

Okay, so, the first seven goals are carry-over/repeats from 2018 as well as one or two that are from as far back as 2017 or 2016. I don't need to make "attend more Stars games" a goal again, because just finishing out the season with the current tickets I have will be enough and I can't imagine that we won't remain partial season ticket holders for next season. :0)

That means I need three new-for-2019 goals. Let's see what we can come up with...

~*~

8) Get some stuff around the house done. Aside from the general housekeeping of #5, I have a few projects that I'd like to get done. One such project is the hallway bathroom. I think I mentioned I want to paint all of the tile eventually. Unfortunately, there's a lot of tile so it will have to be done in stages. The toilet will probably have to come out because there's tile halfway up the walls. Most of the other projects are smaller and require less effort, but it would be nice to finally get them taken care of. I can enumerate them all later so I have a place of reference.

9) Expand the sampler pattern offerings at my Etsy store. Let's shoot for minimum of one new pattern a month. It helps that I have a handful at various stages of completion and quite a few additional ideas. The biggest hurdle is that I like to have real life samples to take pictures of instead of just the image the pattern program generates. As you can guess, that's the most time-consuming part.

10) Spend more time together as family, including DD. I was recently reminded of how much fun it is to play board games. As a result, I bought a new one--and funny enough it was one we had years ago but that we never apparently figured out how to play. DD and I both got games for Christmas as well. So I'm going to shoot for one game night a month to start an we'll see how it goes.

So those are my goals, with specific measurables, for the new year.

How about you?

First, here's the obligatory celebratory fireworks image:


Now, it's time to rate myself on my goals for the year 2018.

1) Regularly write to my Grandma in Denmark. -- BIG FAT FAIL. I completely dropped the ball on my poor Grandma. She got one letter from me this year for Christmas.

2) Call my moms monthly. -- I didn't do it monthly, but we connected often enough. On the other hand, the phone works both ways. Anyway, I give myself a C.

3) Walk the dog three times a week. -- Another big fail. I don't think I walked her but a handful of times.

4) Cook and eat better. -- I think I did alright, but not the better I had been intending. And I really fell off the wagon once the holidays hit and Sonshine came home. So giving myself a B-.

5) Re-institute the cleaning plan. -- Another F. I didn't even pull the box of cards out of the draw.

6) Work on my writing career--such as it is. -- Not as much as I should have. I stalled out in the writing in February and was never able to get back into the swing of things. I tried over the summer, but then prepping for the conference in October took precedence and that was all she wrote. Or didn't "wrote" as it were. Grade D.

7) Reduce body fat and maintain current weight. -- I actually did okay on this one. Again until the holidays hit. I've only gained maybe three pounds, but too many inches. Grade B-.

8) Take dance lessons with DH. -- Didn't happen. I can't take the full blame for this because DH wanted to wait until he lost some weight and, well, that didn't happen. So we'll call this ... I don't know what to call it.

9) Do more crafts! -- I cross stitched more and expanded the offerings of my Etsy store, but I didn't branch out and do stuff other than that. So D?

10) Take ballet and/or ice skating lessons. --  Didn't do this. Didn't even research it. Grade F.

11) Attend more STARS games. -- The only thing I exceeded at and that was because DH bought me partial season tickets. So A+++ .

What a horrible report card.

I'm sure y'all made better progress on your goals.

Have a great New Year's Eve. Stay safe and all that jazz. I'll see you here on Wednesday.

On this last blogging day of 2017, it's time to do a final review on the goals I set at the beginning of the year. I've done quarterly check-ins, but now it's time for a final grade.

1) Write to my Grandma in Denmark every six weeks or so. I'm going to fail myself. I've not sent my dear Grandma a letter since the summer. Bad Jen. I'll be recycling this goal for sure.

Grade F

2) Call my moms every month or so. Didn't quite hit every month, but most of them. This goal too is moving on to 2018.

Grade C

3) Cook/eat better. Didn't do as well as I wanted to on this one either. Finances make it harder to eat well, because healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food. But we'll keep on keeping on with this goal too because DH is ready to make progress on his weight loss endeavors now.

Grade B

4) Clean out and organize my writing room. I did a couple of things a couple of times, but there was no major overhaul here. Is this task important enough to carry over into 2018? Nah. The state of my writing room isn't bothersome, so...

Grade D

5) Re-institute the cleaning plan. I thought about it in context of my quarterly goal updates and at no other time. I still really want to do it, so this goal carries over as well.

Grade F

6) Publish six books by September 2017. Well, nope...didn't get six books by the ninth month. I did get four books out by the twelfth month though. No major extenuating circumstances to blame. Just ran into a bit of writing road block in completing the sixth book, so all deadlines and tasks required got pushed farther out.

Grade F

7) Reach 120lbs. to 125lbs. as a weight goal. Reached this one in October. I've kept the weight off. I only gained about 4 pounds on the cruise and lost that easily. I've been enjoying the holidays and will get back on the wagon come January 2.

Grade A+

8) Walk the dog three times a week. I reported that I'd started this back at the third quarter review, but got lazy about it rather quickly. This goal is definitely moving onto the 2018 list as it's become more important to the dog's physical health than it was originally. So yeah.

Grade F

Well-- I didn't do so hot this year, did I? Average grade is a D-. Gotta do better next year, eh?

Hope you have a safe and lovely New Years!

I really have something to celebrate this time around!!!

After several years of yo-yoing and over a year of gym attendance, I have finally reached my goal weight. HAHAHHAHAHAAAAA! I'm so excited. My list there on the left says between 120 and 125 pounds. I've reached 123.2lbs and I'm terribly happy about that. I need to celebrate for sure.

I started my journey in January of 2012 at somewhere around 165lbs. I knew it was going to take a long time, and it has, but I'm finally here. That's not to say there's not a new goal in regards to all of this, but the weight part is done.

So let's visit the rest of the list...

--> I've gotten off schedule of writing to my grandmother and I really really really need to write one and get it in the mail. BAD JEN.

--> Call my moms. I've been doing pretty well. It's almost that time. One mom is on vacation though, so I'll probably wait a week or so before checking in. I should probably reach out to the other this week.

--> Cook and eat better. Well, this one kind of goes hand in hand with the weight loss, but not entirely. However, while I may not necessarily be cooking better because I don't cook--as in prepare ingredients and then prepare a meal over the stove--I am eating better. I mentioned that lavash bread awhile back which was a huge boon to helping me reduce the number of not-good carbs in my diet. I eat more salads and include spinach and kale in them and rarely do I use iceberg lettuce. I'm staying balanced between fats/(good) carbs/protein.

--> I cleaned up my writing room a little, but not the really concentrated sort/discard/clean I've intended.

--> Cleaning plan. HAHAHAHA. 'Nuff said.

--> Publish six books by September. Well, September ended two days ago and I just finished book six, like, a week ago. So that one's definitely a bust. But book six is now done and the new goal is to start publishing in November.

--> And guess what??? I actually started walking the dog. I needed a little more activity in the evening and she needs the exercise. we probably go five out of seven days, so doing better that my goal. Except now she's limping because she sleeps on the same side all the time on the hardwood floor and I think she's sleeping on a nerve.

So YAY for me for accomplishing two more very important goal. Still working on the rest.

My thoughts go out to the victims and their families as well all the first responders in Las Vegas.

With all the excitement of the 4th of July, I forgot to review my progress of my goals. Let's take a look!

Goals are just there to the left...

How'd I do?

Oh--I just noticed it still says 2016 Goals--oh goodness. Okay, changing to 2017.

Now let's gauge progress...

1) I've been writing Grandma in Denmark, but not staying as on schedule as I'd like.
2) I'm not doing as well calling my mom's either, though to be fair, the last time I tried to call my mom, I think she was camping and had no cell service. Will call both moms before the week is out.
3) Am I cooking and eating better? I might have been during the first quarter, but I haven't been so well as of late. But the Fitbit's capabilities have got me swinging back that direction, so during the next two grocery shopping cycles, I'll make changes as needed.
4) I haven't cleaned out my writing room/office/craft room. *shrugs* It's not a high priority.
5) Cleaning plan is nowhere in sight.
6) I have not pulled the trigger on the publishing journey. I've lamented my ups and downs in other posts, but the new goal is November.
7) Because of my lapse in exercise, I've gained back about 4 pounds, but I think I can lose that fairly easily and quickly and be within 5 pounds of the high end of my target weight.
8) No, I still haven't taken that poor dog out for a walk...