Progress Report

This was a long week. Workwise. Familywise. And emotionally. Most of which it doesn't feel like my place to share. I had a hellacious day Wednesday. Day job was busy. Side gig was busy and had issues that required a redo. Thursday was much the same without the redo. BLAH. I finally caught up Friday with the day job so hopefully this next week will be more manageable.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I haven't done a concentrated walk. It's still a goal though so I'm leaving it up here. However, I have started tracking the days I at least met my step goal per my pedometer and that was a wonderful 5 of 7 days this week.

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days. I failed to read a non-fiction book in February so my goal is to read/listen to two this month. I actually started one yesterday and have another I need to transfer from my email to my ereader. It's been forever since I had an epub book I had to charge and restart my poor Nook! 

    4) Work Writing -- 3 of 7 days. This was a major miss week due aforementioned long week.

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days. I ended up writing a page of my frustrations out Wednesday but that was expected. I struggled to come up with 3 things I was grateful for Wednesday and Thursday but did manage it.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 3 of 7 days. I get three in pretty easily most days but that final one it hard if I don't get it drunk before I get home from work. (I mean, who wants to be up multiple times a night? LOL)

I'm feeling the financial pinch since the first payday in March is always small due to the short pay period at the end of February. Definitely tightening the belt. Hopefully, the other contributors to the monthly expenses step up to the plate. 

Weekly Progress

 For a short week it sure felt long. I took last Friday off which gave me a nice four-day weekend. I got quite a bit done on my current writing project. The goal is to get that bad boy done and edited by summer. I'm not putting a specific date on it but am aiming for June, I would be happy with July though.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I haven't done a concentrated walk. It's still a goal though so I'm leaving it up here. Per my pedometer, I'm averaging 1.5 miles of walking per day which I'm happy about.  

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 4 of 7 days. I've failed so far this month to read a non-fiction book - Sigh. 

    4) Work Writing -- 5 of 7 days. I began to process of moving my WIP back into Scrivener. It's a bit easier to move scenes around when you need to. 

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days. No real surprises this week during my review. I fought some stress headaches though. 

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 2 of 7 days. I get three in pretty easily most days but that final one it hard if I don't get it drunk before I get home from work. (I mean, who wants to be up multiple times a night? LOL)

I can't believe we're moving into March already. This year is just flying by.

Weekly Progress Times Two

 Well, oops. Superbowl and all that.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days - both weeks.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I haven't done a concentrated walk. It's still a goal though so I'm leaving it up here. Per my pedometer, I'm averaging 1.5 miles of walking per day which I'm happy about.  

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 6 of 7 days - both weeks. I've failed so far this month to read a non-fiction book - Sigh. 

    4) Work Writing -- 6 of 7 days - for last week. 7 of 7 days for this week. I've actually been trying to get my WIP plotted to my satisfaction this weekend. 

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days - both weeks. No surprises this week during by review for either week. Though I was hard pressed to find 3 one day this week due to some work related drama that was resolved the following day.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 3 of 7 - both weeks. Which seems wrong so I may have forgotten to record this accurately.

I've started the whole take care of medical stuff I've been putting off. I had my doctor's appointment with my primary care doctor this week. I was even able to get my labs done that day. Cologuard arrived in the mail yesterday so that will be taken care of this week. I have a mammogram scheduled - joy :snicker: and I have my dermatology appointment scheduled. Definite progress on that front. Go me.

I need to find a short non-fiction book for the little over a week I have left in the month!

Short and sweet today :)

Weekly Progress

 As discovered last week, Sunday makes more sense so on we go.

Moulin Rouge was everything it was billed to be. We had a fantastic time.

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- I actually got this in once this week. It wasn't all at once but I got outside for about 20 minutes yesterday. I also pulled out my pedometer and got that set up again yesterday. I managed to hit about 63% of my step goal.  

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days, including 3 more chapters on my non-fiction book for this month. I have three chapters left which is about two hours of listening. 

    4) Work Writing -- 2 of 7 days. I missed Wednesday due to the show and Thursday was spent catching up on side gig work because of the show.

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days -- The biggest thing that came through in my review is that I created cleaning focuses for each weekend day and have been feeling productive in that area this week.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 4 of 7 -- The calendar reminder is definitely helping. I'm also tracking this on my pedometer. 

I broke my no book buying. Sigh. There was a flash sale. It was only 99 cents but my streak is broken. I will likely attempt this again for February. I have a bunch of books on Audible just waiting for me to find the time to listen plus a number of Kindle books I can read.

The other reason is I'm planning a trip. I won't commit until I know what's happening with the next season at the Smith Center (preview coming February 6th) but I'm getting my ducks in a row. On one hand, I really shouldn't do the trip because that won't help me get debt free in 18 months. On the other hand, it ticks off the box of taking a vacation somewhere I've never been before. I need to live. I can't keep putting things off without feeling like I'm drowning. The trip will also give me the opportunity to connect with someone I haven't seen since I lived in Florida along with some people I met during a business trip a few years ago in South Carolina. Like I said, just getting my ducks in a row right now.

Oops - A Day Late - Weekly Progress

Well I have egg on my face...if I ate eggs anyway. I was in bed, doing my gratitude journaling when I realized I'd forgotten to do this little task. But, all things considered, Sunday is probably a better day for it anyway. 

I spent a bit of time yesterday getting my budget/cash flow worksheet set up for the year. I really like this system and you use it in Google Docs so you have it anywhere:  True Money Saver. I highly recommend it. Just my own laziness that I didn't do this on the 1st of the year like usual. But hey, I was de-Christmas-ing the house on the 1st.

I also spent a bit of time yesterday finetuning the habits etc. I'm tracking in the spreadsheet I downloaded from Emily Excels previously mentioned. I've broken the list into Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night groups along with a Review group. 

The Main Habits I'm Tracking:

    1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days.

    2) 20 Minutes Walking -- HA HA HA, that'd be a big ol' no this week (I'm keeping it on here because I REALLY, REALLY need to get back into this habit).

    3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days, including 2 more chapters on my non-fiction book for this month. I need to get on the ball with this though because the next two chapters are LONG.

    4) Work Writing -- 7 of 7 days.

    5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 7of 7 days -- I didn't really do a review last night but it was a pretty basic week with no surprises.

    6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 4 of 7 -- I did quite a bit better this week. I made a calendar reminder for myself to drink 24 ozs four times a day which really helped keep me on track.

I've held to my no book buying though I was really tempted to break it yesterday when I learned of a flash sale by one of my go-to authors. I haven't got around to the other books in that series yet and in the end, that is what stayed my hand.

I'm looking forward to the Moulin Rouge Musical this Wednesday. Even though it is sometimes challenging to find someone to go to the Smith Center with me, I love having season tickets to the Broadway series. We get a preview for the 23-24 season on February 6th. 

Weekly Progress

Week Two is almost a wrap.

Fun event this last week was seeing To Kill a Mockingbird at the Smith Center with Ian. Normally, I'll read the program before the show starts but Ian and I were talking/catching up. I spent the entire first act recognizing the voice of the actor portraying Atticus Finch but not placing it. (My seats are good but without binoculars, you'd be hard pressed to see individual faces. Since focusing on faces via binoculars means missing other aspects of what's happening on stage, I no longer even take them to shows.) Of course the minute the lights went up for intermission I was looking up Atticus...it was none other than Richard Thomas! Another I recognized was Jeff Still! Yeah, a bit of a fan girl moment.

Habits I'm tracking:

1) Morning Affirmations -- 6 of 7 days 

2) 20 Minutes Walking -- HA HA HA, that'd be a big ol' no this week

3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 3 of 7 days

I created a quick and dirty Google Docs sheet to track my reading. Nothing fancy, just title, series/book number, author, month completed, and format (ie: paper, ebook, audio book, etc.). I used to keep a much more detailed list back when I barrowed from the library more and paper was my default format. With Kindle, I can just drop completed books into a collection and call it good. As of today, I've read nine books this year and did a beta read for Joely. 

4) Work Writing -- 4 of 7 days, I completed my read through of my current WIP and added 1k new words...Yay!

5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 6 of 7 days (haven't done tonight's yet) - I'll do my weekly review of the journal I'm keeping for this tonight

6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 1 of 7, which isn't to say I don't drink water daily I just didn't meet my daily goal of 4

I had two items I wanted to complete this week 1) scan and shred papers on desk - done, and 2) schedule doctor's appointment with primary care doctor - done.

I've been successful in not buying any books this month. Though I admit to adding some to my wish list.

Today has been insanely productive on the cleaning front and I was able to tick off a lot of items from my to-do list. I'm pleasantly tired.

Weekly Progress

 Well, that's one week almost wrapped.

I'll start by saying I downloaded a spreadsheet from emilyexcels.com to help track my progress. It's a pretty simple spreadsheet I have in Google Docs and I probably could have recreated it but why. 

Habits I'm tracking:

1) Morning Affirmations -- 7 of 7 days

2) 20 Minutes Walking -- HA HA HA, that'd be a big ol' no this week

3) 20 Minutes Reading -- 7 of 7 days, including 2 chapters on my non-fiction book for this month

4) Work Writing -- 3 of 7 days

5) Name 3 Gratitudes -- 6 of 7 days (haven't done tonight's yet) - I'll do my weekly review of the journal I'm keeping for this tonight

6) Drink 4 "bottles" of water -- 1 of 7, which isn't to say I don't drink water daily I just didn't meet my daily goal of 4

I have what I need to schedule my primary care doctor appointment - step one of my mole removal goal.

I successfully did not buy any new books this week as part of my January no spend month.

For a short work week, it was a crazy one. I'm feeling pretty positive about my progress so far.

Hello 2023

I'm going to dust this ol' blog off so I can have some accountability, even if no one reads it, I'm at least putting it out in the world.

Here we are at the end of another year. Resolutions. Goals. Intentions. However you want to label it, we all seem to attempt it. I'm no different. I've been in a kind of limbo since 2020 and COVID and I really need to get back on the horse so to speak.

There are a number of areas I want to focus on this year. So, in no particular order:

1) I intend to read/listen to12 non-fiction books this year. I already have the first one queued up on Audible. I figure one book a month is very doable

2) I intend to be more active. Pre-COVID I was walking 2 miles a day. With my kid taxi schedule I won't be able to attempt that for a bit. To start, I am committing to walking outside for 20 minutes a day as soon as I get home from work. 

3) I want to have a more positive attitude. I'm committing to 5 minutes of affirmations each morning as soon as I wake up (instead of scrolling through emails or social media) and naming 3 things I'm grateful for each night before bed. I plan to keep a notebook to track my feelings and progress.

4) I've been putting off getting a mole removed. I will schedule an appointment with my primary care doctor so I can get that referral. Hopefully, I can have this resolved by summer. (I would also like to get in to the dentist -- funds permitting -- for a full cleaning/filling type appointment by the end of the year.)

5) I will finish my photo organization and back-up project by summer. It's one of those things that is easily derailed by other things.

6) I intend to reduce my debt by at least half (excluding my car loan that I'm starting over with but that's a story for another day, or not) by the end of the year. I will schedule no spend months like no buying books in January. Using the snowball method, I should be able to be debt free in 18 months (excluding my car loan). 

7) I want to take a real vacation. Not that visiting family isn't great or a priority, but I want to go somewhere I've never been before. If I can't make this work for 2023 due to funds (see that whole debt thing above) I want to at least have something planned for 2024 and saving toward it.

8) I want to work on my writing more. As Joely Sue Burkhart said, it could be a good side income. That means working my craft and actually completing something! I have a project I've been working on and my goal is to have it drafted, and hopefully edited, by July. (Dare I link this to Joely?!)

9) I will finish my scan and shred project by the end of the year. No. More. Paper. Like the photo project above, this is easily derailed by other things.

10) I always seem to lose some of my PTO at work. I will schedule mental health days and take at least one day off every other month for no reason other than me time.

Well, look at that...I ended up with a Top 10 List.

Okay, for the accountability aspect of this whole thing, I will post my results weekly. Since this is publishing on a Saturday, I'll stick with that. 

On the off chance someone reads this, what are your intentions for 2023? 

Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is an amazing year for all of us.

N is for Nom de Plume

My alter ego was born this month. 

I agonized over whether or not to create a pen name.  I got amazing advice from Joely Sue Burkhart, Maria Zannini, and Kait Nolan, friends and mentors. I polled my family and Jewels, played a lengthy game of Pros and Cons, and in the end the need to keep the family separate from the writer won out.

I introduce to you Raelyn Barclay:

Blog
MySpace
Facebook
Twitter

I’m a long way from publishing that first story. However, donning Raelyn Barclay has made me serious about this writing dream, feeling my writing has become a career instead of a hobby.

WiP Wednesday

I'm revising the story I finished in November for NaNo.  I've dealt with character and plot holes (I hope), sketched out scenes I knew were missing plus a few more that are part of an idea that hit me in December after I'd set the story aside to rest a bit.  I'm excited to be working on this again. 

• Goal is to get Let Me Be Your Prince revised and off to Jewels for that first read -- aiming  for March 23rd.

:whew: Scary putting a date on that!

To be accountable, the mini-goals within that larger one are:

1. Act One by March 2nd -- 15,991 words, calling this pass done
2. Act Two part One by March 9th -- 12,868 words, not done
3. Act Two part Two by March 16th -- 7092 words :snort: I cut more than I kept and so not done
4. Act Three by March 23rd -- 9435 words, see above comment :head desk:

I'm aiming for 15,000 to 18,000 words per finished section for a finished draft of 60,000 to 72,000 words.

What I learned...putting a deadline on myself for revisions, at least these revisions, was a huge mistake.  Ended up procrastinating more than working which frustrates me to no end because I really love these characters and really want their story to shine.  So I continue but likely won't be updating.

WiP Wednesday

I'm revising the story I finished in November for NaNo.  I've dealt with character and plot holes (I hope), sketched out scenes I knew were missing plus a few more that are part of an idea that hit me in December after I'd set the story aside to rest a bit.  I'm excited to be working on this again. 

• Goal is to get Let Me Be Your Prince revised and off to Jewels for that first read -- aiming  for March 23rd.

:whew: Scary putting a date on that!

To be accountable, the mini-goals within that larger one are:

1. Act One by March 2nd -- Currently 14,766 which is thinner than I hoped for but first pass is done.
2. Act Two part One by March 9th -- Epic fail.  Currently 11,218 and far from done.
3. Act Two part Two by March 16th -- Epic, epic fail. Didn't move forward with Act Two part One and, because of something I need firm in my mind from that section, I haven't been able to start Act Two part Two. :head desk: Back to the drawing board.
4. Act Three by March 23rd

I'm aiming for 15,000 to 18,000 words per finished section for a finished draft of 60,000 to 72,000 words.

WiP Wednesday

I'm revising the story I finished in November for NaNo.  I've dealt with character and plot holes (I hope), sketched out scenes I knew were missing plus a few more that are part of an idea that hit me in December after I'd set the story aside to rest a bit.  I'm excited to be working on this again. 

• Goal is to get Let Me Be Your Prince revised and off to Jewels for that first read -- aiming  for March 23rd.

:whew: Scary putting a date on that!

To be accountable, the mini-goals within that larger one are:

1. Act One by March 2nd -- Currently 14,766 which is thinner than I hoped for but first pass is done.
2. Act Two part One by March 9th -- Epic fail.  Currently 11,218 and far from done.
3. Act Two part Two by March 16th
4. Act Three by March 23rd

I'm aiming for 15,000 to 18,000 words per finished section for a finished draft of 60,000 to 72,000 words.

WiP Wednesday

I'm revising the story I finished in November for NaNo.  I've dealt with character and plot holes (I hope), sketched out scenes I knew were missing plus a few more that are part of an idea that hit me in December after I'd set the story aside to rest a bit.  I'm excited to be working on this again. 

• Goal is to get Let Me Be Your Prince revised and off to Jewels for that first read -- aiming  for March 23rd.

:whew: Scary putting a date on that!

To be accountable, the mini-goals within that larger one are:

1. Act One by March 2nd -- As of last night, this is currently sitting at 14,766 which is thinner than I was hoping for but I'm calling this first pass done.
2. Act Two part One by March 9th
3. Act Two part Two by March 16th
4. Act Three by March 23rd

I'm aiming for 15,000 to 18,000 words per finished section for a finished draft of 60,000 to 72,000 words.

WiP Wednesday

Okay on the writing front...goals

:sigh:

I was trying to work on a fantasy piece but it was giving me fits.  I fought with it most of January before deciding it wasn't worth the aggravation.  It maybe that I didn't have enough pre-planning done before I jumped in and tried to write.  Whatever the reason, I've set it aside.  I'm not pitching it out, the characters still talk to me on occasion, rather letting it simmer.

I've moved on to revising the story I finished in November for NaNo.  I've dealt with character and plot holes (I hope), sketched out scenes I knew were missing plus a few more that are part of an idea that hit me in December after I'd set the story aside to rest a bit.  I'm excited to be working on this again. 

• Goal is to get Let Me Be Your Prince revised and off to Jewels for that first read -- aiming  for March 23rd.

:whew: Scary putting a date on that!

Yes, only the one goal at this point.  Working on LMBYP has already given me an idea for yet another story :head desk:

The mini-goals within that larger one are:

1. Act One by March 2nd
2. Act Two part One by March 9th
3. Act Two part Two by March 16th
4. Act Three by March 23rd

I'm aiming for 15,000 to 18,000 words per finished section for a finished draft of 60,000 to 72,000 words. 

Yikes.  Now, I have to be accountable!

WiP Wednesday

That wasn't.

Cross-stitching goals for 2011:

1. Finish the angel -- I haven't been doing much cross-stitching the last few weeks so don't have an updated picture.
2. Find and purchase a stocking pattern for Robbie (I'm giving myself a due date of February 1st for this) -- Well, Robbie has chosen the pattern he wants but I haven't actually bought it yet.  Bad Mom!
3. Finish said stocking in time for Christmas -- which will likely move #1 down the line in priority
4. And if, miracles of miracles, I finish both those projects to start on Mark's stocking -- which is purely selfish as it puts me that much closer to working on my stocking, LOL

Writing goals for 2011:

1. Figure them out, LOL, seriously.  I want to work on my writing.  The fab-tab-ulous Joely Sue Burkhart is kicking my butt out of bed for Dark & Early writing 4 or 5 mornings a week.  And D&E is definitely a step in the right direction if I can get my act together to take full advantage of it.

NaNoWriMo

Where's your novel at?

Day 24 -- Daily total: 2325 -- Grand total: 35,794 -- Suggested total: 40,000 -- yep, still behind!

Day 25 -- 1988 in a Dark & Early session...woot...plus another 1878 over the course of the day.  Not bad for Turkey day.  Only about a day behind now!

Day 26 -- Crunch time.  I wrote off and on all day, not bothering to track what I was doing beyond pages of which I did 17 (that should average something around 4250 words).

Day 27 -- Crunch time, take two.  Another day where I wrote every minute I could.  I have no idea where I'm at! 

Day 28 -- Crunch time.  I took some time tonight to pull all the files I've been writing into one document so I could validate on the NaNo site.

51,579

I did it!

:throws confetti: 

:Snoopy dances: 

:breaks out the bubbly:  oh, wait don't have any  :snaps fingers:

:throws more confetti:

And I didn't even need the whole month, LOL.  Major revisions needed on this baby though.  I changed the heroine's job mid-month, added a new twist last week that I need to work into the earlier parts of the story, and general polishing up stuff.

I think I'm going to kick back the last couple days of NaNo then print everything out and start long process of revising.  On second thought, maybe I'll wait till after Christmas for revisions, LOL

WiP Wednesday

Where's your novel at?

Day 17 -- Amazingly, I managed 2656 words today. Woot. Still behind but finding my groove again.

Day 18 -- Got 1746 words in a Dark & Early session plus 1544 off and on during the day. Only about 7000 words behind where I should be but doable if I can knock out 2200 words a day, every day, for the rest of the month...yeah, don't see that happening.

Day 19 -- Got 1571 words in a Dark & Early writing session.  Managed another 1168 words off and on during the day.  Thus, I'm currently sitting at 26,049 and should be at 31,667...oy!

Day 20 -- Knocked out another 2461 words today and am at 28,510 for a grand total.  I should be at 33,334 -- only 4824 behind, LOL, 794 a day closer to being on track.

Day 21 -- Wrote 972 words on the story and brainstormed with BFF for another 1563 words for a grand total of 31,045.  Still behind but the gap is closing.  Best of all, though, is that brainstorm session netted me a nice bit of tension :happy dancing:

Day 22 -- Worked on two of the tension scenes today but was only able to sketch them out, read dialogue, for 548 words today...so gap is bigger again.

Day 23 -- Managed to get 1876 words today.  Grand total 33,469.  Suggested total 38,334.  I'm suppose to have 50,000 by midnight on the 30th  :whine:  that just a week away.

Why am I doing this again?

WiP Wednesday

Where's your novel at?

Day 10 -- Managed 857 words in a Dark & Early session.  Still behind but I spent a bit of time working out what I need to focus on so tomorrow should go smoother.

Day 11 -- Wrote a good chunk of the day off and on and got 1991 words.  Still behind by about 970 words behind but better than yesterday :)

Day 12 -- The day got completely away from me.  I have no idea where it went, LOL.  No words today.

Day 13 -- Another no word day.

Day 14 -- And I'm really behind now.  No words today.

Day 15 -- I'm having a hard time getting back in the groove.  Another day of no words.

Day 16 -- No words again today.  I'm so behind, I haven't even visited the NaNo site.  I have a conference tomorrow afternoon at the school so I don't have a lot of hope for tomorrow.

WiP Wednesday

Where's your novel at?

Day 3 -- I managed to knock out 2950 words which put me back on schedule. Woot!  Amazing what one can do without kids running around screaming and fighting and trashing the house.  Plus, I put Jace and Reese's theme song on a loop, LOL.

Day 4 -- Knocked out 1928 words.  According to the stats on my NaNo page, I'm now 2 days ahead of schedule. Yeah, I like the sound of that a lot better.

Day 5 -- I did a Dark & Early writing session and got 1042 words.  Again I've fallen a bit behind but I'm still feeling good about where the story is going.

Day 6 -- Still behind but knocked out 1425 words today but the NaNo page shows I'm back on track...I'll take it, LOL

Day 7 -- I have no idea how I managed to write 2007 words considering the emotional roller coaster the day turned into but I did.

Day 8 -- I think the emotional overload hit.  I only got 675 words and each one was a battle.

Day 9 -- Much better day.  I got 1835 words and am calling that good for the day.

Sitting at a grand total of 14516 at the end of Day 9 which is about 500 shy of the 15003 I should have but I'm okay with that.

WiP Wednesday

Where's your novel at?

Day One saw mine 1644 words richer, which is just shy of the daily goal of 1667.  I'm rather happy with Day One ending on such a great note.

Day Two not so good and only saw 1010 words.  I don't know if it's new this year or if I just missed it last year but the NaNo site has a stats page...rather depressing to see it saying I'm 2 days behind and it's only the second day.

Here's to hoping Day Three is better and maybe a bit of a catch up.  Had a wee challenge with all the kids home for staff development or some such and out of school for 2 days.  3 of the 4 kiddos back in school all day, today.