Goals Summary 2023 – Wk #38
Fall is here. I welcomed it with a date night to our favorite restaurant. We had the walleye special, which was incredibly nostalgic for me as I grew up eating fried walleye, and had a couple of my favorite adult beverages (caipirinha – kinda like a Brazilian margarita, but BETTER). Then we went home, I cut a few sprigs from my herbs and used them for my bath. Now, I am not typically a bath person. There’s a lot of reasons for this, but largely I just get bored. Bubbles only entertain me for so long, I don’t trust myself with a library book near water, and I don’t sit still well. Baths are actually the opposite of relaxing to me. But, I wanted to try an herb bath. I was relaxed from the cocktails and I’m reading an ARC right now, so if the book gets damaged, who cares?…
Goals Summary 2023 – Wk #37
I’m thinking a lot about symbols today. Obviously, symbols are important in writing – they offer subtext and deeper meaning to the story told on the surface of the page. But symbols are important in our daily lives too, and today I’ve found myself tripping over a lot of symbolism. I’m feeling a bit mired today, low energy and with a sciatica flare up that has me stiff and sore. But I promised myself that 11a-2p on Mondays is writing time. So I stepped into my office and was met with the physical manifestation of my psyche. I haven’t truly cleaned my office since we got the house back. Boxes of bathroom supplies, hampers of blankets, and a box of keepsakes from my last job pretty much stuffed any and all floorspace. There was a path to my desk chair and that was it. Even getting to my house plants…
Goals Summary – Wk #36
Ok, so this title is a little bit misleading. I didn’t have any goals last week, so I won’t exactly be summarizing them. I had goals the week before that, which I could talk about, but other than managing to send out the Newsletter, not a whole lot happened this past couple of weeks. What happened was a lot of gaming, as the spousal unit and I splurged to get a PS5 so we can couch co-op Baldur’s Gate 3. Hence, no progress last week. We’ve been gaming for 3+ hours each night after dinner, and I have no regrets. So, I let myself take a little breaky break and enjoy our couch and tv and just generally having the house back to do these sorts of things. Comfortably. It’s been delightful. But, I still have a ticking clock on this novel, and I’m getting very close to finishing it.…
The Recap – August 2023
Well, hello there! This post is late, but not so late that it’s embarrassing, right? That’s what I’m telling myself this morning. I’ve had a lovely walk with the dog, got coffee out as a treat, and done some of my “chores” for the week ahead. Seems like a perfectly good time to get back to blogging, don’t you think? August Goals Complete 1st revision of the novel Submit “King Tide” Get the Podcast back on schedule How’d I Do? Complete 1st revision of the novel Lol. No. Submit “King Tide” Yes! It has since been retitled “Like Fractured Seashells”. More on this in a second. Get the Podcast back on schedule Yes? And not quite. There was definite progress toward this, but I didn’t quite reach the finish line. Total Word Count: 4,924 I feel good about last month. I know enough about myself that any change to a…
Goals Summary 2023 – Wk #34
Ok. So, fun fact. I’ve been tracking weekly goals all month, I just haven’t blogged about them… whoops. This is the firs Sunday where I’ve actually felt up to dedicating some serious hours at my desk to anything other than work on the novel. So, let’s talk goals! Last Week Finish the Book Prep Newsletter Podcast Catch Up How’d I Do? Finish the Book Haha. No. But…. Prep Newsletter Kinda? Lots of notes and outlining, but I’ll be actually writing and sending it out today (Sunday). Podcast Catch Up There’s progress here, but I haven’t quite got 100% caught up. So also kinda? Weekly Word Count: 4,024 So, as you can see, that’s no small amount of words. Progress has been made on the novel pretty consistently this past week, and I’m really hopeful that I can call this rough draft done soon. That’s really been my focus this week.…
The Recap – July 2023
Yes, I’m aware this post is late. I’m sorry about it, but there just wasn’t much I could do about it. See my most recent post to learn more about where I’ve been this past month. Otherwise, I’m just gonna dive right in. July Goals Finish the book Finish “King Tide” Start book revisions How’d I Do? Finish the book Nope. Finish “King Tide” Yes! Start book revisions lol no. Total Word Count: 5,565 So. I have some thoughts about this. First, that I’m not completely unhappy with that word count. It’s the most I’ve written since March. So obviously something was working. But, I couldn’t maintain it through the rest of the month. Things petered off fast as the start date for my new job loomed closer and closer. Between that and the house renovations, I only had so much bandwidth for creative endeavors. And by “so much” I…
Summer Update
Look. I don’t have a fancy excuse, or really any excuse, for the lack of posts and updates (and that super late Newsletter – it’s coming, I promise!). The brutally honest point of the matter is… I’ve been overwhelmed with a combination of home renovations, starting a new job, and gearing up for the Willamette Writers Conference (that I didn’t even get to go to – but more on that later). It’s been a bit of a shit show over here. But, there is some good news! The house is DONE! There are no more contractors, no looming work to be done, and we can finally just enjoy our new home. We did end up buying a new dishwasher that’s yet to be installed, but that’s getting done TONIGHT! The new job is going incredibly well and I am VERY optimistic that this could be a job I retire from.…
Goals Summary 2023 – Wk #27
Well, will you look at this! A blog post and mostly on time. What a crazy, random happenstance. Let’s get to it! Last Week Write at least 3x Read something Edit + Schedule podcast How’d I do? Write at least 3x Yep! Read something Oh, yeah. Edit + Schedule podcast Definitely! Weekly Word Count: 5,565 So… uh. Yeah. That happened. This last week really felt like I’d settled into my vacation and my brain was ready to get to work after a week of relaxation. I wrote exactly three times, and each session was more productive than the last. If you’re paying close attention, you’ll see that my short story “In Debt to the King Tide” is no longer in the drafting stage. I finished writing it last week and am knee deep in revisions. I’ve also made some really good strides on the novel and am creeping up to…
Goals Summary 2023 – Wk #26
So, you’re probably thinking, “B. You didn’t set any goals last week. Or, for the last four weeks, actually… where have you been?!” And firstly, yeahhhhhh. Sorry about that. You can read up on my absence in my recent Monthly Recap post. And secondly, joke’s on you, I DID set goals last week! I just forgot to post about them. So, there! Last Week Write something Read something Enjoy my “summer” How’d I Do? Write something Yep. Wrote a bit on that short story I’ve been stewing on for forever. Read something Read a lot of things, actually. Like, four things. Enjoy my “summer” It’s been pretty chill so far. Lots of gardening and reading and drinking iced coffee. I dig it. Weekly Word Count: 1,267 So, yeah. I did stuff. We also had a LOT of work done on the house last week, which can account for some of…
The Recap – June 2023
Well. This is awkward. If you hadn’t guessed from the absolute silence on the website, June’s been… a month. No point tip-toeing around it. I haven’t been very productive or writerly-minded for weeks now. Let’s talk about why. Last Month Finish the fucking Book How’d I Do? Finish Nope. the Nope. fucking Nope. Book annnnnnnnnnnd nope. Total Word Count: 2,930 Shocking, right? Who could have guessed that a month with almost no website activity was also a month with almost no writing? Wild. So, what the hell happened? Well… June is an intense month under normal circumstances, what with the end of the school year. Add to it that we’re still basically camping in our own house (no kitchen, no floors, no hot water) and it’s basically impossible to do anything other than survive. But, wait, there’s more! I couldn’t talk about this online until everything was official and all…