So it’s come to that time, my first monthly goals report. ::Hangs head in Shame:: I’m afraid to report that I FAILED big time. I can only hope that this crummy feeling of failure will only force me to work harder at my goals for next month so my 7 on the 7th post will feel more rewarding the second time around. I don’t know that I could live with such failure two months in a row.
Here’s a reminder of last months goals. They are notated in italics; my comments on their success/failure follow each in bold.
1. Rewrite Chapters 1-5 into Chapters 1-3. Continue revisions through original Chapter 9.
FAIL! Early on in the month I did rewrite the intro, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2, however now they need to change yet again. And I never made it farther than that which is just pitiful. I finished the month with only writing a little over 8,000 words which will now be canned. Shame on me.
2. Sketch and draft revised layout for Bryce & Brynn’s family’s home. If you’re interested in seeing Teagan’s apartment you can view it HERE.
FAIL! I thought about the revised house and I even attempted to sketch it a few times, but I never got further than a rough outline of the outer edge of the house which I’m not even sure I still like. (SMH)
3. Read at least 3 of my newest books. And do not buy anymore books until I’ve read the ones I’ve just recently purchased, which shouldn’t be until July.
SUCCESS! I actually read 3 ½ books, the last one will likely be finished later today so maybe I could technically say 4, but who wouldn’t have believed I could read 3 books? When you’re a book addict this isn’t exactly hard. Buying more books until July though, was unbelievably hard, but I succeeded at that too. Sure my Amazon wishlist is overflowing now with books that want to be mine very badly, but I did not buy anymore which feels good and bad all at the same time.
4. Keep up to date on FanNook with at least a post every other day on at least one of the sites. Also begin preparing book reviews and design work for future site launch.
FAIL! I started off the month great, adding content to the two active FanNook sites everyday for the first two weeks and then… well I just overlooked it? No I just didn’t care to think about it. I even gathered content, but never posted it. Such a waste of time. And I didn’t write a single book review. Well I wrote mini ones for LJ, but nothing like I wanted to do for FanNook. And I thought about what I want the layout to look like, but I still haven’t decided on anything in particular for the design work. So again… pretty much a failure.
5. Lose 10 lbs. via increased work out and a more restrictive diet.
MAJOR FAIL! Wow, this might just be the most shameful of my failures for the month. At some point in the middle I actually GAINED 4lbs. Gained, WTF?!?! So now I’m at least back to where I started last month, but feeling embarrassed by my inability to shed this fat suit. Curse you FATNESS!
6. Go to bed on weeknights by 11pm opposed to the usual 1/2am so that when 6am rolls around for work I’m not fighting myself to be alert.
Partial SUCCESS! This one was easier than I thought (most days). There were quiet a few nights I went to bed around 12 instead of 11, but that’s still earlier than 1/2am and there were even several nights when I went to bed at 10:30! ::Gasp:: I know, shocking. I don’t know if it’s that I’m getting older or if it’s because I was sick for more than a ¼ of the month, but I figure I balanced out somewhere between the earlier days and the later days so I think this was partially successful.
7. Try to avoid buying or finding new music so that I am not distracted by yet another obsession when I should be writing. Remind myself that I have plenty (for now).
SUCCESS! Okay, I did buy two songs early on in the month after being tempted by Maggie’s Linger playlist, but since my IPod is back to not syncing it was difficult to listen to the tracks anywhere other than at my home PC and on the CD I made for my drives to work. I also did get some older CD’s from the library to update my 90’s alternative rock collection with, but these are songs I already know and that do not distract me at all. In fact, submerging myself in this playlist actually helped remind me why I loved Teagan’s rocker chick self to begin with and helped keep her voice in my mind a bit. So yeah, I’d say success 😉
So how does that rate for the month as a whole? Well if I was grading myself on an A-B-C system I’d have a D, which was NEVER a passing grade in my house (whether school thought so or not (shoot, a C wasn’t even passing in my house, but…)). So yeah, total failure on my part. Can I argue that I was sick for a sad majority of the month? Sure, but it’s still no excuse. I MUST do better this month. Failure leads to negativity and I certainly do not need any of that!
For this month I will shoot a little less high and hope to over succeed my set goals. If this doesn’t work, maybe it’s hopeless. But I hope that’s not the case and I can get back on track.
Goals for July:
1. Write – I’ve abandoned the idea of setting out to write a particular amount of chapters because they can vary in size and not really say much for the amount of words. So I plan to write 10,000 words. This shouldn’t be hard, but I do have to start from scratch again. Still – I will do it and maybe even write more than that. (Boy would that make me feel happy.)
2. Sketch – At least fully sketch the damn house. Even if it takes tons of graph paper I want to at least have something to show you next month regarding Bryce & Byrnn’s home (which doesn’t even have to be that big anymore considering I removed two members of their family entirely). Since I no longer have AutoCad at home and would only be able to actually draft it during my 30 minute lunch breaks I will remove this part from my goal list for the time being.
3. Books – I’m going to stick with reading 3 books because it seems like a reasonable amount to shoot for without taking away from other important activities. If I read more then great, but my mind is sharpest when I’m continually reading and even though it’s difficult to read AND write at the same time I need to get better at this and practice makes perfect. Also, I will only allow myself to buy 3 books this month (well three books for pleasure – you’ll understand that once you see what books I purchase later this week).
4. FanNook – Write 2 book reviews and they need to be for some of the books I read earlier on in the year before they are no longer fresh in my mind. If I write more then great, but I need to at least produce something and 2 seems reasonable. As far as content on the 2 active sites… well I’d like to say I’d stick to it daily, but I’m not sure I will. I’ll shoot for at least 1 post on each a week and see if I can manage that, then maybe next month I can aim higher.
5. Weight – Lose 5 lbs. 10 lbs was apparently too intimidating so I’ll cut the number in half and see if I can handle that. And if by some miracle I do better than 5, well then I’ll feel even more motivated to do even better the following month.
6. Health – Find & Schedule a Dr. Apt. with a general practitioner. I know this may not seem like a truly important goal for me, but I assure you it is. I seriously need to see someone about my migraines and there are several health issues that run in my family such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and thyroid problems that I haven’t had checked in years because I do not have a regular doctor. It’s about time I see a regular doctor, not just the specialty ones I see once a year. I detest going to the doctor though and especially male doctors. Still as my eyes grow weaker and weaker and my head aches more and more and I worry endlessly over the possibilities that something could be wrong with me and I’d never know, I know that now is the time to take care of it not later.
7. Save – Start putting aside 50 from each check to fix my truck. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot (since I only get 2 checks a month), but my checks are already planned before I get them (that’s how tight I live) and there isn’t much to spare, sometimes none at all. But my truck is in dire need of work. I need 4 new tires (which will probably be a min. of 75 bucks a piece) and I need some crazy stuff done with my breaks (not the normal routers and pads change) to make them stop hissing and come to a halt on immediate command. I’m constantly paranoid while driving because of these neglected things and a paranoid driver is never good.
So that’s it, my goals for July. Lord, let me have more success this month than the last!
Peace – Sarah
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P.S. Later today, expect a post full of writing woes. Just warning you, I’ve got a lot on my mind in regards to my book and since I intend on jumping back into it the minute I’m finished “Infinity” the time to get these thoughts sorted out is now.
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