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Friday, August 26, 2016

Do You Have Goals? Update Day? It's the end of August?

Many thanks to Misha and Beth for hosting and running this blog hop of goals! 

It's the end of August?
What?

I'm not ready.
August is usually my favorite month of the year. (Birthday month - 45 this year)
But this year it has blown by and it doesn't show much chance of slowing down in the next five days.
However, I'm trying to stretch out certain moments:
Walking to the corner store and back with my husband and our youngest daughter, discussing the merits of varying kinds of orange soda in the hot evening sunshine felt like one of those important, needs to be stretched moments.
Laughing with my oldest daughter while talking about the hilarious irony of being introduced as the "boss's wife" at a party. She gets my discomfort because I perceive the boss's wife as a primped, pearls and a pantsuit with poodle under her arm and long, manicured nails sort of person while I am a jeans and t-shirt with bare feet with a mutt-dog and determined cat kind of person (and my nails are short and blunt). 

But more seriously now, I'm here to throw down my goals' update.

Word Count: Around 16,000. I didn't keep track daily so this is based on projects I worked on in the last week. I will actually hit my 25,000 word count goal by the end of the month, if you count re-writing some stuff in revision for the next week. 

Publishing: I have two projects on the verge of publishness. Neither are fun reads unless you enjoy reading writing curriculum meant for homeschool co-op students. One just needs a cover upgrade because I realized that the current cover I have for it won't work for all places (too much to explain here - mid-project mentality going on).
Specific Goal: Finish these two projects ASAP.

Marketing: Well, I upped my buffer feed number per day and my book sales doubled from July to August - still low numbers but bigger. I'm not sure that the two things are related - that's how bad I am at marketing. I'm also revitalizing my use of wattpad by putting out bi-weekly updates on my facebook page for that, and weekly updates on my twitter account for that. 
Specific goal for September: Market the writing curriculum at two home-school websites. It's a bit late in the year, but some homeschoolers start late in the fall and some start in January and go through December.

Health: Spent seven days on vacation in super hot weather but walked at least 2 miles of "getting around" kind of walking each day. Then, spent seven days with a low-grade fever and fourteen days total feeling sick. I didn't exercise much at all for that time. 

(Warning: this is where the post starts to ramble on - skip to the end if you're in a hurry.)
I took a 4.5 mile hike on my birthday and thought I might die on the uphill, but finished. It was a lonely, underused sort of trail and I got spooked in the woods on the way back down the hill with my husband - he heard footsteps behind us that stopped when we stopped (echo in the trees?) and while the hike up included birds, squirrels, mosquitoes and horseflies; the hike down included still silence - no birds, squirrels, or even bugs buzzing. Just our footsteps . . . and our echo. 

So, that was interesting. And, we walked fairly quickly down the trail until we reached the picnic area at the bottom . . . where we rested for two minutes, felt like we were watched, waded across the stream, got a few mosquito bites in the parking lot and got in our car. It's been years since I did a lot of hiking since my husband smells like heaven to mosquitoes and horseflies (he gets bitten more than anyone I've ever met even with bug spray), but I've never experienced that kind of eerie silence before. I used to hike by myself in college - which was crazy, I know, but I never had issues then, never had a reason to feel fear in the woods. I did carry pepper spray and sometimes other deterrents "just in case" but I never felt watched or followed. My birthday hike ended on a strange note. My husband joked about Bigfoot tales . . .

It was just an odd experience . . . and I live near two acres of trees where deer, coyotes, raccoons, rabbits, and foxes roam and a black bear sometimes takes up residence. I know what it sounds like when something "big" or "predatory" is in the woods, and when everything is happily buzzing along normally. 

Anyway, it's all story fodder for me as a writer, I guess. And, I'm determined to get back into the daily walk, bike, stretch way of life. I live on the edge of the rural/suburbia crossroads, so I'll walk on the populated streets and walking paths, and save any "lonely" trails for times when I can go with a bigger group.

And . . . my last post shared much of my big family news. My oldest daughter is back from Peru with wonderful stories to share, and she wants to return. She found the mission field more fulfilling than regular life, found joy in every moment there (even the bad plumbing to no plumbing moments), and is considering how she might use bio-engineering in a mission/ministry kind of way. Engineers Without Borders may be something she considers when she finishes college. Of course, she hasn't finished high school yet . . . so those are her big goals and dreams in the distance. 

The Olympic Hopes Regatta is next month, and both of my daughters are training hard to represent Team USA . . . and we're all preparing for that and school starting. 

What are your big dreams and goals? And how are you building foundations underneath them?









38 comments:

  1. I still can't believe it's almost the end of August. Good luck with your September goals!

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    1. Thanks, Cherie! I'm feeling way behind so it just seems crazy that summer is at an end.

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  2. My birthday is in August as well :-) It did go by super fast. Congrats on getting so much writing done and on approaching publication for those two projects. Good luck!

    my big news for this month is that I finally finished the first draft of my big WIP. Now I can let it breath and in a few weeks I can tackle revision.

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  3. August flew by for me, too. Hoping to catch my breath in September. I'm trying to decide whether to keep submitting with my polished manuscripts or concentrate on my more marketable WIP. It's a happy conundrum!

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  4. Hey, happy birthday #45 to you!! and best wishes for the wordcount and other project goals. Bummer you got sick, bleh! WEIRD about those echoing footsteps...

    My goal is to FINISH my WIP or die trying. lol With 2 books releasing this year, it's taken me forever to write on my new manuscript. 62K down, ?? to go...then comes the necessary revising and polishing before I can query it.

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    1. Wow! I know how you feel about finishing a new manuscript - I'm struggling with that, too.

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  5. I've had spooky moments like that, when I either thought I saw something, heard something odd, or whatever, and after being scared and spooked, I always think, hmm, how can I use this?

    Happy 45 you young thing you :)

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    1. Yes! It's interesting how our writer minds work - ooh, that was creepy - now, what can I do with that?

      And, thanks! :)

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  6. Happy birthday! (We're actually celebrating my son's 4th birthday today) What a spooky story, and you're right, great story fodder. It's amazing how instinctive we can be, and what an instinctive emotion fear is. Good luck with getting those projects published.
    angelinetrevena.co.uk/five-year-project-all-quiet-on-the-writing-front

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    1. Thank you, Angeline! And, happy birthday to your son!

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  7. Happy Birthday! Great work on all your goals! Your hiking story creeped me out just reading it. I used to walk alone in the woods all the time when I was younger. Not anymore. It seemed like the world was a nicer place then.
    Glad your daughter had such a wonderful time in Peru! Good luck to both your daughters in the Regatta!

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  8. Your August was so productive, with all those hikes and all. Even the scary footsteps in the park would be a great story one day, I'm sure. Happy birthday!

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    1. Just the one hike for me . . . but lots of good story fodder.
      Thanks!

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  9. It is CREEPY when one walks through a forest and everything suddenly goes quiet. Glad that whatever it was didn't get you guys. ;-)

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  10. Wow, how wonderful that your daughter had such a great mission experience! I hope she will be able to fulfill her dream of continuing that sort of work. Engineers without Borders sounds like an amazing organization.

    Happy Birthday!!

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  11. Happy Birthday, Tyrean!

    That birthday hike? Totally creepy.

    And good luck to your daughters with their training!

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    1. Thanks!
      And, thanks for getting that. It was just so odd. Maybe all the deer, raccoons, coyotes and such that live by my house are just used to me and that's why they're never silent. (Really - I had no idea how much noise that deer could make when they're calling each other during certain seasons of the year.)

      Thanks!

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  12. Happy Birthday and happy walking more! I find it the best and most relaxing thing to do, especially on a quiet trail. Good for you.

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  13. Well, you're doing better than me on marketing because I don't even know what "upped my buffer feed number" means. Seriously, you accomplished a lot considering you spent most of the month under the weather. Give yourself a pat on the back.

    Congrats to your daughter on her mission work and good luck to both in the Regatta!

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    1. Thanks, Nick!
      I didn't mean to speak in jargon. "Buffer" is a company that allows me to pre-post tweets and plan ahead - I used to use their free service, and now I use the one with a slight fee. By "upping my feed," I meant I decided to have buffer post around 9 tweets a day - which seems excessively obnoxious, but it also seems to work.
      And, thanks!

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  14. You really have put a lot of things together, especially as a parent. Good on your wonderful daughter. I would think only a creepy human was your stalker in the woods. They are the most dangerous predator out there.

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    1. Yes, the parenting part of life has exploded for me recently.
      And, I agree - humans are the worst predators.

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  15. Happy Birthday. What creepy birthday hike? What or who do you think was stalking you? I hope you had a great birthday month and I hope you accomplish all of your goals for this month and for September. I suppose, for not having any real goals, I've made some strides. I'm getting over my dad's death. My husband, who became critically ill on May 1st, the day after the A to Z challenge and went into the hospital for three major operations is on the mend and will survive. Sadly, I'm not sure our marriage will, but that's a whole other story and one far too long and too sad to go into. My kids have started back to school and I've started back writing and blogging. Perhaps September will be the month I finally start setting small, realistic monthly goals for myself. I have my mother, whose health has improved, my husband lived, and my children are excelling so I have nothing to complain about. Life is about being thankful for what we have, rather than being ungrateful for what we don't have or for what we have not yet accomplished. I'm looking forward to September and setting mini goals and obtaining them. I have you and your post to thank for that. You're an excellent parent and you reminded me of what a blessing it is to be a good parent, something I pride myself on. I'm eager to check back in Sept., to see how far both of us have come with our monthly goals.

    Take care,
    Melissa

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    1. Huge Hugs to you, Melissa!!! I hope that you are wrapped up in God's amazing love and have a great hope to hang onto. It sounds like you've had a stormy year, and I hope that somehow smooth sailing will come soon.

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  16. Happy birthday this month!!! Good luck with your goals getting bigger and changing as you go. :>

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  17. Good luck on this next set of goals! Creepy hike. I know what you mean about the way woods usually sound. I still hike alone (whoops), but I do take precautions. Happy Birthday this month! One of my brothers was an August baby.

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    1. I think if you know the area, take precautions, and stay alert - it's probably okay.
      And, thank you!

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  18. Your life! Seriously!!!!!!!!

    (And I've missed your blog. Glad to be back) :)

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  19. Happy belated birthday!

    I haven't had the pleasure of hiking, but it seems like a fun outdoors activity. Someday I would like to try it!

    It seems that most of us have at least gotten some work accomplished for August. Good luck to us all for next month goals! :)

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  20. One's mind can certainly wander on a woodland trail filled the eerie silence. Definitely fodder for a story! Happy belated birthday and good luck with marketing. I'm terrible at it too.

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  21. I miss hiking and even just little neighborhood strolls. It has been so unbearably hot this summer on the East coast, I have been a total A/C hugging slug. Saturday I visited the gym for the first time in five weeks. It felt good, but wow did I fatigue quickly. It will take a while to get back into anything resembling shape.

    Marketing is indeed a bear. I once again encourage you to get involved in CIR on Facebook. It has opened many, many doors for me. Thanks to this group, I've had a steady stream of editing clients, added several thousand twitter followers, had a successful blog tour outside my own back yard, and have had lots and lots of wonderful guests on my blog, enabling a summer blogging vacation. There are a number of wonderful fantasy writers I know you would really love and would happily cross promote with you. Pleeeeease come visit a bit--you won't regret it!

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Thanks for taking time to share your awesomeness!