Making Plans to Progress – ROW 80 Round 4 Update #9

Well, I don’t have much to report today.  I’ve made virtually no progress on my December goals so far – I think I’ve written a grand total of 849 words, and that was my last update post.  It has been / is going to be a busy week, so I’m not sure how much writing I’m going to get done, but I’m going to try to fit it in somewhere.  This weekend, we have our holiday pops concert with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra (my husband and I sing in the Symphony Chorale).  We had our first rehearsal with the conductor last night (the Chorale has its own director, but of course the orchestra director conducts our joint concerts) and I feel much more confident about the music.  We also have rehearsals with the orchestra on Thursday and Friday nights, and then concerts on Saturday and Sunday.  I’m hoping I can get some writing in on Saturday during the day while my husband is at work, but I also need to clean the bathroom, and start at least making lists for Christmas preparations (there’s really only two weekends left to get stuff done that I need to mail – eek!).  And then tonight, my only rehearsal free night of the week, I’m going to a play with a friend.  

Here’s a brief update, mostly to reiterate my goals for myself and come up with some ideas to start meeting them.

1) Writing - 10,000 words

As previously noted, I’ve only written about 849 words since NaNo ended, and they were all for my update post.  I don’t think I’m going to count those towards the 10,000, because the purpose of the goal is really to make progress on my fiction writing – I want to finish the storyline of my NaNo project, and then start working on the stories that were my original NaNo plan before it was hijacked by the new shiny.

I still have one more lunch hour this week (I have a working lunch on Friday), and I also get off work early on Friday and before everyone else in my house, so I’m going to try to get some writing in then.  I can also get up early and get some writing done before going to my exercise class on Saturday, and save the other stuff for later in the day.

2) Post Writing-Post Round Up monthly

I didn’t get my November links posted on Monday, as I previously said I would.  I had intended to do that on my lunch hour on Monday, and then I remembered that my laptop is refusing to access the internet here at the University.  It will go up this weekend – I’m determined.

I’ve also collected a few “after NaNoWriMo” links, so I may do a special edition post round-up later in the month.

3) Visit and comment on at least 5 other ROWer's blogs per week

I have not yet done this.  I think I’ve commented on one other blog, and visited a couple.  I’m thinking this is a good Sunday morning task.

4) Revamp Blog

This is such a broad goal that I probably need to break it out into steps.  I’ll try to find some time on Saturday to look for resources on how to code (or modify code for) a template.  If anybody knows any good sites for how to do Blogger templates (or a site where there’s good prebuilt templates), I’m all ears (or maybe eyes?).

5) Prioritize

This should probably actually be the first goal on my list, since figuring this out would really help me achieve all my other goals.  I think on Friday, I’m going to take some of my “early out” time and start making lists of things I do, and which are actually important.

So, there it is, a plan of sorts.   I hope all of you are having a wonderful week!

ROW Update: Chugging Along

I watched a webinar earlier this week (or maybe it was last week - I seem to be having trouble keeping track) about work-life balance called "Tweak It".  In the webinar, the trainer talked about people who are naturals - folks who just naturally seem to do what needs to be done to keep all the parts of their lives in harmony.  It turns out that one of the key differences between naturals and the rest of us (I am soooo not a natural) is that they focus on and celebrate their successes rather than focusing on the things that didn't go right.  And that seems to be a very difficult thing for me to do - especially right now, when I feel completely overwhelmed with all that I have left to do, and the short time in which I have to do it.  But I'm going to try, because I'd like to live a happy, harmonious life, and not spend so much energy fighting with myself about the things I didn't get done.

1) Write 100 words per day.
This has been going pretty well - on the days I'm at work and can write on my lunch hour.  On the weekends, when I'm working on my home organization project, it is really difficult to feel like I can take the time out to sit down and write.  Even though 100 words only takes about 10 minutes.  Also, my parents were here this weekend to help with some home improvement stuff (my bathroom floor doesn't have carpet anymore and the tool cabinet is no longer in danger of falling on my head!), so that made it difficult to steal time to write as well.  I'm going to try to still get those 100 words a day in this weekend, but I'm not going to beat myself up about it if I don't.  My short story in progress is at nearly 1300 words, and I'm still making progress on it, even if it's not every day of the week.



2) Visit and comment on at least 5 other ROW blogs per week
Didn't get to this this week.  Sorry fellow ROWers.  I promise I'm going to get better in the future.

3) Writing Post Round Up blog post on Sundays
I didn't get this done this week either.  I was going to post it on Monday (my parents were still here on Sunday, and although we got a TON of work done, it wasn't writing work), but I had a short lunch hour and decided it was more important to get my 100 words done.


So, my progress is not big or amazing, but I'm still making progress.  I'm still writing, and that is the important thing.  See you next week - I hope you're all celebrating your successes!

Goals 2010

I've been thinking (and reading) a lot about goals this month. I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but I do want to make some changes in my life and I like the idea of goals, and plans for achieving goals.  I didn't come up with goals in time for the new year, but today is my birthday, the start of MY new year and it seems like a pretty good day to start the rest of my life.  So here are my big picture goals.  I've already broken down some of these into smaller pieces and started trying to create habits to make them a reality.  I'll talk more about that later, but I wanted to get these posted now.

1) Get Healthier/Have More Energy

I work a full time job and attend graduate school.  I also participate in several theatrical productions every year in conjunction with our local community theater, the university, and most recently, a newly formed professional theater company.  I get sick a lot, and don't have time for that (who does, right?).  I hope that developing a healthier lifestyle will help me avoid illness better and have more energy to cope with my hectic schedule.  I'd also really like to lose a little weight.

2) Unclutter My House/Life

My house is a mess.  I have way too much stuff and I can't find things I need.  Also, I know that I'm happier when things are clean and organized.  But the physical clutter is only part of the problem, so I want to unclutter my life as well.  Obviously, this is a really big goal, so I want to set several smaller goals and I won't beat myself up if it's not complete at the end of the year, as long as I can make continuous progress.

3) Start a Happiness Project

I've been reading Gretchen Rubin's blog The Happiness Project and I've decided I'd like to have one of my own.  To that end, I've signed up for her 2010 Happiness Challenge and I plan to pick up her book for my eReader.  I think the first two goals I've set will feed into this one as well.