Tag Archive | writing goals

Here Comes NaNoWriMo…

… and all the panic that comes with it.

Don’t get me wrong, I love NaNo-season, but this year it feels even more out-of-control. I’m still looking forward to giving it a try though!

I’m hoping for 50 hours of butt-in-chair time, just like last year. I fell woefully short of that last year (but was still happy with the progress I made) so hopefully I can do better!

I had a list of all the things I was going to finish before NaNo this year: my Christmas cards were going to be ready for mailing on December 1st, my house was going to be relatively cleaned/picked up, the photobook (a Christmas gift) I’m working on was going to be done and ready for printing, and hubby and I were going to have finished watching Stranger Things 2… at the minimum. (He hooked me on Stranger Things about a week before the second season released.)

I was also hoping to be caught up on letters to all of my pen pals, some of whom have been waiting for months now because, you know, life exploded. And I was hoping to have a few other side projects caught up too.

I finished absolutely none of those things as October turned in to a rough patch with me feeling frequently run down and then right about the time I started to feel better, I began nursing my best friend at the hospital. At least she is out of ICU now! Autoimmune disorders are a bitch, ya’ll. Then again if you have one or know someone who has one… you already know that.

So I’m going into this NaNoWriMo season with the goal I’d already set for myself, plus a long list of other goals to juggle in addition to a full-time day job and my own likes-to-run-down-this-time-of-year health. But is that going to stop me? NEVERRRR!!! So nothing should stop you from trying your best either.

Want to see what the rest of my writing group is up to for this November? 5 of the 6 of us are being rebels! Check us out at this post.

*Photo by user TesaPhotography at Pixabay, creative commons usage

End of November 2015 Review

Dec1

I did not hit all of my final goals for last month, but seeing as it was the first month in a very long time in which I attempted some form of focus, I’d say I did decently well.

5/10 blog posts
1/5 poems
5/2 submissions

I did do more writing for the blog and on poetry than the above suggests since the count only reflects things that were completed. I’ll take it. It’s been a rough month. This month I’ve battled depression and ended the month with grief. But that’s for another post. When I can collect my thoughts.

I hope to do some more writing through December, but I think most of my focus will be on Christmas cards and catching up on a few letters to send. December is always a busy month for me for many reasons, so while I’ll not set all my work to the side, I don’t anticipate having much time for it.

I need to learn the magical balance for day job, house chores, blogging/poetry, Christmas festivities, and language lessons. Or, you know, enough balance that all of those things properly get attention at least!

November 2015 Mid-Point Check-In

Nov15

This post is not nearly as impressive as I had hoped it would be.

I did alright the first week of November. I took time 3/7 days to write in some way. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but considering I’ve been lucky to clock 3 days out of a full month lately… it’s a big improvement.

Last week just wasn’t a good week. I put in precisely 45 minutes worth of work on a single day for the whole week. And that day was yesterday.

I’ve been battling not feeling well (’tis the season for me to often be on the edge of a flare) and facing a combination of exhaustion and lack of motivation, tinged with a bit of depression. When I come home from work I don’t even want to put in the effort to watch a television show, let alone hold a pen.

I have excuses that are both legitimate and lazy. The point of this month (and hopefully the next few months to come) is to find a way to move past the lazy excuses and work around the legitimate ones.

I’m rededicating myself to this venture starting today. A day that started with a series of events that left me more than just “not in the mood”. I’m tired, overwhelmed, and yes, still fighting that bit of depression that has been trying to creep in. And that, my friends, is a tried-and-true recipe for accomplishing nothing at all.

But with the help of a friend who is NaNoing properly… I’m back on the horse and feeling better about the day. This afternoon, we have spent several 15- and 30-minute sprints during which she works on her NaNoWriMo project, and I work on blogging, writing, or other things on my creative to-do list. In the downtime between those sprints I’ve darted about the house and done a few chores. It has been a surprisingly productive day when structured in this manner.

My progress is as follows:

4/10 blog posts
1/5 poems
0/2 submissions

Let’s see what I can manage by month’s end…