shanjeniah

Building in Some Deep Breaths: March 26, 2017

Hey there!

I know it’s officially a ROW80 break – Round One is over, and Round Two won’t begin until Monday, April 3….but, since I set my goals by month as well as by round, and since I was rather busy out of the house on Wednesday and Thursday, and playing catch-up on many things Friday and Saturday, I missed my midweek post.

All that said, I’m here today to update for the week, and help myself get centered for the week in progress…I’ve got 6 days left of March, and some goals that are rather important for me to meet before April gets here…and I’m feeling an intermittent panic I tell myself is unreasonable, since these are personal goals, and lives don’t depend on them. But, still – I know why I set them, and how other goals will be complicated if I don’t finish certain things…

Deep breath.

And again.

Then once more.

I think that’s better.

Do you ever find yourself in a position like this, where the things you’ve “assigned” yourself seem to be piling up, and your progress creeping along?

If so, how do you deal with the feeling?

  • Note: Goals I engaged with during the past week are detailed in this update. For complete lists, see the links below.

  • #oneword for 2017

  • Round One goals (updating later today)

  • 2017 Goals  (updating later today)

Writing:

  • Foul Deeds Will Rise (Trueborn #2): Reread existing material; complete draft (10/50 scenes). Write 6,666 words/week till complete (by March 31). Primary goal – adapted. Scene 44/50 in progress; 3,775/6,666.

Plotting:

  • Kifo Island: Complete The Story Toolkit for April novel; flesh out with pages from The Writer’s Coloring Book. Flesh out AeonTimeline.  File new series bible materials. Primary goal adapted. Antagonist Character Arc: p. 7/7 in progress (3/3 arcs); Overall: Step 8/22 in progress.

Revision:

  • Short Stories: “Miss Spider and Mister Fly”; Complete edits. Secondary goal. I’m all set until the copy editor goes through my story; not before the end of round, so calling this COMPLETED!

Submission/Publication:

  • “Miss Spider and Mister Fly” (for Dark and Bitter anthology): follow up with editors as needed. Primary goal COMPLETED!

Social Media:

  • #atozchallenge: Complete and schedule all posts by March 31; make page on shanjeniah.blog; write theme reveal post and schedule for reveal date still TBD (keep eyes open for this). Secondary goal. Adapted goal: Have all materials scheduled and ready to launch by March 18. All posts are scheduled; will be going back to add link for Theme Reveal, and Mindful Monday branding to B,H,N, and T posts (part of my scheduling goal, below); (and daily during April to add the #atozchallenge links as they appear.)

  • Blogging Features: Continue biweekly Mindful Monday and Skywatch Friday posts, as well as weekly #SoCS, #8sunday, WIPpet Wednesday, and Weekend Coffee Share posts. Develop rough schedule to pre-produce April posts where possible; have all drafts in website interface or Scrivener by March 31. Tertiary goal. I have a schedule for how to proceed; WIPpet completed. Set aside weekend posting for this week, too – I’m focusing on drafting and plotting, because I really want these two tasks finished by month’s end.

Hometending:

  • Resets/reorganizations: study, family room, bedroom, living room, bathroom, and kitchen. Complete three 27 thing flings each room, each week. One 27 thing fling on porch and/or yard each week. 33 General Hometending rounds weekly. Secondary goal. General: 27/33; Kitchen; living room; study; bedroom; bathroom completed: 3/3. Porch: 1/1.

Lifetending:

  • My beloveds: One on one time with each, doing something of value to us both, each week. Primary goal. Conversation; planning; TV and movies; canoodling; flirting; and a rare storm of tempers lost and reconciliation reached.

  • NNWM local group: Interact regularly, in person and online; participate actively in critique group. Tertiary goal. Discussed currently queued posts with authors; write-in; online chatter.

  • Paying it Forward: Offer beta reading, reviews, and promotional posts for other writers. Side goal. Behind on beta read; will get to that this week.

Selftending:

  • Journal six mornings and four evenings each week. Meditate six mornings and three evenings weekly. Primary goal. Morning: 6/6 journal/ meditation. Evening: 2/4 journal; 1/3 meditation.

  • Get a cumulative total of at least 99 minutes moderate physical activity 5 days weekly; 111 minutes (1 hour, 51 minutes) twice weekly, and 9 hours of more strenuous activities (tai chi, swimming, hiking, cardio, weights, etc.). Secondary goal. 99 minutes: 5/5; 111 minutes: 2/2; Strenuous: 4 hours, 20 minutes /9 hours; tai chi.

Leaps of Faith:

Kait Nolan’s ROW80 –

The Writing Challenge That Knows You Have a Life!

ROW Along, or Cheer Us On!
We’re on Facebook!

Visit the ROW80 blog, too!

6 comments

  1. Looks like a pretty good week, even if things got hectic. I find I set myself too many/too strict of goals sometimes, and I start to panic and beat myself up when I don’t meet them. And there’s no reason for it. The only deadlines I have are the ones I set for myself. But I’ve always been harder on me than anyone else ever is.

    • That’s exactly how I feel. I’m experimenting with a much lighter load for April, and maybe a new format, too…I want to be diverse, but I think sometimes I go over the line into scattered, and then my efforts get diluted.

      • I’ve tried doing the lighter load. And usually end up adding even more to it. Haha. But, yes, I do feel scattered and stretched thin sometimes. That’s part of why I decided to only work on one drafting project a month(aside from my side projects). It does seem to be helping.

        • “’ve tried doing the lighter load. And usually end up adding even more to it.”

          Yup. BTDT.

          But I’m thinking that might be a good thing, at least for the next four Creative Chaos Marathon months. I’d kind of rather add things because I’m so on top of everything than feel like I really, really should be getting to everything when the workload was impossible to begin with.

          I’m feeling a need to better understand what reasonably constitutes what I can achieve in a given time period, because I seem to be setting some things I’d like to finish aside, month after month.

          I want to break that cycle!

          • I saw something on twitter the other day(okay, a week ago or more, I think) that creative types don’t see themselves as getting a lot done even when they are, so they end up doing even more. Or something to that effect. And it’s so true. At least for me. And then I wonder why I don’t get everything done. 🙂

          • I think that’s true – at least for me. I feel like I should be doing so much more than I manage, but when I take account, other people tend to think it’s a lot more than I thought it was…

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