The week itself was fine, though I was having a pretty anxiety heavy time of it. I've been trying to pinpoint what exactly set it off, but I don't think it was any one thing. Just a combination of too much going on all at once. Luckily this upcoming month is much more reasonable on the activity front, which is good because I'm completely booked for Sep and Oct. Time to relax at home and store up some energy!
AFTER ACTION REVIEW: Big Goals: 1) Major success! Caught up with all line edits and kept up with all emails. Checked in with the line editor, the last two stories should be in today. Did start to look at the KDP/Createspace differences, as I was concerned that would hinder our progress this year. So far it seems more similar than different, which is relieving. 2) I've been managing around 6K every day this weekend, and 8K during the weekdays. I'd like to improve that, but with the hot weather I just don't like being outside that much. Food wise the meal plan is going well. Did not exercise because my shoulder is still tense, I did sleep extra and drinking more water which is helping. 3) Barely touched any of this. I feel like what I had been doing was good and useful for my overall understanding, but now I need to focus on travel related phrases (and destination location ones) but I haven't taken the time to adjust my study materials to reflect this. That'll be the goal this week. Small Goals: 1) Updated one page of the family calendar and talked to a couple family members about new/old updates that need to get added to the calendar dates. This ended up being the same amount of time as doing two pages of the calendar, plus it was a particularly good time to do it as everyone was online. A change of plan, but all heading in the right direction. 2) Success! 40% done with both the book on my phone and the physical book I've been reading. 3) Read a chapter of both diyMFA and traveling Japan Book. 4) 3/4ths success. I did go outside and take care of a lot of ivy. (Even when I didn't want to!) It's at least two bags worth, if not three, but the ivy did not make it into the bags. I'm really not interested in doing so either, so I might ask the SO for a little backup on this one, to keep the forward momentum going. 5) Still thinking the story idea over, particularly while reading diyMFA. Still plan to bring it up to writers group this afternoon. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS It's going to be a mentally exhausting week at work, with a lot of training. Therefore I'm keeping these goals light. Big Goals: 1) Keep up with line edits. Send out last two stories when received. 2) 8k a day. Keep to the meal plan. Exercise once. 3) Find new Japanese learning apps focused on traveling. Try them out. Decide on at least one to use daily. Small Goals: 1) Switching the mini goal here; watch an episode of GoT S4. 2) Read more of physical book. Get audio book on phone. 3) Read more of diyMFA. Read more of traveling Japan book. 4) Fling 15 things. 5) Discuss idea at writers group. Do a one sentence overarching summary. Do some worksheets.
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For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.
AFTER ACTION REVIEW: Big Goals: 1) Monday was successful, with me responding to all the emails that were in the inbox. Tuesday I ended up falling sleep early instead of going through the edits. I did not plan for enough recovery time after the vacation. Thus the edits got moved to Wednesday and Thursday. 2) Walked 6k on Monday, 10k on Tuesday, and 8k on Wednesday. Overall an average of 8k, which is the goal, so that's a win! Food wise; didn't quite keep to the meal plan for Mon/Tue but did continue to eat things that are in the house. This week ground beef is on sale, so I made a fourth meal plan revolving around that including a new recipe from online. That means that the meal plan wasn't updated, since this one is brand new. I did not put on the beer though, to save some calories. I also did do the calorie counts for these meals, and realized that the new recipe I found was actually the worst one yet. So that got cut preemptively and I'm going to find a new recipe in my books at home before putting in my grocery list for tomorrow. Weights: I put together two lists of exercises that should compliment each other well. I was going to start them today but my shoulder has been getting worse and worse since getting back from vacation. Not sure if it's all the driving or playing HP or what, but I certainly don't want to aggravate it more than needed. 3) Studied Japanese for at least a bit every single day. Did send the letter. Did not watch the anime, simply not enough time. Small Goals: 1) No progress here, but should have more time this weekend. 2) Did not read much of the book at all. I really overestimated what I could get done before the next checkin. 3) Successfully read more of diyMFA and the traveling Japan book. 4) Miniproject complete! Took ~30 books out of the TBR pile then added the over 50 I got while on vacation. Overall I'm more excited to read what I have know, since I know that it's all something that I've actively chosen to read and chosen when to read it. 5) Major success here! I went through my notes/ideas from vacation and highlighted a dozen to follow up on. I took the short story that's been simmering for a week and wrote an outline during lunch and then wrote the whole thing out by the end of the day! I'm going to let it sit for a while before editing and sending it out, but it's exciting to just sit down and write something to completion. I started to do some research on places to send my short stories, but my normal resource wasn't working so this wasn't nearly as efficient as usual. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS Big Goals: 1) Keep up with line edits. Contact line editor about last four stories. Stretch goal to start formatting the book, particularly for any of the stories that are already in, plus the poetry. 2) 8K a day. Pickup groceries and keep to meal plan. Check on calories and nutrition for all meals on next weeks meal plan, drop the worst meal, and find a new healthier meal from cookbooks. If my shoulder is feeling better then exercise, if not sleep more. 3) 15/min a day. Watch two anime without subtitles. Respond to 1 letter in Japanese. Small Goals: 1) Update two pages of the family calendar. Stretch goal of one additional page. 2) Major progress on reading physical book. See about getting audio book on my phone. 3) Read more of diyMFA. Read more of traveling Japan book. 4) Big goal here, in order to take advantage of the weather; take down some of the major ivy invasion and pack it into the last two yard bags. Stretch goal of buying additional yard bags. 5) I officially have an idea for NaNo. Right now it still needs to percolate. The goal will be to discuss it with writers group this weekend. Maybe do a character sketch or two, and real stretch goal of writing a one sentence overarching summary. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.
I just got back from a vacation with a wonderful messy adopted family of authors and I absolutely loved it. I'm feeling pumped and full of ideas. There's also some new ideas and new truths to the goals I'm working through that I'll be going through below. Sometimes surrounding yourself is something completely new helps gain a new and better focus on the things right in front of you. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS Big Goals: 1) On Monday I want to respond to all emails that are in the inbox. Tuesday I want to go through and confirm all edits. Wednesday maintenance on anything new incoming. 2) Walking - 8K a day. Food - we have two meals left from last week due to my vacation. So Monday and Tuesday we'll cook and eat those. Ideally before Wednesday, at worst on Wednesday, I'll update the meal plan and put in the order for this week. This will include a sub step of getting a calorie count for all meals on the list. Changes will include cutting out beer and one high calorie meal from last plan. Then including one healthier new recipe, I suspect it'll be focused around beans. (Protein and fiber at least.) Weights - Here's the truth; I don't give a shit about exercise. Not much of a surprise, most people don't, yet I've done Crossfit for almost two years, badminton for a year at 7AM, aikido for a year, etc. Exercise doesn't scare me and I don't avoid it. But each of those activities, which I dedicated myself to for long lengths of time, involved me working with other people towards things that make me feel strong in some way. In reality I should have known, being a Slytherin, that working out for the sake of my health wasn't going to work out as well as working out to feel stronger. Ah, but, if that's the case then I can work to help my brain along with some visual management. My new plan is to put together a list of doable anywhere exercises by Wednesday. Starting Wednesday I'll do as many of those exercises I can until I feel the burn, then I'll do one more and write down the number I get. I'll do this every day and chart my progress. If there's a good app for charting such I'll use that, if not I'll update the chart myself once a week. Being able to visually see that I'm getting stronger should help me want to continue to exercise every day, and if I can do it anywhere then there's no excuse. 3) 15/min Japanese per day, studied during lunch. 1 letter. 1 anime without subtitles. Small Goals: 1) Format one calendar page. 2) Read a lot (ideally half) of the physical book I started last week. This is to clear my currently reading shelf to make room for small goal 4's results. 3) Read another chapter of diyMFA. Read chapter of traveling Japan book. 4) I've got a mini project here. I came home from vacation with three bags of books. Some were hand chosen, some were freebie's. What I want to do is go through my entire at home TBR shelf and make sure that I really want to read them all. Then go through all of the books I got and make sure that I want to read them before they go on the freshed up TBR shelf. Both of these updates need to be recorded in my shelves on Goodreads. Then I'm going to put together my physical book reading list for the rest of the year according to the diyMFA guidelines, and then put the books in that order, so that I can always quickly grab the next one when it's time. 5) Go through my notes/ideas from vacation. Choose the ones I'd like to focus on. Take at least the short story and write an outline. Also take the momentum from the convention and send out any short stories that I currently have in house out into the world again. (Something I'd been avoiding because it would just take up too many spoons.) For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.
AFTER ACTION REVIEW: Big Goals: 1) Super complete! Very nice and relaxing to have it so, there's lots to be said for a clear inbox. 2) On the ball with this one! Almost 10k each day all week! Did not have the time or energy to do weights or pilates. I've also have been keeping to the meal plan. It's honestly working better than I expected, with the SO doing a lot more cooking and even picking up the groceries this week. I'll need to try to make the next version a little healthier and a little smaller in portion control. We're working towards constant process improvement every week! 3) 15 minutes of studying Japanese during lunch on Monday. Nothing Tuesday. 15 minutes at home on Wednesday. The anime was watched and the letter sent. Thus this is heading in the positive direction. Small Goals: 1) Formatted another TWO pages of the calendar. I'm enjoying the slow and steady progress instead of throwing 4-6 hours at it all in one afternoon. 2) Did not read a chapter of the book, but I am almost done with the audiobook. 3) Read a chapter of diyMFA and the traveling Japan book. Right now both are talking about things I already know about, but both have some additional notes, tips, and tricks that I didn't know and will be useful. 4) Flung 15 items and did the stretch goal of weeding. We'll need to get more of the yard waste bags soon. Took the time to tackle a lot of the annoying ivy that is trying to take over our trees. Made huge headway in that regard and can't wait to get at some more. 5) Completed. Just about ready for a horror related short story that I might write up this weekend. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS I'm on vacation this weekend so only one goal; fill the tanks with writing mojo! On Sunday I'll checkin with some new minigoals for the upcoming week. Cheers, Shannon For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.
AFTER ACTION REVIEW: Big Goals: 1) Done and done! This was a big goal as a number of authors had already gotten back with their edits, those all needed to get reviewed. While it took some time it was certainly worthwhile. I can't wait to see this book completed! 2) Did not get 8k a day. There was simply too much time in the car and to get this done. Not sure if there's an easy or good way to adjust my schedule for this when there's so much traveling going on. 3) Did do 15 minutes of Japanese twice out of the four days! It's getting on the up and up again. The letter was sent. The anime without subtitles wasn't watched due to the lack of time issue. Small Goals: 1) Formatted a single calendar page. 2) Read a chapter of the book. Continued to listen to my audio book and listened to the first three hours of the SOs audiobook in the car. It's quite interesting and I'm sure I'll be finishing it later. 3) Read a chapter of both the self-improvement book and traveling Japan book. 4) Flung 15 items and hit the stretch goal of weeding. Took down /a lot/ of vines this time around. Super excited about this progress. 5) All good. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS This is busy week number two. Keeping the forward momentum in all goals, but no major leaps expected. This looks a lot like the last one. Big Goals: 1) Send out next four emails from editor. Respond to emails as needed. 2) 8k a day for real. Weights or pilates once before checkin. Keep to the meal plan. 3) 15/min Japanese per day, studied in the morning. 1 letter. 1 anime without subtitles. Small Goals: 1) Format a single calendar page. 2) Read chapter of book. Continue to listen to audio book. 3) Read another chapter of self-improvement book. Read chapter of traveling Japan book. 4) Fling 15 items from the basement. Stretch goal to put together another bag of weeding together this weekend. 5) Nothing specific, filling the tanks mostly which is covered by small goals 2+3. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.
AFTER ACTION REVIEW: Big Goals: 1) All emails sent for works received thus far. 2) Did not get to 8K on Tuesday, but did reach it on all other days. Did 20 minutes of weights today. 3) Did write a letter in Japanese and watched an episode of anime without subtitles. Did not do the vocab that I should be doing. There needs to be a process change here but I don't know what. Perhaps studying earlier in the day? Before breakfast? Small Goals: 1) Did the check of family member photos on the calendar pages. Had to do some corrections but the calendar is ready for formatting. 2) Read a couple chapters from the book. 3) Read a chapter of diyMFA. Been skipping around a bit, which is helping me keep to topics that I find interesting. 4) Flung 15 items. It was a good idea to keep this idea small and manageable, because I had even less time than I originally expected to get stuff done at home this week. 5) I've been continuing to think about story ideas, but still nothing ripe. I'm hoping to spend time filling the tanks this weekend and upcoming week. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS It's a busy week that's leading into a busier weekend. Keeping everything on the low, while keeping forward momentum. Big Goals: 1) Put together new test copy of book cover. Respond to emails as needed. 2) 8K a day. Weights or Pilates once before the next check in. Continue with meal plan. 3) 15/min Japanese per day, studied in the morning. 1 letter. 1 anime without subtitles. Small Goals: 1) Format a single calendar page. 2) Read chapter of book. Continue to listen to audio book. 3) Read another chapter of self-improvement book. Read chapter of traveling Japan book. 4) Fling 15 items from the basement. Stretch goal to put together another bag of weeding together this weekend. 5) Nothing specific, filling the tanks mostly which is covered by small goals 2+3. Took a much needed weekend off from plans/to do lists. How does one know that things are going well if one doesn't stop to smell the roses occasionally, and ask themselves how they're really doing? Stopping and taking some time to catch-up with myself helped me appreciate a lot of how great things are right now with a bonus of washing away some stress. It was particularly good timing too, since the next two weeks are going to be particularly busy.
AFTER ACTION REVIEW: Big Goals: 1) After discussing the front cover some more it's going to need additional work. Did put together the draft of the email which will make this week's goal a bit smoother. 2) Did over 8K a day all week and a little less than that over the weekend, particularly with how hot and muggy it was. I'd say that it averaged 8K, and was an overall success. I put together both of the next two weeks meal plans, put them both on the website, and ordered the groceries for the current week. The meal plan is really making things easier as there is less stress about deciding what to make and a lot more of me just getting to it. There's been the added bonus of the SO being more likely to chip into making dinners if they know what it is and how to cook it. I did not get around to doing the weights workout over the weekend. That's ok, we're building up speed here and missing a stretch goal like that is ok. 3) Downloaded some new Japanese apps to help keep the studying interesting. It does help, though one keeps getting stuck in ads which is annoying. I didn't study over the weekend, but did get the week stuff done. I also sent out two letters, but did not watch the episode of anime. Overall a middling experience. Small Goals: 1) Choose the theme for the calendar, uploaded the photos, and placed the photos onto the pages fairly evenly. 2) Finished physical book. Started and finished a webcomic. It was great to live chat about it with my sister, but I have to say the ending was a bit disappointing. 3) Read some more of diyMFA. I don't quite know why I didn't read this before, other than I wasn't ready to absorb all of the good stuff that this book has to offer. 4) Tried to use the new chainsaw only to find out that it needs chain oil. I'll be putting that into my next online order and then we'll give things another go. There has been a lot of weeding over the week, and time off from such over the weekend. 5) Still thinking over writing ideas. Nothing is sticking yet, luckily I have time to continue to think and listen. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS It's a busy week that's leading into a busier weekend. Keeping everything on the low, while keeping forward momentum in all goals. Big Goals: 1) Send emails for all of the line edits that have been received. 2) 8k a day. Keep to meal plan. Do one 20 minute session of Pilates or weights. 3) Study Japanese vocab for 15/day. Write a letter in Japanese. Watch an episode of anime without subtitles. Small Goals: 1) Do a check of all family member photos on calendar pages to make sure that there are no doubles on one page. Also make sure that each person is present in at least two photos in the calendar. 2) Read a chapter of "A Spring Betrayal" by Tom Callaghan. 3) Read a chapter of diyMFA. 4) No time for weeding, so I'll fling 15 things from the house. If I'm really good I'll choose things that can/should be given to friends while out and about these upcoming weekends. 5) Continue to think and listen for story ideas/developments. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here.
A little late here due to a work related emergency which forced me to stay late yesterday. Everything was fixed and I do have the holiday off so I'm catching up on everything. What were the minigoals for the first checkin? Big Goals: 1) Send email to line editor. Discuss bookcover. 2) Return step counter and order another. 8k steps a day. Keep to the meal plan. Weights or pilates once. 3) 15 minutes of studying every day. Write 1 letter in Japanese. Watch 1 episode of an anime without subtitles. Small Goals: 1) Practice DnD battles. Post about who wants the calendar on FB. Grab pictures from summer gathering. 2) Continue to read physical and audio book. 3) Continue to read diyMFA. 4) 1 bag of weeding or a 5 thing fling from the basement per day, depending on the weather. Monday is off due to DnD related time constraints. 5) Discuss ideas at writers group and keep an ear out for personal thoughts on story ideas. AFTER ACTION REVIEW: Big Goals: 1) Both things are done. Need to start working on the back cover. 2) Filled out the paperwork to return the step counter, will ship it out Friday. I've overachieved on the steps by doing at least 10k (or 5 miles) a day. The new HP game has been helping make this goal a lot more fun! Lastly I tried a pilates video from Youtube, and wasn't impressed. Still did it, helping myself get back into the groove of things. 3) Missed studying on Monday and Tuesday. Normally I study during lunch but I've been using that time to do a HP walk instead. Trying to get myself into the groove while at home hasn't been as easy, but I'll get through it. I need to know this stuff while I'm in Japan too, so I can't let location affect things. I did write the letter and watch the anime without subtitles, it was the new Fruba. Small Goals: 1) Practiced the DnD battles and successfully hosted the last of my four session campaign. Overall I think it went really well and Savage is much easier to host a game for than proper DnD. I'd be interested in trying again sometime! I also did the other two tasks of asking who wanted a calendar and getting the pictures from the summer gathering to put on said calendar. 2) Finished the audio book and made progress on the physical book. 3) ~50 pages into diyMFA. There's a lot of great stuff in there! 4) Success! The rain seems to be slowing down, so I got two bags of weeding done so far, and could have done some on Monday if there weren't as many time constraints. 5) Still listening to the ideas. Two older ideas have come up again, but I don't think that they're ready for the lime light yet. INTENTIONS/MINI-GOALS Big Goals: 1) Draft two emails for line edits; one for those who have edits right away and another for edits who will be coming later in the month but we'll want a fast turn around on. 2) 8k a day. Put together a meal plan for next week, put everything into the website, put in the order for groceries, and pick up groceries. Do one 20 minute session of pilates or weights. 3) Study Japanese vocab for 15/day. Write 2 letters. Watch 1 episode of anime without subtitles. Look over travel plans as needed, see about making restaurant reservations on Friday. Small Goals: 1) Choose theme for calendar, upload all photos, place photos onto calendar pages. (This takes a bit of time because I try to make sure that each person is only on each page once.) 2) Finish physical book. Decide on next audio book and start it. (Possibly one on CD for in the car?) 3) Read more of diyMFA. 4) 1 bag of weeding or 5 thing fling basement depending on weather. (Also order more yard waste bags) Big 4th of July project - unbox my new chainsaw on a stick and trim all the trees! 5) Continue thinking over writing ideas. |
Project Progress
100 Squats per Day
21%
Read 52 Books
100%
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