Old Goals
Back in my November 2020 Recap, I set the following goals for December 2020:
- have at least 1 5AM writing work night a week
- post backlog of book reviews on the Blog and Goodreads
- write through the Return to City scene
I had also hoped to possibly get some work in on planner formatting.
Unfortunately December was an almost complete loss when looking at these goals, so I skipped writing December’s uneventful recap and just rolled everything over to January.
Read on for how January went, or skip down to see my new goals for February.
Month Recap
I was easily able to get 1 5AM work night in each week, and probably got at least two each week. I really liked having these long work nights, I was able to actually get a number of things done without feeling like I was running in place. I have always been prone to working late, and am liable to work late every night if left to my own devices; which, considering my headache-prone self, poses some difficulties. I would like to find some rhythm to what days I do a 5AM work night, otherwise I’m bout to fluctuate between getting none, or getting way too many.
I was also able to get my backlog of book reviews posted to the Blog. It took relatively little time since they were all written, I just had to type up my drafts, edit, and then schedule the posts. However, I didn’t get any of them up on Goodreads, I think this is simply because of forgetfulness. I’ve only got one of my book reviews up there and I really should get on that.
On a related note, I have recently heard of The Story Graph, another reading tracking site that has recently launched. It looks like it has some different features from Goodreads, and it’s not owned by Amazon … which is reason enough for me to want to support it. I’m thinking I’ll check it out and possibly start an account, then I can update that and Goodreads with past reviews at the same time.
To complete my writing goal in January, at most I had to write two scenes. I did finish them and accomplish that goal, but I finished them within the last week of January – just under the line. There were a few things that really hindered my writing in January.
First, for some reason (I’m thinking it was my complete writing derailment in December), I have completely fallen out of the habit of putting dedicated time to my writing outside of a weekly writing group. I have been focusing a lot of my time on knocking out tasks around the house, which is still me being productive with my time, just not in the way that I want to be.
Second, was that one of those two scenes, though written and ‘completed’, simply didn’t work. Early on I could tell, but I pushed through it just to get it done. (I put off reading while I’m working on a writing project and, after I met this month’s writing goal, I was going to finally get in some reading!) While I wanted to just be done with it, I stopped, tossed the whole scene, and wrote it again. Despite not really dedicating time to writing, this is was really threatened my not completing this goal. I originally had the scene finished in mid-January, I didn’t get the rewrite done for a few more weeks. But it was definitely worth it, I now have a scene that works SO much better, and I don’t have to have it nagging in the back of my head that I have to fix it.
So, that’s two goals accomplished and one half-accomplished. I feel pretty good about that! There were also a few little side things that I got done but hadn’t set goals for.
I was able to start using the laptop that I had ordered, and return the loaner to the library. I cannot stress enough how much of a blessing it was to be able to borrow that laptop, but I was also pretty excited to start working with something that I didn’t have to renew every month.
With the laptop, and working Microsoft Office, I was able to get some work in on formatting my planner pages. I use my planner almost every day now, and really enjoy the bit of stability that using it brings. I used to operate pretty much with the flow of whatever was happening, but with two young kids, trying to get all the things done in a constantly growing pile of tasks, working on a novel, and now getting only 2 hours of sleep on my 5AM work nights, I need a touch more schedule.
Also, I was able to get back into posting more regularly on Instagram. I would love to have an intentional post Monday-Saturday, and I’m not quite there yet, but I’m definitely getting back into a rhythm with it. Having the laptop has helped a lot with me getting more intentional with the editing and overall look of my feed, something that I know I was getting frustrated with and led to my lack of posting.
New Goals
I am closing out January feeling pretty productive with where I’m at, and very excited to get reading! March goals will look a little different to reflect that:
- have 5AM work nights every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (I’m hoping that this will give me enough nights to really be productive, but not too many that I unintentionally sabotage myself with headaches)
- figure out The Story Graph, and get reviews up there and on Goodreads
- READ!!!
I feel like reading will probably end up being the main goal for March, I have been itching to start Michael J. Sullivan’s The Legend of the First Empire series, and really just want to only do that all month!
What are some books that you have been excited to start, did they turn out to be some of your favorite reads?