#ROW80 Final Check-in 6/9/19

I’ve been so busy that it’s been almost impossible to do weekly check-ins. I know I probably won’t be able to post my final check-in in 11 days, so I decided to end my round a bit early.

I’ve been trying to get on a consistent writing schedule, and that’s been a challenge with work being so busy. I’ve also been trying to work better hours, which is going okay so far.

My surgery recovery is coming along. I’m still doing PT, which has been helping a lot. My recent re-evaluation results were not bad. My foot was pretty strong in some places, but weak in others.

The Achilles’ tendon, unfortunately, seems to be a problem still. When I saw my foot doc on Friday, she said the swelling was worse than before (and it’s still very sore). She prescribed a special orthotic that I’ll need to wear for 3 months to help it heal. Getting the orthotic however will be an adventure. They have to be custom made and Binson’s is extremely booked up right now (it’s summer, people are going out there and hurting themselves!) so I won’t be able to start the process until the 19th. And then it takes 2 to 5 weeks to make. Yikes! But unfortunately that’s all that can be done, so I will deal.

Writing wise…making slow progress on The Vanishing. I’m up to 10k now, and I got unstuck recently, so yay! I also have about 3 or 4 ideas for other books hitting me so I could theoretically switch projects if I need to.

Final standing:

~Participate in Camp Nano with a modest goal of 10,000 words. ~I amended my goal to 5,000 and did not make it. I got halfway: 2,505 words. However, in the bigger picture, I was able to start The Vanishing, so I am happy about that. Overall progress on The Vanishing: 10,000 words. 

Continue placing ads for 3 of my books each month. Also, do a free run with Reaper Girl. ~May 1st was my last paid ad. I have since made the decision to back off ads for a few months and just do newsletter swaps. I’ve decided to hold off on the free Reaper Girl run due to lack of time to stack ads. (I need an assistant, lol!). It’s still happening at some point.

~Progress on more sane work hours. Includes taking Sundays off. ~I’ve taken a few days off here and there when things are slower. I have also decided on a quitting time. It’s working better now. (And I am working only a bit today so progress?)

~Start Survivor Rewrite ~Have not started, but I’d like to.

~Accountability partner check-in ~I keep forgetting to mention this. I’ve been checking in with my accountability partner every week. It’s been fun and helpful. 🙂 

~Final chocolate consumption report: Chocolate mug cakes, hot chocolate, Hersey’s kisses. Junior mints, chocolate cupcakes…I’m probably missing stuff. I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten more than that. 😉

I’ll be back for Round 3!

#ROW80 Check-in 5/12/19

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there!

It’s ROW80 time! How have I been doing so far?

Seeing as this post was written last week and I am now getting to post it…yeah. I’ve been really busy with work and physical therapy. I’ve also been really tired, so my energy levels haven’t been the best. But still, I’ve been trying to get stuff done.

~Participate in Camp Nano with a modest goal of 10,000 words. ~I amended my goal to 5,000 and did not make it. I got halfway: 2,505 words. However, in the bigger picture, I was able to start The Vanishing, so I am happy about that. Overall progress on The Vanishing: 5,178 words. 

Continue placing ads for 3 of my books each month. Also, do a free run with Reaper Girl. ~May 1st was my last paid ad. I have since made the decision to back off ads for a few months and just do newsletter swaps. I also have not decided on a date for the Reaper Girl free run. I am considering doing it in July, like I did with Fey Touched. It would give me enough time to stack ads.

~Progress on more sane work hours. Includes taking Sundays off. ~I’ve taken a few days off this week since things are a bit slow. I have also decided on a quitting time. Seems to be working so far.

~Start Survivor Rewrite ~Nope, but I am still still thinking about it. 

~Accountability partner check-in ~I keep forgetting to mention this. I’ve been checking in with my accountability partner every week. It’s been fun and helpful. 🙂 

~Chocolate consumption report: Chocolate mug cakes, hot chocolate, Hersey’s kisses.

#ROW80 Check-in 4/14/19

It’s Sunday, which means it is time for #ROW80.

First, I am doing pretty well with the walking. I still have pain, but it’s mostly minimal. I am hoping to be able to wean off my boot. I see my doctor on Tuesday.

Here’s how I’ve been doing on my goals:

~Participate in Camp Nano with a modest goal of 10,000 words. I’ve got two projects competing for my attention: one is Immortal (which may be called Eternal) and the other is a contemporary romance idea that’s been gnawing on me for awhile. Need to make a decision. Or do both. I’ve done that before. ~Not yet. I had some issues with the beginning and brainstormed with a writer friend who asked me some brilliant questions. So, I have a direction. I also decided to change the title to The Vanishing. Now, I just need time to start!

~Continue placing ads for 3 of my books each month. Also, do a free run with Reaper Girl. ~Yes. Placed an ad for May. Have not scheduled the free run yet. Still thinking about the timing.

~Progress on more sane work hours. Includes taking Sundays off. :laughs: No.

~Start Survivor Rewrite ~Nope, but I am still thinking about it. 

~Chocolate consumption report: Mini Hersey’s bars, chocolate mug cakes, hot chocolate

Not fantastic, but okay. I think this round is going to be a slow progress round. With work getting busier, my time is limited. But I will persevere!

#ROW80 Round 2/Q2 2019 Goals

So here we are on April 1st and it is the beginning of Round 2 of #ROW80 and the beginning of Q2 2019. As I did previously, I’m combining the two into one handy post.

I have been given clearance to walk now! However, I’m still not 100% (it’s been, what, 3 days?) so I can’t go crazy with some of my big plans yet. However, I can try to slowly get back into the groove. I am so ready to write and be productive again!

So here are my goals:

~Participate in Camp Nano with a modest goal of 10,000 words. I’ve got two projects competing for my attention: one is Immortal (which may be called Eternal) and the other is a contemporary romance idea that’s been gnawing on me for awhile. Need to make a decision. Or do both. I’ve done that before.

~Continue placing ads for 3 of my books each month. Also, do a free run with Reaper Girl.

~Progress on more sane work hours. Includes taking Sundays off.

~Start Survivor Rewrite

~Chocolate consumption reports 😉

 

That’s all I want to declare for now. I can always add to this later.

Definitely starting slow.

#ROW80 Final Check-in 3/20/19

Oh, wow, I was actually able to post on a Wednesday! Holy crap!

Just kidding. It’s Tuesday. I wanted to get a jump on it. Since I hardly updated this round, I wanted to at least do the final check-in.

As you probably know, I am recovering from my foot surgery. This Friday will be 3 weeks, halfway through. It’s been feeling like forever, and I can’t wait to walk again. The pain isn’t too bad, but today I had to take some motrin because it was a bit worse than the past few days. It fluctuates.

The surgery more or less killed the quarter/round for me, but I was able to get a fair amount done and I am very happy that I got anything done at all. I’ve been working, but I’ve also been very tired—more so than usual. So that effected things as well.

Here’s the rundown:

~Loosely plot Immortal I kind of abandoned the How to Think Sideways stuff for the time being. I pretty much know the set up and the main plot. But not much else which is not necessarily a bad thing as I like to have mystery.
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system. Up to April on ads. Been getting some sales from the ads and newsletter swaps. I think I’m up to 30 sales this month, whereas I’d be in a huge slump at this time of the year. So, win.
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1 Abandoned the Kanban journal and will be repurposing it after I’m walking again. I’m not spending much time in my bedroom (except to sleep) so I haven’t updated it at all. Will be starting with a Kanban board as soon as I can use my office again.
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Started strong but petered out toward the end. They aren’t feeling the same as Tarot cards, which is not a bad thing, but it’s an adjustment.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish ~1,103 words. I’m calling that progress.
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1) ~Yes! The anthology, Love Shines Through: A Fractured World Anthology, is out now! Grab a copy here. My story, Of Poison and Promises, is a f/f story about best friends who become something more while fighting for their lives.
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays. ~Never happened, but I am very close to starting.
~Catch up up on ARCs:
Go Manifest Yourself
Cure for Chaos
The Ones Who Left ~Still reading
Hell’s Hinges
Queen Takes Camelot
Alpha Legacy 1-5
~My Fair Millennial books 1 & 2 ~Started #2
~Take Sundays off work when possible ~Tried really hard to do this. Mostly worked, though, or worked a half day.
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum. ~Nope, didn’t log beyond the first few days. I did lose those 8 pounds though.
~Water 5x a week 

Accountability partner: This worked out very well for me. I’m big on accountability.  My partner is really nice and talking to her every week was fun. 🙂 I missed a few Fridays due to my surgery, but as of last week we are back at it. I vote we continue this for sure. 😀

So I think I did okay, all things considered. Will definitely be back for Round 2/Q2.

Final chocolate consumption report: Chocolate cupcakes, Andes Mints, Oreos, hot chocolate, chocolate “mug” cakes, chocolate chip cookies, mini Junior Mints, Regular-sized Junior Mints, Hersey’s minis…is that enough? 😉

#ROW80 Check-in 2/3/19

It’s been a busy few days. I’ve been trying to carve out time for writing, and I did manage a bit, but I want to write daily again, even if it’s 100 words.

Hubby and I saw Bohemian Rhapsody today! I’ve always been a fan of Queen and Freddie Mercury (and now Adam Lambert), so I really wanted to see it. And it was AMAZING. My mind is still racing from it all. I highly recommend it. (I might do a movie review at some point so I can properly talk about it and not just “it’s AMAZING” and  “the music rocked!” and “I love Freddie and Queen!”

Ahem.

Ankle report: Weaning process not working. Lots of pain. I find out on Tuesday what the next step will be.

I also have an idea for a romantic suspense novel (a first for me) so I am going to try to do some loose plotting on that as well.

~Loosely plot Immortal Faeborn ~Starting this week. Running it through Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways method.
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system. Finished booking February ads. I am also toying with the idea of newsletter swaps (mentions of books, NOT lists which is illegal)
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1 ~Turned it into a journal instead; also added a section for Tarot readings. Been keeping it updated.
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Pulling but not journaling.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish ~1,103 words
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1)~Turned in copyedited story to author on 2/1. My deadline to send mine for formatting is 2/15.
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays.
~Catch up up on ARCs:
Go Manifest Yourself
Cure for Chaos
The Ones Who Left
Hell’s Hinges
Queen Takes Camelot ~Started
Alpha Legacy 1-5
~Take Sundays off work when possible ~Took today and most of Saturday off!
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum. Nope, but I have lost 8 pounds so that’s a win.
~Water 5x a week 

Chocolate consumption report: Andes mints, Ho-Ho’s, S’mores hot chocolate.

So how’s it going with you?

#ROW80 Check-in 1/27/18

The past two weeks have been a bit crazy, but things are calming down, finally. I am able to finally take a Sunday off, whoohoo!

I haven’t mentioned this before, but I recently tore a ligament in my right ankle. I’m not even sure how or when this happened; I actually found out by accident while investigating Achilles tendonitis. I’ve been in a boot for just over a month now, which means I’ve been working upstairs instead of in my basement office. 😦 My pain level is considerably low when in the boot. I am supposed to be weaning myself off it and unfortunately, I’ve had pain each time I’ve tried to go without it. My doctor initially said  I may need surgery on both the ligament and my Achilles tendon. I am hoping that doesn’t happen. 😦 Anyway, this week was an extremely frustrating week with my ligament. I am hoping things get better.

Here’s the rundown:

~Loosely plot Immortal Faeborn ~Calling it Immortal to prevent confusion with my Fey Touched books
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system. ~Created a spreadsheet in Google Sheets. Booked January ads and 1 ad for February.
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1 ~Turned it into a journal instead; also added a section for Tarot readings. Been keeping it updated.
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Start pulling cards daily and journaling.~Been pulling/journaling hit and miss.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish ~I plan on writing some today
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1)~Finished revisions on my own story; need to copyedit another story by 2/1.
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays.
~Catch up up on ARCs:
Go Manifest Yourself
Cure for Chaos
The Ones Who Left
Hell’s Hinges 50% in, due 2/28. I am going to be late, ugh
Alpha Legacy 1-5
~Take Sundays off work when possible ~I am taking today off!
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum. Started; been logging hit and miss.
~Water 5x a week 

Chocolate consumption report: Dark chocolate Dove hearts (from hubby), Mini York peppermint patties, chocolate/peppermint cookies, s’mores hot chocolate, chocolate cupcakes….yeah, I haven’t exactly deprived myself, regardless of my decision to try to limit candy/chocolate/junk food.

#ROW80 Check-in 1/6/19

It’s my first check-in of the round! Yay!

This week was pretty productive. I was able to knock a few things off my list. I also had a great conversation with my accountability partner on Friday. 🙂

So, here’s how I did:

~Loosely plot Immortal Faeborn
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system. ~Created a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1 ~Turned it into a journal instead; also added a section for Tarot readings.
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Start pulling cards daily and journaling.~Started last night as planned.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1)
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays.
~Catch up up on ARCs ~Finished and reviewed #1 of 7
~Take Sundays off work when possible ~Today I have to work on one thing, but after that I’m done!
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum. Need to fix a password problem first.
~Water 5x a week ~So far, so good!

Here are some pictures of my Kanban and Manifestation journals:

   

 

Chocolate consumption report: I am currently attempting to diet again, so I may end up eating less chocolate. 😦 This week I had a few dark chocolate minis, which I love, and also s’mores flavored hot chocolate. Oh, and a few chocolate-peppermint cookies.

2018 Year-in-Review and Q1 2019 Goals #ROW80

So here I am with my end-of-year review and a new goals post. I have switched to quarterly planning, which works so much better for me than yearly goals. Thank you, Sarra Cannon, for showing me the way!

This year was HUGE for my virtual assisting/freelance editing business. I landed several new clients in very quick succession which was absolutely awesome. My workload increased a lot, which required adjustments and better planning. However, I am ecstatic that I was able to make this happen. That was my biggest goal: increasing my client base and by extension bringing in more money.

I have also learned so much from my clients, stuff that I can apply to my own publishing efforts. So it’s a win-win.

Health wise…ugh, a lot of stuff went wrong this year. Not going to get into it, but suffice to say it was tough and stressful. However, I’ve survived it and I am looking forward to a new slate.

Since it’s my intention to jump back into ROW80 again, I figured I would put everything into one, handy-dandy simple post.

But first, let’s look at what I did (or didn’t do) this year:

~2nd round of edits/release secret project (early 2018) – DONE. Except it was delayed by unavoidable issues until 12/7. Very happy to have it finally out in the world! 
~Revise and release Fireborn – DONE. Released August 1st.
~Get serious about exercise and DO SOMETHING – Nope. I remain a couch potato. 😦 
~Take pictures regularly (once a month, 1 a day for x amount of days, etc) – Nope, and I really wish I could have.
~Get moving with dictation again – DONE. Not dictating currently, but I did purchase the latest version of Dragon Naturally Speaking and I also bought a digital recorder for transcription. Just need to actually start doing it.
~Progress on Covenant – DONE. I don’t have the exact figures handy, but I think I got it up to around 25k.
~Progress on When She Sleeps – This has been put on hold.
~Start Survivor Rewrite for reals this time – Nope, but one of my goals for Q1 is to JUST DO IT.
~Do something with Death Dancer/Pirouette – Nope. But as soon as I can, I’ll start working on this. I have Plans. 
~Get better with planning – My mom bought me a planner for Christmas last year, so I used that for deadlines/appointments/modified bullet journal. It worked great, so 
I asked for another one. And got it. Also, Sarra Cannon’s quarterly planning system worked wonderfully as well. I believe this planning system is the only reason why I was able to release the secret project this year. I was focused in a way I haven’t been in awhile. Being that I am a head planner (that is, I do all my planning in my head), this is a HUGE accomplishment.
~Start writing every day again, even if it’s 100 words – Nope. Time seems to get away from me sometimes.
~Figure out Reaper Girl #3, Faeborn – DONE. I have a premise. And apparently I’d forgotten that I’d called it Faeborn. Oops.

As for how many words I wrote this year: 75,000, which was my modest goal. I was hoping to write more, but given how busy I was and how awful my health was at times, I’ll take it. 🙂

Alrighty, so what’s on tap for Q1 and #ROW80? I’m glad you asked.

~Loosely plot Immortal Faeborn
~Book ads for Gain with Pain, Reaper Girl, and Fey Touched. Put together a tracking system.
~Start manifestation journal (first entry: 1/5/19)
~Put together modified Kanban board for Q1
~Purchase Energy Oracle deck. Start pulling cards daily and journaling.
~Progress on Oubliette or finish
~Do All The Things related to TDP Anthology (to be released sometime in Q1)
~Begin rewrite of Survivor. Continue working on it on Sundays.
~Catch up up on ARCs
~Take Sundays off work when possible
~Start back on MyFitnessPal. Log food 5x a week minimum.
~Water 5x a week

I think that’s it for now. 🙂

Links to the books:

Gain with Pain on Amazon
Fireborn on Amazon 

Where have I been?

Dang, it was August when I last posted. Fireborn’s release.

Usually I’d be in #ROW80 and posting away, but these past few months have been crazy. I want to jump back in, but there hasn’t been enough time. I hope to get back into it in the new year, or later this quarter if things slow down a bit.

Oh my God, check out what I’ve got on tap:

Writing: Been trying to carve out time to finish the 2nd round edits of my secret project. I have it on this quarter’s schedule. Just need to, um, do it. I also have Oubliette’s final 15k (if I can hold myself to it) and Reaper Girl #3, tentatively titled Immortal. I am also writing a short story for an anthology, due on the 15th. I’m about 3k in.

Freelance stuff: I just got 2 new clients. I am having a blast. I am doing work that I enjoy, and I work with such wonderful people. I am truly blessed. I have been very busy with work and am still trying to figure out a good routine. I am so glad I decided to go this route for a career. Being home has taken off a lot of the pressure I was under before, and I can plan my time and my day the way I want it. And I’m making money, and I’m happy, and I’m so glad I kept the faith. 🙂

I am trying out a new system of planning. It’s a quarterly system. Writer Sarra Cannon recently opened up a 3-day bootcamp to learn her methods. And wow, even though I’m a bit behind, this is already doing me so much good! I can’t even believe it. I will continue to do this in the new year for sure!

Well, that’s my little update for now.

TL;DR I’m still alive, just busy!