Every 3 months or so, I take a look at my goals for the year and how I’m doing with them. Public accountability and all that, if you will.
Frankly, it ain’t good.
The last few months – hell, probably this entire year – have kicked my ass. We’ve been short staffed at work and I’ve been picking up hours. Too many hours (usually 50-55, but I just had a 70 hour week last month), plus taking a class or two to knock out the pre-reqs and gen ed classes I need for nursing school, which I’ll hopefully be starting in January. My schedule has basically wake up at 6-ish pm, go to work until 7-8 am (inshallah), come home and sleep for a couple hours, go to class, come home and sleep for a couple hours, and repeat. Weekends are for catching up on housework and yardwork and spending time with my kid.
But, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel. I just started a new job – and yes, I know I said with the last one that I’d have more free time, but this one does have less hours (only 40/week!), plus it’s about 5 minutes from my house. I’ll be picking up the occasional shift at my old job, but that’s on my terms.
So, with all that in mind, here’s my goal review.
- Publish consistently. I’m at 12 microfictions on Medium right now for the year, averaging about 1 per month. Not great but not horrible.
- Keep traveling. This is one goal I HAVE been meeting. July took me up to northern Wisconsin and Michigan, back to the Porcupine Mountains and then over for some kayaking around the Apostle Islands. My dad tripped while hiking and broke his finger so we didn’t do as much as I’d planned, but I ate about half a dozen pasties so it was worth it. And for August, I went on a little 7000 mile roadtrip to Newfoundland, to the Viking settlement at L’anse aux Meadows. Two weeks of just me and my van was the perfect de-stressor. Also, Labrador is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been to. And then for September, my kid and I went to Minneapolis for a weekend. We hit the Renaissance festival, Mall of America aquarium, and Midtown Global Market for an overall lovely weekend of eating. Depending on my new schedule, I should be able to take monthly trips for the rest of the year. And for the rest of my life.
- Be more mindful regarding sustainability and my health. My orchard lot is coming along nicely. None of the trees are dead yet, and I’ve added 3 hican trees. I hope to still get garlic planted this year, and I’m looking at how to turn my front porch into a greenhouse so I can grow a few things over the winter, as well as get a bunch of seeds started for the spring. My chickens are laying 4-6 eggs a day. I am sick of eggs.
- Keep plugging away on my Heartsbane series, both writing and marketing. I’ve been picking at book 1.5 whenever I need to procrastinate on homework, but that’s about it.
- Start a series on Kindle Vella. I’m almost there. First episode is done, but I want to have several more ready to go before I launch.
- Read 100 books. I’ve been trying to read before I fall asleep, but I haven’t finished any actual books yet.
