Tag Archives: goals

September 2017 – Goals

Posted on September 1, 2017 | Leave a comment

Every once in a while, I like to pretend I’m going to resurrect my habit of setting (and achieving) monthly goals. This is one of those months. I’ll try to remember to report back. I’ve got a busy fucking month ahead of me, and I need to be clear about what I’m doing. So, my goals, in mostly chronological order are:

  1. Pick my son up from his very last day of preschool ever. Take a picture. Don’t cry. (9/1)
  2. Finish all my last pre-editor edits on The Ruby Blade and get that sucker to my editor. (9/2)
  3. Drink champagne. (9/2)
  4. Make an apple pie with the Bean, because he wants to make one for the beer guy’s parents who are visiting. (9/3)
  5. Drop my boy off at his first day of Kindergarten. Take pictures. Don’t cry. (9/5)
  6. Edit a book for a new client (early Sept)
  7. Get my skin checked to make sure there’s no suspicious activity (9/11)
  8. Meet with new personal trainer and get new workout schedule set up (9/12)
  9. Write 45K words on Eleanor #4 (sekrit goal is 60K – which is 15K/week and my current average, but see all busy-ness)
  10. Write 2 chapters on my Raj novella
  11. Survive the beer guy’s 2.5 week trip to Belgium (I mean, obviously, I’ll survive, but, you know…)
  12. Keep on top of my day job stuff
  13. Write outlines for the first three books in my new series coming out about this time next year and conspire with my cover artist
  14. Turn around my article edits SUPAH FAST
  15. Write 4 chapters on SUPER SEKRIT PROJECT
  16. Actually sleep? I guess?
  17. Start meditating in the mornings again, which means
  18. Start getting up at 5:30 am again, which means
  19. In bed & asleep by 10:45 on school nights
  20. I really want a 20th goal, but couldn’t think of one, so how about a picture of a cat? (I also really want to show you a picture of my arm at the Nexplanon insertion site, because it’s HORRIFIC, but I won’t do that, either.)

ls,

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Motivation Monday

Posted on June 5, 2017 | 1 comment

I’m feeling pretty good about this upcoming week. I was in bed by 10:30 last night (which is my goal time), and although I didn’t get up when I was supposed to this morning (I got so little sleep Saturday night that my body tried to make up for it last night), I still got up, managed to get me and the bean off to school/work while remembering both of our lunches and my coffee (which I invariably forget either at home or in my car [I drive to Bean’s preschool and leave my car there while I take the bus into work]).

My “free gift with purchase of school pics” seemed kinda silly, but I love it. That little face.

Anyone who’s spent any time with me knows that I have a spreadsheet addiction problem passion. When I track my daily movement, I move more. Well, sometimes. May was the first month that I hit my average daily movement goals and I doubled my yoga classes for the year. I also started tracking my food again and for some reason, lost 3 lbs and (according to my smart scale) 5% body fat. It’s not as much as I would’ve liked (because really, I’d like to wake up tomorrow back to my 2009 marathon shape), but it’s certainly a start!

2008/2009 Amy

I’ve been reading a lot of self-help lately. Partially, because I think I can always be better, and partially because I’m trying to figure out how to reinstate good habits, make myself more efficient, and fix the parts of my personality that I’m less fond of. (I am motivated as all get out to do the things that are externally imposed – I will get my work done at my day job, and if one of my clients sends me an article to edit/proof, I will crank that shit out before you can say “I don’t need it until next week.” But my own stuff? Unless I’ve set a deadline with someone else, it doesn’t get done. Which is why that’s the first thing I did with my current editor. [Speaking of which…Colleen – I’m gonna need a new deadline for Eleanor #3.])

Indian khanda sword…

Speaking of Eleanor, I sent my final manuscript to my proofreader yesterday and the final blurb to my cover artist last night. I have the paperback wrap and all the graphics for the book done and ready to go! As a reminder, newsletter subscribers will get the cover reveal this week, and the public reveal will happen next week. Pre-order links will go up next week, too. (There may or may not also be an exciting contest announcement next week! Stay tuned!)

Have a great week, everyone! It’s publication month! Woo!

Eleanor is watching you.

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Posted in Aggressive Happiness, Made of Awesomesauce, Priorities!, Run Away!, The Beer Guy, Woot!, Write Now!

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Mayday! Mayday!

Posted on May 1, 2017 | Comments Off on Mayday! Mayday!

It’s the first day of May! It’s also the beginning of the second week of the jobby job! AND, I got edits back from editor extraordinaire last night, so I should have a fair amount of stuff to keep me busy.

I have some pretty big goals for this month. In a very particular order:

  1. Getting a handle on the new job. I want to end this month with a confidence level of over 50%. I think this is easily achievable. I just need to be able to dive in and do the work. (I’m replacing someone, so it’s a little awkward to dive in when she’s still here.)
  2. Finish edits on The Waning Moon and start getting it ready for publication. I’ve got a couple major areas to work on, and a month to do it, so I’m not too worried!
  3. Continue with rewrites of the (almost titled) third book in the Eleanor Morgan series. I’ve gone through once and now it’s time to add some material. Raj fans are going to enjoy this book, I think!
  4. Keep up the blogging schedule I’ve been on recently. I have book reviews scheduled for tomorrow, 5/16, and 5/30 (so if you have something you want me to review on the 9th or 23rd, now’s the time to shoot me a request!)
  5. Move more. Now that it’s more than 45 steps from my bedroom to my computer, my fitbit is looking a little less embarrassing. I’m going to hit a minimum of 8K steps/day every day this week and go running one time.
  6. Continue adjusting my sleep/wake schedule. I’d like to be back to a 4:45 am alarm on weekdays (so that I’m up, drinking coffee, and writing by 5).

All of these goals are achievable with a little bit of dedication on my part. It’s interesting: even with being tired from “getting up early” and “getting dressed” and “commuting to work,” I’m feeling more like myself than I’ve felt in…I don’t know how long. There’s just something magical about “earning money” and “color-coding my planner” and “adding quotation marks around random phrases” that makes me feel good.

My work days are still so empty! So much possibility here!

 

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Posted in Book-It! Please send pizza, Cubicle Whore, Made of Awesomesauce, Priorities!, Run Away!, Woot!, Write Now!

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Progress has been made

Posted on February 13, 2017 | Comments Off on Progress has been made

The Beer Guy and I had our first kid-free and healthy weekend since beginning our cohabitation. We celebrated by attempting to turn our place from a set for Hoarders into comfortable, livable space.

Stuff that needed to go in storage made it’s way up into the attic. My rug that’s been rolled up on the floor of Bean’s room was taken out and now graces our living room. I got rid of the extra boxes and other random crap in the kid’s room and put everything away.

A home was found for the clothes that didn’t fit into my new dresser space. (Some of those clothes went to live at Goodwill.)

There are no longer boxes of stuff randomly scattered around the house!

We have a little ways to go in our office space yet – my books are all unpacked and double-stacked on the shelves, but that’s the room that’s the least far along.

Everything is coming together and it’s starting to feel more like “our” home and less like I’m a visitor here for an extended stay. I still feel tentative about putting things away, but I’m working through that.

Most importantly, however, is that while we were moving stuff around in the attic, two (seriously, TWO!) unicorn drinking horns were found.

This is good news because (a) my unicorn birthday piñata was missing a horn and the previous solution, come up with by two of my good friends, was to use a dildo and now I don’t have to go dildo shopping! and also (b) because the beer guy had two unicorn drinking horns, and obviously that means that he has awesome friends who give amusing gifts.

 

(Eleven days until my birthday!)

 

As for my weekly goals – let’s check it out!

Goals

  1. Move 5 times – I walked on Tuesday and ran on Wednesday and spent Saturday & Sunday moving heavy things…not my five days of exercise yet, but getting there.
  2. Fruit every day- epic fail. I don’t know what happened to me last week. I didn’t eat much of anything during the day TBH. This is a thing that happens to me when I get too stressed.
  3. Lunch every day – Yeah. See #2.
  4. Water at all times – I did pretty good with this! I unearthed my soda stream and got through at least a liter of fizzy water/day, plus additional glasses of still water
  5. MOAR veggies – again. #2

 

I’m going to keep on keeping on with these until I feel comfortable that I’m consistent (and then I’ll set new goals).

  1. Move x5 – (Monday: walk/run, Tuesday: yoga, Wednesday: walk/run, Thursday: swim, Friday: walk/run, Sat: rest or yoga, Sun: rest or yoga)
  2. Fruit every day
  3. Lunch every day – already lunched today! This would be better if I’d also breakfasted. Baby steps.
  4. Water at all times
  5. MOAR veggies

 

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My kid is so presidential

Posted on February 6, 2017 | 3 comments

Over the weekend, Alvie Bean and I did a lot of cooking. We made waffles, and a frittata, and homemade bread. When he was breaking the eggs (his favorite part of cooking), he said, “I am the best at breaking eggs. No one breaks eggs better than me.”

That same day, he presented some #altfacts about how clean his room was.

Last night, he tried to convince the beer guy that he (Bean) had made the bread all by himself with no assistance from me.

In addition, when he’s tired or hungry, he gets very cranky. Cranky enough to hang up on other heads of state, I imagine. Certainly cranky enough to tell everyone who thwarts his plans or offers a differing (i.e. factual) account of events that “they’re rude and no longer invited to his birthday.”

Living with a tiny presidential figure can be exhausting. The one saving grace from all this is that he’s a very nice kid (as long as he’s not hungry or tired). He has taken it on himself to monitor the cats’ water supply, checks on Mr. Fish a lot, and never hesitates with a compliment. (Also, his hands are totally normal-sized for a 4.5-year-old.)

Today, my Bean is mildly sick. Low-grade fever, headache, chest ache, and general malaise sporadically interrupted by bursts of energy and the desire to velcro himself to specifically when I’m hitting “send” on a job application.

 

I have an update on the first week of my renewed “take care of Amy” plans announced last week.

Health Goals: 1/30 – 2/5

  1. 30 minutes of movement x 5 (yoga, walking, swimming) – I ended up getting sick. AGAIN. I did short bursts of activity most days (unpacking books, rearranging the new office space), but no real exercise. The plan for today was to go for a walk/run, but I’m home with Mr. Sickie, so I might be SOL unless I can sneak in a walk when the beer guy gets home.)
  2. A fruit with breakfast every day (done for today!) – 75% success! I forgot over the weekend. You know, the days that I was supposed to be modeling good eating behavior for the kid.
  3. Eat lunch every day – 6/7 success!
  4. Stay hydrated! Glass of water on hand at all times. – success! I drank all the water this week.
  5. MOAR veggies (at least 2 servings/day) – meh. I need to do better.
  6. Bonus: no arguing with racists on the internet (unless they start it) – mostly success. 😀

I’m going to go ahead and redo those goals for this week.

  1. Move (Tuesday: swim, Wednesday: walk/run, Thursday: swim, Friday: walk/run, Sat: rest or yoga, Sun: walk/run)
  2. Fruit every day
  3. Lunch every day
  4. Water at all times
  5. MOAR veggies

(18 days until my birthday!)

 

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