It has been more than two years since I’ve written a progress report post. Since this year has been a year of changes for me, I thought I’d share part of my mid-year progress report. I honestly thought I had done poorly for the past six months as far as my goals were concerned. Then I started reviewing what my year has been like so far. I tell you all the time that your brain tells you lies to protect you from danger. I truly believe that, but I am still surprised when I discover I’ve been believing a lie my brain is telling. Thank goodness I keep a record of my progress. But before I share my progress, I’d like to remind you how I view goal-making.
A Few Words About Goals
Several years ago, I was in a challenging stage of life. Working full time and being the primary caregiver for my ailing husband took up most of my time and energy. Each month I created long lists of goals I came nowhere close to fulfilling. Each month I became more and more discouraged. Then I learned about buckets and intentions.
Buckets
Now, instead of one long list, I use the bucket idea for managing the areas of my life. Originally I had four buckets: Making (anything I created), Managing (business tasks that didn’t fit anywhere else), Marketing (anything I did to advertise my work), and Home (everything else). You’ll see I’ve refined those buckets and added another bucket.
Intentions
Instead of making lists of goals or resolutions for each bucket, I use intentions. You can miss a goal. You probably break most resolutions. But an intention is a focus. When life gets in the way of your plan, you take care of that event or disturbance, knowing you will return to work on your intentions. Every morning begins with a renewed plan.
I continue to use intentions, but after six months of classes in Change Academy by Body Brain Alliance, I view my monthly intentions differently.
Instead of making a huge list of items I want to accomplish in all areas of my life each month, I make three to five primary intentions. Then, each week I make 3-5 small intentions. Each of those are actions to accomplish the next step toward one of my primary intentions for the month.
Example:
In January, my main marketing intention is to create at least three images to promote my new book. Then, in the first week, my primary intention is to find up to six images that would work as promotional images.
The First Six Months of 2026
My life changed again when my husband died. It’s been a transition of ups and downs, of great sadness and great joy, and of tremendous change. I can’t say I’m recovered from the loss, but I’m redefining myself, my routines and habits, and my goals. This year, some of those changes have yielded positive results.
Making
I blogged about how lost I felt when I ended the Fellowship Dystopia. Lots of story ideas floated in my head, but I couldn’t seem to focus (see events below). I finally regained my focus, but short stories require a different approach from a novel, and the first two stories I started were unsuccessful. Then I had an idea to write a medical space opera.
Developing a universe, characters, and a backstory for The Stars Don’t Bleed was fun. I must admit, I followed quite a few fascinating research rabbit holes.
Happily, that resulted in a short story in my new series, The Stars Don’t Bleed. My newsletter readers got to read an early version of “Orbital Shakedown.” It is out for beta reading now. If you are interested in being a beta reader, join my advance reading team, Burrows Insiders.
I’ve planned The Stars Don’t Bleed as a series with novellas and books. The Vector of Blame is the first novella in the series. I’m currently writing chapter three.
In addition, I wrote twenty-six weekly blog posts for my website, six newsletters, and two guest blog posts for the Writers in the Storm blog. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss the second WITS post; it’s scheduled for July 3rd.
I also journal every day.
Managing
After my fall last year forced a delay, I was pleased to publish the final book in the Fellowship Dystopia,And When I Wake, in January.
I continue to manage the budget and track expenses for my writing business.
Keeping a reasonable inventory of books and office supplies also belongs in my managing bucket.
Maintaining my website is a constant job. I frequently fall behind on this; therefore, I’ve developed a plan to stay on top of it better next quarter.
Also in the managing bucket, I maintain my office, coordinate my schedule, keep up with correspondence, interact with vendors, and track my time.
Marketing / Visibility
My very first free book promotion was in January. It featured the first in the Fellowship Dystopia series, My Soul to Keep. To my utter surprise and delight, the promo boosted that book up to rank first in its three main book categories.
I enjoyed the opportunity to talk with Alex Greenwood on his “Mysterious Going’s On” podcast in February about And When I Wake and finishing the Fellowship Dystopia series.
In-person book fairs were a large part of my marketing plan last year. Because of other commitments, I can take part in fewer book fairs this year. I made money at the two fairs I attended.
Social media is a challenge for me (for a lot of authors). Years ago I had developed an active page, but my life challenges grew and I felt the need to keep more things private. Over time, my page grew nearly dormant. Now, it is my intention to re-develop my Facebook page, to develop a presence on Instagram, and do better at maintaining and growing my Pinterest page. I’m often discouraged because I am consistently inconsistent with those things. However, I remember that to become consistent one must be inconsistent first. So I’ll keep being inconsistent…for now.
Brand/Personal Development
Market research includes looking at what books/genres are selling as well as reading fiction and nonfiction. I did a lot of studying the market for the various series ideas I had before I decided that a medical space opera was the best fit for me. I discuss books I finish reading in my monthly newsletter.
Now that I have a completed series, I am paying more attention to performance tracking. So far, everything that needs to trend upward is.
Self-reflection and assessment have been part of my process long before I had a bucket for it. I typically do at least both a monthly and quarterly assessment of my progress.
Skill development continues to be important to me in all areas of my life. This has been a season of learning for me. I’ve taken online classes about marketing, social media, business practices for writers, and even some meal prep classes.
I learned more about sales tax in Missouri and Kansas than I ever wanted to know.
One of the meaningful things I learned during this time was to record the moments of joy in my life. That piece of advice makes me look at my life differently. I look for joy now. It’s wonderful.
Though my nursing education taught me about nutrition, I have learned a lot more in the recent months. I may never enjoy cooking, but I am learning to appreciate good recipes.
I’ve learned a lot in the past six months, but the change skills I’ve learned and continue to learn are the most impactful.
I had been following Karin Nordin for months before I joined Change Academy. Her neuroscience and psychology-based approach makes sense to me. The skills she and her coaches teach have helped me find paths to accomplish personal goals I thought would never happen.
Home
Taking care of my home, paying bills, and especially paying taxes are not my favorite activities, but I kept up (mostly).
I experimented with meal planning. It’s nice when I do it, but it is an area where I’m highly inconsistent right now.
Post-retirement and now single, I’ve had a very lax attitude about getting to bed by a specific time. That’s all well and good, except my body has a wake-up time that means I was short of sleep ALL. The. Time.
I knew more sleep would be better for me. I would try different bedtimes and wake-up times and try napping. None of those things worked for me until I gave up. Change Academy taught me skills that have changed that pattern in my life. I now go to bed at a regular time 5-6 days per week. That one change has restored my energy levels.
Exercise and I have a strained relationship. Still, I know how important it is to move my body, to exercise my joints, and to maintain the muscles that help me keep my balance. I started intending to become fit enough so I could keep up with my family this fall when we take a trip to Disney World. The motivation to physically enjoy Disney has kept me moving, and that has made a world of difference in how I feel. Now my intention is to develop a habit of moving more every day.
I have had the pleasure of being able to afford a membership to the Kansas City Zoo and Aquarium. Even more pleasurable has been the ability to treat my grandsons to multiple one-on-one trips to the zoo. Those trips are always on my list of joys in my life. They also help me get more exercise.
Family is an important part of my life. Unfortunately, health issues have been a cause for concern for four loved ones. Everyone has recovered or is expected to recover, which is good news. (No, I’m not one of the four. My health is fine.)
Events
There has been one event that occurred and isn’t a sign of progress or lack thereof. Sadly, my eldest Yorkie, Gizmo, died in February. We rescued him in 2016 and shared ten years with him. Neo and I miss him dearly, but he’s playing and feeling better than he has in years on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.
A Rare Note on American Politics
Like many reading this, there have been events in America perpetrated by those currently in power and others that have left me stunned, grieving, and furious. At times, I struggled to maintain my emotional-regulation well enough to do what I needed and wanted to do. Through it all, I’ve worked hard to make this blog, my newsletters, and all my stories free of judgement. I do what I can to be the kind of American I thought our nation represented, to help my nation find its way again, and to help all who need a kind word or deed. I know each of you is doing the same. If you’re feeling it’s all too much, know that you can visit my corner of the internet in peace.
Going Forward
This is the hardest section of this post to write. I have lots of plans, lots of want-to-dos and must-dos. Too man. The next week or two. I’ll be evaluating, prioritizing, and setting myself up for another busy six months of making-managing-marketing-development and home life. I will tell you that I intend to finish The Vector of Blame this year and to outline book one of the first trilogy of The Stars Don’t Bleed. Hopefully, everything will go smoothly, and I’ll start writing that book before the end of the year.
I hope your mid-year self-evaluation and goals for the rest of the year give you something to be proud of, something to smile about, and something you want to work on for the future. If you would like to, share one of your goals for the next six months in the comments below.
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Image Credits:
Featured image purchased from DepositPhotos
Avatar image courtesy of Facebook
Photo of Gizmo by Lynette M. Burrows