Wow, another month is gone. I’ve been working hard trying to increase my productivity in writing and ALL THE THINGS that must be done. So, for the first time, I’m sharing my progress, or lack thereof, with you. Let’s look at July in review.
WRITING
July was not my best nor my worst month. I managed more than 4,800 words on my work-in-progress. The best news is that I finished the second act and have started the third and final act of this book. This revision has been extraordinarily long and painful for a whole bunch of reasons, but I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
A shiny new idea, rather a variation on an old idea, came to me and I did a little research that may turn into a series about aliens and Greek mythology and the challenges of being a hero.
I wrote nearly 2,000 words of blog posts but I missed one day.
I finished a deep, structure critique for a friend. And my journals are nearly 2,000 words fatter.
HOUSE
There was one huge storm that meant I spent a fair amount of time cleaning up afterward. This also meant I didn’t get the exercise room finished nor cleaned up enough to actually use. And I didn’t get the bathroom project done. So many half-done projects going on!
House cleaning is about at the bottom of my list of priorities, so there are tons of things to do that I’m moving to August’s list where they will also likely not get done.
The bad news is that I discovered a woodpecker has done a lot of damage to a portion of our house. It has to be repaired soon.
THE DAY JOB
Caregiver stuff interfered less than it has in the recent past, so I worked the appropriate number of hours. But three of four weeks I ended up having to do some makeup time on a day off. That accounts for some of the dips in the writing word count.
RESEARCH, READING, LEARNING
I finished a book called The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea by Elof Axel Carlson about eugenics in America. Very interesting. You’ll see a blog post on that someday.
I listened to LeVar Burton Reads. In this podcast, LeVar reads short science fiction or fantasy stories. He is fun to listen to and his story selection is excellent. I recommend it.
I listened to the Writing Excuses, Story Grid, and Creative Penn podcasts. Each of them offered interesting details that I can use in various projects. One of the tidbits I found helpful was from the Creative Penn Podcast with Dean Wesley Smith. Dean said, “The only failure in writing is not writing.” Something to remember as I struggle forward.
My fiction reading ground to a halt. The book I attempted to read just didn’t hold my interest. I’ll try something else this month.
GOALS for AUGUST
image credits: American Flag by Mike Mozart on flickr CC and To Do List Chalkboard by Mufidah Kassalias on flickr CC
Yes, I know this is the seventh day of August, but it’s the first Monday in August.
WRITING
- Get at least half-way through Act 3.
- Write 4 new blog posts.
- Send out reader questionnaires for a new blog series I’d like to do.
HOUSE
- Finish the exercise room.
- Get estimates for repairs to the house.
- Finish the bathroom project.
DAY JOB
There will be more challenges to getting the hours in. I will attempt to keep the number of times I must use a day off to complete those hours to just two this month.
RESEARCH, LEARNING, READING
- Continue researching book promotion.
- Continue listening to podcasts when I’m able.
- Choose a new fiction book and begin reading.
- Take time to view the solar eclipse on Monday, August 21.
- Attend the Seven Deadly First-Page Sins presentation by Tex Thompson on August 21.
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Blogging all this feels a bit weird to me, but there it is. If it helps me increase my productivity, fantastic. I’ll try it for this quarter and see what happens.
Let me know what you think of July in Review in the comments below. Or, share one of your accomplishments or goals. I love hearing from you!