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 The Good Life. |
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You Are Welcome Here Life is good. Let's share it. New Year, New Strategy For 2026, I launched a weekly topic rotation designed to help me stay d i s c i p l i n e d while ensuring that you, the reader, always know what to expect. Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire a million followers  and gain official WDC "influencer" status, and I often find myself seduced by whimsy. Thus, my blogging strategy continues to evolve.So, What Can I Expect? I'm glad you asked. For now, until whimsy strikes again, here's what you can expect: Subject Sundays I'll publish an educational and/or discussion-provoking article, probably on one of the following subjects:.  Music & music education The art and business of writing Owning & managing a small business Science & technologyMain Character Mondays I'll establish goals every Monday and touch base about family, work, health and leisure. Tuesdays through Fridays I'll work on and update weekly goals. When I check off completed writing goals, I'll share the fruits of those labors, if applicable. These posts are likely to include blurbs about my day and the occasional rant, although I try to post rants at "What the Fork?"  * I can only commit to one review per week. If you would like your short story to be in my reviewing queue, please send me a WDC review request. Check out my public reviews to get a sense of what to expect.
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| I technically finished my story for "The Bradbury" after midnight (00:09? maybe), but I counted it, so here's the status of yesterday's goals: Goals for 2/2/26 - 2/9/26    Min 10 min/day on current novel Review work tasks list 3 days/week Two poems for "PromptMaster !" One short story for "The Bradbury" One themed blog post (music/writing) One review Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" It's Friday morning. I have a packed schedule today because of all the rescheduled lessons from Snowmaggeddon last week. And now Mini-maggeddon is dumping more snow. I ventured out into it to meet the plumber at the music school, but after painstakingly making it past emergency vehicles and cars in ditches to the halfway point of my commute, I realized I forgot to reattach my insulin pump after my shower. I left it on the nightstand back at home. Soooo, I painstakingly made it back home and decided not to venture out a second time. Damn, this is a snowy year. I guess on the bright side, the bugs won't be as bad this summer? |
| Goals for 2/2/26 - 2/9/26 Min 10 min/day on current novel Review work tasks list 3 days/week Two poems for "PromptMaster !" - in progress One short story for "The Bradbury" One themed blog post (music/writing/etc.) One review Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " - in progress (1 of 3 complete) Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" Health Notes - My voice is coming back! After Botox injections in my vocal cords exactly 3 weeks ago, I've been weak and breathy - sometimes unable to speak even louder than a whisper. I've been wearing a personal amplifier that tour guides and fitness instructors use. The initial spike has finally worn off, and today, I was even able to speak loudly a couple times. - Left toes have been curled a lot today, probably bc I missed my 5pm dose of my Parkinson's med. Sleeping with the toe separator sock tonight. - Lost the 5+ lbs I had gained in Mexico in November, and I wasn't really trying, so keeping an eye on it. It's a good thing, unless it's a bad thing. I should have a lot more time tomorrow for knocking things off the list. G'night, everyone! Cheers, Michelle |
| I still haven't pinned down my blog topic rotation, but I may finally be closing in on my weekly goals list template for 2026. Goals for 2/2/26 - 2/9/26 Min 10 min/day on current novel (thinking counts) Review work tasks list 3 days/week Two poems for "PromptMaster !" One short story for "The Bradbury" One themed blog post (music/writing) One review Current assignment for "26 Paychecks " Current assignment for "The Sprawling Ink Society" Explanations thinking counts - the goal here is to keep it in front of me and not let my lack of progress lead to quitting. work tasks - rather than bore everyone with the nuts and bolts of my responsibilities, I just need a reminder to actually look at those responsibilities and watch for hot items. 3x per week = Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday. themed blog post - These types of posts require research (reading, listening, doing), which takes time. My original goal of one music post and one writing post was way too aggressive. I'm not opposed to dropping it to monthly if I still struggle to maintain the schedule. review - Likewise, this may drop to monthly if I can't keep up. It's OMEA Time The Ohio Music Education Association holds annual Solo & Ensemble adjudicated events for students and professional development conferences for teachers. My moonlighting educators who daylight in local middle and high schools often are required to attend some or all of these, as are my teachers who are currently pursuing a music education degree. And thus, did I end up picking up a ton of extra students last Thu, Fri, Sat, and yesterday (Monday). Tuesdays are usually free, but today, I have three hours of back-to-back lessons. Which means I need to get out of my PJs, take a shower and leave the damn house. That might derail my goals list for the week, or at least require me to voluntarily scratch things off the list. So it's probably a bad week to count on me for a review. On the plus side, we gathered and submitted all the required documents for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation audit, which is scheduled later this month, and everybody got paid yesterday (go, me!). What about you? How are you and February getting along? |
| Well, I did write a blog post today. It's probably still queued up on my laptop downstairs, unsaved, and I'm snuggled in bed. I'm not devastated. The post was unfinished anyway, because I ran out of time and had to get to work and teach all evening. But here's the gist. I wrote goals for the week and tweaked my theme rotation, moving "Self" Sundays to "Main Character" Mondays, because Mondays are too busy for the Music theme and are also ideal for goal setting. In my head on the way to work, I tweaked it more, combining Music and Writing into one research-based, intended-to-educate post per week. Stretch goals are good, but they need to be realistic, too. As for my goals for the week of 2/2/26, you're just gonna have to wait til tomorrow. |
| For today's episode of "Self Sundays," I started with a goals check-in. Quick Goals Check: One new novel chapter (or rewrite) per day. Incomplete.* One short story for "The Bradbury" " Incomplete.** Two poems for "PromptMaster !" Submitted. One review. Canceled this week, but tomorrow it'll be an empty box again. Complete my "26 Paychecks " Week 3 assignment. Pending.*** Do something with "The Sprawling Ink Society" Done. See also: "Happy February! Feb. 1 Ink Sprawlers Challenge" Organize/prioritize work tasks. It's complicated.**** Run payroll. Done. *Noveling No new words, but I did think about it - the story, the characters, the background - while brainstorming ideas for "PromptMaster !" and "The Bradbury" . I also revisited the global story arc (The Druid Archives) and started rereading background stories for my introduction in "The Sprawling Ink Society" .**The Bradbury We're closing in on the end of the week. I refuse to fall behind, so I may end up submitting a "See Spot Run"-flavored short that contains all the story elements (protagonist, goal, conflict, antagonist, climax, resolution) just so I get the practice in. Kind of like gymnastics conditioning but without the backflips. ***26 Paychecks I like to stay ahead, but for this assignment, I'm tempted to linger back and make sure nobody's port gets neglected. The good news is, I just shined up my own port, so the feedback on my recent renovations will be nice. ****Work Priorities No matter what other things crop up at work, priority #1 is always payroll if it's the 1st of the month, and I completed that on time. After that, the priority order is something I need to pin down, hence the checklist item. BUT two things jumped all the way up to positions 2 (we're being audited by the BWC) and 3 (I finally migrated my new website design, but all the individual pages still need a lot of cleanup), rendering the priority of everything else... well... low priority.  See you tomorrow for Music Mondays, and hopefully to report a completed short story. Musically, Michelle |
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