Weekly Goals

I wasn't nearly as productive this week as I had hoped. I took some of that time and energy meant for writing and reading and generally getting stuff done, and decided to relax a bit instead. Turns out, though, that I really needed that.

My mood hasn't been great lately, but now that I'd had a few low-productivity days, things are lighting up. So, I think I made the right decision.

Also, looking at my goals list, for a generally non-productive week, I did all right.


Core Goals

Write, edit, or outline every day: I did slack even with my main goal, which also shows in my daily word counts. I did make sure to do a little writing every day, though, and at the end of the week I started picking up speed again, hitting above 500 words a day a couple of times.

Get exercise: I fulfilled the goal already on day three, getting proper exercise every day of the week until then. It is really helping out with my back issues as well, so that is great. I wasn’t as active in the latter part of the week, but I did remember to do some back exercises at least.

Stop snacking: Nope. As expected, all that leftover cake and candy from my daughter’s birthday proved too much of a challenge. The latter part of the week did go somewhat better, though.

Do vocal exercises: I wasn’t quite a diligent with this goal as in the last couple of weeks, but I still went well above the minimum bar I set for myself.

Get work stuff done: Check. Or at least, I did my part. I got the documents ready and send out for review as intended. I’m still waiting for feedback on the one I expected to send for approval, so that is out of my hands.


Stretch Goals

Do a WYRM review: I dropped this goal completely to get more time to recharge. I guess I could still make it during the weekend, but I doubt I will put much energy into my goals before next week.

Finish at least one chapter of my new WiP: I achieved this in the middle of the week, finishing the final scene first.

Read short stories: I listened to two short stories in Podcastle. It’s one of my “regular” magazines, but it was also an opportunity to listen to a longer story than I usually prefer, and a story with very different strengths and weaknesses than a lot of what I tend to enjoy. Also, that second story gave me some great ideas for a story of my own.

I also got around to reading a story from Strange Horizons as well. It had a really cool premise and some interesting world building. The plot and characters didn’t really hook me, though.

Finally, I managed to read two stories from Factor Four at the end of the week. They were both okay without really being mind-blowingly good.

Read “new” magazines: This was one of those goals I slacked and instead focus on recharging my batteries. Friday morning, it looked like I would miss it. But then I found to read those Strange Horizons and Factor Forur stories mentioned above. That more than satisfied the goal, three stories in two different magazines I don’t consistently read. So, I’m giving myself double marks for this one.

Read/listen to non-fiction: I did some reading in a non-fiction book about climbing and listened to some episodes of the 99% Invisible podcast. One of those podcast episodes were basically a guest episode of another podcast about sound design, so that pretty much satisfied my goal of listening/reading three different non-fiction sources. And on top of that, I also started reading a book about Korean mythology and legends, which I guess sort of falls under this goal as well.

I didn’t get any immediate ideas from the books/podcasts, but I did learn some interesting stuff, and now I want to get back to climbing/bouldering.

Submit short stories: Once again, I didn’t have any rejected or new stories to send out. I’m giving myself a checkmark, though, because I got an acceptance (yeah!!!) from Bullet Point magazine, and I did all the follow up work, so now I’m just waiting for the final contract and any potential edits.

Do Fantasticon work: I guess I will have to count this as failed. I didn’t really have anything I needed to do, but we did have a meeting planned which I could not attend as I also had a night of boardgames planned with some friends.