I became much more focused during April. Maybe that’s why I had a little more progress. Keeping myself accountable is doing wonders for my concentration. I’m such a slave-driver of a boss.
My Game plan for 2014:
- Get my novel published: I will get editors, a cover designer, and a publisher. I will.
Progress: My content editor,Lisa Romeo, is almost finished with her editing. The first of five beta readers is finished. I sat down with her and discussed A Land of Milk and Honey. She filled me with such confidence and encouragement. She’s a proven nitpicker of an auditor. Just what I need. I contacted a couple of people about cover design, but nothing decided yet. On my way to artisanal publishing, I reformatted the manuscript into an iBook. - Knit or crochet yarn stash into hats for charity: I have a lot of yarn stash.
Progress: Acht! No knitting during May. None, zilch, nada.
Gardening is taking a front seat alongside balancing the ecosystem of my water garden. Plus, I have a 8th grade graduation quilt to make. Congratulations, Emma. - Make enough money writing to pay property taxes: Maybe I wasn’t clear enough in 2013.
Progress: 3 more newspaper articles for a local paper. (That makes a total of 11 for the month.) I had a feature on Midlife Boulevard. The teaching gig got canceled, and no news about the QA job. I did a lot of praying, and the only answer I got was a dream that an angel appeared with this message, “Stay of the scale and you will never need to worry about your weight again.” I’m following my dream’s directive, although I’m not sure how it is related to my struggle. - Expand my platform: a key to successful selling of a published book, I’m told.
Progress: Still growing at a rate of 10 or more followers each week on BlogHer, SheWrites, Instagram, Twitter, FB page; Google+. Not bad for no promotions. I (still) must add Snap-Chat
to my repertoire. Maybe Emma will help me.-
Wrestler Number One with Grand-daughter Number One (Her 8th grade dance.)
-
- Experience Night at
the Museum with Two More Grandkids.
Progress: Complete! Yay! Miss K and Mr. L. Mr. L plans to be a paleontologist when he grows up. Miss K has her heart set on fashion design. The two kids were congenial enough, but they never really talked to each other. Really interesting dynamics. - Travel Route 66 with Loved-One: I plan to get some sponsors and write about out trip.
Progress: This goal is post-poned until spring or fall of 2015. Drat! But on the happy side, Wrestler One and his Loved-One will be married in September in my back-yard. What a wonderful goal replacement. - Volunteer: Last year I tried a women’s shelter. Maybe this year, the food pantry.
Progress: Success with “1st Way Pregnancy.” Volunteering is going so-so. I often feel like there’s not much for me to do. Until the director realized I know my way around designing websites. (This shelter mission is “To provide loving assistance, emotional and financial support for women and girls who find themselves in a crisis.” The values of “1st Way Pregnancy” match mine, that is: empower women to make life-affirming choices by offering financial and emotional support. Rather than shaming and coercing with rules and regulations.) - Read two book a month: This goal doubles my 2013 rate.
Progress: For May I decided to read my own novel, A Land of Milk and Honey as if I am a new reader. I found a bunch of mistakes that I overlooked before. (Drat, why does that happen?) Bottom line, I really liked it. Sometimes I wondered who really wrote it!Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin I also read Eric Larson‘s In the Garden of the Beast about American ambassador to Germany, William Dodd and his family. Dodd hoped to the ambassador job no one else wanted would afford him enough free time to finish writing his historical book about the Old South. He went to Germany in 1933 and witnessed the rise of Hitler. Larson uses Dodd’s daughters many romances as silly-sweet relief to the ever more stifling political climate in Germany.
From past months:
Beth Nonte Russell: Forever Lily.
Graham Greene: Our Man in Havana.
Michael Allan Scott: Flight of the Tarantula Hawk – A Lance Underphal Mystery.
Linda Lawrence Hunt: Bold Spirit: Helga Estby’s Forgotten Walk Across Victorian America.
Rachel Thompson: Broken Pieces (interviewed)
Guy Kawasaki: APE
Hilary Grossman: Dangled Caret (interviewed)
Candice Millard: Destiny of the Republic. - Get new carpeting for the lower level: Ugh! I don’t even want to go down there, it looks so bad.
Progress: Not yet. June, come hell or high water. - Send St. Patrick’s Day photo cards to friends and family: Progress: Complete. I got great feedback from my Welcome Spring card. Several people thought they just received an invitation to something; they weren’t sure what. They loved the pictures and the surprise out-of-the-blue greeting. I think I’ll do this again next year.
Related articles
