Progress Report: May

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:

  1. Get my novel published:  I will get editors, a cover designer, and a publisher.  I will.Progress: I got my content editor!  Lisa Romeo did a sample editing of the first 100 pages.  I like what she had to say.   We had a brief talk about my goals and the overall arch of my novel.  I like her, too. Plus, this month I’ll take more steps toward artisanal publishing.  Next, a cover design.

    April is NaWriPoMo and I got 15 poems written.  A great exercise.

  2. Knit or crochet yarn stash into hats for charity: I have a lot of yarn stash.Progress:  Acht!  No knitting during April.  Well, maybe a row or two, but no real progress.
  3. Make enough money writing to pay property taxes:  Maybe I wasn’t clear enough in 2013.Progress:   4 more newspaper articles for a local paper.  (That makes a total of 8 a month.) I also landed a gig teaching a one day seminar in technical writing.  I am interviewing for a QA job later this month.  If I get that job, I’ll have less time to write, but more money to support my artisan publishing.  I am trusting the Lord that the right path will open up for me.
  4. Expand my platform: a key to successful selling of a published book, I’m told.Progress:  BlogHer, SheWrites, Instagram, Twitter, FB page; Google+; Growing, still growing.  I must add Snap-Chat to my repertoire.
  5. Experience Night atDSCN5543 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.
  6. Travel Route 66 with Loved-One:  I plan to get some sponsors and write about out trip.Progress:  I got some thoughts together on possible sponsors to contact and determined an early fall getaway.  I better clue in Loved-One.  This one might be postponed, if I get a QA job.
  7. Volunteer:  Last year I tried a women’s shelter.  Maybe this year, the food pantry.Progress:  Success with “1st Way Pregnancy.”  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.)
  8. Read two book a month:  Here’s my list to date:This goal doubles my 2013 rate.Here’s my list to date (newest on top.)Beth Nonte Russell:  Forever Lily.   I got this book from a stranger sitting next to me on my plane ride back from California.  A new friend and a gift.  Thank you.
    Russell’s book is a spiritual memoir of her journey to adopt her first daughter. She went to China to lend moral support to a friend adopting, not intending to adopt herself.   Russell’s descriptions of her emotional roller coaster gave me stomach cramps and made me cry.  A beautiful book of love and self-discovery.

    Our ManGraham Greene:  Our Man in Havana.  My April Book Club book.  A fast read, and pretty darned funny.  This is a spy book run amok.  I love the way the main character, Wormold, describes his daughter’s faith.  She has an angel who guides her, but now that she’s a teen, she often leaves her angel at home.  The whole time I read this book I pictured “The Pink Panther.”  Funny and Dark.  Rez Book Club liked it so much, we are getting together to see the movie.  I know, I know.  I’m sure it will pale to my mind’s eye.  But the company will be excellent.  That I know for sure. (I never did figure out the significance of the numbers on the cover, and I forgot to ask my fellow readers.)

    From past months:
    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.

  9. Get new carpeting for the lower level:  Ugh!  I don’t even want to go down there, it looks so bad.Progress:  None, just a lot of thinking.  I know what  I want.  Now for the execution.
  10. Send St. Patrick’s Day photo cards to friends and family: 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.

 

 

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