Progress Report: November : Black Tortoise Press

I’m back on track; I got so nose-to-the-grindstone, I failed to look up long enough to assess my progress. Oh well, the next report will sum up the year.

My Progress on Game Plan 2014:

Get my novel published: I will get editors, a cover designer, and a publisher. I will.
Progress: I am writing and editing and writing. I had a lull in motivation because the fine editing is super-tedious, sort of like tearing out a seam and stitching it right again, or re-doing a hem on a taffeta over-lay. I decided to get at it, and guess what? Not so bad after all. I’m almost done. I have a FaceBook friend looking for an agent. We plan to keep each other motivated.
Knit or crochet yarn stash into hats for charity: I have a lot of yarn stash.
Loved-One is a good sport to pose for me. Sasha’s photo bombing, as usual.

Progress: I got Loved-One’s sweater finished and it’s HORRIBLE. It slides off his shoulders and the sleeves hang down to his knees. Maybe he was bigger five years ago when I started it. I plan to try shrinking it.
Make enough money writing to pay property taxes: Maybe I wasn’t clear enough in 2013.
Progress: Another newspaper, a weekly wants me to write. Yay. Also another contact for re-vamping a website. A maybe. Right now we’re just at the proposal stage.
Expand my platform: a key to successful selling of a published book, I’m told.
Progress: Still growing Fastest on Twitter; I just passed 800. In the grand scheme of things: paltry. Still, progress is progress. BlogHer,SheWrites,Instagram, Twitter, FB page; Google+,Pinterest.
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 got married in September in my back-yard. What a wonderful goal replacement. In the meantime, Loved-One and I took a road-trip to Utah. Loved-One is now on board with road trips. I got a new app, RoadTripper, to help with the planning and documenting. The trip is the vacation, not the destination.
Volunteer: Complete. 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. (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.)
I’m learning a lot about myself. I really like to be in charge; or at least self-directed. It’s humbling to relinquish control, especially when I believe I have improvements to offer.
Oh my! The folks at 1st Way think I’m a computer genius. They hired me to re-vamp the website. Yay! And what a pleasant surprise.
Read two book a month: This goal doubles my 2013 rate.
Progress:
James McBride, The Color of Water A true story about a Jewish woman born around the same time as my dad (circa 1922) marries a black man and has about a dozen children. I loved the book in and of itself, but I especially liked it because it supports Dad’s and Thaddeus Mosley’s picture of race relationships during that time period. I read the 10th anniversary edition of the book.
Stacia Friedman, Tender is the Brisket: I won this book from a blogger. Hmmm…two books this month that feature Jewish mothers. This book took a bit for me to get into, then I really liked it. Humorous and with a lot of family drama, a some romance thrown in for good measure. I wonder if this classifies as ChicLit. I liked it and will definitely read more of Friedman’s books.

From past months:
John Greenberg, A Feathered River Across the Sky
Sue Monk Kidd, The Invention of Wings
Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism.
Elizabeth Berg, Never Change
Louis Erdrich, The Round House
Kate Atkinson, Life After Live: A Novel
Doreen M. McGettigan, Bristol boys Stomp: The Night That Divided a Town
Adela Crandell, A Land of Milk and Honey
Eric Larson, In the Garden of the Beast
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!
Progress: Complete! We ended up cleaning the carpet with our Kirby attachment and hiring someone to stretch it. Good as new! And saved a lot of money.
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.