Let me start off by saying that this is a judgement-free zone.
Just kidding...I give you free rein to judge me because that’s why I’m doing this in the first place. The pressure to please all of you by finishing all of my goals should help me succeed in them.
Empirical data shows otherwise, but the jury is still out.
Based on my very muted excitement for this quarter, you’ll probably guess I didn’t complete all of my goals.
Spoiler alert: I only did a quarter of them.
Whew! Now that I got that out of the way, let’s jump right in and look at how little I did this quarter…
But wait!
I have some excuses. I know, I know, you probably don’t want to hear them because after all, they’re just excuses. But they’re going to make me feel better, so just throw me a bone for a minute.
Lame excuse number one: I was gone for 5 weeks. Yes, you would think that it would make me more productive, laying around in a hotel after work all day, but I really didn’t have time to work on much of anything while I was gone. It was hard. I hated being away from my family for that long and the dogs nearly forgot who I was. (just kidding...but I missed them!)
Lame excuse number 2: Steven and I are house-hunting. I thank God that we decided to put off our wedding until next year because I wouldn’t have been able to handle buying a house and planning a wedding. I thought this process would be a romp through the daisies, falling in love with a house and then effortlessly purchasing it but ohhh no! It’s more like “this house has this but I really hate that” over, and over and over. But I digress.
Lastly: I’m making a lot of progress across all of my goals, but just haven’t quite completed them. This probably means that next quarter will be rife with success. Hopefully it will finally blind me to the embarrassing agony of telling you all my failures these past two quarters.
There they are - all of my excuses. Do I feel better? Maybe. I’m still ticked I didn’t finish more goals this quarter.
Get your life jackets ready… the tidepool of my failures awaits!
Finish first draft: No. Don’t look at me! I’m sorry, okay?!
Send novel to betas. No. *sigh*
Book an editor. I almost did this one! I’ve chosen an editor I just haven’t let me know yet…*double sigh*
Post on website, YouTube and Instagram weekly. I missed a week so this one is also a whopping NO. But I think that only missing one week with all the craziness going on was a success on its own.
Redesign my website. YYAAAYYY! I did it, I really did! Yes, there are some bugs I need to spray with Raid, but consider my website redesigned!
Get rid of all of our junk. I did this. And if you watched my last goals video you know that I did this within the first month. Meaning I only completed one goal in two months. I’m hoping this is a just a bandaid that I need to rip off quickly but guys...this hurts!
Update pins and website writing tips. This was another I completed in the first month. The rest is downhill from here…
Save my orchids. BIG FAIL. One died on me completely while I was gone for 5 weeks. Yes, my fiance watered them while I was gone, but there wasn’t much saving that one. RIP little orchid. My other three are thriving, though, and I bought a beautiful purple mini-orchid for my office that’s also doing well.
Choose a venue and date for our wedding. Nope. Like I said, we’re focusing on the house right now.
Update newsletter signup images. Another no. Once I started redesigning my website, I figured it would be better to finish rebranding myself right now.
Post chapters 2 and 3 online. Another no.
Finish cover design and do a cover reveal. Yet another no. But I chose the designer that I want and can’t wait to get started. I’m probably going to squeal like a little girl when I finally get it - I think that’s when it’ll sink in that I’ve written a novel!
We made it! Well, you made it, I didn’t. To recap, that was 3 out of 12 goals successfully completed. I did one-quarter of my quarterly goals. That’s way better than none, I suppose!
On to next quarter’s goals!
Finish first draft. It’s time. Oh! In other news, this month marks the 1-year anniversary since I started writing this novel. Camp NaNo July 2015 <3
Send book to betas and incorporate edits.
Book an editor. I was so close to getting this one!
Post on website, YouTube, instagram weekly
New banner and site logo. Because mine is waaay outdated.
Organize computer files everrrywhere. Not only are my files in a jumbled heap on my computer, but I also invaded Steven’s computer as well. It’s time to use my external for all my website and YouTube hoopla!
Improve the “read my book” pages. They’re ugly and I hate them. UPDATE: I did this one already! I’m so proud of myself and I think it looks awesome! Check it out here.
Fix all broken links. I was quite disturbed to find that all my website links have broken in the move to my new site. So, it’s on the list for fixing! Which will involve me either changing the URL for every page back to the original or changing every link on my YouTube videos or posts. Poop.
Finish optimizing website pages. So much to dooo!
Buy a house. You know, no big deal.
Choose wedding date/venue. Hopefully we’ll have time for this once we buy a house.
Post chapters 2 and 3 online
Book cover and reveal
Book all travel for this year. A really good friend of mine is getting married and I need to buy all those tickets before it gets too close! Plus holiday travel needs to be booked.
That brings my goals to a whopping 14 this quarter. Did I fail in Quarter 1? Yes.
Did I fail in Quarter 2 (after increasing my goals)? Yes. So of course that means I’m going to pile more goals on my plate for this quarter.
But some of them are quite a bit smaller than others, so hopefully that means I’ll actually do them.
We shall see.