Tag: family

March Results and April Goals

March was a month of ups and downs. There were a lot of successes this month, but also a lot of losses and hardships. There were several events that were more important than writing and creating and that was ok. My goals this month were hit and miss in several ways, but I did what I could and I’m pleased with that.

March Results

Writing

Finish Edits on MAC

I had a plan this month. A new chapter edited every 3 days to get through the 9 chapters (or so) I needed to get done. The first chapter was a breeze. The next few weren’t so easy, with chapters splitting and new chapters being written. I have reached the part of the book that need the most rewrites. This section is a lot more work than I had originally expected. I was able to keep up a pretty decent pace for most of the month, but the edits were more extensive than I realized.I still have about 4 chapters or so to go, but I’m going to work on them in April and pace myself to prevent burnout or worse.

Outline a Project (or Two)

Outlining has been quite fun this month. I’ve been pulling out older projects to repurpose them (possibly for publishing). I’m planning on expanding a few of my old short stories that need more plot, and so this month I’ve taken a few and worked them out to be longer pieces (or at least novellas). So far, one was easy and quick and the other requires more thought. Yet another is a novel that needs an extra 30-50K to be truly novel length. There are several short stories and projects that are pulling at my brain to be written and rewritten and created, which created a little bit of overwhelm, but I’m getting it under control. I’m excited to start planning and working on something new.

Attend a Writing Conference

Yet again, for the third year in a row, I missed attending the conference in person. Thankfully, this conference records the seminars and makes them available for quite a while after the conference is over. Now, I have an excuse to watch all the recordings and take what I need from them. I really enjoy writing in the digital era where I can access conferences from the comfort of my own home (or even on the go) anytime that works for me.

I’ve started to watch a few of the recordings and taking things from them I feel I need. Taking notes is a must, and so far, I have yet to be disappointed by a speaker.

Finish a Book

This month was not quite the reading month I had wanted. I had good intentions to finish reading a book, but edits, other projects, and my mental health took a higher priority. I did not get to read as much as I wanted. Hopefully in the next month or two I can get back on the reading train and start finishing more books.

Personal Goals

Yoga 2-3x a week

For the first few weeks of the month, there was no exercise. The construction is still going on on the sidewalk and street, I was helping my husband recover from surgery, and everything was just busy, busy, busy. Finally around mid month, I did get back into doing yoga at least once. It wasn’t as often as I would have liked, but I did put forth a solid attempt, so I’m happy with that. There have been a lot of changes this month, but hopefully next month will be better.

Drink more water

Drinking more water this month was a little bit easier. I often forgot to track my water intake, but I do know I did make a solid attempt to drink more and keep drinking water once I started. Thankfully, I’m becoming more mindful of it now and attempting to drink more water when I really feel I need it.

Other

The month of March was interesting. The first few weeks I was helping my husband recover from surgery and working and attempting all my creative goals.

I started exploring new places to publish and ways to increase traffic to the blog and other ways to hopefully start making money from my writing.

On the same day, I got accepted into an MFA Program and found out my grandfather passed away.

So far 2024 has been a brutal year of heartache and pain with several family members and family friends passing away.

On top of that, April has arrived, and April is a month of hard anniversaries for both my husband and me.

Word Count: 20,415

Still, here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in April.

April Goals

Finish Edits on MAC

I have a goal and a plan to finish MAC this month. I’m hoping I can get it done by working on one chapter a week. Editing is quite different than writing, it’s more chaotic and wild, and yet structured in a way I don’t like. Still, I’m pushing through and improving my craft. Not all growth has to be comfortable. The edits will get done whether it’s this month or the next.

Gain Consistency with Online Posting

I’ve been really trying to find the consistency I had in November and December to work on posting in several places online. I’m attempting to make a schedule that would work best for me and work toward more consistency and then ultimately gaining readers. Writing and a full time job (and school starting soon) do not make a consistent schedule, but I am attempting to get myself organized to better create and distribute.

Outline More Projects and Make a plan for 2024

I had a lot of fun outlining the few projects I did in March. I’m excited to go through and outline more so I can eventually finish more projects and hopefully publish them.

So far, 2024 has been a horrible year for business growth and writing growth. I’m hoping the second quarter and beyond are better. I would like to make a plan of what I want to be working on, when I want to post it and how to have the most impact. To start, I’ll make a quarterly plan of things I want to have finished by the time July rolls around.

Finish reading a book

March was not good for reading. March was not good for much of anything active in the writing or reading hobbies I have. I would like to pick up reading again and start balancing the reading and writing and creating aspects of my life again. I have a book in mind I’d like to finish so I can move on to the rest of the series, so I plan to focus on that this month.

Personal Goals

Yoga or Exercise 2-3x a week

This is one of my yearly goals, to exercise and take better care of myself. March wasn’t the month to do that. Hopefully April will be with the weather getting warmer and the sun staying up longer. I hope the roadwork near my house on my normal walk also improves, but I have a plan in place if it doesn’t.

Drink more water

This month, I really have to focus on my water intake. With some recent health changes, I’ve noticed I have more dry mouth. I’ve also noticed if I keep my water bottle close by and filled with nice cold ice water it’s much easier to drink. Here’s hoping I can get more water intake in April.

Here’s to hoping April is a better month!

 

Day Seven: Departure

They all sit, huddled around the small waiting room, waiting for news. In one room, their grandmother is fighting for her life after a fall and a broken hip. In another, their daughter is in labor with their first grandchild. The timing couldn’t be more perfect, or more imperfect.

Both are in surgery now. A hip replacement and an emergency C-section.

The whole family is stone silent, waiting for any kind of news, except for grandpa, at the window, his lips moving in silent prayer.

Someone is making their departure tonight. Who do you save?

Digging up the Past

Where have I been all your life? I’ve been there, but not there entirely. When I was born you were nearly thirty and had already lived so much life without me. 

We had a few years together, just you and I, but I was too young to remember them. You hold the secret to what my first word was, where I took my first steps, and how I was potty trained. You hold so many secrets, but I never got to ask you about any of it. 

Those secrets went with you when you left us and I can’t help but lament the things I’ll never know. 

I’ve got 100 resolutions but none of them are what I want to know from you. 

Our time together was never resolved. We didn’t have the resolutions I wanted. 

We’ll never know each other as well as we wanted. 

To Whom I Dedicate My Novels: My Dad

I’m sure my dad’s life would have been a lot easier if I had been born a boy. Now don’t go mistaking this for pity or low self worth, it really would have been easier. Instead of artsy hobbies like writing and knitting, I could have been a boy and been into football and wrestling. I could have gone to a big universiry on a scholarship instead of waiting and spending so much time waiting for nursing school. Instead of chasing the boys and causing my dad more headaches than he can count, I could have been the boy all the girls chased, a boy that my dad could be proud of.

But I am not a boy, nor do I want to be. This is not a pity post.

Why am I telling you about how easy my dad’s life would have been if I were a boy? Because even though I’m sure he wanted a boy to pass on the family name, and to talk sports and girls with, he got my sister and then me. He may have wanted boys instead, but he raised my siser and me the best he could.

Looking back now, I wish I could change a lot of things. I wish I could change how well I did in high school and my priorities the first few semesters of college. I wish I could have done at least a few sports just to give him accomplishments he could boast about to his friends. I wish I could have gotten a better scholarship so he didn’t have to work so hard to make ends meet month after month during nursing school. I wish he and I could have been closer, like we used to be before hormones and boys got in the way.

But wishing won’t change anything now. What’s done is done, and I can’t change any of that. Even though, looking back, I want different things for myself, I wish things had been easier on him. He has always been right behind me, whatever my choices, even if he didn’t always agree with me. He would make suggestions, give me better options and sometimes put down options I was dead set on, but it was only because he cared. I used to think his actions and his tactics were controlling and manipulative, and maybe in some ways they are, but that was because some decisions I was not yet strong enough to make for myself.

I always used to think my writing was a point of shame, something that was embarassing for him, and something to be ashamed of. Instead of going out and living adventures, I was sitting at home writing them, and not even very good ones at the beginning. I felt like writing was something to do in secret and no one should see the process, only the finished product. I used to only write right before bed, by the light of a night light, because I knew I couldn’t be bothered or feel ashamed.

And then 2011 came along and I wrote my first ever “serious” novel. It was the start of a series and the first novel I actually continued and finished even though I didn’t technically win NaNoWriMo that year. Even better, I went on to type it, and then it was printed, and writing no longer became a secret hobby that I only partook in the dark. Spark:The Girl aptly lived up to its name. It was indeed the spark that lit the flame of my passion.

It wasn’t until fairly recently that my Dad found out about NaNoWriMo and all of my accomplishments. I hadn’t told him because November was always a stressful time with the semesters coming to a close, final projects and finals, and some semesters he would stress more than I did. A few weeks ago we were talking about what I was going to do with all my new free time and he said “I know about your writing, and I’m proud of all the progress you’ve made.”

That meant the world to me. It means that he continues to only want the best for me, and that he truly cares about my happiness. It’s time to show him that I am capable, that I can do something with my writing and make him more proud, even though I barely follow football and am not very athletic at all.

Even through all the struggles, my dad is one of my biggest supporters and I wouldn’t change that for anything.

Who are some of your biggest supporters? Have you hugged them today?