Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related: I finished writing the book. I can't believe it. It's taken far too long. I also followed up with my local government office regarding the status of my DBA application. I was given an estimated time frame of an additional two weeks before I receive it in the mail. I also updated my beta reader questions to go with this new book. I hope to get the book and questions out to my beta readers by mid week of this week.

Motivational Quote: I'm repeating last week's quote because these are the questions we should ask ourselves if we really want to achieve something, no matter what it is.  "What's going to stop you? What's going to stand in your way? What's going to keep you from achieving your success?" ~ John Legend 

What I'm Reading: I'm reading The Hidden Corpse by Debra Sennefelder. This is the second book in the Food Blogger mystery series.

Random Things: Like everyone else in January, I'm trying to lose the weight I put on over the holidays. At the same time, I want to bake. And I'm craving all those things you shouldn't eat if you're trying to lose weight and/or eat healthy like cookies, pizza, french fries, and oh, I'm absolutely craving a sandwich from a local sub shop. I haven't had one of their sandwiches in almost a year and now it's all I'm thinking about.

Monday Check In

Last week...

Writing Related:  I had a good writing week. I wrote a new chapter and revised the chapter prior to that. I also wrote an 8 page scene for the next book in the series that kept popping into my head. I didn't want to lose the scene so I put it down on paper and put it into that's story's folder along with all of my other notes for it.

Motivational Quote: "What's going to stop you? What's going to stand in your way? What's going to keep you from achieving your success?" ~ John Legend

What I'm Reading:  I started reading Bayou Dreaming by Lexi Blake yesterday afternoon. It's the third book in the Butterfly Bayou series. I'm really enjoying the series.

Random Things:  I'm using a calendar tracking system this year to help keep me on top of things that need to be done related to my writing. Although I've only been using it for two weeks, I think it's going to work really well. I've already taken care of a few of the things I wanted to have accomplished by the end of the month. 

Random Photo: 

          Mrs. Green loves to sleep in the laundry basket...especially when I need to use it.

Monday Check In

 My first Monday Check In for the new year:

Writing Related:  While I didn't get any new writing done, I did sit down and review the last few chapters and made notes as to what will happen next so I can get back in the flow of writing this week. 

Motivational Quote: "Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do?" ~ Morrie Schwartz.  I thought this was a great quote to start off the new year.

What I'm Reading: I started Can't Hurry Love by Melinda Curtis. It's the first book in the Sunshine Valley series. 

Random Things: We've had a pretty decent winter so far, but I'm already counting the days until spring. Every year I seem to dread the winter season more and more especially having to drive when the road conditions are hazardous. 

Random Photo:

                                Somebody is also impatiently waiting for spring.

New Beginnings - 2021

Happy 2021! Like most everyone, I am glad to say goodbye to 2020. I had my share of anxiety and worry from the pandemic that resulted in getting off track with my 2020 goals in a number of ways. 

I will be putting a few new practices in place starting today to keep me on track with my goals, both personal and professional. One will be to check in with a fellow author with our word/page counts at the end of each week to help keep both of us accountable. She writes 3 to 4 books a year so I think the weekly check in is more to help me than her. The second is using a giant wall calendar with enough space to write in deadlines, priorities, scheduling research time, etc. This is a process used by a friend who just published her 100th book so it obviously works for her. I've already set up the first 3 months and each time I walk into the room, my eyes go right to the color coordinated Post it notes on the wall. I'm a very visual person so being able to see deadlines and such every time I walk into this particular room will keep me on track or so I'm hoping. 

Here's to a much better 2021 in every possible way.