I’m very happy to say farewell to this first ROW 80 Round of the year. I haven’t made as much progress as I would have liked, due to illness and family crises and changes in focus. However, once in a while one just needs to pause and regroup. I think that’s what this Round was, for me. I learned new things about myself and my process. I feel much better about my writing projects as we head into Round 2.
Also, I did accomplish some things that I’d planned, so it wasn’t like the whole Round was a wash. I’ve detailed my progress below, and I was pleased to note that I actually did achieve some of my goals, and took good steps toward others. I’m excited to begin Round 2 and really ramp up my forward momentum towards my goals for 2016!
2016 Row 80 Round 1 Goals
Work on revising and editing The Door Is the Key book 1 (TDITK1).Finish the first pass of revisions using Rock Your Revisions. Complete re-writes and added scenes as necessary. Do the first complete proof-reading edit. This is a collaborative work with my partner BlackLion. We got through the first pass of revisions, and to the point where I thought things would get really fun (the re-writes). For some reason, though, we stalled there. Other projects seem to be more of a priority for us right now. So we’re putting this one on the shelf for the time being.
Re-read draft of Patterns in the Void and make initial revision notes. I haven’t done anything with this project yet this year, but it will resurface in Round 2.
Continue my craft & business learning. Participate fully in my In Arms Coaching biz program. Read at least 3 books about writing craft and/or making a living as a writer. Check out a couple of writer podcasts. Keep notes on ideas to use, and begin implementing them. I’ve been doing a lot of work in my biz program, and it’s having a positive impact on my work in many ways. I have tons of notes and I’m using many of the ideas that have been generated. I only read one craft book thus far, though I’m 20 percent of the way through a second one. I haven’t made time to check out any podcasts yet.
Finish planning for 2016. Finalize our Feline Dreamers road map for 2016. Make a 2016 vision board. Finish filling out my Leonie Dawson Biz and Life planners. Add timelines for goals to online and paper planners. Success! I feel like our plans for 2016 are ambitious, exciting, and flexible. Woo hoo!
Complete various behind-the-scenes marketing tasks: Add my author name domain to my website(s). Add a Call to Action (CTA) to my Cultivating Self-Love e-book. Decide if we still want to create weekday Fae Musings e-mails for our Feline Dreamers subscribers, and if yes, do so. Add new folks to both of our mailing lists. We’ve added some folks to the Feline Dreamers newsletter list, and we’ve also updated the CTA in both the e-book and hard copy. I’ll forward the other items to Round 2.
De-clutter and organize my life, creating beautiful spaces. Clean and organize my upstairs desk and filing cabinets. Finish our “punch list” for the rest of the downstairs project. De-clutter and organize the eaves. Create the photo gallery for the stairwell wall. I’ve made some progress with the eaves, and got rid of more stuff. I haven’t done much else due to illness. This goal will be continued into Round 2.
Focus on blogging. Post to my Starcat’s Corner blog at least once per week, Feline Dreamers each month, and on this blog twice per week. Write, edit, and submit monthly guest blog posts for Kind Over Matter. Submit a guest blog proposal to Mike Dooley’s site. Start and keep a running list of blog post ideas, drafts, and picture ideas. I’ve done pretty well with blogging, considering, though I haven’t gotten to the Mike Dooley one yet. This is an ongoing goal.
Make inspiring art and music. Practice zentangling. Create new scrapbook pages and art journal pages. Take nature photographs to use on my websites and blog posts. Practice drumming regularly. I haven’t yet taken much time to play with art and music this year. I’ve done some coloring, drumming once in a while, and a bit of photography, but that’s about all. I’ll continue the goal into next Round.
Expand my spiritual awareness and the integration of all aspects of my life. Pay attention to my dreams and keep records of them. Set intentions before sleep and upon waking. Meditate and do my chakra clearing daily. This goal is going extremely well! I’m very happy about it, and thankful that my daily practice has been there to support me during some tough times this Round.
Enhance my physical health. Devote time to daily exercise, including but not limited to walking, yoga, dancing, and swimming. Sign up for a membership at the pool for the winter. Stop eating sugar. Eat less in general. I didn’t end up doing the pool thing due to finances and ongoing illness. Other than that, though, I’m doing really well. I’ve lost 13 pounds, I’m eating better and less without any strain, and I’ve been walking and dancing (especially now that I’m feeling physically well again). Yay!
Live AUTHENTICally in my daily life. Do things I love: write in my journal, read, do yoga, dance, spend time with loved ones, and express my gratitude. So far, so good!
I’ve been reading everywhere about the power of celebrating the small steps you make toward your goals. So I’m extra glad that Wednesdays are for celebrations, here at Starcat’s Writing Desk! Here are mine:
I feel like I’m finally back on track after all the ickiness of the past couple of months. I’m so thankful to have had a really good week. Today was especially lovely, as we’ve been having really nice weather, and I got to meander through the woods like I did when I was a kid. I found some faery houses and little treasures. It was really restorative.
It is a lovely springlike day here in northern New England – though of course we know that it is likely just temporary, and that we’ll have more cold days and perhaps even some snow. But for today, we’ll take it! With much gratitude.
