12 of July 2012

Looking at my 12 goals of 2012 this month was surprisingly exciting. I've kept on keeping on, and I think I'm finally beginning to make some REAL progress!

1. Finish writing my novel. --> When I look at my 12 goals, this is the one I fear will genuinely not get done. I picked my novel back up about a week ago (that's forward movement at least, right?) and was completely overwhelmed. Now that I have taken on a few more freelance jobs, I worry that there just isn't a prayer of a chance I can make time to achieve this. That said, though, I'm still going to try and at least move in that direction. Before my next 12 of 2012 post, I'm committed to outlining how to fill in the plot holes that are currently glaring at me in my manuscript.  


2. Write. Period. --> Now that I've been blogging more, I'm doing less journal writing, and I'm totally OK with that. My goal here was simply to write, which I've consistently been doing a decent job of throughout the year. Yay!


3. Submit another article for publication and/or return to content writing. --> I'm still doing a lot of work-related content writing, but more exciting is that my muse finally spoke to me, and I have an idea for an article I want to write and then submit for publication. Go me! 


4. Read 12 books. --> Eight books in seven months - WOOT! I finished the latest Mortal Instruments book (*thud*) over the weekend and just finished an adult novel (what?!), entitled The Saturday Wife, for a book club meeting tonight. I've also been reading The Happiness Project with a friend of mine, trying to "do the book" as we read it, so this title will probably be in progress for a little while. I'm not sure what I'll pull from my TBR pile tonight. I've had my eye on Daemon for a while, so maybe I'll finally grace him with my presence.


5. Have more date nights with Hubby. --> We had a wonderful date afternoon last month, having lunch at Moe's and seeing Prometheus in the theater, but being conscious of our budget, we've been enjoying a lot more unofficial date nights at home, making dinner for each other (Hubby makes a mean mac 'n cheese) and watching all things Gordon Ramsay. We still treat ourselves, though; we're looking forward to going to dinner and seeing Joan Rivers (yes, Joan Rivers) tomorrow night.
   


6. Try at least one new recipe each month Try 12 new recipes. --> I'm six-and-a-half recipes in now, the latest of which include a ravioli lasagna, and the "half recipe" (because it was so easy that I feel guilty for counting it) was this concoction that I modified for July 4th dessert.


7. Make a decision about my Etsy store. --> I decided in April that, because I didn't have time to "do this right," I would - at least temporarily - close my Etsy store. Last month I learned of a local craft show that I could very easily and cheaply participate in this November. If you're a "regular" around here, you know that this is something I've wanted to do for a while (I even applied to a show once and was turned down). I don't know that this opportunity will ever come about again, and so there's a huge part of me that feels compelled to do it. If I do, though, several things have to happen. First, I'd have to budget some money to increase my inventory. I'd have to also budget time for the same reason. More relevant to this post, I'd need to reopen my Etsy store so that the traffic I get at the show would be able to shop and order after that date. I have mixed feelings about all this. On the one hand, I think, what money? What time? On the other hand, I think, this might be your only chance to give this a real shot. On the other hand, I think, is it okay to reveal this other part of your life to your very small community? Are you secure enough in yourself to not care what these people think? On the other hand, I think, if you want to ever be serious about crafting for profit, this is your best chance at doing it. Needless to say, I need to make a decision about this soon, the show being only four months away. I think my next steps are to make a list of what I'd need to do to participate in the show and then evaluate it to see if it's even possible to do, both time- and money-wise, and then I'll ruminate from there.  


8. Complete my scrapbooking WIPs: iScrap, Me the Abridged Version, and Everyone Can Write a Little. --> There's no way I can spin this optimistically; I very simply have not paid attention to these.


9. Keep up with Project Life. --> I'm not in the "keeping up" stage yet, but I'm definitely catching up!


# weeks into project: 14
# weeks prepped: 6 
# weeks scrapped: 4
# weeks blogged: 4


10. Play with my Library of Memories at least once a month. --> This has become much easier for me to do now that I'm engaged in Project Life. I even started a digital scrapbook page last week that will slip nicely into our "People We Love" album after displaying it in this awesome scrapbook page holder that Hubby surprised me with a few weeks ago.  


11. Blog two to three times per week. --> WHOA, did I come from behind on this one! I have posted every weekday so far this month! I have so many ideas in my head that I've actually started keeping a running blog schedule again. It feels GREAT to have my blogging mojo back. 


12. Continue practicing Hebrew. --> This is not something I'm actively doing, but I'm amazed at how much I'm picking up by hanging out with people who speak the language and reading books (like The Saturday Wife) that contain a sprinkling of Hebrew words and phrases. 

For the first time all year, I feel like I might actually achieve these goals, and I couldn't be happier about it. Thanks for all the encouragement so many of you have given me!