I Do Words - Sunday Check-In! Now With Extra Writing!

It?s the weekly check-in! Shout-out to awesome friends who are on the same program?seriously, ladies, it helps a lot to see your updates in my feed and it nudges me to make sure I?m not the slacker in the group!

Health
GOAL: Stronger and thinner ? weight 150-152.5, able to do 10 pullups without stopping and 20 pushups without stopping
Weight: 157 ? I reset the goal 10 pounds higher than originally, as I got sick and got as thin as I?d like to EVER be, and it was still around 148.
Pull-ups: I?m up to two sets of 4 with a 30-second rest.
Push-ups: At 20, working on doing them looking forward and with a deeper arm bend
10 minutes daily exercise: FAIL! The discovery this week was that the task was more appealing if I labeled it ?WATCH THE DAILY SHOW while exercising.? Then I got it done twice.

2 of 3 meals a day are healthy: I?m only eating two meals a day. Meal one is a fried egg sandwich with two pieces of bacon, lettuce, tomato, and a consciousness about the amount of mayo. Meal two is a spinach salad with avocado, olives,pickles, hard-boiled egg and salmon. Yes, it?s a high-fat salad. Who knew how easy that was?
Healthy snacks in car/on person: Yes.
Not much potatoes or bread: Two pieces of bread a day on my sandwich, thin slices. No potatoes in three weeks. Also, I have cut out almost all dairy, so I?m saying my lack of cheese is helping.
Less sugar in coffee/less coffee: Yes. I?m down to one coffee (soy, five small spoonfuls of brown sugar) and only on the days when I?m writing early in the day. Call it four coffees a week, tops.

OVERALL: I?m getting fatter right now, as I?m reintroducing more foods to my diet (after illness) and not walking as much. Need to keep an eye on the daily activities. Writing, sadly, burns few calories.

Education
GOAL: Speak Afrikaans well enough to understand dinner table conversation, even if I have to respond in English.

Carrying workbook/dictionary: Yes.
Vowel sounds list: I finally mastered ?short i? and am getting ?uu? three times out of five. I?ve learned that the ?r? should be made on the front of my tongue. This week I?m tackling the ?g? that sounds like a spoon caught in a laundry mangle.
Working through the workbooks: Fifty/fifty. Need to get back on that.
Daily lesson or words look-up: Fifty/fifty. Ditto.
Listen to lesson daily while getting ready: Fifty/fifty. I?ve started doing more strategic practicing of things I need for my lessons, which are twice a week.

OVERALL: I can understand my teacher speaking at a normal-to-quick rate of speed, half the time. I think I?m doing well, though I need to make a point of doing more homework between lessons. Perhaps giving myself some more specific assignments following a lesson?just starring a note in my notebook and writing ?do exercise? isn?t cutting it, how about making them specific tasks on the list?

Employment
GOAL: Increase writing income by 25% each year for the next three years

Write first, every day: I?m not writing first but I am writing every day.
1000 words/day, 5 days out of 7: FUCK YEAH SCORE. I am averaging just over 2300 words a day, 5 days out of 7. In fairness to my fellow writers, that?s not writing from scratch all the time. I?m doing 5 single-spaced pages of edits and 5 pages of re-typing those edits most days (only counting the typed words), plus some blogging.
Two more published high school plays: ON HOLD
Submit essays, nonfiction and journalism (NYT, This American Life, The Moth, DNTO): Have done two radio pitches for DNTO, gotten on the freelancer?s list for Snap Judgment, and am keeping an eye on the essay world. I?m excited enough about the memoir that I?ve put most of my energy into it.
YA manuscript: ON HOLD
Memoir: I am writing like a motherfucker on this one. I can tell that I?m going through cycles of being excited by it and dreading it, so I?m churning out as many pages as I can when I?m feeling good, and forcing myself to the table when it?s not. Shout-out to writing buddy kathrynrose for helping me stay on track and giving me some accountability.

OVERALL: I am 20% towards my income goal.

I tried my ambitious writing schedule for two weeks and noticed that I couldn?t write two big projects at once, so I?m tackling the one that?s closest to completion. What helped a lot was counting pages and dividing by number of days and realizing, It?s OK to put some things on hold; if you really work on this you can get it done in 30 days and go back to those other things. So, other things are on hold.

The other good discovery was that I write if I 1) get up early, 2) leave the house, and 3) have some accountability. So I am 1) sleeping without my sleep mask on the side the sun comes in (8:30 every morning no matter how late I went to bed!), 2) scoped out six coffee shops and picked one I like and found the tables there I like, and 3) am doing writing dates with both RL and online friends.

GOAL: See if money can be made from Madhubani paintings, thus making trips to India pay and supporting village women?s art.
ON HOLD.

Daily Living
GOAL: Build a garden apartment behind my house.
I have looked at design magazines, been working with an architect and a contractor, dealt with zoning and looked at the budget. I?ve sorted out my expectations with my ex-husband. However, this goal is bigger than I can do, according to the zoning board. I?m also rethinking my living arrangements. So there will be a new post about what, specifically, I?m trying to do here.

OVERALL: I think this goal is mutating into ?Build my publication record and organize my CV to start applying to jobs overseas, to teach Creative Writing in English, in India, Thailand, Indonesia or Singapore.?

Finances
GOAL: Be in a better financial position

Pay off car by June 2014: On track.
Get my third roommate up to date on his rent by sending weekly texts to remind him: On track, and he made a big payment when he got his tax returns. He?s trying his best to step up.
Understand my IRA by calling the company and asking questions: Not yet.
Take advantage of drwex?s offer to chat about financial planning: Not yet; I need to read the blog post he sent me about finances and email him.

OVERALL: It's coming.

Social
GOAL: Happy relationship with good communication

Email boyfriend twice a week with something cute with questions: Yep.
Call boyfriend once every two weeks for five minutes: We talked two nights in a row! For forty minutes!

Overall: I?m going to South Africa for four weeks in April/May ? he?s home alternate weeks and I?ll have the place to myself to focus on writing the other two weeks. I?m calling that a win!

FINAL THOUGHTS:
I?m limiting my internet and being more conscious of only being online to be productive, or to deliberately relax instead of surfing without purpose.

I?m using a timer program to track how much time I?m actually spending on each thing I do, and that?s making me more conscious of how little time it takes to write when I set my mind to it and how much time socializing and internet can suck up.

I?m really valuing my close friendships right now, and wanting to make sure I stay connected with them rather than meeting many new people.

I actually gave up a gig I already had for this summer to make writing time.

I?m feeling like a writer again. It?s good.

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Source: http://whipchick.livejournal.com/43400.html

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