Weekly Goals, Week 17: Laptop Woes

I blogged earlier about my laptop's sudden demise last night, when the hinge broke and nearly destroyed the screen when I tried to open the computer.  Right now I have the screen's bezel held together with a kitchen clip, both to keep it together and to serve as a visual reminder not to try to close the computer again.

Of course, this is going to add some unexpected to-dos to my list this week, as I'm going to have to set up a new computer and transfer over all my data, which is so time consuming and tedious.

Last week was a mixed bag.  I didn't meet all of my goals but what I did get done, I'm really pleased with.  I worked on my novel every day from Tuesday (our write-in) onward, so I'm back on the wagon as far as writing goes.  I got some good work done on the museum copy, too.

Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon as far as working on taxes and organizing both go.

This week I have similar goals, with the obvious addition:

1. Set up my new computer
2. Write every day
3. Work on taxes every day, even if it's just a little
4. Work on museum materials
5. Get back to work on organizing

Unfortunately, it's going to be a busier week.  Not only do I have a new computer to set up, but I also babysit tomorrow and Wednesday (only briefly, thankfully, but it's still a few hours out of my day each day) and will be helping go through an extensive doll collection at the museum Thursday morning.  Plus Friday is my birthday, so I expect a few dinners out to take away from my time as well.

All I can do is to get through it the best I can, I guess, so here goes nothing!

Time for a New Laptop

One of the worst things as a freelancer is when your computer dies unexpectedly.  That's what mine decided to do late last night.

Technically, it's not dead-dead, which I'm grateful for because it means I can pull all my data off of it still.  But the hinge on the laptop broke, and the way it broke, it popped the bezel around the screen partway off when I tried to open the computer.  Fortunately, I saw what was happening in time, and we were able to see inside through the broken bezel well enough to finagle it open.  I put a clip on the corner with the broken bezel, to hold everything together and also to remind me NOT to try to close the computer again (I already tried once, out of habit).

But it does mean I need to get a new computer ASAP, because I depend so heavily on my computer, and because I don't want to wait until it is dead-dead.  I could work on my Surface Go, but it wasn't really purchased for the purpose of running my writing business, and I don't think it would hold up well under the increased demands.

A writer's computer is such an important choice because it does have to hold up to so much.  I've found writing is hardest on my keyboard, as I've worn out several during my career as a writer.  This is the first time I've ever had a hinge break on me, but I'm not entirely surprised, given how much I open and close my laptop.  (Plus, after my research last night it appears that hinges breaking is a common Lenovo problem, probably due to weak hinges or poor hinge design.)

So last night I did some online laptop shopping, trying to decide what to get this time.  Another Lenovo was my first choice initially, as I've had this computer for 3.5 years and have been overall very happy with it.  I did change my mind once it started looking like broken hinges are a common Lenovo issue, and not always covered by warranty, since Lenovo blames the user for opening and closing the computer too much.  (Never mind that that's what a laptop is for!)  I am a little concerned about the likelihood of that happening again, and potentially sooner, as I do like my computers to last me at least 3 years.

Ultimately I decided to go with another Surface.  I really liked my old Surface, even though it eventually died due to overheating issues from a malfunctioning fan.  But I liked the weight, size, and especially the fact that the keyboard was a separate piece and easily replaceable, since heavy keyboard use is the usual way that I kill laptops.

My new computer will be here tomorrow morning, and then I'll set it up, make sure I like it, and start the annoying process of transferring everything over.  The type pad will arrive a day or two behind the rest, so for now I'll be using a different Bluetooth keyboard, and switch over as soon as the new one comes.

It's a big change to go back to a Surface as my main computer, after using the Lenovo for 3.5 years, but I'm looking forward to it.  I have liked my Lenovo, and I don't necessarily need the new Surface for its travel capabilities since I do have the Surface Go for that, but I'm hoping it'll be a better machine for me in the long run than another Lenovo.

Weekly Goals, Week 16: Back to Camp NaNoWriMo

Tax Day wasn't really the end for me, as it turned out we had too much to do, so I filed an extension.  I need to promise myself I won't forget about it and will continue working on it regularly, otherwise I'll be in the same boat in October.

I did work on my taxes though, not every day because the week got crazy busy, but quite a bit over the weekend.  Unfortunately I also missed several days of writing, especially over the weekend when I ramped up my efforts to work on taxes.  So last week was kind of a bust as far as meeting goals.

Today we have our write-in, so I plan to jump start my writing habit today.  I also have a few other things I need to accomplish this week, including putting together some copy and images for the museum, and getting back to work on organization.  It's too easy to let those ongoing projects fall to the wayside after a week or two of not working on them.

1. Write every day, even if it's just a little
2. Work on taxes every day, even if it's just a little
3. Work on museum materials
4. Get back to work on organizing

I have some other small projects I want to work on, such as weeding and cleaning up the garden for spring (I have neglected it so badly the last few years!).  Hopefully I'll be able to make some time for that too.

Camp NaNoWriMo April 2024 and Ongoing Plans to Write

We're just over a third of the way through the month right now, and so far I've been able to keep up the habit of writing nearly every day.  There were a couple of days where I didn't write, or only wrote a few words before petering out, but I've largely maintained the habit.

I'd done really well maintaining a daily writing habit last November, but I lost it again in December, and then of course with all of the events of this year so far (my mom's hip replacement, my dad's cardiac procedure, my cat's diagnosis of diabetes, and the doll show), I never made the time to pick it up again.

So it feels really good to be writing daily again, and I hope to continue the habit throughout Camp NaNoWriMo's April 2024 session and (hopefully) beyond.

What's interesting, though, is that I've been writing a completely different story than what I was working on in November (and have been working on intermittently for over a decade).  I came up with the idea for a new story just a few days before Camp started, and decided to run with it.  I knew if I didn't write it now, I wouldn't ever get back to it, so here I am.

It's turning out to be a good story idea, and I'm not sorry.  I feel like it has a lot of promise.

Camp is a much quieter affair than full-blown November NaNoWriMo, of course.  Normally we don't have any write-ins during Camp at all, but we'd talked about starting up a year-round one after the holidays.  After the doll show, with Camp looming, I decided now was the time to do so.  And while it's proving to be helpful, I also feel like a lot of the impetus is on me, since it's only that one write-in once a week.  The rest of the week, I'm doing it on my own.

I'm planning to continue writing even after April is over.  I'll have the weekly write-in to help keep me going, but if I do fall off the wagon again, at least I'll have the next Camp session in July to get me back on track again.

I hope everyone else's Camp NaNoWriMo is going well too!

Weekly Goals, Week 15: Tax Day Cometh

Tax Day is looming, and the week is slipping away from me like water through a sieve.  Already it's Wednesday evening and the week is more than half over.

But first, an update on last week.  After I wrote my post about my goals for the week, Izzy took another turn.  We ended up switching her food altogether as I couldn't be sure anymore that it wasn't just that food, especially since there were a lot of reports in my feline diabetes Facebook group that the same food was causing problems for other people, too.

After that she went back to normal, but it was another distraction in an already difficult week.  So while I managed to achieve some of my goals last week, I didn't accomplish everything I wanted.  I didn't make any further progress on my Square site, since I didn't have time or spoons to take pictures, and I didn't work on dolls or taxes for the same reason.

What I did accomplish was working on my novel every day.  I'm actually pretty pleased with how it's going, as I feel like I'm doing good work on both the novel and the re-creation of a daily writing habit.

As for this week, to be fair I did expect Monday to be a wash, as we spent the day at the museum to see the partial eclipse.  Yesterday shouldn't have been a surprise either, as I had plans to meet a friend at the barn to ride together, and that often leaves me tired afterward.  Thanks to the write-in we had scheduled in the evening, though, I still got a substantial amount of writing done.

And today I had a meeting at the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys to talk about future plans for more doll events, some errands to run, and a babysitting gig in the evening.

The rest of the week (what little of it is left) will be similarly busy, unfortunately.  I am babysitting some more (unexpected, though the income isn't unwelcome) and I have another ride planned with my friend.

I feel like at this point, the week is a goner and I just need to focus any remaining time on the most pressing of goals:

1. Work on taxes
2. Write every day

Yes, I still want to make sure I work on my novel at least a little every day, but other than that, I'm going to try to spend any free time I have between now and Friday on taxes.  This weekend we have very few plans, so I should be able to devote most of that time to taxes.

Since Tax Day is Monday, I anticipate I'll be working on it still then, and probably won't officially start my week until Tuesday again.

See you on the other side!

Weekly Goals, Week 14: Camp NaNoWriMo Is Here!

Well, the week got off to a rough start since we had to take one of our cats to the vet yesterday, for the second time in three days.

This cat was actually diagnosed with diabetes on January 31st, the day before my mom's hip replacement surgery, but I neglected to blog about it at the time because so much else had happened.  But that's been one of the things I've been managing over the past two months, while everything was blowing up at the same time.  It has been a journey for sure!

Anyway, on Saturday she suddenly stopped eating and started throwing up and having diarrhea, so we hustled to get her into the vet before the holiday, figuring we didn't want to have a pet emergency on Easter.  They said she was very dehydrated and gave her fluids, which seemed to perk her up.  She ate fitfully for the next two days, so we took her back in yesterday for more fluids and a fructosamine test.  By the time we took her in, however, we had determined that it was likely bad food that had caused the issue, since as soon as we switched to a new case, she started eating fine again.  Today she seems pretty much back to normal.

Between that and a bunch of errands, though, yesterday was almost entirely hijacked.  I finally had a chance to plan out my week in Google Calendar and blog about it today, but the rest of today will likely be hijacked as well, between errands, barn chores, and a brand new write-in.

But that last part is a thing in itself, because yesterday was the start of Camp NaNoWriMo!  That means (hopefully) a jump start to my languishing writing habit.

I actually started writing a new story on Friday.  I had an idea and I just ran with it.  It's turning out to be an excellent story, so I'm going to focus on that this month, despite Ruby still waiting in the wings.  I don't want to say no to the new story idea.

Last week wasn't the most successful of weeks, but it wasn't terrible either.  I did get the write-in set up, and I did get the sales stuff reorganized a little better.  I also worked a lot on a new Square site for my doll business.  Making progress on three out of five goals isn't bad!  However, I didn't have the motivation to work on dolls as I had planned, nor did I get started on taxes.  The taxes especially are a problem, because I'm running up against the deadline.

Unfortunately this week has a lot that is getting thrown onto the list, so I'm trying to be careful about writing goals I can accomplish:

1. Start writing daily for Camp
2. Work on doll collection organization
3. Make progress on future sales plans
4. Get back to work on dolls
5. Work on taxes (!)

It's a big week, especially with one day already lost to Izzy and errands.  But the weekend should be largely available to me, too, which will help.

Most likely Monday of next will be a loss as well... well, in a manner of speaking.  With all of Izzy's problems, we decided not to travel to catch the full eclipse, as I didn't want to leave her in someone else's care right now, while we're still trying to get her insulin doses and her glucose control a little better.  So instead we are going to the museum for education and eclipse viewing.  So I expect not to get much else done that day!

Another Reason Why I Love Plottr

 It's been a while since I blogged about how awesome Plottr is.  I mentioned it way back when I first got my Surface Go as a travel computer, and again when I did a review of the Surface Go.  But somehow I've never blogged about their awesomeness as a standalone post, even though I meant to.

TL;DR: Plottr is increasing their prices in early April, which is what instigated the purchase that made me decide to write this post.  If you have been considering trying it out, click here to get Plottr now!

Also, their customer service is awesome.

Note: This post includes affiliate links, but only because I genuinely believe in this software, and wouldn't mind getting a few bucks back for recommending it.

I initially bought Plottr when they offered a discount as part of the prize package for "winning" NaNoWriMo.  I decided that I had enough going on in my novel series that I needed a series bible in a way that Scrivener couldn't do for me.  I liked the visual interface of Plottr, so I decided to try it.

And wowwww was I blown away.  Plottr has so many features and they're ever expanding.  I can plot individual books, upload covers, set up character sheets and other notes and indicate which installments they appear in, and then export everything into Scrivener so that all the pertinent information is automagically loaded into Scrivener project for each novel in the series that I write.  

Fast forward to last spring.  My dad was planning a trip and asked me to go with him, so I bought the Surface Go with the intention of putting Scrivener and Plottr on it so that I could work on the trip.  Of course I'd only gotten a license for one computer for a year with Plottr, so I had to upgrade my license in order to make it work.

I reached out to customer service to see if I could get the upgraded license prorated, and they upgraded me with my original NaNoWriMo discount, plus restarted my year.  I set it all up so that I could save my files to Dropbox and have them accessible from either computer.

Fast forward to now.  Plottr sent out emails recently warning us that the prices would be going up soon, so if we wanted to upgrade to Lifetime (no more annual fees!) we should do so before early April.  My license period hasn't expired yet, so I reached out to see how to streamline the upgrade... and they sent me a link with another prorated amount.

Honestly, between the Facebook group, the regular updates, the tutorial videos, and Plottr customer service, the support for this product is beyond phenomenal.  I'm not sorry at all that I bought the lifetime license.

If you're interested in a powerful series management tool, I highly recommend getting Plottr before prices go up next month!

Weekly Goals, Week 13: Aftermath

The doll show was on Sunday.  Last week was of course very productive, as I had an immovable deadline that I had to be ready for.  I didn't get everything done that I wanted to do, but I still showed up and made great sales, even better than last year's.

Next year will be even better!  I'm learning and improving as I go.  And I have big plans to expand next year as well!

This week will likely not be as productive.  I'm feeling very fried still, even two days after the show.  I was SO busy all day on Sunday, and didn't even get to quit until about 9:30 or 10pm that night, between packing down, unloading at home, rushing out to put blankets on the horses in the snow, and picking up the dog I'm watching this week.  And that's after being up at 6:30am and being on my feet pretty solidly until I finally had a chance to sit down around 1pm!  It was a madcap day.

So this week I'm trying to balance my goals with the time I know I need to recover.  I often find that I'm sluggish and slow to get moving after a lot of over stimulation or intense activity.  I call it a productivity hangover.  The difficult part is not to let it go beyond a reasonable recovery time, as the inertia tends to spawn more inertia.

And unfortunately, I really can't spare a lot of time spent on recovery right now.  I'm giving myself the rest of today and making myself get back to work tomorrow.  I have a lot I still need to do, which speaks to my goals for the week:

1. Get the show stuff organized and put away
2. Start working on taxes (eek!)
3. Get back to work on dolls
4. Start working on future selling plans
5. Set up off-season write-in

I'm trying to juggle all of this, plus recover, while not losing sight of the things I wanted to do once the doll show was over.  I have a lot going on, big picture:

• I want to keep working on dolls.  I do, after all, have a rehab and reselling business I want to keep up on!  So rather than storing the show stuff until next year, I want to get it all organized to facilitate working on and selling dolls on an ongoing basis.
• I want to be more prepared for the doll show next spring - and an even BIGGER show in the summer.  There's another show I'm thinking of selling at next summer.  It's a big weekend show, so I'll need to have a lot more dolls ready, much more in advance than what I did this year.  This means working all year to be ready to sell at the shows.
• I want to keep selling in the meantime.  I don't want to neglect selling entirely until next spring, though, so I'll need to get into a habit of picking up TLC dolls, working on them, and stashing some while selling others.  I'm thinking of ways to reach my full audience (not just Facebook, but also Instagram and blog followers) with items I have for sale, instead of only running sales in my favorite Facebook doll group.
• I want to get back to work on my novel. I still would like to finish and publish!  I had talked to some people after NaNoWriMo last November about setting up a regular off-season write-in, and I need to follow through with that.  It'll be especially helpful right now, with Camp NaNoWriMo starting next week.
• I need to start working on taxes.  I've been neglecting this and have a lot to catch up on, so I desperately need to start working on it!  It's bad enough that I think it may crowd out some of my other goals for the moment, but it needs to be done, as that deadline is fast approaching now too.

So much to do!  It's hard to prevent being overwhelmed, especially with multiple projects going at once.  I'm going to give myself the rest of today to recover from the show, and just focus on some minor tasks for now.  The rest of the week will be for the goals I listed above.

Weekly Goals, Week 12: One Week Left

It feels like most of last week got away from me.  I did accomplish some things, but looking back I'm not sure what.

To be fair, I was also participating in a medical study, so I was at the clinic all day two days last week (and too exhausted afterward to get anything done in the evenings).

I did, however, get some things done and I can't forget that.  I started making branded tags for the dolls I sell or repair at the show, picked up some more things I needed, and got a few posts up on social media.

I just need to accomplish a lot more this week.

So without further ado, my goals for the week are as follows:

1. Organize doll show stuff
2. Work on dolls for the show
3. Post on social media

This week will just totally be focused on prepping for the show.  I do have other things I want to do, but at this point they can mostly wait until next week.

Once this show is over, I want to start working on the rest of the house again, getting shelves up and doll areas organized.  Another goal is to start working on my novel daily again.  Camp NaNoWriMo starts April 1st, though, so I'm hoping to start back up on that the first week of April.  I'll take the last week of March to get settled after the doll show: to recover from the insanity, to get stuff organized and put away for next year's show and so I can access it to sell throughout the year, and to finish (hopefully) getting my doll spaces more or less organized.

Once the doll show is over, I'll also be working on taxes, which I anticipate will take up a lot of my time over the three weeks between the doll show and tax day.  I hope to still be able to work on my novel every day starting April 1st, though.

But first: Get through this week and the doll show!

Weekly Goal, Week 11: Of Frying Pans and Fires

I was so glad when my mom went home and my care duties were over.  I thought I'd have so much time to get things done.

Unfortunately, I was less productive than I'd anticipated in the first half of last week, and then of course I lost all of Thursday to taking my mom to an appointment.  She ended up spending the weekend with us, too, so I didn't get as much done over the weekend as I had wanted, either.

I did meet a major organization goal, but it was more for the sake of my mental state than preparation for the upcoming doll show.  I also spent some time designing professional tags for the dolls, and planning some other things I would need to buy for the show.

This week things are going to ramp up even more.  In addition to all the doll show prep I still need to do, I'm starting a medical study this week that will take up some time over the next two weeks.  I have an initial appointment tomorrow morning, and all-day in-clinic days Thursday, Sunday, and next Friday.  That's three days where I won't be able to work on doll show stuff, although hopefully I'll be able to get some amount of other work done on my computer while I'm there (awkward while I have an IV in my arm and a heating pad wrapped around it to keep it flowing, but still possibly doable).

Most likely I'll be too exhausted when I get home on in-clinic days to accomplish much of anything in the evening.

So with the looming time constraints in mind, my goals for the week are as follows:

1. Prep for doll show
2. Work on organization
3. Post to social media

It's still important to post regularly to social media and keep up with promotion and networking, especially with the doll show coming up, so I can't neglect that.  And some organization will need to be done as I go along, for the sake of getting organized for the show as well.  But on the whole, I'll be 90 percent focused on getting ready for the doll show this week, aside from the days I spend in the clinic of course!

Weekly Goals, Week 10: Ramping Up

My mom went home yesterday, which means today I need to start ramping up my efforts to get ready for the doll show.  I also have a lot of admin-y type things to do today, though, since a lot of things were neglected during the month of February while my mom was here.

As of right now, I have three weeks to get ready for the doll show.  I'm behind where I wanted to be at this point, so I'll have to hustle to get ready for the show.  I've started going through dolls already to pull off the ones I want to bring to the show.  I think I'll be working on more of the same for most of the week, after which I'll start cleaning, repairing, rehabbing, and pricing.  I'm also working reorganizing my show crates to simplify setup and teardown, as well as storage between shows.

I have some other things that need attention too, but for the most part my weekly goals are going to look like this every week this month:

1. Work on doll show prep
2. Work on organization

Those two goals are fairly intertwined, so I'll still be working on organization, even while I'm prepping for the doll show.

And then there's this one too.

3. Post to social media

That's an important one too because I'll be promoting my presence at the doll show.

With all that said, I'd better get to work!  There's no time to lose when I've only got three weeks to do what I'd originally planned to spread out over three months.

Weekly Goals, Week 9: Winding Down

My mom's time here is winding down.  Assuming she is able to drive (we're going to practice first) she'll go home on Sunday.  She's definitely pretty independent now, and is walking without the cane as well as doing most things for herself.

If I thought I would have more time to myself as she became more independent, I was wrong.  Now, instead of taking care of her as much as I was, I'm driving her to appointments and entertaining her.  It's partly that she has more things to schedule now, and partly that she doesn't want to sit around doing nothing all day.  So we've been pretty busy lately, and have a fairly busy week ahead of us.

Her birthday is also Wednesday, so we'll probably celebrate a little then, and we have plans for afternoon tea on Saturday.

Part of me is really sad at the thought of my mom going back home.  She feels like she belongs here with us, and I like doing things with her, including her in our outings and our schedules and our meal plans.

On the other hand, it's difficult to get anything done unless it's something I can involve her in.  So we've gone through some family things and I plan to enlist her help in prepping for the doll show this week, but we're a little limited on what she can help with.  She's independent but not quite fully functional yet.

So in some ways, I'm also looking forward to her going home.  I have a lot to do before the doll show, and I will likely need to work on it almost every day after she leaves.

This week's goals will look much like last week's goals, but I'm hoping to have more time for it this week.

1. Work on organizing
2. Prep for doll show
3. Survive

Honestly, it's a relief that this chapter is almost over.  Starting next week, though, I'll have to ramp up my preparations for the doll show.

Weekly Goals, Weeks 7 and 8: Hanging in There

Last week was so busy, between my mom's physical therapy and doctor's appointments and just general care, that I never had a chance to blog.  In fact, I'm not altogether sure what I did do all week.  I did manage to get a ride in, but looking back, the week is a blur.

It was, at least, a little better than the previous week, when my mom still needed a lot more help and my dad had a surgery as well.  That was my "just survive" week #2.

I did find a little time last week to work on organization, which was good.  I went through my absurd collection of records (I was buying a lot of old records at one point to find authentic 20s music as research and inspiration for my 20s novel series, Ruby Ransome) and picked out about half to donate.  This gets all of the remaining records into the record cabinet, which frees up additional space in the living room.

Unfortunately, the doll show is looming, and I need to get started prepping for that.  I have five weeks as of right now.  It means I need to get back to work on organizing as soon as possible, so that I can move on to sorting out what needs to be rehabbed, organizing everything, and pricing.

We have another busy week ahead of us, so I'm being conservative here, but these are my goals for the week:

1. Work on organizing
2. Start prepping for doll show
3. Survive

Okay, there's still a fair amount of "just surviving" this week.  We have a whole bunch of appointments for my mom, so I'm not going to have a lot of time around that.  But even if I can do a little bit of organization and prepping this week, it's that much that I have out of the way and won't have to worry about in March once my mom goes back home!

Weekly Goals, Week 6: I Will Survive

I said last week that my goal for the week was just to survive it, and the theme continues this week as well.  It might be the theme for next week too.

My mom's surgery last week went well, but recovery is going to take some time.  It's about what I was expecting, but much harder I think than she was expecting.  She had her first physical therapy appointment at her apartment last week though, and they are transferring her up to the Denver area office, since it's quickly become clear that she is NOT going home as soon as she thought.  Physical therapy is three times a week, this week and next.  I expect her to be staying with me until at least the end of next week, if not longer, since she can't drive until at least the beginning of March.

Today my dad has a procedure of his own, so I'm waiting at the hospital for him now, with plans to spend the night at his place tonight since it's a cardiac procedure and he's going under anesthesia.  That leaves my husband to take care of my mom, although I do plan to stop home for a bit this afternoon or evening to help my mom get a shower.

Frustratingly, if physical therapy is going to be at our house, I need to finish some cleanup and organization, but I won't be home to do as much as I'd really like to do.  The next appointment isn't scheduled yet but I'm assuming it'll be tomorrow, which doesn't give me much time.  I still need to clear a path for the walker upstairs to the bathroom, as I'm assuming the therapist will want to work on getting in and out of the shower.  The walker is wider than I thought it would be, so we've had to adjust the width of some of the pathways throughout the house; being an older house, my house has narrower hallways and doorways.

With all this on my plate, my goal for the week is, once again:

1. Survive

I just have to focus on getting through the next couple weeks, and then things should be much easier for a while.

Weekly Goals, Week 5: Best Laid Plans

Shortly after posting last week, I got sick, and it was a doozy.  I slept most of the day Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  I kept thinking just one more day of resting, and I'd be able to get back to work.  Not so.  I finally felt halfway human when I woke up on Monday, but even then, I ran out of steam quickly and had to nap halfway through the day.

So today I'm in a frenzy to not just get my house ready for my mom to recover here, but also to clean and sanitize everything so she doesn't get sick while she's recovering.  Last night we picked up some heavy-duty cleaners, more serious ones than what I'd usually use, and today I'm doing endless amounts of laundry.  I'm just washing everything: the blankets I used in my sick nest on the couch, our bedding, the guest bedding, and all the regular laundry, as it was overdue as well.  Later I'll be scrubbing all surfaces in the bathrooms and kitchen.

So all my planning and hopes and goals are out the window.  I have one goal this week:

1. Survive

Send help.

Weekly Goals, Week 4: Down to the Wire

Whew!  For a minute there I thought that just like last week, I was going to let the entire week go by again before sitting down to write this post.  It's the problem about being busy with things that keep me away from my computer: Things like blogging don't get done.

This week we're officially down to the wire.  My mom's surgery is next Thursday, a week from tomorrow, which means we have a week to get the house (or at least the parts she needs to be able to access) passable for a walker.  I feel like I'm struggling still to get the doll room cleaned up, so I'm not sure how on track I am at this point.  Thankfully we still have a full weekend coming up, which I should probably use to focus on my mom's spaces (instead of finishing up the doll room).

I've had a busy week so far, but I've been putting work in on the doll room where I can.  Yesterday I worked on a doll tea photo shoot for the museum, for photos that we'll use to promote some upcoming events.  I'll need to put together some marketing images and copy, and I also need to work on a website for a client (hopefully some minor work), but I may or may not get to those this week.  The priority is probably the museum images and copy for the February event, since there's a time crunch on those; everything else can be shifted off until next week.

Despite those small goals, the overall goal of organizing and cleaning up the house stays the same.  Here are my goals for the rest of the week and the weekend:

1. Work on organization projects
2. Work on February event marketing

Besides organizing and cleaning up, I included the marketing materials for the February event.  I didn't include the other projects because they're not quite as important; all other client work can wait until next week.  For now I need to focus as much of my energy as possible on getting the house ready for my mom's recovery!

Weekly Goals 2024, Week 3: Holiday Week Blues

Yikes.  Since I'm writing this on Friday instead of at the beginning of the week, I guess this edition is more of a week-in-review than weekly goals.  But I didn't want to skip writing about the week altogether.

Last week was actually pretty productive.  I got a bunch done in my organization project, on top of babysitting and other obligations.  It was a good week.

This week has been a struggle as far as productivity goes.  I don't know if it's because it was a short week due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, or because I feel like I'm coming out of hibernation after the extreme cold of the holiday weekend, or just a "productivity hangover" from how much I'd been getting done before that.  We've been super busy lately, and that does sometimes have the effect of making me into a slug once the pressure lets up a little.

The weekend was tough, partially because we had extreme cold with one day (Monday) not even making it above zero, and the other days over the weekend only marginally better than that.  I thought that while it was cold, I'd be motivated to get stuff done inside, but the opposite seemed to be the case: It made me want to hibernate.  The effect was compounded by the fact that I was dog sitting for the weekend, and we ended up with the dog for an extra night when the family got stuck in the mountains due to the snow and cold.  Their dog can't be left alone, and tends to shadow me at home, which also makes it difficult to get anything done while she's here.

I thought once I dropped the dog off home on Tuesday and the weather warmed up, I'd be able to get stuff done, but I forgot to take into account that my mom was coming over on Tuesday.  She stayed the night and didn't leave until late in the day on Wednesday, so that took out two more days.  Yesterday I felt like I struggled to get anything done, and today has been much the same.

I'm thankful today is Friday.  Today I have some copy I need to write for the museum, and then with the rest of the weekend my main goal is to get back to work on organizing.  I have two weekends left to get the house ready for my mom before her procedure on February 1st, so I need to get moving on that.

Weekly Goals 2024: Week 2

I can't believe it's already the second week of January!  Last week started out with the post-holiday drag getting back into the swing of things, but it ended with absolutely crazy levels of busyness, at least for me.

My only goal for last week was to work on cleanup and organization, and you know what?  I accomplished that!  And actually, I made a lot of progress.  My doll room has been a wreck for a year (okay, probably longer than that, but for a year since I moved it to the bigger room) and I finally started tackling that.  We cleaned and organized pretty much all weekend.  We got a lot done, but there's still a lot left to do.

I'm also trucking along on my social media marketing research project.

This week I decided to focus fully on organization.  I can get started on all other projects (working on my novel, working on client dolls, and now taxes coming up soon, too) once the organization is all finished, but right now we have a time crunch: My mom is having a procedure February 1st, and will need to stay with us for a little while afterward.  That means I need to make sure everything is organized and passable for her while using a walker, which means I have a lot to finish before then.

That being said, I do have a couple other things preventing me from focusing solely on that this week.  I have a scheduled photo shoot with the doll museum tomorrow, a doctor's appointment on Wednesday all the way across town, and babysitting Thursday and Friday.  So my available time will be a little spotty until this weekend.  (I'll also be dog sitting over the weekend, but we should be able to work on organization while the dog is here.)

So like last week, I only have the one goal:

1. Work on organization projects

This week I hope to finish the doll room and get started on the living room.  The living room is where the sofa bed is for my mom, but in order to put away all the doll stuff scattered about, I need to first finish cleaning up and organizing the doll room.  Then I can do the living room and make room for the walker she'll need after her procedure to get through.

So I'll just keep focusing on this for now, and anything else I can accomplish during the week is just icing on the cake!

Weekly Goals 2024: Week 1

Did you miss me last week?  I decided to take the week off from blogging and all work-related things.  Zac was off the week between Christmas and New Year's, and I just wanted to focus on our house projects together.  I was hoping to get a year's worth of house projects done in a week, but of course that didn't work out so well.  As usual, I forgot about the need to eat, sleep, relax, and see friends and family (after all, it was the holiday week!).

Still, we made a lot of progress that we wouldn't have otherwise, and I'm pleased with what we did.  Plus we were able to do it at a pretty leisurely pace, so we felt like we got to relax over vacation too.  It was a good balance.

With the new year I've decided to do something a little different with my weekly goals posts.  This week is the first week of 2024, so I'm going to start over with my weekly count, and we'll just count up to 52 weeks.  It'll be easier to keep track of my weekly goals, and ultimately, my goals for 2024 as well.

My goals for the last tracked week of the year didn't pan out very well.  Since it was the week leading up to Christmas, I'm not surprised, and I did somewhat anticipate it since I specifically said I was focusing mostly on my first two goals, working on organization and my novel.  I did manage to get some work done on organization, but nothing on my novel.

Last week I did a pretty poor job of tracking our time working on things, which is really too bad.  I did spend quite a bit of time on organization, but I forgot to track probably 75 percent of it.  But I managed a reorganization of the sales closet, pantry, and both bathrooms, and got a substantial amount of work done catching up on filing.

This week is still shifting and changing, so I don't know entirely right now what the entire week is going to look like.  My mom is trying to schedule a pre-op and surgery for a replacement, so a lot of my next couple weeks is in limbo until I find out when that will be.  Meanwhile, I'm trying to schedule a time to film a couple of videos with a local doll shop, and possibly some babysitting next week as well.

With all that in limbo, it's difficult to set goals for this week, so I'm focusing on the minimum I want to accomplish, regardless of what else gets planned or rescheduled or moved around.

1. Work on organization projects

You know what, we're just going to go with that this week.  Maybe it's just because I'm having a hard time transitioning back to a "regular" work day, but right now I feel like I can't manage very much at the moment.  So I'll just focus on that until it's done (or at least to a place where I'm satisfied with it)!

Goals for 2024

I feel like the end of 2023 rushed up on me before I was ready, and here we are, two days into the new year!

I looked back to my goals post for 2023, and was surprised to see that I didn't post it until February last year.  I didn't remember taking that long to get around to writing about my goals.

When I wrote that post, I still had a freelance client I was working for.  That ended a month or two later when the platform didn't pay me.  I had to fight to get paid, which I did eventually, but they retaliated by kicking me off the platform.  I tried another platform, but I didn't care for it.  I had already been contemplating what I wanted to do with my freelance career, though, so it wasn't a difficult decision to let my freelancing lapse for now.

Currently I'm writing materials on a volunteer basis for the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls & Toys, where I'm also on the board, and for now that's my only professional writing work.  Eventually I might take up freelancing again but for now I'm pursuing other things.

As for those other things, I didn't accomplish what I wanted in 2023, but I'm hoping to have better luck in 2024.  I wanted to finish my first novel of Ruby Ransome and start the self-publishing process, but I took a break from working on the novel around the holidays and never got back to it again until NaNoWriMo 2023 rolled around.  I'm hoping to accomplish those things this year, though.  I took a break from writing for the holidays and to get my house projects done, similarly to last year, but I have hope that I'll be able to get back to work on it more easily this year.  I have more momentum this year, and hopefully all the work I've been doing on covers will keep me excited and motivated, too!

As I mentioned last year, I don't really do New Year's resolutions anymore.  I used to set a handful of resolutions at the start of every year, and then fail spectacularly at them throughout the year.  I stopped because it was so discouraging to go through the same pattern every year.

This year, though, I am going to set one writing goal.  I debated on making it to publish my novel, but I decided that's a lot of pressure, especially as I'll be new to the publishing process.  What if something goes wrong?

So instead, I'm setting this goal for 2024:

Finish Ruby Ransome and Pandora's Box.

I like that goal because it's enough progress that it's more than I've been able to do so far, but not so much that it'll be too easy to fail at.  And honestly, even if publishing gets delayed for some reason, just having finished the novel will be a major achievement for me.

Last year, 2023, was definitely a significant improvement over 2022 (the year where my horse almost died), but I think I can do better this year!