Accountability and Progress, Week 22

Once again, I'm considering whether I want to keep doing this style of accountability and progress posts.  I am going to try transitioning to a "Weekly Goals" format, with a summary of what I'm working on each week.  I'll still address what I accomplished the week before, but it should be a simpler format.

Last week was another week that didn't entirely go as planned.  My overall hours (which Toggl tracks) were down as well, although I think that's partly because I forgot to log some of my organization hours in Toggl.  I worked a little on sorting expense receipts in preparation for taxes, worked a little on organization, and did some prep and scheduling for NaNoWriMo, but overall I struggled to get much done.

This week I'm making a big final push to get the bulk of my organization projects done before November starts.  I have pushed off the work on the doll stringing ebook, and might consider that part of NaNoWriMo.  I'll probably do some prep work on my novel later this week or in the last few days of October so that I'm ready for NaNoWriMo to start Tuesday night at the kickoff.

I also have a couple of projects that really need to be started this week.  One is a couple of dolls I'm restoring for a local client, and the other is a doll article I'm going to write for the newsletter of the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys.  The director wants to improve doll representation, as she feels like the doll community is feeling a little left out, especially after the museum's Fall Show, which is primarily miniatures.  I'm meeting with her on Thursday to talk about the article.

I also have some things I want to list locally for sale, larger doll items that I don't want to have to ship.  That'll be income generating, so I should probably do it sooner rather than later.

Assuming this new format works out, I think I'll plan on making a list of no more than a few goals each week, to keep things simple and keep me focused.  This week it's all especially simple:

1. Get as much as possible done on the organization project
2. Refamiliarize myself with my novel in preparation for NaNoWriMo
3. Get started working on a local client's dolls
4. Get started on an article for the museum newsletter
5. List some items for sale locally

Let's try this format and see how it goes.  It's a little simpler and will hopefully help me to meet my goals a little better, but I'm also hoping to make the posts a little less boring.  And of course, I'm still planning on posting more in general.

Edit: All future posts will be under the tag weekly goals. 

Accountability and Progress: Week 21

A few things have changed since I last wrote an accountability and progress post.  I started journaling to see if that would help me keep track of what I'm doing (and not doing), and also help with more frequent motivation to get things done.  I sometimes find that writing about what I need to do helps me to get going on them, but so far the journal is hit or miss as to whether that works.

I also had a really busy week last week, as expected, so that may be why sometimes journaling is a miss: I just don't have the energy to do things, even if I want to after writing about them.

Another new thing I'm trying is a product called brain.fm.  It's a music service geared toward helping with focusing, relaxing, or sleeping.  A writer friend recommended it and said it's really good for help focusing.  So far I'm liking it!  I will write more about it in a future post.

Last week was busy, as I mentioned.  Looking back on my Toggl tracking for the week, most of the busyness was "stuff for other people" rather than "stuff for myself."  I spent a lot of time babysitting, dog sitting, and working on Sunday's event at the doll museum.  I thought babysitting was going to prevent me from volunteering during the event, but as it turned out, I was able to come and help, just a little late.  It was a good thing, too, as the event turned out to be a full house!

Here's the rundown of last week's progress, and this week's plans.

Doll stringing ebook: I currently have this scheduled for a little later this week.  I do want to finish organizing my work spaces before take photos, so that I have the space and setup to get professional-looking photos.  That's part of why I keep pushing this. 

Ruby Ransome: I did push this back again, but this is the last time I can do so, as I want the last week of November to re-familiarize myself with where I'm at in the novel.

Blogs, websites, and social media: I've made a little bit of a comeback in the past week regarding my social media and blog maintenance, and am hoping to get a little more done this week.  I have some filming and photography scheduled for throughout this week and next.

Other projects: Last week I spent a lot of time prepping and volunteering for the doll event that was held yesterday.  This coming week, I need to schedule a meeting with the museum director, as I'm going to write a doll-related article for the newsletter and also start helping to plan the December doll event (which should be simpler).  I'm also hoping to get a lot more done on organization projects around the house, as I want to have that done before November and am quickly running out of time to do so.

On the horizon: I have most of the prep work done for November, with the kickoff, TGIO (thank goodness it's over party), and the bulk of my write-ins scheduled.  I might schedule one or two more, but for the most part that prep work is done, and I just have to wait for NaNoWriMo to start (not long now!).

This week promises to be busy, but not the mad rush of last week, thankfully.  My main goal is to make up for lost time on the organization projects due to the busyness of last week.

Accountability and Progress: Week 20

Last week was another crazy week!  I actually got a lot done, too, of which I'm proud.  Not all of the things I wanted to do, but some important things, so that's good.

Looking back at my Toggl tracking for the week, I'm actually impressed with how much I did.  On Monday we finished some of the projects from the weekend.  Tuesday I had a productivity hangover and didn't get much done, but Wednesday I did a bunch of planning and blogging, Thursday I restrung a doll for a client and babysat, Friday I finished up some things and got the doll ready to mail out, and Saturday I mailed her out.  That's one of the quickest turnarounds I've ever had, so I'm proud of that!  And then Saturday we worked more on organization (and picked up a new cabinet I found to contribute toward better organization), and yesterday I babysat super early and attended a board meeting for the museum.

Yesterday I had hoped to get some more done around the house, but I was so exhausted from babysitting at 6am that I knew there was a good possibility I wouldn't get much else done that day, and gave myself permission not to.  And it turned out that I didn't, not just because I was tired but also because a friend of ours had a crisis and I spent the afternoon worrying about her.  After all that, I decided to read all evening, and was very glad I did.

I also received my new Kindle Scribe on Saturday and was reading and journaling on it all yesterday.  I'll blog about that sometime soon, too, because I'm incredibly excited about this new device!

Here's a more detailed rundown of how last week's productivity met expectations, and what I'm hoping to accomplish this week.

Doll stringing ebook: This has been moved again, but with everything else I got done the past week, I'm not sorry.  I've pushed this back to next week in hopes of completing more of my organizing project by then.

Ruby Ransome: I've also pushed this back until next week, though I may focus on updating the ebook next week and re-familiarize myself with the novel the following week, right before NaNoWriMo.

Blogs, websites, and social media: I'm slacking a little in the social media department lately, but I did get several blog posts up last week, on both this blog and my novel's blog.  I want to make a goal of at least one post per blog per week, and will expand that goal from there as I get a better handle on blogging regularly again.  Eventually I'd like to have all my blogs updated several times a week.

Other projects: At the beginning of last week, we finished mounting shelves and a TV in the bedroom, but then didn't work much more on the organization project until Saturday, when we rearranged the living room and picked up a new doll cabinet.  I still need to finish rearranging and reorganizing the living room and getting the cabinet filled, which I'm hoping to do this week.  I also have more to do in the bedroom, kitchen, and dinette, but I feel like I'm making good progress.

On the horizon: I'm still working on getting everything set up for NaNoWriMo next month, but we're getting there!  I still need to finalize details for the kickoff and a few write-ins, but we're getting there.

As I noted in last week's conclusion, I have a lot of balls in the air, so I'm trying to focus on the most important things for now.  All in all, last week was pretty productive, and I'm hoping to get a lot done this week too!

Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which can earn me a small commission for any purchases made through them.  Thank you for your support!

Accountability and Progress: Week 18

Last week turned out to be pretty eventful, so I didn't get much done that I had planned.  This week has been complicated so far as well, which is why I'm only now getting around to posting about my plans for the week, when the week is half over.

I feel like much of last week is a blur, so I'm going to reconstruct what I can.

Doll stringing ebook: I ended up having to move this again.  I moved it to next week since I knew I wouldn't get to it this week.  I really do need to get these pictures and finish the ebook updates, though.  I want to get this ebook back up for sale again.

Ruby Ransome: I'm fairly resigned to not starting to work on this again until probably October.  (Which is, alarmingly, just a few days away at this point.)  NaNoWriMo is coming up quickly, and I don't want to be scrambling to figure out where I'm at with it again during November, so I do need to get back to work on it in October.

Blogging and website maintenance: This definitely fell by the wayside in the last week.  I've had ideas for some content that I haven't been able to carry out, though, so hopefully soon.

Other projects: I did, fortunately, get some work done on my organization project.  In addition to doing some reorganization in my "sales closet" that I think will make it more functional, I also started organizing the dinette to double as a photography studio when I need to take pictures.  I have a few more things to do to finish the job, and some related content planned for later this week that is also part of this project.  I want to get it done this week or weekend, since it will facilitate other content coming up.

On the horizon: NaNoWriMo approacheth!  At this point, it's just over a month away, which means I really need to get serious about planning.  I've reached out to several venues that host some of our events in November, so I've officially started the ball rolling.  Getting started on planning early is helpful as it leaves less to do at the last minute.  One of my co-organizers who is less able to run write-ins this year has offered to write all the email blasts, which is a relief, so I'll just need to do some planning this year and that's it.

Sometimes it doesn't feel like I've gotten much done even when I make this list, but looking at my sales closet, dinette, and kitchen, I can see the evidence of how much I accomplished.  Since getting organized and establishing spaces for things like sales stuff and photography is so fundamental to getting my other things done, every time I start feeling like I haven't done enough, I look around and remind myself of how much I have done.

It's getting there, slowly but surely, and sometimes it's important to look at the progress instead of feeling bad that it's not done yet.

Accountability and Progress: Week 17

I can't believe what a cluster last week ended up being.  Some of it's sensitive so I don't want to get into  all of it, but suffice it to say that my husband's cold was only the first interruption of the week.  Car problems and a rather stressful situation with one of my Facebook groups took care of the rest.

This week is already off to a rip-roaring start, too.  I have a lot on my list to do for the week, but today didn't go as planned.  Tomorrow won't either, since I have to run an unexpected errand, and then I have a (planned) visit from my mom in the evening.  I have planned "interruptions" pretty much every day this week, actually, which is going to leave little time to get things done.

One of the "interruptions" is a big deal and an accomplishment, if it goes well, so I can't feel bad about that.  I'm just frustrated with the lack of time to work on things I'd like to work on.

I'll do my best though, and probably spend some time trying to catch up on stuff around the house on the weekend.  Here's last week's rundown, and the plan for this week.

Doll stringing ebook: I did move this to Wednesday, and I'm glad I did as there was no way it would have gotten done today.  I'm hoping to get back on track so that I won't push it back again.

Ruby Ransome: Once again, I opted to shift this back another week.  I have too much to do this week.  I am reminding myself that I told myself last week that was okay!

Blogging and website maintenance: I didn't get much done here, on social media either.  Just two blog posts last week.  I have ideas for some reels, but I haven't had a chance to film them yet.

Other projects: Not much happened with my organization project last week.  Even the weekend ended up being too full to work on anything.  Hopefully I can make up for that this week.  I'm trying to leave the weekend open for it.

On the horizon: I meant to reach out to my various contacts about starting to make plans for NaNoWriMo, but it didn't happen last week.  It's on the docket for this week.  It's too early to be making most plans yet, but there are a few things that should get on the calendar sooner rather than later.

Some weeks I feel pretty good about things, and other weeks I feel like I'm caught in a riptide and I need to focus on keeping my head above water before I can even think about trying to go anywhere else.  Last week was one of the latter, and this week may not be much better.  Hopefully by the end of the week all the "interruptions" will be over with and I can spend some time over the weekend on my projects.

Accountability and Progress: Week 16

I can't believe I've been doing these progress posts for almost four months now.  Looking back on the first ever weekly progress post, I realized a lot of my current projects were on my list even then.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  The cleaning and organizing overhaul is a massive project and one that I don't work on equally every day or even every week, so that's why it's still on my list.  Plus, I have made progress over the past three and a half months; I just have to look around my living room to see how much.

But there are other projects that I feel bad about not having accomplished anything on yet, mostly those projects waiting in the wings for me to finish other things and get back to work on them.  These are projects such as my doll stringing ebook and my novel, things I promise each week I'll get back to work on, but that keep getting pushed back.

Is it a race, though?  Do I have to do them right now?  When I stop and think about it, I don't really have to get right to work on them.  I'm working on other things that are more important at the moment.

Last week didn't see a lot of progress on any projects, though.  I worked on a project for one of the Facebook groups that I run, and got my exhibit ready for the Fall Show.  That was, unfortunately, the bulk of what I accomplished last week.

This week I'm hoping to get more done with my organization project, and maybe get a couple of large items listed for sale to clear some space.

Doll stringing ebook: I scheduled this for next Monday, and that's still the case.  I'm going to try not to have to move it again because I need to get that project done.

Ruby Ransome: I shifted this back another week.  Honestly, at this point maybe I won't get to it until closer to NaNoWriMo, or even until NaNoWriMo, and that's okay.  I just want to make sure I get my organization project done before NaNoWriMo, so that I can focus on NaNo in November.

Blogging and website maintenance: You can see that last week was a little challenging for me, as I didn't get any other blog work done.  I did get some quick content (reels) at the Fall Show over the weekend, and have some more content planned for this week.  I think I'm also going to change the title of this category, or maybe I need to separate out social media into its own category.  I'll have to think on that.

Other projects: I didn't get much done on my organization project last week, but I'm hoping to catch up in a major way this week.  I have lots of ideas for what I want to do next, but there is of course always more to do.

On the horizon: NaNoWirMo is coming up and I need to start looking at plans.  At this stage, I probably just need to reach out to the coffee shop that usually hosts our kickoff party and some of our write-ins and make sure they're on board for this year.  Not a lot else needs to be planned yet, but pretty soon we'll be planning write-ins and other small events, so I'll start reaching out to other businesses soon too.

I love when the start to a week feels so promising, like there's a lot to do and I'm full of hope that I can get it all done.  That being said, today's plans have already gone astray, so we'll see what the week has in store for me!

Accountability and Progress: Week 15

I'm really enjoying how things are shaping up around the house.  We got a lot more done this past week, especially over the holiday weekend, and it's so satisfying every time something else takes shape.  Unfortunately, we also had to give up some of our time over the weekend to dealing with car maintenance, and I babysat for most of yesterday as well.

I also got some work done blogging last week, but most of what I did was organizing and such around the house.  I've pretty much given up on doing the super ambitious content push.  I'm just going to try to do some videos as time allows.  This week I expect will be pretty quick without a lot of opportunities for much, since it's a short week due to the holiday, plus I'm losing so much of the week due to obligations outside the house.

Doll stringing ebook: I'm putting this back on the to-do list, but scheduling it out for the week after next.  This week is a hot mess already, and next week I want to try to get around to doing some content.

Ruby Ransome: I had planned on getting back to work on my novel this week, but with the short week and the myriad other demands on my time, I'm actually going to put that off until next week.

Blogging and website maintenance: I'm still working on ramping up my work in this category.  I blogged exactly twice last week, though, so this area definitely needs work, and across my other websites and blogs as well.  My social media participation slowed down a little last week too, so it was just a slow week overall for everything but my organization projects and a couple other things.  I'm hoping to do a little better this coming week (what there is of it).

Other projects: I worked some more on the copy, flyers, and social media content for the museum's doll event coming up in October, and I think that's more or less done now.  I had to finalize it before the museum's Fall Show this coming weekend, so they could make flyers for the show.  And of course I've been working on cleaning and organizing, and making good progress on that.  Lots more to do this week and next, too!

On the horizon: I picked up my business cards to display at the Fall Show, and now I really need to work on planning my exhibit.  I have some ideas of how I want to set it up, so this week I'll work on that.  Friday is setup day, and I'll probably set up mostly in the afternoon.  I'm also volunteering at the show on Sunday, so I expect a fair bit of my weekend will be taken up with this show.  Unfortunately that does mean I may not have another weekend to spend on cleaning and organizing until the following weekend!

This weekend is going to be over before I know it, and without much time to get things done, between the holiday, today being mostly over already, car issues, a farrier appointment for the horses, and the Fall Show Friday through Sunday.  I think it's fair not to have many ambitions for this week, and just try to get through it with my to-do list more or less intact.  I'll work more on getting things done next week.

Accountability and Progress: Week 14

This past week has reminded me of how energizing productivity can be.  When you get things done, even if it's not everything you'd planned, you feel motivated to do more.

I'm feeling especially motivated by everything I've gotten done because we've been doing big things with the house organization, and as a result I can really see everything we've accomplished.  It's a good feeling!

That being said, last week was a trying week.  On Friday I spent my day dealing with two plugged drains and a leaking disposal.  I really thought I'd be spending the weekend replacing the disposal.  Fortunately that didn't turn out to be the case, as once the kitchen drain was cleared, the disposal stopped leaking.  I'm sure it's only a matter of time before those leaks get bad enough to be a problem even without a sink full of water, especially since that disposal has been jamming on us periodically over the last year or two.  But I'll take the reprieve and be glad of it for now!

As you can imagine, the home maintenance work threw a wrench in my plans later on in the week, but truth be told my week had already gone astray.  Here's the rundown.

Doll stringing ebook: Still putting this off, although I need to put it back on my to-do list soon, since it's becoming evident that I won't accomplish all the content I was hoping to do.

Ruby Ransome: I'm still putting off working on the novel as well, but I did spend time last week on a training NaNoWriMo headquarters asked Municipal Liaisons to do.  I can't believe NaNoWriMo is coming up so fast!  Only two months before the madness begins!

Blogging and website maintenance: I am pleased to have gotten some other blogging than just this weekly post done last week, even though I didn't get around to doing the massive content push I've been intending to do for my doll business.  I do still want to do a little of that, so I hope to get started on it this week, but I no longer have the Herculean expectations I originally had for myself.  I'm also planning to continue the other blog posts, both here and on my other blogs.

Other projects: I've been working a lot on organizing this past week, and I'm happy to say that it's paying off.  The living room is beginning to look how I want it and I'm getting doll displays put up where I want them too.  As things get organized and put away, I can start producing content as well as getting organized to start selling again.  We got some more of it done this evening, and I have more projects planned for the rest of the week and especially the weekend, as my husband will have a four-day weekend due to the holiday on Monday.

On the horizon: The museum's Fall Show is looming closer!  I did get business cards ordered, and just in the nick of time: I should be getting them early next week, and then the show is that weekend.  I still need to plan that exhibit and possibly get some dolls ready for it too.  I am on the fence about this "collab" opportunity, as I suspect they were just trying to recruit new users for their site, and not actually looking for a real collab opportunity with me.  I'm wondering if it's worth my time to investigate further, or if I should just drop it now.

Due to my husband's short week, my week will probably be a little short as well, as I don't try to do a lot of work when he's off.  I'm okay with that, though, as I seem to get more done with the cleaning and organization projects when he's helping!

Accountability and Progress: Week 13

Last week did not go as planned.

First of all, the content push has not happened.  At all.  I'm okay with it, since I am relatively happy with what did get done, but it's still worth noting.

I did get a good amount of work done on the household cleanup and reorganization project, though a lot of that was on the weekend, when I had my husband's help.  I also had a surprise planning meeting for the next doll event at the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys, where I volunteer my time on the board and planning events.  After the meeting I spent some time writing marketing copy for the event and designing a flyer for social media.

I'm hoping to get some work done this week on the content push, but I'm no longer feeling like it's as necessary to do a huge push and get everything I'd planned out in a span of just a few weeks.  Looking back, that was probably a pretty ludicrous way to approach it.  Plus, I still have more to do in my reorganization project, which needs to come first if I'm to make space for working on dolls, taking pictures, and filming content.

This next week I'm making a more relaxed effort to get to the content, but it won't be until a little later in the week.  There are some organizational things I want to finish up first.  And of course, it's already late in the day on Tuesday, so you can tell my week has already not gotten off to a very quick start.

Doll stringing ebook: I'm still putting this off for a few weeks while I finish up the organization and work (a little less hard) on the content push.

Ruby Ransome: I'm still putting this off for a few weeks as well.  As an aside, though, NaNoWriMo prompted its MLs to pre-order stickers for our regions already.  It was a shocking reminder of how quickly November is coming!

Blogging and website maintenance: I do hope to be producing some content over the next week, so that'll mean at least a couple blog posts.  I also realized this blog is getting kinda boring with nothing but weekly rundowns, so I'm planning on adding at least one other post each week.

Other projects: I worked on organizing over the weekend and I'm quite pleased with the progress.  I have plenty more to do in the coming week, but I'm happy to see more work spaces emerging.  Eventually I'd like to move my office space back upstairs to my desk, but that is a while out, so for now I want to make the kitchen a little more usable as a temporary work space for writing, as well as my main work space for working on dolls and producing content. 

On the horizon: I still need to plan out my exhibit for the museum's Fall Show, plus I have this new doll event to help plan.  Hopefully the bulk of the content writing for it is done.  I was also asked to work with a collectibles sales site where I could sell dolls and other things, so I need to look into the feasibility of that.  They may have just been looking to market their site to new sellers, but it appears to be a more content-driven sales platform, so I'm intrigued enough to at least look into it and find out more about any collab they might have had in mind.

It's funny how on paper this doesn't sound like very much, but in practice my days are pretty full and I'm often frustrated by not having as much time as I would need to do everything I want to do.  Wish me luck!

Accountability and Progress: Week 12

This week I'm actually posting on Monday, so already, a win!  (At least, I choose to see it as such.)

Last week didn't finish too badly.  We got a lot of cleaning and organization done, and got the new couch into the living room and set up.  All of the cleaning and organization that I didn't do last year when my horse was sick is coming back to bite me now that I'm finally trying to get caught up on it, as there is a LOT that still needs to be done.  But we did get a lot done, so I'm happy with our progress.

I also mentioned in last week's post that I was filming with a local doll shop.  That went well and the video should be going live soon.

This week I am planning on catching up on some content I've been planning for my doll business: how to videos, blog posts, and Instagram posts.  Originally I was planning on getting started today, but I still have more to organization to do so I'll probably get started on the content tomorrow instead.

This week's rundown should be pretty quick:

Doll stringing ebook: I've put this off for a few weeks so that I can work on this content push.

Ruby Ransome: I'm putting this off for a few weeks as well.

Blogging and website maintenance: As I mentioned, I'm planning on doing a major content push over the next couple of weeks.  As part of that, I'll be doing a bunch of blog posts on my doll blog.

Other projects: I do have more to work on this week for my organization project, primarily finishing organizing the living room, but also hanging some shelves in a few other rooms.  Once the living room is done I still have more to do in the rest of the house, too.

On the horizon: Last week I mentioned that I'll be doing a display for the local doll museum's show next month.  I do need to get to work planning that, and I'll also be working on another doll event for the museum in October.

The content push is going to be a substantial amount of work.  I'm hoping I have it in me to buckle down and work hard on this, but I'm also reminding myself that I don't have to if it's too much, or I can dial it back and take my time.  I have a lot of videos I've been meaning to do, but that doesn't mean they all have to be done in the next few weeks.  So this coming week will be a little bit of finishing up my organization project in the living room, and then feeling out my schedule as far as the content goes.

We'll see how this goes!

Accountability and Progress: Week 11.666

Well.  Last week did not go as planned, and this week has not gone as planned either (hence why I'm writing this on Thursday night).  But I will try to catch up.

Last week I had big plans to get lots of stuff done.  I was going to clean and organize, take pictures for my ebook, work on my novel, and work on my blogs and social media content.  But then early in the week we saw a couch that would work perfectly to replace our old couch and allow us to have guests over.  The priority of the weekly quickly turned into getting the living room ready for a new couch.

That project consumed me last week, and while it meant shuffling off everything else, I'm not sorry because the end result is going to be getting our living room cleaned and organized so much sooner than we had planned.  We moved the old couch out on Tuesday and have been working on getting the living room ready for the new couch.

But this reminds me that I wanted to tell you the story of my week to better explain how quickly things go awry in my life.  Sunday night I made plans for the week.  Monday my mom called to say she was going to visit on Wednesday so we could finally see Barbie.  Tuesday a local doll store I regularly collaborate with asked if I could film on Thursday.  Wednesday a family I babysit for asked if I could dog sit Thursday through Sunday.  Today (Thursday) while I was filming they said they didn't need it after all (a relief, but still, a significant change of plans).  And through all of this there has been a sick horse at the barn that we've been helping with.

Needless to say, not much has gotten done on the living room thus far, but I'm hoping to salvage some of my time this weekend.  Next week I'm planning on launching a big content push on my websites, YouTube channel, and Instagram accounts, so I need to get the organization stuff squared away as much as possible in the next three days.

I'll do a quick rundown of last week (before it gets totally out of my head) and what I want to accomplish with the scant remainder of this week, just to keep myself on track.

Doll stringing ebook: I didn't get to this last week and I know at this point that I won't be getting to it this week either.  It's not a big part of my content push next week so I will probably put this off for a couple weeks.

Ruby Ransome: Same thing: hasn't happened yet.  I will be deferring this a couple of weeks as well, as I expect my content push next week to take up most of my time.

Blogging and website maintenance: I worked a little on planning out my content push last week, but then all those plans went south when this week's plans went awry, as described above.  I haven't had much time to work on said content this week, but I'm planning on devoting most of next week to it.

Other projects: The scope of this project has changed a little, since I'm now focusing on the living room instead of the kitchen and other more frequented doll spaces, but it all eventually leads to the same goal so that's okay.  With the remainder of this week (and weekend), I'm planning to finish organizing the living room, get the new couch set up, and finish organizing in the kitchen too.  Once both of these rooms are done, the bulk of my doll spaces will be finished, particularly the spaces I need to use the most for photography, content creation, and repairs.

On the horizon: This week, this category seems to be pertinent as well.  I've been asked to create a display at the doll museum's show in early September, so I need to plan my display and get several things (such as ordering my new business cards) in order before then.

While the surprise living room shake-up totally derailed several weeks' worth of plans, I'm not sorry.  It's been a powerful incentive to get certain things done.  I just hope that I can stay on track now!

Accountability and Progress: Week 10

I did a little better with my productivity last week, compared to the week before.  I got a little more done than the previous week, although my time was limited as I'd expected.  (I also stayed up late almost every night to read, finishing multiple books over the course of the week, which didn't help my morning productivity any.)

As planned, I prioritized cleaning and organizing.  I made a lot of progress, but unfortunately it's not really quantifiable progress, and I'm not done yet, so it's hard to feel like I accomplished enough last week.  I can, however, say that I spend a whole eight hours on it, and I can see the improvements, so I guess that's something.  I do still have a lot more I want to do this coming week, however.

There's one other thing I've been spending a lot of weekend time on, which is displacing other work-type activities that would normally overflow into the weekends: I've been cleaning up and organizing my tack locker at the barn.  Last weekend I cleaned and reorganized all of my grooming supplies and tack and took down all the hooks in the locker in preparation for reorganizing everything.  This weekend I mounted saddle racks in the locker, and this week I'm planning on mounting a shelf and new hooks.  I've had the help of my leaser and her two daughters, who were earning some rides on my horses by helping with the project.  (Last weekend they washed all of my brushes and buckets, and this weekend they field washed my horses' blankets so I can repair them and put them away until winter; next weekend they're going to help with tacking cleaning and oiling.)

It's not necessarily working toward my primarily and professional goals, but it's still a goal I've had that was largely forgotten when my horse was sick and needed so much attention last year, so I'm glad to be working on it.

As for my primary goals, though, here's the rundown:

Doll stringing ebook: This didn't happen again, but I have it rescheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.  If I can finish the reorganization of my primarily doll repair and photography spaces today, I'll be able to take the pictures I need for the ebook, and after that I just need to revise the instructions and put a few other finishing touches on it.

Ruby Ransome: I deferred this a week until August 1st, but that's tomorrow.  I'm using the evening time where I would normally plan to work on my novel as cleaning and organization overflow, in case this afternoon doesn't go as planned.

Blogging and website maintenance: I didn't do too badly on this last week, as I got some blogging done and some updates on Instagram.  I have more to do this coming week, but again, a good portion of it hinges on getting my cleaning and organization done, as those are my photography and filming spaces.

Other projects: I got a fair amount done on my cleaning and organization project this week, but I still have more to do this week.  Most of it is scheduled for later today, so that I can take pictures and video later in the week, including pictures for the ebook.  I'm also planning to work on my doll room organization a little, so that ultimately I can start photographing and listing my extra inventory for sale again.

It's likely to be a very full week, but hopefully I can accomplish what I need to do.  The cleaning and organization in particular is very important, since that needs to be done before I can move on to a variety of other things.

Accountability and Progress: Week 9

Last week, man... Last week was a hot mess.  It felt like everything conspired to keep me from what I was intending to work on.

Realistically, I knew about a lot of it in advance.  I had a farrier appointment for my horses, my dad had a procedure I needed to drive him to and from (and waited with him beforehand and while he was in surgery), and (on a happier note) I had a ride scheduled with a friend on Friday.

Looking back at last week's post, I guess I did expect my time during the week to be limited.  My goal was to try to focus on my cleanup and organization project, which I did get a little done on, but not as much as I had hoped!

This coming week will be a little limited too.  This afternoon I am actually writing this post from the cancer center at the hospital; my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and today is his first chemo treatment, so I wanted to be here with him.  As a result, today's productivity will be limited, as I can only work on my computer and my focus will be a little iffy.  I also have a ride and potentially a quick farrier appointment (to fix a shoe that's coming off already) later in the week, but I've scheduled a lot around those things, as there is a lot I've been putting off that I want to get done this week.  We'll see how that goes.

Here's the rundown.

Doll stringing ebook: I'm glad I didn't put pressure on myself to work on this last week, as I would just have felt bad when I didn't accomplish anything.  I do have this scheduled for later this week, but on a quieter day so that it's hopefully more likely to happen.

Ruby Ransome: I've officially decided to defer this to August.  That's only a week away, but I have a feeling this week would be better spent prioritizing a few other things.

Blogging and website maintenance: Other than the weekly blog post, I didn't get much else done with my blogs and websites last week.  I probably need to start working more with affiliate links soon, but I'm not going to worry about it this coming week.  I did get some work done on social media posts and reels for promoting my doll business.

Other projects: I did have a little more work for the museum last week, such as an emergency board meeting to approve some work, and some time I spent brainstorming with another volunteer for future events.  I also did get a little work done on the cleaning and organizing, including some time I think I forgot to track in Toggl, but I still have plenty more that needs to get done, hopefully this week!

With so much going on this week, I am going to prioritize finishing the cleanup in a few high priority areas.  Once that's done, I need to do some doll repair, photography (for the doll stringing ebook), and filming (for my websites and social media), so I really need those spaces clean for that.

Hopefully the more relaxed schedule this week will make it a little easier to manage my time!

Accountability and Progress: Week 8

This week has started out like a herd of cats, which is why it's Tuesday and I'm just now writing this.

Last week I talked about how the holiday week had made productivity a little difficult, but I was still pleased with what I'd gotten done, and had big plans for the week.  And you know, my Toggl report for the week does show a pretty productive week.  Early in the week, I blogged, worked on Instagram posts for my doll business, and turned my business logo for the doll business into a watermark for photos and videos (something I'm pretty pleased with).  Later in the week, most of my time was consumed with dog sitting and prepping for a doll museum event on the weekend that I was helping with.

I'd had too much planned though, so some things got shuffled off to this week, and I've already kicked off the week by deferring much of yesterday's stuff to later in the week as well.  It's at least partly a busyness hangover from the weekend, but I'm trying to put myself back to work today so I can salvage the rest of the week.

I already know Thursday won't be super productive, as I'm taking my dad to a minor outpatient surgery in the morning and expect to be told to stay with him for at least the rest of the day.  But with any luck I can get a few important things done with the remaining two and a half days this week (the rest of today, Wednesday, and Friday).

Here's the rundown.

Doll stringing ebook: This did get deferred again, and I'm considering reevaluating my week and pushing this to next week.  Maybe I'll have more of a chance to work on it if I schedule it for early in the week.

Ruby Ransome: At this point I'm acknowledging to myself that I'm not going to succeed at Camp NaNoWriMo this July.  I'm considering deferring work on my novel to August so that I can focus right now on getting caught up on some things I need to do around the house and for my doll business.

Blogging and website maintenance: I'm pleased with the work I did on my blogs and websites, as well as my social media.  Social media especially is important for my doll business.  I'm lumping the work on my logo and watermark into this category, since it was primarily created for my social media pictures and video, and social media is more or less an extension of my websites.

Other projects: As expected, the museum event prep and the event itself took up a large chunk of my time last week as well as over the weekend.  Unfortunately, I didn't get to as much of the cleaning and organizing as I'd wanted, so for now I'm deferring my writing projects so I can focus and get this done.  It's really keeping me from moving forward on some of my most important (and income-generating) projects.

Since I'm expecting my availability to be more limited this week, it'll be important to prioritize as much as possible.  For right now I'm prioritizing my cleanup and organization project and not much else, in the hopes of finally making some much-needed progress!

Accountability and Progress: Week 7

As expected, last week was a bit of a cluster.  Between my husband being off on Monday, the holiday Tuesday, and then the mad scramble to try to make a regular week out of three days, I didn't get everything done I'd wanted.  Plus we started house/dog sitting for my husband's parents on Wednesday, so I am returning home every day to feed the cats.  To top it all off, I picked up another dog on Thursday, one who can't be left alone very easily, so either one of us had to be at my in-laws' house or we had to take the dog with us all weekend.

Despite the challenges, I'm pretty happy with what I got done last week.  It hasn't been mentioned before in my weekly blog posts, but one of the items languishing on my to-do list has been revamping my logo for my doll business, Against Doll Odds.  I wanted to finish working on the logo so that I could redesign my business cards and create some other printed materials.  I worked on that for a long time, and while I'm not ready to place my orders yet, I have finished designs for new business cards, hang tags for dolls I work on, and stickers.

Here is the rest of the rundown for last week, and my goals for the coming week:

Doll stringing ebook: As expected, with the short week I didn't get anything done on this last week.  I had mentioned last week how this kept getting shifted back, week after week, so I was going to try to do it earlier in the week this week. It is currently scheduled for Wednesday, which isn't as early as I'd originally planned, but can't be helped.

Ruby Ransome: I was planning on restarting work on Ruby Ransome last week for Camp NaNoWriMo, but with all the busyness Monday and Tuesday, and the chaos of the rest of the week, it didn't happen.  I'm hoping to get started this week, even if I don't get as much done as I had planned this month.

New novel idea: I'm going to drop this off the list as I'm setting it aside for now.  I'll pick it back up once the draft for Ruby is finished.

Blogging and website maintenance: I did schedule blogging time on my calendar last week, but most of it got pushed aside when the shortened week got too busy too fast.  This is when I'm really glad for this exercise of blogging about my goals and progress every week, though, because writing this post reminded me that I wanted to work on some new posts with affiliate links.  I'm scheduling a little blogging on my calendar to work on that.

Other projects: With the holiday week and the house/dog sitting, I didn't get much time to work on cleaning and organizing this past week.  This needs to be a priority this week because it is interfering with my ability to take pictures and work on dolls, so I currently have it scheduled for today (though today is quickly slipping away from me).  Hopefully once I get it all clean and organized, I can keep it that way, too.

Other projects also include some doll work, filming, and also prepping for an event at the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys this weekend (I'm on the museum board and often volunteer to help put together events).  So I know that will take up some of my time as well, during the week as well as on the weekend.  I also need to get to work on selling things, as I've been talking about for a few weeks now; I know I don't have time this week, so I'm going to tentatively schedule it for next week.

Funny how being an adult means that I'm weirdly pleased I have a full week ahead of me to work on all of this, instead of a partial week interrupted by a holiday.  I do have a lot I want to accomplish, so hopefully I can get a fair bit of it done!

Accountability and Progress: Week 6

So much happened this last week that it feels like more than a week has passed since my last weekly blog post.  It's a good thing, as last week was a pretty productive week, but it was also obscenely busy, right through the weekend.  Today is a bit of a reprieve, but then the rest of this week is going to be busy as well.

Before the madness begins, here's a quick rundown of what I accomplished from last week and what I'm planning for this week:

Doll stringing ebook: I am noticing that this is getting shifted back, week after week.  I do need to work on it, as I want to get the ebook finished and back up for sale.  Unfortunately this week is going to be extra difficult so I don't think I'll be able to work on it until next week.  I'm scheduling some time for it earlier in the week, rather than putting it last as I have been every week.

Ruby Ransome: Last week didn't go as planned, and I didn't get to work on this after all.  I plan to start tonight, since this is now Camp NaNoWriMo and I want to take this month's challenge more seriously.

New novel idea: Still keeping this on the list for later.  I thought of an idea last night for a future Ruby series installment, too, so I need to sketch that out a little as well.

Blogging and website maintenance: This is the area where I feel like I made the most progress in the past week, and my Toggl report confirms my suspicions.  I worked a lot on my websites and blogs in the past week.  On Monday when I was procrastinating doing something else (ha), I reapplied to the Amazon Affiliate program, and spent some time changing my ad notices on all my websites, creating new posts, and going back through old posts and updating old links.  I worked on it a little throughout the week, too, and as a result was more prolific on my blogs than I have been in a while.  It was a good feeling, as I have missed blogging on the daily, plus there is the potential for this to bring in some additional income.

In the coming week I intend to work on it some more.  There are a few other posts and pages that I need to write or finish adding affiliate links to, plus I have some new post ideas that I'd like to spend some time on.  This brings up an interesting observation, though: I rarely schedule blogging time on my calendar.  I need to start doing that.

Other projects: Last week I made cleaning and organizing my doll spaces a priority for the week, and I actually did get a lot done.  I didn't get some other things done that had to come after the cleaning and organizing, but that's okay.  I still have more to do, and with the lack of time this coming week, I'm uncertain how much time I'll have to spend on it.  But I'll try to work on it as much as possible, since photographing and selling depends a lot these spaces being clean and organized well enough to use.

The week promises to make finding enough time pretty difficult, between the holiday tomorrow, house sitting for my husband's parents starting Wednesday, and dog sitting for another family starting Thursday.  Hopefully I'll be able to carve out some time to accomplish at least the most important things.  I think my priorities this week will be cleaning/organizing, blog/website work, and of course, working on my novel for Camp NaNoWriMo.

Accountability and Progress: Week 5

In some ways I'm feeling like it's more discouraging tracking this, since I'm seeing how I shift stuff back, week to week to week.  In other ways it's helpful because I'm making myself pay more attention to things I do accomplish.  It also is helping me to note where I should be balancing my schedule a little better, giving a little more attention to things that bring me immediate income.

If I keep feeling like it's not helpful, I may not continue tracking my weekly activities, but for now I think there's promise, even if I do end up commenting every week how things got shifted back again.

Last week was another rough one, as it was hard to keep everything as planned.  I got an unexpected notice that I was getting my software upgrade for my insulin pump, so I had to do the online training and then go through the process of upgrading.  That took a lot of time that was originally slated for other things, but of course the pump upgrade was a priority!

Doll stringing ebook: I had shifted this back to this week in order to prioritize income-generating projects, but then didn't get much done on those either.  Currently I'm planning on putting in some time on this later this week.

Ruby Ransome: This got shifted back again, unfortunately, and I didn't work on it at all last week.  I'm going to try to get going on it this week, since it's the last week before Camp NaNoWriMo.  It'll help me to get going for Camp if I familiarize myself with my novel again first.

New novel idea: Still keeping this on the list for later.

Blogging and website maintenance: Once again, I am glad I am tracking this, as a glance at my Toggl report for the week reminds me that the week wasn't totally wasted.  I have been keeping up on website and blog updates reasonably well, and working on other content.  I do need to look into reapplying for an Amazon affiliate account as I have some new reviews and other similar things to post, and I'd like links for those when I do.

Other projects: I was able to work a little more on reorganizing doll spaces, and I'm realizing that income or not, that needs to be a priority right now.  There's not much else I feel I can do until that's done.  I have a ton of reselling to do, but until I'm organized, I can't easily find what I want to photograph OR easily set up to photograph any of it.  So organizing and cleaning up some of my work areas will be a priority this week.

Unfortunately, it's going to be a difficult week to find time for these things.  I'm basically on call while my mom deals with some health things, for one thing; plus we have plans with my husband's family this week.  So I've already lost a couple of evenings (which is when I get a lot of stuff done) in addition to the uncertainty of possibly needing to be there for my mom at any time, on short notice.  And on top of it all, Friday will be a non-work day due to a doll event going on, and most if not all of this weekend will be taken up with working the NaNoWriMo community table at Fan Expo.

So without further ado, I'd better get to work, since it's going to be tough enough as it is to find time for everything this week.

Accountability and Progress: Week 4

It's hard to believe this is the fourth week I've done this series of blog posts.  Time passes so quickly, especially when you're super busy and never seem to have enough time for everything you want to do.

Last week was somewhat doomed from the time that I made my Week 3 post on Monday.  I posted several times about how my plans for the week continued to change down to the minute (see Doing the Mid-Week Mangle and Weather vs. Motivation).  I wish I could say it was just last week, but the truth is, many of my weeks are like that and it's why I find it hard to accomplish everything I set out to do.

I have to acknowledge that I did get some important things done last week, though.  My work collaborating with the local doll shop and filming segments with them is nothing to sneeze at.  And I did benefit from my decision to work on some things over the weekend.

Here's the breakdown from last week, and projections for the coming week:

Doll stringing ebook: I had planned on working on this last week, but it didn't happen.  Currently it's scheduled for this week, but it is admittedly lower on the list of priorities.  Remember last week, when I realized I needed to prioritize immediately income-generating projects?  See "Other projects."

Ruby Ransome: I didn't work on my novel at all last week, and while I'm disappointed, I'm reminding myself that it was the plan to shift it off until this week.  I am, however, planning on getting back to work on it this week.

New novel idea: Still keeping this on the list for later.

Blogging and website maintenance: This is where I'm really glad I'm doing this accountability posting, as I would have forgotten about having accomplished something on my list otherwise.  Last week I succeeded in writing up the page of my website, and got it done by deadline (before the video went live).  I still need to look into the Amazon affiliate program again.

Other projects: I got some work done on organizing my doll spaces over the weekend, but didn't yet do the filming and photography I had planned.  That's scheduled for this week now, and I've added to what I want to film and photograph, as well.  I also have plans to start photographing and listing some of my reselling inventory this week.  As I mentioned last week, I need to focus at least some of my time on work that directly replaces my freelance income.  Not all of my projects can be long games; I need some more immediate sources of income.

Overall I have a very full week planned, so there's less down time than I'd like.  I don't like seeing this because the fuller my schedule is, the more I know I'm setting myself up for failure.  Unfortunately I'm not sure what else to do sometimes than to just schedule it and hope for the best!  I have so much I want to do... and so much that doesn't get done every week as a result.

Accountability and Progress: Week 3

This last week has been a whirlwind and this week is already shaping up to be one too, which is why I'm finally getting around to writing this post in the evening.  It's like my schedule and plans are changing day by day, sometimes even hour by hour, and I have to keep changing around everything else to accommodate it.

I had plans for today that were all derailed when I went to drop off some equipment at our local doll shop for an event later this month, got stuck in about an hour of unexpected traffic, and then ended up hanging around the doll shop for a while and making plans to go back tomorrow and film.

Sometimes I don't even know how this happens to me, but I just roll with it!

When I got home, I triaged my to-do list, identified the most important stuff to finish this evening, and reworked my plan for tomorrow and the rest of the week to reschedule all the stuff that is getting bumped from today and tomorrow.

I also had a realization since I wrote week 2's post that with freelancing no longer taking up space on my calendar, I need to dedicate at least part of every week on activities that replace that income.  I haven't been focusing on it as much as I should have, and it's beginning to show.  Granted, I hope that some of this work will eventually bring in income, but I need to also devote some time to more immediate sources of income. Right now that's doll repair and resale, while the writing (and the building of my doll professional brand) is the long game.

Here is the most recent plan for the coming week:

Doll stringing ebook: I was about to bemoan the fact that I'd shifted this off yet another week, but then I reread what I wrote last week and realized that no, that was according to plan.  I really did plan to put it off until this week.  Note to self: Don't feel guilty.  It was the plan.

Ruby Ransome: I had a placeholder in my calendar to resume work on my novel this week, but after today and tomorrow were changed so abruptly, I'm second guessing this.  I moved my placeholder to next Monday, assuming that shifting everything down a couple of days is going to require me to give up my noveling time this week.

New novel idea: Keeping this on the list, as I do want to flesh the idea out a little more before I save it for later.

Blogging and website maintenance: I didn't finish the resource page to go with the film quite yet, so I'm going to try to do that this evening (that being one of the priorities I identified when I triaged today's to-do list).  I'm still planning on looking into having a second go at the Amazon affiliate program, but that will likely be a task for next week.  I've also been planning on taking some new photos for my website for quite some time, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.  I decided I really ought to do that tomorrow, to have it all live when the video I filmed last week airs on Wednesday.

Other projects: I got a little filming and photography done last week, but not as much as I wanted, so that's still on the docket for later this week, as well as some doll repair I've been putting off.

It's somewhat jarring to have my week scrambled already on Monday, but I'm hoping my new plan for the week sticks, and I get some good work done!

Accountability and Progress: Week 2

This is my second week of my accountability and progress posts, but it'll be my first week reviewing the previous week's accomplishments.  I'm writing this on Tuesday this week, but normally I'll write it on Monday because I want to start off every week by reviewing the previous week and simultaneously looking ahead to the upcoming week.  It just didn't work out this week because of how busy my Monday was (or last week either because that Monday was a holiday).

The past week, including yesterday, can pretty much all be summed up with the word YIKES.

Last week, my husband Zac was supposed to be flying home late Monday night from visiting his sister.  Unfortunately his flight was delayed and he flew in mid afternoon on Tuesday.  Tuesday was supposed to be one of my only dedicated work days, so it severely messed up my day, and ultimately, my week.

As a result, the appointment I had to film with a local doll shop on Thursday was pushed back to Monday, which is why yesterday was so busy.

Following the same format from week 1 in order to track specific projects, here is this week's rundown.

Doll stringing ebook: Originally I had a couple of two-hour time slots blocked off for taking photos and working on the copy last Friday, but as anticipated it didn't happen.  And as it turns out, I have added some new projects to my calendar for this week, so I've shifted this off to next week.

Ruby Ransome: Still on hiatus, although I still have my placeholder in my calendar for next week to remind me to start work on it again.

New novel idea: Nothing done on this in the past week, although I still want to polish up the plot a little more before I lose my train of thought on this.

Blogging and website maintenance: I didn't have a chance to look into the Amazon affiliate program again last week, but I'll try to get to it this week.  I also need to do some work on my doll site to go along with the filming I did yesterday, as I'm creating a list of resources to go along with the video when it releases.

Other projects: I had a bunch of filming and photography things I wanted to do last week (these being for my own channels, not the local doll shop filming that I did yesterday), but the dreary weather and all the rain made it difficult to accomplish anything outdoors or even that needed good light indoors.  It seems this week will offer better weather, so I've rescheduled my filming and photography for this week.  There is some new stuff I want to film too so hopefully I'm not overloading myself.

I think the theme of this week is going to be catching up on what didn't get done last week, after the travel debacle eliminated one of my best working days during the week.  Now that filming with the local doll shop is over, I'm hoping to be able to devote more time to my own projects this week.  I don't have as much scheduled this week that will interfere, either, so with any luck this will be a more productive week!