The lost art of journaling

Recently I started journaling again.

I used to journal constantly, from the time I was 10 or 11 on into my teenage years and my 20s.  I wrote about everything that was on my mind, and some days would fill 10 or 15 pages with my ruminations.  I got away from it in my mid-20s, when I had my first job and was writing for a living, and then once I made the transition to blogging I stopped journaling entirely.

Lately, though, I miss journaling.  My blogs have become more focused as I've developed as a writer, and no longer replace the therapeutic process of journaling.  So that's one reason why I've decided to go back to it.

Sick days: Hiccups in productivity

I've been pretty sick the last few days.  It came on slowly, but it was so bad when I woke up Sunday morning that I ended up going back to bed and sleeping for most of the day.  I have a severely sore throat, swollen lymph glands in my neck, and a low fever, so it's nothing to sneeze at (haha), either.

Getting motivated and organized

This week has been a stellar success so far.  Not only have I managed to blog every day -- a nice start on one of my goals for 2014, and a good way to flex my writing muscles and get me back into the habit of writing daily -- but I also thoroughly cleaned my desk and caught up on filing, which is making me feel much better organized.  It's amazing how clearing the clutter also cleared my head, and made me feel more ready to get back to writing regularly... although it could also have been just getting something done that had to do with work that made me feel that way.

Camp NaNoWriMo pick-me-up

I've really been struggling lately -- with most everything.  I haven't been working on my novel(s), haven't been keeping up with my blogs, haven't been doing ANY of the things on my list of goals for the year.  I haven't even been riding my horses all that much, thanks in part to being very sick in February with a bad cold and a cough that wouldn't go away.

With all of this non-motivation going on, at this point I'm really looking forward to anything that will encourage me to get my tail moving.  One thing I'm counting on is an upcoming writer's critique group -- I need to get another chapter of my first Ruby Ransome novel revised and ready for the group to read, which should get me moving on revisions again (I hope).  The first session of Camp NaNoWriMo is also in April, and I hope to use that to get me moving on several other things, as well.

Better late than never!

I blogged at the end of January about my goals for 2014, one of which was to blog daily.  I meant to start on that the following Monday, the first weekday in February (as I am contemplating making it a weekday-only rule), but here it is almost a month later and I still haven't!  And unfortunately, I haven't done anything else on my list, either, including working on my novels (which should also be a daily occurrence).

Goals for 2014

In 2013, I made goals at the beginning of the year and tracked them on a weekly basis for most of the year (up until NaNoWriMo started in November).  The last few months, however, have been much less productive, and I've lost sight of my focus.  I partially blame NaNoWriMo, especially the last day, in which I wrote ten thousand words and burned myself out.  Lately, though, I've been feeling like I'm finally ready to get back to work again, so here at last are my goals for the year -- albeit a month late!

Year in review: Successes and failures in 2013

This post is extremely belated, which in itself demonstrates how unfocused I've been since NaNoWriMo ended.  Better late than never, though, right?

At the beginning of the year, I set a handful of goals and tracked them on this blog -- on a weekly basis -- throughout most of the year.  Thanks to that, I have a pretty clear picture on what goals for the year I succeeded at, and what I failed to accomplish.  As a refresher, here were my goals for 2013.  Most were writing related, but not all:

1. Finish and revise my two Ruby Ransome novels
2. Overhaul my website and blogs
3. Get to a couple other writing projects I've had on my to-do list
4. Read 7 classics (5 rolled over from a failed reading list of 2012)
5. Ride each of my two horses 3 times a week