Read this on galpod.com.
Well. It's been an interesting month, that's for sure. It has also been six months now since I started the end-of-month reflections, so I spent a little time today looking over those and thinking about where I started and where I'm going.
My goals for November were:
1. Finish the academic paper and send to co-authors.
2. Edit the first scene of Labour Pains (my first book) until it's ready to share with my incredible writers' group.
I finished the academic paper (yay!). Well, the first draft is done and sent to one of my co-authors which is excellent, because I've been working on this paper for the best part of the year. So I was very much done with it.
I didn't edit the first scene of Labour Pains. I started to, but then I found a cool course about revising your manuscript, so I'm going to do that in January. But, on the other hand, I did return to writing Rise of the Writers (which is probably not what it will be called), my second book. As you may recall, I had a breakthrough in July, and I've been researching ever since. I'm now ready (kind of) to keep writing. I'm writing a character who is a mobile dweller, so that's interesting.
I also had a reading goal of finishing at least two books other than my reading group's book. I've finished Brené Brown's The Gifts of Imperfection and Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance (I'm not reviewing that one, it's too long). Ironically, I haven't finished my reading group's book, and it doesn't look promising because it's about a poet in a psychiatric institution and I just can't even. I'll try, but I'll probably be late for the meeting.
It's been a bit of a rough month. And as I was looking at December I noticed that in addition to the 16th which is just a giant black hole in the middle of the month, and in addition to us going to Israel for the holidays on the 20th, there are about 2 parties scheduled, 3 events (panto, ice-skating, etc.), and two concerts.
So, my goals for December are:
1. Breathe. Take it easy. Don't stress too much.
2. Be kind. To others (especially my kids and my partner, who tend to bear the brunt of my stress and anxiety), and to myself. Say yes to helping out.
3. As a side project, I'm researching secondary schools in London so that we know what our options are. I also have a couple of boxes left over from the Great Organisation Project that I thought now would be a good time to finish them up. The left over boxes, by the way, are the reason there was no before-and-after post. In case you were wondering.
4. Read. A lot.
That's it. Now, if I look at my reflection posts (see below in the "related" section), I see a significant reduction in the aggressiveness of my goals, which is an interesting process. I'm not sure if it's good or bad. It probably just is. I'm still thinking about it.
Until next month, then :)
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