Weekly Goals

Core Goals

Write, edit, or outline every day: Check. Work kept me busy the first days of the week, but I got some words down even then, at the end of the week, I had a couple really productive days both in terms of writing editing.

Get exercise: I did fairly well with this one, going for a couple of runs and getting weight lifting done as well. And I especially managed to get a lot more work out in the weekend than I normally do.

Stop snacking: I didn't do as well as last week, but I managed to stay off the sugar until the weekend, which is still way better than how this goal usually turns out. During the weekend I fell in, but even then, I didn't stuff myself on sweats and chips the way I've tended to in the past.

Do vocal exercises: I didn't do as many exercises as I normally do during the week, but I've also set a pretty high bar for myself there. I did all right, and did enough to achieve my goal.

Stretch Goals

Do a WYRM review: Check. Got a review send out for the second week in a row. And since I also got a Codex review done, I think it's in it place with double marks for this goal.

Continue WiP: I have to give myself double marks for this one. The goal was to write two scenes, but thanks to an online Codex writer-thon and an evening home alone, I managed to finish the entire first draft. A week ago, that seemed like an impossible task.

Do writing exercises : I did a new character exercise based on some of Alan Moore's writing advice. It was difficult, but it could be potentially turn into a good exercise. Again, I am just glad I managed to keep doing the exercises, hopefully becoming a better writing and not just a more productive one.

Read short stories:
- I listened to another story from The New Yorker’s fiction podcast. Or I tried to, at least. This story really didn’t work for me, and I had to give up.
- I also read a story in Psychopomp, which I think was a first (or maybe second) for me. This one was hauntingly good.
- I read a story in Clarkesworld. Another strong piece from one of my favorite magazines. Though, this one lacked a bit of resolution, IMO.

Read “new” magazines:
Both the New Yorker and Psychopomp stories mentioned above satisfies this goal.

Read/listen to non-fiction:
- I listened to a BBC documentary about a Japanese cook creating Japanese-Ugandan fusion dishes in Uganda, in a stylish building in Uganda. Aside from making me very hungry, it also did make me want to write about a fusion chef in restaurant in a place like this, a modern city in the third world. Obviously, I need more before it's a story idea, but it did spark something in my mind.
- I watched military economist explain the current Algerian arms build up, the reasons behind it and the affect on the Algerian economy, which was all surprisingly interesting.
- I listened to BBC documentary episode about the Chinese crypto Queen just caught in the UK. It was interesting but also felt like condensed version of Catch Me If You Can, so not something I really learned anything from.
- And I continued reading about Korean folklore, though no new ideas came to me this time.

Do a blog post: This was a pretty simple task. I had the review ready and just had to string them together into a blog post and get it posted. Still, I had to set aside the time, so I'm happy that I got it done, and got it done early in the week before real life could get in the way, like it usually does.

N/A Submit short stories: I didn't get any rejections and don't have any new stories to send out.

N/A Do Fantasticon work: There wasn't really any con work to do either.