Weekly Goals

Core Goals

Looking at the list below, it seemed it was an okay week. However, I do feel like I was scraping by. Sickness, the usual gift shopping stress, lack of sleep, and the kids just generally being kids really took its toll. So I wrote and I got exercise, but I was just barely scrapping by. Still. I got there, mostly.

Write, edit, or outline every day: In some ways, it was a pretty weak writing week with low productivity and word count as a results. However, I managed to keep going and get a little done every day, which is what counts.

Get exercise: I wasn't nearly as active this week as I had hoped, but I did get in 3 sessions of moderate exercise, which is better than nothing and did pass the bar for this goal.

/ Cut down on snacks: I feel pretty ambivalent about how this goal went. I did really well for most of the week despite all the candy in the office. But in the weekend and the days leading up to, I snacked way more than I would've liked.

Do a WYRM review: Sigh... No. There was a story I really wanted to read and review, but I just had no energy left in the evenings.


Stretch Goals

Do writing exercises : A managed to do three small character writing exercises. I wish I could devote more time and energy to the exercises this week. However, all of them did actually spark ideas for character-based stories, so I'd call that a success.

Read short stories:
- I listened to three Clarkesworld stories. The first one sparked a ton of story ideas, too. The other two were fine but didn’t really hook me.
- I read a flash fiction piece in Stupefying Stories. I quite liked the premise and the ending, but the middle of the story was somewhat lacking.
- I also listened to a long piece in the New Yorker podcast. The story was quite dull, but listening to the editor and reader chat about the story did reveal how the author did add layers to the story with some semi-hidden details.
- Finally, I listened to two stories in The Tiny Bookcase podcast, which sort of applies for this goal as well, I guess.

Read “new” magazines: The Stupefying Stories piece mentioned above qualifies for this goal. As does the New Yorker story.

Read/listen to non-fiction:
- I listened to an episode of 99% invisible about the first megachurch in the US.
- I also listened to an episode of that same podcast libraries weeding books, their systems for getting rid of old books nobody reads, and why it's not an all-out bad thing.
- Listened to a podcast by a Danish military analyst on the Trump administration and how their actions affect the rest of the world and the US institutions. Not the best episode, but still a relatively informative podcast.

Submit short stories:
- I did get around to submitting a story that was rejected last weekend. To a brand new magazine, no less.
- And when that story got an early rejection, I sent it out to another magazine at the end the week.
- Also, the UFO anthology opened up for submissions, and I got my entry sent off.
That's a good amount of submissions to get out in one week.

N/A Do Fantasticon work: There was no work to be done for the con this week.