Goal's that I've Completed since the last update

There have been several actually. Some are simply started, others completed, and one is in limbo due to COVID-19.

Let's start at the top of the list and work our way down.

Goal #1--in 2018 I lost that thirty pounds and it felt wonderful. I did it by cutting gluten and milk from my diet and simply walking every day. Sadly, I gained it all back in 2019 by starting to eat bread again. 2020 saw me going back to what I needed to do and then we got whammies. I'm afraid I'm eating junk for comfort and ruining all my progress. I have no will power.

Goal #4 Publish Eleena's story--This one took six years to pull off, but THE HAND OF ATUA was published in February of 2019. It's a hearty 90K young adult space opera. It's in KU and also available on audiobook.

A prince, his teacher's daughter, multiple planets, refugees, and a God waiting for a boy to grow into a man with the faith to change the galaxy. Heartache and hope, fear and love, the living and the dead are all in Atua’s hands.


Goal #5--I'm still trying to make myself rip Talia's world apart. We're 40K into it.

Goal #8--Donated blood in September and December of 2019, and donated in April of 2020.

Goal #14--We've finally started adding some more landscaping to our rocky front yard. I wouldn't call it awesome yet, but it looks so much better than it did before.

Goal #21--I finally made it to the Grand Canyon early January of this year. I made a 5-day circuit of the US with my daughter (taking her the long way back to college), my senior, and our exchange student. It was an "epic" trip as Rens would say. We've been told we visited the "ugly" side of the Grand Canyon, but it was still gorgeous. The entire trip was filled with a variety of landscapes that made my heart happy.

South Rim, Grand Canyon, January 2019

Goal #45--Hubby and I booked a Mediterranean cruise in December of 2019. It was supposed to take place June of 2020. Yeah, not going to happen. Thank you Coronavirus. *grumbles* The good news is we can simply move it. But how do you know when to re-book? When will it really be safe to travel the world again?

So, making progress, but maybe I need to print this list off and post it next to my desk. It's so easy to forget that I wanted to do some of these things. Especially as the world changes and my goals change too.

For instance, I'm learning how to podcast. I've recorded six episodes. I like some of them, and some of them I don't. The biggest thing is finding the balance between talking naturally and following enough notes to say all the things I want to say. The last few have swung to far into "reading" territory and I don't like it.

The fix? The next podcast will include interviews with my children. Yeah, that will be as natural as you can get!

In writing news, I also published Teacher's Crush in 2019. It's another contemporary romance set in my Eureka Springs (small-town) series. Check it out if you like that kind of thing. Also in KU and available in audiobook.

Jennifer Carlson returns to Eureka Springs. A newly graduated teacher, her only goal is to help her dad and get out of town. However, the good-looking biker has her second guessing what she really wants. 

High school principal, Robert Allen has never been so conflicted. Jen needs a job, but he wants her for his own. Can he convince her to stop running away?