January 2024 Goal Updates!

Oh my goodness, time is flying by WAY too fast. It's been almost a year since my last update and I'm down to eight months to finish whatever I can. 

I have to say that I'm happy with all the things I've done so far. It's probably more than I would have if I hadn't made this list ten years ago. 

Okay, so things I checked off in 2023.

• Blood Donations: 6/2022, 11/2022, 3/2023, 5/2023, 8/2023--and I'm scheduled to donate later today 1/2024
• Hubby and I started ballroom dance lessons in August of 2023 and we're loving every minute of it! We're concentrating on waltz, rhumba, salsa, swing, with minors of foxtrot and the hustle. It's been a blast and we intend to continue.
• I watched a lot of youtube videos and masterclass classes on drawing. It wasn't pretty, but I tried!

That doesn't seem like a lot of stuff for a year, but I'm okay with that. I worked on many other things that have made me a better person. There was a lot of introspection in which I learned why I do (and want/fear/hope/fail at, etc) which was much needed. It's changed my perspective on what is important and helped me to adjust my goals and expectations. 

The big question is always: What is the most important thing for me to do, right now?

What I still hope to accomplish this year:

1. Write a letter to all the people who have made a difference in my life
2. 30 days of Random Acts of Kindness (big ones, like pay for someone's dinner, or grocery bill)
3. Make the front landscaping awesome
4. Enter a ballroom dance competition with my hubby
5. Take a hot air balloon ride
6. Build up our savings so we can serve a mission one day
7. Donate to a local pet shelter (time or money)
8. Build a community to connect with readers

Updating the Status of the List

The ten years is flying by. After my birthday this year, I'll only have two years left to complete as many of these goals as possible.  It's been a while since I've written a post, so let's break things down and see where we're at. 

First, what have I accomplished over the last eight years?

1. I did lose 30 lbs (then I gained it all back
2. Go to Scotland (I went to Ireland
3. Publish Eleena's Story (2019, but now I want to rewrite it as a trilogy. Yeah, I'm never satisfied)
4. Make a will
5. Donate blood at least once a year 8/2014, 2/2015, 4/2015, 6/2015, 9/2015, 4/2016, 9/2016, 2/2017 9/2017, 9/2018, 12/2018, 9/2019, 3/2020, 5/2020, 9/2020, 1/2021, 3/2021, 6/2021, 8/2021, 12/2021
6. Go to Yellowstone with the kids (September 2020)
7. Set up a formal dining room--2013-15 and then we moved and went casual again
8. Finish remodeling my home (2015-2021)
9. Publish FADE INTO ME (2015)
10. Visit the Grand Canyon (Jan 2021)
11. Purchase bedroom furniture (2017)
12. Become comfortable with some level of marketing. (Yes, but I still hate it all.)
13. Have a professional looking author webpage
14. Learn how to design webpages (thank goodness pages like WIX came along so you don't need to know code anymore.
15. Learn how to not yell at my kids--This got really easy as they grew up. I haven't yelled in years!
16. Take the family on a cruise and snorkeling--(September 2016, 2018, Dec 2019, Planned May 2023)
17. Convert front room into a guest room or a really kick butt craft room (depends on what we need the most)--Revised to update Master Bath--Check 2018 (I also have a nice craft room in my sunroom now, so double check!)
18. Create an email list that my readers can join to get insider information
19. Start my own Science Fiction Short Story contest for High School students--ran it for 2 years
20. Compile a yearly anthology from the SF/F contest--did it one year but there were only three entries the 2nd year.
21. 10 day European cruise--postponed from June 2020 to April 2021 to May 2022 
22. Participate in at least one Skype bookgroup that read one of my books--I attended a local library book group that read The Magic Wakes instead.

What I am taking off the list and why:

1. Learn how to scuba dive (I had the opportunity when my son got certified but didn't even try. Mostly, I doubt I can pressurize my ears. It takes me days to do it when I fly. Also, now my hubby can't do it because of lung scarring, and I don't want to do it without him.)
2. Go to Disney World with my kids (They've all left for college and we're cruising now instead)
3. Walk the Inca trail at Macchu Picchu (There's just not enough time. I'll move it to my goals to reach before turning 60!)
4. Visit volcanoes in Hawaii (Same as above. We were going to hike up Mt. Vesuvius May 2022 but that tour was canceled)
5. Return to the Smokeys with my hubby--just the two of us since this is where we honeymooned (not enough time. I'll add it to our 30th anniversary plans maybe?)
6. Run in a Ragnar (I don't think I can get in shape fast enough, and I no longer feel the need to do it. Maybe running a half marathon again will replace this in the future though.)
7. Write a short story that is accepted by a SFFWA venue (I no longer feel the need to be validated in this way and haven't submitted anything since 2013)
8. Write and publish Last Christmas (I have too many other ideas I like better)
9. Participate in a play at the local community theater (this could just be helping with costumes or sets--bonus if it's Into The Woods) This was because Adam was involved in theater but we never had time. Now he's gone so it would be silly to do it without him.
10. Attend DragonCon as a vendor (Moving to the Before I'm 60 list!)

What I still hope to accomplish in the next two years:

1. Publish the rest of Talia's story--3 novels and 1 novella (Book 2--8/2016, Book 3--2/2023)
2. Visit the Sequoia National Forest
3. Write a letter to all the people who have made a difference in my life
4. 30 days of Random Acts of Kindness (big ones, like pay for someone's dinner, or grocery bill)
5. Make the front landscaping awesome
6. Take ballroom dance lessons--I took two back in 2015 before my hubby said never again. Does that count?
7. Enter a ballroom dance competition with my hubby
8. Take a hot air balloon ride
9. Write and Publish the unnamed Contemporary YA (Addie's Song)
10. Take my kids to see a play on Broadway (not picky about which one) 
11. Update my grandmother's genealogy book that I put together 10 years ago. (lots of births, deaths, marriages and divorces to record!)
12. Take a physics class
13. Take a self-defense class
14. Learn to draw
15. Turn The Magic Wakes into a graphic novel--as of Dec 2021 this is in the works!
16. Build up our savings so we can serve a mission one day
17. Donate to a local pet shelter (time or money)
18. Pull off a "Homemade Only" Christmas (I think this would be a great experience in perspective for my family)

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?

I need to revise

Funny thing, I'm a year older than I thought. Nothing dramatic, I just stopped keeping track as well after turning 40. When I realized I'd actually be 44 this year and not 43, I pulled up this blog and reread my goals. Some of them need to be revised.

Why?

Because a couple of them were for a house I moved out of 2 years ago. So, I'm tweaking the master list to reflect some of those changes. I also didn't record when I donated blood in 2016 or 2017, but I was donating almost every 8-9 weeks until I started doing doubles in September of 2016. I'll put two dates I know for certain, then try to do better this year.

New direction and progress on Goal #5

Now that I've been home several days, I can report things are moving along for the re-release of my Magic Wakes series. We've got new cover art for the first three books! Take a look and tell me what you think. These were all designed by Tamara Hart Heiner who is also an amazing author.

I'll be re-releasing the first two in the series sometime the first week of November. Demon Rising is about half way finished, but this amazing cover has inspired me to get writing again. My goal is to have it out by fall of 2018.

It feels so good to be excited about writing again!

Goal #32--Cruise and Snorkel

This one was a fun goal to check off. In fact, it goes down as one of the best vacations ever.

Dawn of The Mages Goal #5

Is now available in print. Kindle will be available in September. Go check it out. 

You can also enter a giveaways to win free copies of this book on Goodreads and on my Blog. 




Blurb:

The Dragumon have been defeated, but the planet Sendek will never be the same.

In order to save their world, Talia and Landry Sutton had to wake the forgotten magic on Sendek. But instead of restoring peace, it creates chaos on the city streets, with those unable to work magic turning against those who can.

When Talia and Landry travel to the planet Orek to discover how it combines magic and science, they find a new, anti-magical government. The Controllers have all the tech, weapons, and natural resources. On Orek, the magical outcasts beg Talia and Landry to help them rise up against their oppressors.

The two must decide whether to help save Orek or return home and save their own planet. Talia and Landry are torn apart by the conflicting missions. Talia knows what Landry wants, but if she gives in, she could lose what she loves the most.