Sunday Summary – December 11, 2016

 

 

This week in writing

Today I finished “Part 1” of the new Operation Sugarplum. It’s about 14k in length, and took me about two weeks to get through. Things are likely to slow down now, though, as i will no longer be doing a lot of copy-paste from what I had already written in November but writing completely new material.

I’m enjoying only recording my word counts on a Sunday. It’s much less stressful.

Goal for the week: Write every day! With a possible exception of tomorrow, when I have something on in the evening, but definitely every other day!

This week in reading

I finished a number of things in time for Wednesday’s WWW post, but since then, reading has been a bit slow. I’m trying to read Letters to the End of Love by Yvette Walker, but I’m considering starting Pyramids by Terry Pratchett. I think I’m more in the mood for witty satire than literary romance.

Goal for the week: Find at least half an hour every day to read. Even this means being really unsociable on lunch breaks.

This week in blogging

I replied to all comments on my own blog and reciprocated comments on both the WWW and WIPpet memes. I’ve also got two book reviews already scheduled for this week. On the ball with this one for once! 😀

Goal for the week: Visit all relevant blogs, and also write review of The Two by Will Carver.

This week in health and fitness

i didn’t actually get a chance to weigh myself this morning, as my partner presented me with breakfast in bed, which I consumed before thinking about getting up and getting on the WiiFit. I think I will just skip the week and weigh in next Sunday as usual. I think if I have lost anything this week, it will be a small loss at most. I have kept active this week, though. I think there was only one day I didn’t reach 10k steps.

Goal for the week: Get a full week of “make through the day without snacking” daily ticked off on Habitica! (This was my goal last week, but then I entirely forgot to make it a daily).  Also get back on the bike at least 2 days a week. (this was also a goal last week which I never got around to).

Other highlights this week

Yesterday, I auditioned for a local production of South Pacific that is taking place next year, as well as performing in my choir’s end of year concert. I was already wired up because of the audition, but didn’t have time wind down because I continued to be nervous about my solo and the trio I was singing as part of. However, it all went very well, and we raised $1500+ for the charity we donate to! I was hoping I might have a video of my solo to share here, but that will have to wait til next week, as a friend ended up having to do it on her phone, rather than my video camera.

That’s it from me. How are your weekly goals going?

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Sunday Summary – December 04, 2016

Things are on the improve this week!

This week in writing

I’m currently working through what I wrote of Operation Sugarplum in November, adding new material and making the existing material better. This new version is currnetly sitting at a bit over 7k, which is not bad for a week’s progress. I’m trialing the idea of not recording my word count, and just working for a solid half an hour each day, doing whatever work I feel like doing.

Goal for the week: Write every day! (actually, except Thursday and Friday this week, because I have choir both nights thanks to our concert being on Saturday. Also I have an audition on Saturday. I need to do a lot of practicing this week.

This week in reading

I’ve accidentally ended up reading a few books at once. I have the rest of the month to read six books and finish my reading challenges! Once choir is out of the way, I don’t have any commitments, so I’ll be able to read a bit more in the evenings, and it sounds like my Christmas Day is going to be very quiet, so hopefully I can get some reading done on those days. But still! Need to work a bit harder!

Goal for the week: Find at least half an hour every day to read. Even this means being really unsociable on lunch breaks.

This week in blogging

I’ve replied to all my comments on this week’s WWW post, but I still need to visit the other WIPpet Wednesday people. I’ll try to do that after I post this. Also I managed to get two book reviews posted in the last week; it’s been a while since I managed that. Not sure it’ll happen this week, though.

Goal for the week: Visit all relevant blogs, and also write review of Heat and Light by Ellen Van Neerven.

This week in health and fitness

I had a small loss this week. I’ve altered my WiiFit goal to “lose 10kg in six months”, which is about 400g a week. So if I can stick to the 500g per week that I’ve pretty much been managing, then I’ll be right on track for that.

I did identify something this week, and that’s that I actually do a lot of unnecessary snacking. I managed on Friday to get through the whole day without a coffee or hot chocolate, and I only had the fruit/nut mix and the piece of fruit that I brought myself from home. I was a little bit hungry by the time I got home from work, but I generally eat dinner early anyway, so that wasn’t a huge issue.

As such, I’ve added “unnecessary snacking” as a ‘bad habit’ on Habitica, which means I lose health whenver I indulge. I’ve made “make through the day without unnecessary snacking” a daily task, which means I will gain experience if I achieve that. I love Habitica. Recommend it to everyone. It’s great fun!

Goal for the week: Get a full week of “make through the day” daily ticked off! Also ride bike to work on at least two days. I need to get back on my bike, it is languishing.

That’s it from me. How are your weekly goals going?

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Sunday Summary – November 27, 2016

I’m going to preface this entire post by saying I’ve been tired this week. Finding my routine again after several weeks without one has actually been hard. I’ve made some progress over the past few days and I think next week will probably be better, but I’m still working on it. I could really use a holiday.

This week in writing

At the start of November I challenged myself to write 750 words a day for the whole month. I knew it would be hard, particularly during the Merry Widow run, but I have also run out of steam on my current WIP, which isn’t helping.  I’ve basically said “bugger it” to a numbers-based challenge, and I’m going to do the work I need to do to move my WIP forward.

Goal for the week: Read and edit through what I’ve written so far of Operation: Sugarplum. Re-work the outline and do some research into relevant Christmas traditions.

This week in reading

I’ve been reading very slowly this week. I think under other circumstances I would have well and truly finished Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo by now. But I did read the graphic novel Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks this weekend.

Goal for the week: Try to get back into better reading habits. Aim for half an hour a day.

This week in blogging

I’ve replied to and reciprocated all comments from Wednesday’s post. I also posted a book review on Friday and have another one scheduled for tomorrow. Yay for getting back on schedule!

Goal for the week: Write Sam Zabel review and continue with BAU blogging.

This week in health and fitness

Heh. I’m still on the right  track with this, though last week was a tiring week where I didn’t always reach 10k steps. Honestly, there’s not much to add here. I did return to the gym after several weeks away. That was exciting, though I was sore for today.

Goal for the week: Continue building good habits.

That’s it from me. It’s late and I need to head to bed if I want to make a good start to the week!

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Sunday Summary – Novemebr 13, 2016

This week in writing

I started strong this week, but fell off the wagon about Thursday, when I started getting behind. Apparently it’s hard both performing in a musical and writing 750 words a day. We had a matinee today and I’mstill tired so at this point it’s unlikely I’ll get anything written, leaving my weekly total at 3098 (of an ideal 5250).

Goal for the week: try to write something every day. Next weekend is closing weekend. I can try to up my words after that.

This week in reading

I finished The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman on audio and Artie and Grime Wave by Richard Roxburgh in print. I’m now I’m trying to focus on The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer at the moment, but unfortunately, there’s a fair bit of dry historical reading in amongst the fun stuff, so it’s slow-going. I’ve started Infernal Ties by Holly Evans in the meantime, along with The Soldier’s Curse by Tom and Meg Keneally on audio.

Goal for the week: Carve out half an hour of reading time a day. I’m thinking I might even put this on my Habitica dailies list so that I have an incentive to make room for it.

This week in blogging

Yeaaaah. After doing so well last week, this week I fell off the wagon again. I don’t think I’m going to be truly back into this properly until after the show finishes.

Goal for the week: I still need to review Artie and the Grime Wave and I’ll probably be finished Infernal Ties soon, so that, too.

This week in health and fitness

I was pleasantly surprised when my WiiFit told me this morning that I lost 500g this week. It’s not much, but a loss is a loss, and to be honest, I was expecting a gain. I haven’t been eating the most nutritious of foods, and I had been snacking a fair bit in the dressing room on the nights we had performances. However, today I stocked up on fruit and veg, and I plan to get back on track with the healthy eating this week.

It’s hard to know exactly what my step count is on days I have performances, as I don’t wear my FitBit under my costume (they didn’t have FitBits in 1901, and I’m worried if I wear it under the long-sleeved costume, I’ll forget to take it off for the short-sleeved one). But I’m going to continue aiming for 10k. I also hunted out my resistance bands today, and have looked up a couple of simple workouts on YouTube to start following.

Goals for the week: reach 10k steps each day, as well as do 10 minutes pilates and a 10 minute strength workout. Continue to stay witihin calorie quota eating fresh fruit and vegetable-dense meals.

That’s about all for now! I will try to catch you all this week!

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Sunday Summary – November 6, 2016

This week in writing

While I got behind on my 750 words/day goal early in the week, and I didn’t write at all on Monday, I have made up for it over the past few days. My total for this week sits at 3764 words, and I am yet to get today’s words down. I may not quite reach my goal total, but I should be fairly close to 5k.  The last few days I’ve been doing 30 minute word sprints with the wifi turned off, and this has been working extremely well!

Goal for the week: at least 750 words a day, for a total of at least 5250 words by the end of the week.

This week in reading

I ended up DNFing  Immortal Writers by Jill Bowers, and I wrote my very first DNF Review for it. I’ve spent thsi week reading The Infinity of You & Me by J. Q. Coyle, which I’ve enjoyed a lot more. I’ll be finishing it tonight, and a review will go up tomorrow. After that, I’m going to read Artie and the Grime Wave by Richard Roxburgh, which I should get through fairly quickly.

Goal for the week: carve out at least half an hour of reading time each day. Continue with challenge items in particular.

This week in blogging

Yikes! With the exception of one review posted on Monday, I completely fell off the blogging bandwagon this week! Final rehearsals before the opening of a show will do that. I even had a WWW/WIPpet post started, and I forgot to revisit it. Perhaps that’s for the best though, as I wouldn’t have had the time to really participate properly.

Goal for the week: Have The Infinity of You & Me review up by tomorrow and participate in WWW and WIPpet Wednesday blog hops this week. It might take me a bit of time to get back into two reviews per week mode, but I’ll do my best.

This week in health and fitness

With the exception of yesterday, I managed 10k steps every day, and that’s before the steps I did onstage while not wearing a FitBit. However, as is usually the case durinig a show, I was eating a lot of chocolate and other snacks in the dressing room, so I ended up not making much progress in terms of weightloss. This week I’ll be back into my routine, and will eat a lot more fruit and healthy meals.

Goal for the week: continue to reach 10k steps each day, and continue to eat healthily.

Other highlights this week

Despite a lot of issues during the rehearsal procses, our production  of The Merry Widow of Bluegum Creek finally came together on opening night. There were some hiccups, but overall, the audience was impressed. You can read one of the reveiews here.

That’s about all for now! I will catch you all this week!

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Sunday Summary – October 30, 2016

This week in writing

Oh, this week has been great! After writing a couple of character outlines, I finally got to start writing the new, expanded version of Operation: Sugarplum. My goal with this WIP is to write 750 words every day (even the days where I’m busy in the evenings; I’ve found it is easy enough to get words down during the day) until the end of November. That will get me to nearly 30k, after which I’ll take stock and write some new goals.

Goal for the week: at least 750 words a day, for a total of at least 5250 words by the end of the week.

This week in reading

I ended up DNFing The Ill-Kept Oath by C. C. Aune. It’s something I might have pushed on with under other circumstances, but when no major conflict had arisen in the first 25% (other than “this man said he would call on us! Why hasn’t he?!”), I decided I had more pressing books to attend to. I’m now reading Immortal Writers by Jill Bowers, which I have some issues with, but it is ultimately an easy read. My next read will be The Infinity of You & Me by J. Q. Coyle.

Goal for the week: continue working through ARCs that are released at the beginning of November.

This week in blogging

I’ve done much better this week! I returned all comments on my own posts and left a few more on others’. I need to keep that up!

Goal for the week: I’m hoping I will have both Immortal Writers and The Infinity of Me & You read in time to post reviews this week. So my goal is to write those asap.

This week in health and fitness

This week has been a bit up-and-down in terms of how I’ve been feeling. I didn’t reach 10k steps every day, but I made up for it by having a couple of days where I surpassed it by a significant amount. I have noticed, though, that I am really tired a lot of the time, and I’m not sure why. Usually this is a sign that I’m treating myself poorly, but I have been getting a decent amount of exercise and eating well, so I’m not sure what is causing this.

Goal for the week: continue to reach 10k steps each day, and continue to eat healthily.

(This is going to be interesting, as I have dress rehearsals every night this week for The Merry Widow. One of my costumes is short-sleeved, which means I won’t be able to wear my FitBit underneath, so I’ll have to try to reach 10k before rehearsal starts each night).

Other highlights this week

Bump in for The Merry Widow was today, and it was fun getting to hang around the theatre again, even if I did have to sew press-studs onto a skirt for ages (I am not very good at sewing – buttons are about the best I can do). I’m fairly certain I managed to remember to take everything I’m going to need over the next couple of weeks, so the only thing I need to worry about now is whether or not my skirts will be hemmed by tomorrow’s dress rehearsal.

That’s about all for now! I will catch you all this week!

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Sunday Summary – October 09, 2016

 

Hi all!

First of all, a quick reminder that A More Complicated Fairytale is free in the Kindle store until the end of Monday. Here’s the link!

Is it terrible that  I’ve been so on-the-go this weekend that I forgot to mention it earlier, despite the promo starting yesterday morning? Oh, well. There are already a few downloads, so it hasn’t been completely wasted.

This week in writing

This week has been a bit of mixed bag, due to other commitments eating into my writing time. Fortunately, they are one-off commitments and shouldn’t bother me again. I am at the point where I’m not sure where else to go with my Operation Sugarplum outline, and I figure I will just start writing and figure out a bit later how to get to the end. I’m going to write some character profiles first, so that I have small details like eye and hair colours recorded somewhere, then I’m going to start writing. Eeeee!

This week in reading

I finally finished The Rook by Daniel O’Malley this week! It had its good parts, but ultimately, I didn’t think it was that great. I also read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them so I could tick “a book that’s becoming a movie this year” off my reading challenge.  I’ve just started the Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer, which is a non-fiction account of manuscript librarians who risked their lives to save priceless manuscripts from Al-Quada.

This week in blogging

Again, due to time constraints, I haven’t managed to visit other blogs much this week, though I have posted all my regular posts. I’m hoping I might have time tonight to at least return comments.
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This week in health and fitness

According to my WiiFit, I lost 900g this week! Which was a surprise, since my eating wasn’t the healthiest this week. I returned to the gym yesterday for the first time in several weeks, and made up for only getting 8k steps on Friday by getting 17k yesterday. I also got my bike repaired, and I’m looking forward to riding to work again, and I’ve got a nice, full fruit bowl to make use of this week.

Other highlights this week

Richard Roxburgh, the actor known for movies such as Moulin Rouge, as well as the TV show, Rake, has recently released a children’s book and he did a talk at the National Library on Tuesday. He is very charming, and his talk was thoroughly entertaining. It was also fun to have a quick one-on-one chat with him as he signed my book afterwards.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back to doing these posts propoerly with goal-setting and stuff next week. Bye for now!

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Sunday Summary – October 09, 2016

Hi all!

I’m back from my cruise, feeling refreshed… apart from the bit where I had to dive straight back into the uni work today… It’s been a few weeks since I did a Sunday Summary, so this will be more of a forward-looking post than a recap.

This week in writing

I didn’t do anywhere near the amount of writing I intended to on the cruise. But hey, I was on holidays. It’s allowed. But in the week leading up to the cruise, I had some really new ideas about Operation Sugarplum and the story has taken a completely new turn. So Draft 3 will almost be Draft 1 again. I’m debating whether to use it for NaNoWriMo. If I do, I will participate unofficially again like I did last year. 50k in a month is too much for me and results in way too much padding, but the regular write-ins are really good, and I know quite a few participants in my region, so it’s always good to catch up. Or I might just get impatient and start writing. I’m trying my best to plan properly though.

This week in reading

I finally read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss while I was away. I really enjoyed it, despite a few small qualms. My review will go up tomorrow. Now I have The Rook by Daniel O’Malley to finish. I’ve got about 250 pages left, I think? I’m hoping to be finished it by the end of the week.

This week in blogging

I was hoping to return to WIPpet Wednesday this week, though the fact that I’m back to planning a WIP rather than writing one does put a damper on that. I might find a way though. Character interviews are fun!

This week in study

My final assignment for this semester is due on Thursday and I made good progress on it today. I have tomorrow off work and I’m hoping I’ll finish it off. Then I might need to just give it a bit of spit and polish before handing it in. I’m really ready to be done with this course, to be honest!

This week in health and fitness

Obviously being on a cruise with a buffet and free room service (thanks to booking one of the fancy rooms), I probably indulged a little too much. This week, my partner and I are doing this 7-day program to try to get rid of some of the weight we’re bound to have put on. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of effect it has. As part of our goal with this, we’re going to walk to the shops every night to get the ingredients for the next day. It’s about an 80 minute walk all together, so we’ll definitely burn off some calories there.

Other highlights this week

Obviously, the cruise has been the major thing. I have yet to get most of my photos off my phone, but here’s one I took of the braids I got done in Vanuatu, and the resulting frizziness this morning when I finished taking them out. This is actually pretty much my favourite selfie I’ve ever taken.

That’s it for now. I’ll be back to doing these posts propoerly with goal-setting and stuff next week. Bye for now!

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#ROW80 Check-in: Week 4

Is it week 4? I think it is. Something like that. Leaving the heading that way now. For those who I have no idea what I’m on about, click to learn more about ROW80, the writing challenge that knows you have a life.

I returned from my weekend birthday retreat feeling both relaxed and very sore (that’s what massages AND bush walking will do to you), and back to the humdrum of every day life. Though I did get my hair cut (see Instagram widget in the sidebar)! And work was kind of interesting/weird on Friday, when we had to pack up our entire office in preparation of them moving all our stuff to our new workspace over the weekend. I think I strained my wrist, but I’ll be all right. For the most part, I did pretty well on my goals. Even though I missed last week’s check-in, I’m just going to focus on the last week in my check-in, because otherwise it’ll get confusing. And I’ve forgotten the week before last anyway.

• Write one page in my notebook every day

I missed a day! For the first time since the beginning of the round. And it was Wednesday, too, the day when I was home, but off work, and had absolutely nothing better to do with my time.

However, I am sure I can cope with missing one day out of the last 28.

(Incidentally, it was hilarious how many Supernatural gifs like this one came up when I searched “crying gif”).

• Type up stuff in notebook on Sunday afternoons
  

Well… eh. I haven’t done it yet, because I spent today brainstorming, and may be scrapping a character. Most of what I wrote this week was that character’s introduction, but now that I’ve redeveloped a lot of Grace and Frederick’s back story, I’m not really sure that this other character will really fit in. There is one particular plot detail that was specific to her, but I’m thinking I may actually be able to transfer it to Grace. I’m not going to force it, though. I’m thinking I’m going to spend the next week writing more on this back story, possibly from both Frederick and Grace’s POV. There’s a lot going on with Frederick in the main plot that harks back to things he did a long time ago, and I need to really solidify that.

• Read for half an hour every day. Keep on track for 52 books in the year.

I read so much on my retreat it makes up for the couple of days I didn’t read during the week. I finished Dorothy Must Die while I was away and For Darkness Shows the Stars on Friday night. Wasn’t too fussed on Dorothy Must Die, but For Darkness… was lovely. GoodReads informs me I am currently two books ahead of schedule.

• Write one book review per week, and queue them up so I don’t miss another post

I wrote two yesterday, and started another one.

• Spend Tuesday and Thursday nights, and Saturday afternoons working on assignments.

I tried to spend Friday night at the library, but due to my sore wrist, could only do so much. I have now completed 50% of one course’s work, and need to decide what I’m going to write my essay on for the other 50%. There are also two 10% exercises for my second course due during August. I think I’ve decided on how to approach the first one. Also, I think I might change the wording of this goal, since I do actually try to spread my uni work over every night of the week.

• Ride bike to work/walk from work into the city after work at least three days a week.

On my retreat I did two ninety minute bush walks, a fitball class and attempted archery. This is why I was so sore by the time I got home. Soreness extended for the rest of the week. Today was the first day I didn’t wake up with aching arms.

However! I finally got my bike tyre fixed! I can start riding again. The mornings have been pretty cold, but I’m actually quite looking forward to getting back on the bike. By the time I get to work, I’ve woken up properly, and then I have a shower and I’m ready to start the day.

• Devise fortnightly meal plans in the couple of nights before pay day.

I didn’t really get a chance to do this as I only got home the day before payday. I bought a pie-maker, and we made pies yesterday! Vegetable curry ones. Delicious! I’m also going through the soup in the freezer, so I’ve had to buy fewer groceries.

So! How to go about this week:

Monday: check for emails from lecturer regarding essay topic and respond based on what she says; decide on article to examine for Writing Exercise #1; comment on at least 5 ROW80 blogs.

Tuesday: begin and preferably complete Writing Exercise #1

Wednesday: sport and Wednesday blog post

Thursday: brainstorm essay topic (adapt this if I am not yet decided on topic) and make a list of potential resources; finish For Darkness Shows The Stars review.

Friday: Visit at least half of the WIPpet Wednesday and WWW Wednesday posts. Return comments on my own Wednesday post.

Saturday: will be taken up with a short play festival I’m taking part in.

Sunday: Essay work.

That’s it from me for tonight, check back tomorrow for Mirth and Music Monday!

#ROW80 Round 1 Final Update

My goodness, it’s the end of Round 1 already. That certainly snuck up on me. In fact, most dates seem to sneak up on me these days. Is that what it’s like, being a grownup? Either way, I feel I’ve participated in this round far more than I have the past few I’ve tried to make a go at, so that’s good. Figuring out that weekly goals instead of round-long goals were what worked best for me has been a breakthrough.

First up in my last update for the round: I got the essay done! It was a hard slog, and I didn’t exactly follow the day-by-day goals I set for myself, but I got there. It helped that I ended up not having a rehearsal on Monday night, so that gave me some extra library time. It did get to a point where I was doing a bit of word-bashing, and thinking all the while, “This is really not a good essay” however, when I got to proof-reading last night, that changed to “This essay is kind of okay, I guess.” Certainly not my best work, but I’m quite certain I won’t fail. P’s make degrees, after all, as we say in institutions where grades are P (pass, 50-59%), C (credit, 60-69%), D (distinction, 70-79%) and HD (high distinction, 80-100%). Those percentages vary from uni to uni, but the terminology remains.

All that sitting at the library meant that my back was killing me by yesterday, so I called in for a massage on the way home. I got my favourite of the guys who work there, so that was good. And I’m now up to my free massage on my loyalty card! 😀

I also found the time to rework the ending of Unicorn Love when I had just arrived at the library and then my computer decided to give me no choice in whether or not it would restart to complete the Windows update. I wanted it to end on a punchy note, and getting the dialogue just right was a challenge, but I made it work. 😀 I’m actually quite proud of that story. It began during Camp NaNoWriMo last July, and has sort of evolved and devolved to the point where it’s now only around 3000 words and rather more philosophical than I ever expected it to be, but I don’t see anything wrong with that. I’m going to submit it for the Writer’s Digest Annual Short Story Competition, as I think I have mentioned in previous blog posts. This will be the first time I’ve ever submitted any of my writing anywhere, so I’m a bit excited!

So! There’s now nearly a fortnight until the second round of ROW80 begins, but I’m going to be busy in that time. Shan Jeniah Burton inspired me to sign up for Camp NaNoWriMo, which I intend to use to start my world-building notes for a revamp of last year’s NaNoWriMo story. I’m only aiming for 300 words a day (or a little over, my goal for the month is 10k) because I have other things, too, but this will at least give me a good start.

In light of that, goals for the next week (I’ll still do a post like this next Wednesday, even though it’s not officially ROW80 time):

• Write review of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• Write review of The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black
• Write review of Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park.
• Type up the end of Unicorn Love and send it out to my writing group for their consideration before submitting.
• Spend an hour continuing to format AMCF and compare two files with text-to-speech software.
• Research and write Module 3 750-word response for HIST8015
• Research and write Module 5 750-word response for HIST8015
• Decide which essay questions I will use before meeting with lecturer on Monday (also HIST8015)
• Decide on an object to use for my significance report (MUSC8017)

It looks like a lot, but I’ll be able to knock over quite a few of them quickly. I’m going to leave this post here because I’m out tomorrow night and I’m having people over Friday, so I really need to clean my kitchen and lounge room. See you soon!