I’ve still been sick these past few days. Taking Thursday off didn’t work, for we had a second Christmas dinner, and I did too much with the preparations. Rested that afternoon, as my voice totally left me. Friday I managed to get a little rest, but don’t think I felt any better by the end of the day. I knew then that I’d be resting Saturday and Sunday and going to the doctor on Monday.

But Saturday included packing the van for Lynda’s, Sara’s, and Ephraim’s trip to Oklahoma City. Still, I did less of that work than I usually did, Lynda and Sara doing more. At 2:00 PM they drove off, and I hit the couch, probably at the low point. I saw a little of a bowl game, but not much, as I dozed or slept for a few hours. I got on the computer a while last night, but didn’t feel like writing. I finally felt like reading a little.

Today I woke up to find 2 inches of snow on the ground. We were only supposed to get a dusting. Since I parked the pick-up in the drive on Saturday, that meant I had to shovel or else would not be able to get up the slope tomorrow and head to the doc. So I shoveled the part of the drive behind the pick-up. And I felt marvelous doing it. I coughed little, and the fresh air entering my lungs, even though it was around 26 degrees, seemed good to me. I coughed little while I was out, and not much the rest of the day (until the last half hour). I spent a lot of it on the couch, or in my chair.

So I’m behind in my beginning of the month posts. I’ll check in with my December goals now, but will leave January goals till tomorrow. Where I fell short in December, I’ll blame it on two weeks of being sick.

1. Blog 12 times >>> Did this.

2. Post at least 8 articles to Suite101.com >>> Fell two short, posting only six articles.

3. Make my submittals log perfect: all entries made in appropriate places; all acceptances/rejections gathered. >>> “Perfect” is a hard standard to live up to, but I think I accomplished this. I spent an evening early in the month getting things up to date, and don’t think I left anything hanging at the end of the month.

4. Make my ideas notebook perfect: appropriate dividers; hard copies of all ideas in the file. >>> I did quite a bit of work on this, but “perfect”? Probably not. Still, I believe I have a system in place that is significantly more workable than what I had at the beginning of the month.

5. All poems properly filed; includes transferring all poems from my computer at work to the one at home, and making the one at home the official repository of electronic copies; hard copies of all poems in a file. >>> Did almost nothing on this, except dealing with some of the hard copies I had floating around the office and the house.

6. Write 2,000 words in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. Last month’s goal was too ambitious, given all that’s going on. >>> Nope, did nothing on this.

7. Finish that appendix in the Harmony of the Gospels. I believe I left it, some months ago, with not much more than a page to finish. I shouldn’t leave it hanging. >>> Yes! After having this for a goal for several months, I finished it. This required that I read through the entire appendix and the related text. After all this time I wasn’t sure what the last page of the appendix was supposed to say. I decided it wasn’t too bad as it was, but did see a few things that needed to be added. Anyway, it’s done, and I actually began working on the next appendix.

8. Continue studies of Demand Studios (tutorials, editorial guides), and begin writing for them. >>> I continued my study of what Demand Studios requires, but I did not begin writing for them. I discovered that they do have some articles available for writing that I can probably write, maybe about $100 to $200 worth. I’m fairly certain this will be a goal in January.