Category Archives: goals

Christianity, Church History Novels, goals, The Forest Throne

January Progress, February Goals

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My cover designer, Sophie Braun, made the revised covers for the series. I managed to upload them this month.

I didn’t exactly set January writing goals. On Jan 3, I posted some annual goals, with some mention of schedule, but I didn’t say “In January, I want to accomplish….” So, I have no monthly goals to report on. I think this was due to being uncertain of what I would be able to accomplish. So let me say what I managed to do in January, then set some goals for February.

  • I finished The Forest Throne. I thought this would happen in January. It was in the first ten days that I wrote the scene that connected the book to the actual last scene (which I wrote months ago). It has now been read by three other people besides me, and two beta readers have it. I’ve been in touch with a cover designer and she is working up some options. I have also made the decision to title the series The Forest Throne, and title this first book in the series There’s No Such Thing As Time Travel.
  • I also finished the church Centennial book. I wrote the last words in this in December, and in January I made a complete pass through the book as proofreader/editor. Those edits are typed. The cover designer is onboard and waiting on me to give the final size. Two proofreaders have been going through it in January, and informed me last week they are ready to meet. That is scheduled for Friday.
  • Having two long-term projects come to completion at the same time is unusual. I said in my earlier post that a Bible study would be next. I spent a week looking at where I stood in preparation work on several Bible studies, and made my choice. January 15th or so saw me beginning work on a Bible study on The Last Supper. This is the study I taught during Lent 2021. I have lots of notes on it, some of them typed as if they were going to be a book someday.
  • As you will see from looking back on the blog, I managed to blog twice a week, as per my general goal.
  • Change out the covers on the Church History Novel series with new covers giving the series theme. I received this in early January, and began making the switch outs. As I’m actually writing this a few days before the 31st, it’s possible I will finish this task in the month. If so, I’ll edit this accordingly. Edit: Yes, I managed to get this done on Friday-Saturday. The last of the four was approved by Amazon on Sunday.
It has taken over a year of work to get to this point, but finally we are within a couple of weeks of going to print.

What about for February?

  • Make any edits to the church Centennial book and deliver it to the printer. I guess that means we will have to make a decision on the printer, but that decision is actually almost made. This goal depends a bit on the cover designer, but it’s a fairly simple cover so I don’t see this as a problem.
  • Related to that, though not necessarily writing, finish pulling my research notes together into a format and organization that will make the job of a future researcher easier. I assume someone, in 25 or 50 years, will do something similar to me at a future milestone anniversary. I want to leave my notes in a condition that will facilitate their work. This is likely to take several days or even a week of concentrated work. This task includes writing a short document (short as in 10-15 pages) “Notes for a Future Researcher”. That document, however, is most likely a task for a future month, say March, April, or May.
  • Make any edits necessary to There’s No Such Thing As Time Travel. I want to get a few more chapters through my critique group, and of course I’m waiting on the beta readers and then the cover artist. Assuming that all comes together, I’m looking at publishing either in March or April.
  • Complete significant work on The Last Supper Bible study. I’ve had some trouble coming up with the right format; or rather, I’ve had trouble seeing how the format I came up with a year ago will work. I have to get some words on paper and see how well it comes together. As such, this goal is a bit unfocused. I suppose my real goal is to write enough in February to see if I have the right format, and be able to do more in a future month.
  • As always, attend writing group meetings, both in person and on-line. That will likely be five meetings, three of which will be in person.
  • As always, blog twice a week on Monday and Friday.

That’s where it stands right now. Other things can get in the way, things might take longer than expected—or shorter. But I think this will be a good second month for the year.

goals

Writing Goals for 2022

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In my post last Friday, I recapped what my writing progress was in 2021, and promised to make my next post about my writing goals for 2022. So here I am, as promised.

But, as I do so, I have only a few goals. Is that because I have no writing planned? No. It’s because I’m close to the end of two projects, have three others started. Will that be enough to fill the year? If not, I can conjure up more works later on.

Delayed a year due to the pandemic and construction adjacent to the church, we will celebrate our church’s centennial July 8-10.

But enough chat. What shall I do this year?

  1. Finish the church Centennial book. At present, two people besides me are proofreading it. Once we complete that, there will likely be a few more words to add. Besides that, I have to do a fair amount of work on photos, trying to enhance the quality, moving them to the exact position they are supposed to be. I suspect that will take a lot of hours this month. We have already found two printers for it, at least one of which can do it in our price range. Someone else on the committee will handle the cover. If I had to guess, I’d say we are two or three weeks away from having the words done, four weeks away from having the photos done, and just two weeks away from deciding on a printer. That means the book should be issued in late February or early March.
  2. Finish The Forest Throne. Yesterday I reached the second main plot point, where the protagonist figures out how to solve the problem. That’s at the 29,000 word point. Which means I have only four or five thousand more words to go. Which means I should finish the first draft in less than two weeks. I have two beta readers lined up, plus my three oldest grandchildren. I’ll be working on it during that time. No predictions about when it will be done, but I doubt it will be published before April.
  3. Publish at least one Bible study, and work on three. I will discuss this more in a future post, where I’ll discuss where my different Bible-studies-in-progress stand. Right now, I really can’t say which of three I’m thinking of will be first. Also, I can’t say how long any will take to complete. Those details will have to develop as the year unfolds.
  4. One goal remains as it has for three years: blog twice per week, generally on Monday and Friday.

The following two items are goals, but right now they are not firm. I think they will both happen, but who knows?

  1. After numbers 1-3 are complete, begin serious work on the next book in the Documenting America series. More on that in a future post. The research is done, though I did it so long ago I’m not sure I’ll remember it.
  2. After number 5 is done, or maybe simultaneous as I near the end of it, begin work on the next volume in the church history novel series.

That’s what I’ll add for now. But I suspect, even as 2021 did not go as I thought it would, I suspect 2022 will be the same. I’ll update this at different times during the year.

goals

The Writing Year In Review: 2021

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December 31 is a Friday this year, my regular writing day, also the end of my 70th journey around the sun. Time to look at what I accomplished this year, how well I did relative to my stated goals. I won’t then add goals for 2022. I’ll do that in January. Here, I’ll paste in the goals I posted on January 4th, and say what I did on them. Then I’ll add some things at the end, things I did that weren’t part of my original goals.

  • Finish and publish The Teachings…I might have the book ready to publish in April. Mission accomplished.  I completed the writing in February, took almost two months to edit, proofread, and receive feedback from beta readers. The e-book went live on April 13 and the paperback on April 25. As to sales, it’s had a whopping 7.
  • Write and publish one Sharon Williams story. Mission accomplished. I wrote Foxtrot Alpha Tango slowly as the year progressed, ran it by the Scribblers & Scribes critique group, and published it on December 15 after letting it sit two months. In a little twist, I did the actual publishing steps while on a Zoom conference with two 4th grade student who are interested in publishing.
  • Write and publish one Documenting America volume. I’m planning for this to be Run-up To Revolution, covering 1761-1775, the documents that led to our rebelling against England. Nope, didn’t get this done. Too many other things got in the way. I read some more for research. In fact, the research is done, except I will probably have to re-read some once I actually get on the book. I did make a lot of notes as I researched and planned out which source documents will go into which chapters. Thus, I won’t have to start at ground zero.
  • Write and publish a Bible study. I’ve planned out what I want the next one to be: Entrusted To My Care: A Study of 1st and 2nd Timothy.  Alas, I didn’t get this done. I did work on a Bible study, in fact put a lot of effort into it. But it wasn’t Entrusted To My Care.  My research and the beginning of my writing was in March-May on the Last Supper, which I taught in adult Sunday school class. I dusted that off in the summer and combined multiple files into one, and again in November when I tried to assess where I was and how much effort was left. If I get either one of these published in 2022, it will take a pretty concentrated effort.
  • Maintain a twice per week blogging schedule. This I did, mostly. I may have missed a time or two just due to busyness. A couple of times my regular blogging day snuck up on me and I only did a quick, no-information post. But I consider this a complete task.
  • Write some poetry. I did not accomplish this, though I tried. Several times I took pen and paper in hand and tried to set down lines of poetry, but nothing came to me. Instead, I planned my next poetry book. I scoured my already completed poems, found the ones that would work with the theme I chose for the book, and loaded them into a Word file. That gives me an idea of how many poems I still need to write (a bunch) to make it a viable book.

One thing that was on my mind last January, but which didn’t make my goals list, was to write the young adult novel I’d discussed with my oldest grandson. Tentatively titled The Forest Throne, it’s about adventures in unrequested, undesired time travel. I began writing it on June 8, never working on it intensely, but sporadically. As of last night I had ±21,000 words written, on the way to, I think, 40,000. I ought to be able to finish it in 2022.

And, another thing I did was significant digital decluttering. This goes along with the physical decluttering the wife and I are doing. I had old computers to pull data from and get rid of. I had multiple folders from prior computers loaded to the cloud that needed to be coordinated with other, more active folders. I made major progress on this.

It included going through my email inbox and outbox and sorting, saving, discarding, and archiving my emails since I started using this address in 2005. I’m working backwards on that and doing well with it. I completed all years up to and including 2011. I have 590 e-mails to go in 2010. For an exercise, I dumped my saved 2011 emails into a word document with an eye on creating a book out of them. Not for publication, but for my easy use and reference. Then I can discard some things from notebooks, reducing physical clutter.

And, one more writing item that took up more time than anything else: writing our church’s Centennial book. I began the research in January and managed to write 1500 words by month’s end. The research and writing took more time than I had planned on. But it is done. The book is being proofread by two people, and by me, and we are looking at publishing options. While this was time consuming and certainly pulled me away from my other writing, it was also fun and satisfying.

So there’s the year in review.

 

goals, The Forest Throne

November Progress, December Goals

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I’m writing this on December 1st, for publishing on December 3rd. November wasn’t too bad of a month for writing progress, despite the time off for Thanksgiving activities with the family. Here’s how I did compared to the goals I set on November 1st.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Monday and Friday. I believe I accomplished this without missing a regular posting day.
  2. Attend my writers groups this month. That will be about six meetings if I make all of them. I attended all these meetings, a total of 5, two of which were on-line. 
  3. Continue formatting work on the church Centennial book. With luck, and a few good hours, it will be finished when Dec 1 rolls around. I made progress on this. The essential formatting is done, though I’m still waiting on two outside contributions and a few more photos. Final formatting is impossible until I get those.
  4. More work on The Forest Throne. I’ll even set a word goal on this: 10,000 words more than I have now. I had several good sessions of working on this. I didn’t quite make may word goal, however, adding 9,400 for the month. Still, that’s not bad.
  5. Begin the process of revamping my website. I don’t really have that much to do on it, mainly have a new landing page and move my bio to its own page. I ought to be able to achieve that. This I also did. I spent a day or two on this: refamiliarizing myself with the menus for making changes; adding photos; moving and adding text. I now have a proper landing page, a proper bio page, and have updated almost everything on the site to be current. I still want to make a couple of changes to some of the pages but see no hurry in doing so.

So, what about December? It actually looks like a quiet month in the Todd household, so I hope to achieve much with my writing.

  1. As always, blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays.
  2. As always, attend meetings (in person and on-line) of my writing groups. I’m going to drop one group, as I don’t think I’m contributing much to it and am not sure I agree with the direction they are going. I also suspect some meetings of the groups may be cancelled around Christmas.
  3. Publish the short story I finished in September. Busyness has kept me from applying my mind to creating the cover and doing the publishing tasks. I’ve waited long enough; time to get it done.
  4. Continue work on The Forest Throne. I’m at a point in the book where the writing is more difficult, since I’m dealing with speech and mannerisms spanning three different time eras. So I’m not going to set any word goal. Let me instead set a working-sessions goal. I want to work on it no less than 15 times by the end of the month.
  5. Assuming I receive the two outside contributions I’m waiting on, and find the last photo or two I feel I’m missing, I’ll set a goal of completely finishing the formatting of this, 100 percent finish. That will mean that publishing tasks will happen in January.
  6. Work on two Bible studies—or maybe three.  One I started back in February or March this year, and I have quite a bit done on it. I’d like to get that into publishing shape. Maybe this month I can dust it off, read where I left off and add some words. The other two are new, ones that I anticipate teaching next year. One I have outlined but not really developed. My goal for it is to get it fully developed and in teachable condition. The other is a “sequel” to the one from earlier this year. It’s not yet outlined, however. My goal for it for it for December is to get it fully outlined, and maybe start developing it a little.

I think I will leave it at that. That’s quite a bit to get done. Let’s see how I do on it.

goals, Writing

October Progress, November Goals

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Start of a new month. Time to report on what progress I made in October, and to establish some goals for November. First, the progress.

  1. Blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. I have a couple of conflicts coming up, so maybe those pre-written and to-be-scheduled posts will come in handy. I almost achieved this. I looked back over the month and realized I missed one day. I’m not sure how that happened. I thought I had one scheduled for that day. I suppose I hit a wrong key and the post disappeared.
  2. Work on my work-in-progress, The Forest Throne. I did get back to this. I worked on it a couple of times at a writer on-line event (more on that another time), then worked on it three or four days in a row. I’m liking where it is and how far I’m into it.
  3. Link the four novels in my Church History novels series. Why do I keep putting this off? This month I didn’t put this off. Got it done.
  4. Begin formatting the church Centennial book. I received one of three outside contributions and pasted it in. I have a promise of receiving the other two very soon. I’m happy to report I accomplished this. I now of two of the three outside contributions; I have the book formatted for book size; I’ve been adding photographs. I suspect I have another five hours of work for the book to be ready for someone to make a cover and begin the printing process. Well, first finding a printer.
  5. Attend writers groups this month. I’m not sure how many it will be. I may have conflicts with the meeting dates of two of my regular groups. Maybe I’ll be able to get in on the new group a couple of times. I did this. I missed two meetings while traveling, but attended three meetings of a new group, an on-line group. A productive month in this category.
  6. Publish “Foxtrot Alpha Tango”, once I get critiques back from the Scribblers & Scribes. I have one back already. Publishing will mean cover creation, but I’m already pulling ideas together. Did not get this done. Just too busy on other things.
  7. Take a look at, but don’t necessarily write more on, the Bible study I was working on during the spring and early summer. No, didn’t get this done.

Ok, what do I want to accomplish in November? This is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). But November, with our family Thanksgiving celebration, is always too busy for me to participate. Plus, we still have decluttering/disaccumulation activities. Still, I want to establish some goals. Here they are.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Monday and Friday.
  2. Attend my writers groups this month. That will be about six meetings if I make all of them.
  3. Continue formatting work on the church Centennial book. With luck, and a few good hours, it will be finished when Dec 1 rolls around.
  4. More work on The Forest Throne. I’ll even set a word goal on this: 10,000 words more than I have now.
  5. Begin the process of revamping my website. I don’t really have that much to do on it, mainly have a new landing page and move my bio to it’s own page. I ought to be able to achieve that.

I think that’s all I’ll establish as official goals. An unofficial goal is to continue to go through my writing papers and see what I need to keep, what I can get rid of.

I’ll check back in either late November or early December with a progress report and new goals.

Bible study, Church History Novels, goals, self-publishing, Sharon Williams short stories, Writing

September Progress, October Goals

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October 1, falling on a Friday—a regular blogging day for me—is the perfect day for recording what I accomplished in September, and for establishing some goals for October. Here’s the progress.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. Done, though one Saturday I realized I had totally forgotten to post anything on Friday, so I got a post up a day late. And one Monday post, that I wrote the previous Friday, accidentally got posted on that Friday, #usererror. But every regular blogging day was covered. To help me be a little more regular with my posting, I actually have four blog posts started as drafts.
  2. Wrap up my research project on our church’s charter members. Done! Wednesday I made a final tweak in the list of probable charter members. I started putting my notes into usable form, which I should finish doing in October.
  3. Finish “Foxtrot Alpha Tango”, the short story I’ve been working on for two or three months. Done! I finished this around Sept 20 and sent it by e-mail to my critique group.
  4. Link the books in my Church History Novels series on Amazon. This is an easy process. I’ve been holding off until the new covers were done, but it’s time to just do it. No, I didn’t do this. Shame on me. It’s an easy task. I guess I was hoping to have the covers re-done first, so I kept putting it off. Back on the to-do list for this month.
  5. I still have a few more tweaks to do on the church centennial book. I’m going to work on it after I finish this post and may finish them today (Friday afternoon). Done! Though see what I put in my October goals.
  6. Attend my writers’ groups. At the moment all three are scheduled. Done! One was cancelled, the other two met in person and I attended. I also attended two meetings of a weekly on-line writing group. I don’t know whether I’ll be a regular there, but it was good.
  7. Document one Bible study idea I had and put it in the queue. Done! I recorded it in my journal. At some point I’ll have to transfer it to an ideas folder, either on paper or on the computer, but at least it’s documented and I’ve been able to let my mind sort of forget it. 

Alright, September was a productive month. I event added a couple of thousand words to my next work-in-progress, something I hadn’t planned on. Now, what about October? Be bold, or be cautious, in my goals. I’m just going to type and see how it comes out.

  1. Blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. I have a couple of conflicts coming up, so maybe those pre-written and to-be-scheduled posts will come in handy.
  2. Work on my work-in-progress, The Forest Throne. I can’t remember what I’ve written about that here. I may have to include a post on it. I won’t give a specific word count goal for now. Possibly I’ll edit this in a week or so.
  3. Link the four novels in my Church History novels series. Why do I keep putting this off?
  4. Begin formatting the church Centennial book. I received one of three outside contributions and pasted it in. I have a promise of receiving the other two very soon. Meanwhile, I’m proofreading the book, which has caused me to realize I have three blanks to be filled in. They are just names and dates, but, still, they will require a little work. I hope to have that done today or tomorrow. Then the formatting and photograph additions will begin. Possibly I will have the formatting done by the end of October and will be ready to go to print.
  5. Attend writers groups this month. I’m not sure how many it will be. I may have conflicts with the meeting dates of two of my regular groups. Maybe I’ll be able to get in on the new group a couple of times.
  6. Publish “Foxtrot Alpha Tango”, once I get critiques back from the Scribblers & Scribes. I have one back already. Publishing will mean cover creation, but I’m already pulling ideas together.
  7. Take a look at, but don’t necessarily write more on, the Bible study I was working on during the spring and early summer. I’ve been so busy with other things I don’t remember where I left off. Since I might start it soon, as in two months or so, it would be good to have it swimming around in my mind even now, occupying a few gray cells.

That’s enough. As with last month, there’s always the chance that something else could pop up.

goals, research, Sharon Williams short stories, Writing

August Progress, September Goals

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I must be losing my mind, for I forgot that, at the change of the month, I was supposed to do my usual progress and goals post. No, not losing my mind, but totally absorbed in a research project. I finished that Friday (I’ll discuss it in the progress section below) and it was like blinders came off. I realized I needed to do this post. But, having already made a post on Friday Sept 3, I’m writing this on Friday but will schedule it to post on Monday Sept 6.

First, here are the goals I posted to begin August and what progress I made against them.

  1. Continue to tweak the church anniversary book. I can think of only two more interviews to do. I may add in photos this month. Well, I more or less did this. I tweaked the book. I did all the interviews I intend to do. I even reached out on the internet to find relatives of our church’s charter members, with some success. I added a few photos, but for the most part let the research of charter members overwhelm the tweaking/finishing the book, so it will be a September goal.
  2. Finish a short story in the Sharon Williams Fonseca series, tentatively titled “Foxtrot Alpha Tango”. I wrote four pages in July to share with the Scribblers & Scribes critique group when we met that month. With just under 2,000 words written, I believe it’s 2/3 done. I guess I did some work on this, since it sits at 3600 words, but it’s not done. Add it to September goals.
  3. Work on the middle grade novel I started in July. The Forest Throne is technically to be co-authored by my oldest grandson, though I’ll do most of the writing and he will edit it, helping me to understand what 10-13 year old boys like. I wrote the first chapter of this in July and sent it to him for comments, receiving his approbation of the sample. I’d like to add another 5,000 words to it this month to go with the 1350 written so far. I’ve brainstormed out most of the plot but not specific scenes. No writing on this at all. I brainstormed the plot some more (which is work and progress) and figured out how to solve another plot problem that I was uncertain of. Hoping to get back to this in September.
  4. Blog twice a week, as always. Did this, as always.
  5. Do some work on my website. I’m not sure what, but I have to overcome this technophobia and improve it. Nope, put this off again. I still need to do this. Oh, if I were only a techie!
  6. Attend meetings of my three writing groups, assuming they don’t get cancelled because of local corona virus outbreaks. Two of the groups cancelled, with the pandemic figuring in each. The Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista met, and I attended.
  7. If the cover artist gets the covers re-done, re-publish the three older church history novels, updating them for new copyright info and list of works, as well as link them in a series. The cover artist wasn’t able to do this, so my goal remains not done.

So, what are my goals for September 2021? Just about everything from last month, I reckon.

  1. Blog twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.
  2. Wrap up my research project on our church’s charter member. I’ve come to a stopping point of sorts. What remains is to get my research notes into a useful format so that a future researcher, maybe at our 150th anniversary in 2071, will find the notes legible and useful and the research accurate.
  3. Finish “Foxtrot Alpha Tango”, the short story I’ve been working on for two or three months.
  4. Link the books in my Church History Novels series on Amazon. This is an easy process. I’ve been holding off until the new covers were done, but it’s time to just do it.
  5. I still have a few more tweaks to do on the church centennial book. I’m going to work on it after I finish this post and may finish them today (Friday afternoon).
  6. Attend my writers’ groups. At the moment all three are scheduled.
  7. Document one Bible study idea I had and put it in the queue.

That’s enough. I wonder if I can achieve much of this in September. See you in early October. October 1 is a Friday, so possibly I’ll post progress and goals on the 1st.

Bible study, Christianity, Documenting America, goals, Writing

Writing Goals for August 2021

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No new work on this, except to link the three main volumes in a series. I sold 4 copies of The Civil War Edition in the last ten days. More about that in another post.

Well, July came and went without me establishing any writing goals. Yes, you astute observers will have noticed that I didn’t post goals at the beginning of July nor give a recap of how I did with my June goals. When July started we were busy heading to Chicago for a family event. I prepared a few posts ahead of time and scheduled them to post while we were away. Writing progress and new goals wasn’t something I could write early.

But here are my June goals and how I did on them over a two month period. You can get through them then see my August goals after that.

  1. Finish the church anniversary book. I think I’m doing well on this, and should be able to add the final portions and declare it done by the end of the month. …I have some more interviews to conduct, which may hold it up, and some contributions by some others. I won’t say that I’ll have those contributions, but without these interviews the book won’t be done. The book is DONE! I’m at the point where I am so far ahead of schedule with it that, if I had to go to press today I would be satisfied with it. However, since I still have time available, I will continue to tweak it. Maybe do a few more interviews, work on some more photos, etc. It will still be an August goal, and probably every month going forward until it goes to print.
  2. Blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. With this post I’m well on my way toward achieving that. I achieved this goal.
  3. Explore a little more the linking of a series together on Amazon. I have four series among my Amazon publications, none currently linked.  This was on my list of things to do last month but didn’t get done. Not only did I explore this, but I managed to get two series created, linking existing publications with their related publications. That was the Danny Tompkins short stories and the Sharon Williams Fonseca short stories. No, wait, it was three series. I also linked my Documenting American non-fiction books into a series.
  4. Work on this website, creating a new landing page and updating some content. I did not do this, technophobia taking over I suppose. I don’t think this is a difficult thing to do, but I put it off and allowed other things to fill the time.
  5. Work with the cover designer concerning new covers for the Church History Novels series. This is somewhat out of my control, based on her schedule. I haven’t checked with her in a couple of weeks. I stayed in touch with the cover creator. She has had a very busy summer, interning somewhere. She contacted me last week to say she is just about ready to get back to them and wanted the print book dimensions. So this is good news, and a goal sort of met.
  6. Watch some Amazon videos on how to better do Amazon ads. They keep sending me e-mails about available webinars, several of which look beneficial. I’d like to watch at least one a week. Goal partially met. I watched two Amazon advertising webinars. They weren’t very helpful. I also re-took the 5-day Amazon Ad Profit Challenge in July, the fourth time I’ve gone through it. I created six ads for Acts Of Faith, bringing me up to 16 ads running. Are they profitable? I’ll cover that in a future post.
  7. Continue work on the next volume of Documenting America. I’m still mainly in the reading for research phase, though I also did some of the book planning and created the book file. I want to at least complete the basic reading (40 more pages) and move on to some other sources. I think that is very do-able. I did finish reading the source materials. I also add somethings to the book file and even began the process of editing down the source documents. But, I would have to say I did not complete this goal.
Six ads running. Not a lot if impressions or clicks, and only one sale in July.

So all in all, June and July, while not stellar with accomplishments, did have their moments. Lack of July goals has reflected in that lack of accomplishment.

Now, time to set some goals for August.

  1. Continue to tweak the church anniversary book. I can think of only two more interviews to do. I may add in photos this month. I have a bunch in the file now, but have more I could add. As I do this, I will first format the book for print dimensions. That will let me bring in photos at the right size.
  2. Finish a short story in the Sharon Williams Fonseca series, tentatively titled “Foxtrot Alpha Tango”. I wrote four pages in July to share with the Scribblers & Scribes critique group when we met that month. With just under 2,000 words written, I believe it’s 2/3 done.
  3. Work on the middle grade novel I started in July. The Forest Throne is technically to be co-authored by my oldest grandson, though I’ll do most of the writing and he will edit it, helping me to understand what 10-13 year old boys like. I wrote the first chapter of this in July and sent it to him for comments, receiving his approbation of the sample. I’d like to add another 5,000 words to it this month to go with the 1350 written so far. I’ve brainstormed out most of the plot but not specific scenes.
  4. Blog twice a week, as always.
  5. Do some work on my website. I’m not sure what, but I have to overcome this technophobia and improve it.
  6. Attend meetings of my three writing groups, assuming they don’t get cancelled because of local corona virus outbreaks.
  7. If the cover artist gets the covers re-done, re-publish the three older church history novels, updating them for new copyright info and list of works, as well as link them in a series.

That’s it. See you in September with a progress update.

Church History Novels, goals

June 2021 Writing Goals

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In my last post I gave the results of my writing in May. Not a great month in terms of progress, but not bad either. Now it’s time to think about, dream about, and plan for what I would like to do in June.

  1. Finish the church anniversary book. I think I’m doing well on this, and should be able to add the final portions and declare it done by the end of the month. I made some good progress on it the last two weeks. I have some more interviews to conduct, which may hold it up, and some contributions by some others. I won’t say that I’ll have those contributions, but without these interviews the book won’t be done.
  2. Blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. With this post I’m well on my way toward achieving that.
  3. Explore a little more the linking of a series together on Amazon. I have four series among my Amazon publications, none currently linked.  This was on my list of things to do last month but didn’t get done.
  4. Work on this website, creating a new landing page and updating some content.
  5. Work with the cover designer concerning new covers for the Church History Novels series. This is somewhat out of my control, based on her schedule. I haven’t checked with her in a couple of weeks.
  6. Watch some Amazon videos on how to better do Amazon ads. They keep sending me e-mails about available webinars, several of which look beneficial. I’d like to watch at least one a week.
  7. Continue work on the next volume of Documenting America. I’m still mainly in the reading for research phase, though I also did some of the book planning and created the book file. I want to at least complete the basic reading (40 more pages) and move on to some other sources. I think that is very do-able.

Some of these are more writing career items than strictly writing. That’s fine. I’ve somewhat neglected the career aspects for a while and it’s time to work on them.

I’ll check in near the end of the month and let you know how I did.

Bible study, Church History Novels, Documenting America, goals

May Writing Progress

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This month, due to busyness with some alternate activities, I’m going to split my writing progress for this month and writing goals for next month into two posts. Today will be  May writing progress; Friday will be June writing goals.

  1. Republish the three prior books in the Church History Novels series. This will be the contents, adding information for the full series, including links to all the books. The switch of the covers to be consistent across the series may not happen this month, so the full process may take a little longer. I didn’t get this done. Don’t have the covers yet, though I thought I would. Hopefully soon, at which time I should be able to do this quickly.
  2. Create, in Amazon KDP, a true series of these books. People have told me this is easy to do. After I get the content updated, I may tackle this, even if the covers aren’t ready to go yet. And, if I’m successful at that, I’ll create true series for my two short story series. And for the Documenting America series. Did not do his. I guess I was waiting on something, though not sure what. Maybe I can do this next month.
  3. Continue work on the church anniversary book. I’m not going to set a word goal, since I can’t seem to meet the word goals I set. By the end of the month I would like to have all my interviews done, information from those interviews worked into the book. I also want to have basic information added to all chapters. This was my main writing endeavor this month. While I don’t feel like I spent enough time on it, I spent a fair amount. I’m now over 20,000 words in a book I thought would be 12-15,000. The end is not yet. I have four more chapters to write and about four more people to interview. The largest chapter, where I look at the church decade by decade, is done (except for photos). The remaining chapters are short and should go quickly. I feel really good about this project.
  4. Continue work on the Bible study. In some ways, this is fill-in work when my mind can’t wrap around other writing tasks. That tells me that maybe my heart isn’t really in this project. Or maybe it means I simply need to get other things off my plate before I can really concentrate on it. I looked at this briefly early in the month, and may have added a few hundred words. I think I also brainstormed it a little. But, I let this slide while other writing and many life events and activities took precedence.
  5. Blog twice a week, Monday and Friday. I ought to be able to do this. Done, done, done.
  6. Continue research reading for the next Documenting America I’ve read over 100 pages so far, with around 200 to go. I made major progress on this, as I didn’t do a lot of other reading this month. I’m down to about 50 pages to read in my main source book. I also started the file for the book, finding a couple of source documents and creating a  computer file for them.

So, all in all, I’d say it was a good month—not great, but good.

Look for my June goals in Friday’s post.