Category Archives: goals

Bible study, Christianity, Documenting America, goals, Writing

Writing Goals for August 2021

August 2, 2021 David Todd Leave a comment

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.

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.
Blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. With this post I’m well on my way toward achieving that. I achieved this goal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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.
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.
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.
Blog twice a week, as always.
Do some work on my website. I’m not sure what, but I have to overcome this technophobia and improve it.
Attend meetings of my three writing groups, assuming they don’t get cancelled because of local corona virus outbreaks.
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

June 4, 2021 David Todd Leave a comment

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.

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.
Blog twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. With this post I’m well on my way toward achieving that.
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.
Work on this website, creating a new landing page and updating some content.
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.
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.
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

May 31, 2021 David Todd Leave a comment

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
Blog twice a week, Monday and Friday. I ought to be able to do this. Done, done, done.
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.

goals, self-publishing, Writing

Writing Progress and Goals

March 1, 2021 David Todd Leave a comment

Monday, regular posting day.

First of the month, a day to discuss progress last months and goals for this month.

Perfect.

So how did I do last month relative to the goals I set? I’ll paste the goals in and say what progress I made, and we’ll see.

Continue to work on The Teachings. At the rate I’m writing now, I should write “the end” somewhere around Feb 15. I got this done. I finished it somewhere around Feb 10. I already have full comments from one beta reader and partial comments from another. I’ve been through it all the way once and made edits and my wife has been most of the way through it and given her edits. I also made contact with a cover designer who says she will take on the project
Continue to work on the 100th Anniversary book for my church. I’ve made a start with the book somewhat planned out and the writing started, now sitting at 1,675 word heading towards 20,000 words, maybe a little longer. Another goal I was able to meet. I did a lot of research this month into our charter members, and was able to learn much and write much. I’m now at about 6,000 words and feeling good about how the book is going. I think, however, the hard parts are ahead.
Get back to research into my next Documenting America book. I call this Run-up To Revolution. It’s about the period before the outbreak of fighting in 1775, so say from 1761-1775. I didn’t do very much on this. I pulled out the one main reference book I have at the house and looked over, but didn’t read, the documents in it. I satisfied myself that, between them and the ones they will lead me to, I should have no problem getting enough source material to make this a viable book. Time to knuckle down and research in earnest.
Continue to blog twice a week. Very doable. Yes, did this, including a couple of posts that I’d held off on due to the difficulty.
Continue to work on my bibliography. I started this some time ago, maybe three or four years, after I found joy working on a chronological bibliography for Thomas Carlyle’s writings. Every now and then I open it and add a few more things to it. I did some work on this, but not a lot. I’ve fallen a bit behind keeping up with what I’m currently writing. I think today, before getting on to other writing tasks, I’ll work on this.
This is more publishing than writing related: Begin to improve my books to try to 1) get more reviews and 2) improve the click through and purchasing rates on my ads. ….For February, I will plan on doing the ones advertised. Nope, didn’t do any of this.
Advertise one more book. I’m thinking it will be Acts Of Faith, but we shall see. Again, I didn’t do this. I’m afraid advertising and promotion took a back seat this month to writing.
Not listed as a goal last month, but some writing work I did, was to start on a new Bible study. Well, not a Bible study exactly. I’ll explain more in a future post, after I get further into it. I’m not sure yet if it’s a viable project.

Thus, February was a mixed bag as far as progress was concerned. Now, what’s on for March?

Make one more editing pass through The Teachings, and decide if it is ready for publishing. Get my ideas for the cover to the designer and get things rolling on that.
Make major progress in the church 100th anniversary book. I’d like to be close to 15,000 words by the end of the month. That depends, however, on getting into the library for research, or having a librarian help me.
Read for research in the next Documenting America book, including taking notes. Begin to sketch an outline of the Table Of Contents.
Continue with my current Bible study project and see if it’s something I should turn into a writing project with the intent on publishing.
Get my personal bibliography up to date for current works. This should be doable. In fact, I may go work on it as soon as I finish this blog post.
Blog twice a week. That may be interrupted if we bring the grandkids back here for spring break.

I think I’ll leave it at that. I still have work to do on my already published works to make them a little more enticing for buyers, but that may have to wait.

Documenting America, goals, Health, home improvements, reading, Writing

Weary Once More

September 11, 2020 David Todd Leave a comment

My plans for today’s blog was a book review. But it would be an intense book review, and I don’t know that I have the strength of mine for it at the moment. So I’ll write about weariness.

Published in 2011, I really need to do something with this, update it for later publications and correct some formatting errors.

After having written about the Kuwait years letters in a recent post, I did a little more searching in the storeroom and found a few more items and transcribed them. The collection is now up to 143 items, the computer file running to 152 pages and 89,000 words, maybe 300 of which are commentary I’ve begun to add. I think I’m done with it. I hope I’m done with it. The Saudi years will be some time from now, after I get the Kuwait years into published form.

The last two days have been full, though in some ways I wonder exactly what I accomplished. In the evenings I worked on saving e-mails to Word documents for my letters file. I also collated five notebooks of printed correspondence, a task that’s not quite complete. Wednesday morning I worked outside for an hour. I intended to yesterday, but rain quashed that notion.

Then I’ll get to correct this one in the same way.

I attended a writing group meeting via Facebook live stream and Zoom conference on Wednesday. On Thursday I attended a writing workshop on improving books for getting noticed on Amazon. Much to consider.

A writing task I’ve been planning to do was to correct and republish my original Documenting America book, updating the works by this author section all versions, and correct the running heads and locations for page numbers for the print version. I then will republish it, then do some Amazon ads for it. I originally published this in 2011, and I don’t think I ever updated it.

And, this one will also need some updating.

Alas, I found my computer files in a mess. I had files here, files there, folders inside of folders, duplicates and triplicates. I couldn’t tell for sure which was my latest file. So, while listening to the webinar yesterday, I multi-tasked by creating a good file structure and move files into it from their scattered locations. I found that work mentally exhausting, and I was good for nothing after doing that. Except I did figure out which was the latest print book file and began working on it.

That came after Thursday normal stock trading work, a Wal-Mart grocery and meds run, and getting a roast started for supper, adding the veggies after the webinar. Then it was off to the sunroom and reading in a David Morrell novel. Then to the living room and more work on e-mails. I eventually dished up supper, and store-bought pie for dessert, and went back to e-mails.

Then, I was exhausted. We had The Curse of Oak Island re-runs on, which are easy to tune out and do other things. Then it was read aloud in an Agatha Christie mystery. Now, Friday morning, I’m doing trading, and work on the book revision. Soon we’ll head on a 45 mile drive for some medical tests for Lynda.

And I’m weary. Weary in well-doing. Weary in from doing too much. Getting my book corrected and re-published has to be my top priority. I hope, when we get back from the distant lab, to get back to the print book. I could finish that today and get on to the e-book. I’m hoping some energy will return.

Church History Novels, goals, miscellaneous, The Teachings, Writing

Feeling Lackluster

May 4, 2020 David Todd Leave a comment

Dateline: Sunday, 3 May 2020

Waiting on someone to come get this rocking horse, but she never comes, is unsettling. Why don’t people come when they say they will? Do obligations mean nothing any more?

Well, after saying in my last post that I was about to re-start life, I find that more difficult to do than I expected. Why? Because of a heavy to-do list coupled with uncertainty, leading to unsettledness, leading to being overwhelmed by the forest and not being able to see the trees.

Where do I start, and how much do I say? I can get a lot done so long as I have a good to-do list

and a schedule. Even a long to-do list doesn’t put me off. What does put me off is lack of a schedule. Got 20 things to do? No problem; I’ll just schedule them. But when I can’t schedule them I have no idea what to do next. I get perplexed and flustered. The forest overwhelms me.

Part of the problem may be simple tiredness. On Saturday I did my usual tackling of to-do items. Trading accounting, checkbook, budgeting, and filing all went quickly. I got to work on decluttering, moving two large cabinets in the storage room, organizing things to remain for better placement on shelves, identifying more things to be discarded. I also spent 20 or 30 minutes shredding old work papers. Oh, yes, I also worked in the yard for an hour and a half, hauling an old wood pile back into the woods and pulling weeds from the rock yard. All this was sandwiched between three loads of laundry. With Lynda still convalescing I didn’t want to leave that to her.

So, by the end of the day I was beat. I sat out on the deck, trying to read but unable to concentrate. The day was hot (85 degrees) and that took its toll. I came inside with a few things to do but couldn’t do them. I wanted to take a walk but couldn’t do it because…

…I was waiting on a woman to come to buy the rocking horse I had put up for sale on Facebook marketplace. She contacted me Thursday saying she wanted it. Friday we made arrangements for her to come Saturday afternoon. I didn’t want Lynda to have to handle it, so I put off my walk. She didn’t come, didn’t message me. I did mindless things for two hours before messaging her asking where she was. She couldn’t come, she said, having been called in to work; could she come on Sunday? Sure, I replied, but I need to know when. She would message me 30 minutes before she would arrive. That was okay by me. My walks never take me more than 20 minutes from the house if I had to get back quickly.

So I fixed supper, worked on a jigsaw puzzle. I was out of energy. So much I could have accomplished in the time I was waiting on her. If she had just messaged me to say she needed to put it off a day I could have restructured my day, gotten my walk in, been able to rest comfortably, and not felt so unsettled for the sake of a $30 used rocking horse.

Ah, well, such is life. I did manage to spend a little time preparing to teach Life Group on Sunday. I also had just enough presence of mind to type edits on my novel-in-progress. Tomorrow I hope to get back to it. Except there’s an eye doctor appointment for Lynda, picking up an old computer of mine that’s been refurbished that I’m going to give to a retired missionary, stock trading, contacting a man about a roof, etc. At least I’m not going to worry about the horse. If she comes for it, fine. If not I’ll renew the ad and hope someone else sees it.

Meanwhile, time to fix supper and back to the jigsaw puzzle.

Genealogy, goals, Health, Writing

About To Re-Start

May 1, 2020 David Todd Leave a comment

I’m not talking about the U.S. economy, about ready to begin emerging from the business shutdown to help slow the spread of the corona virus. I’m talking about me.

April was kind of a blur. I worked on and finished the genealogy/family history book. I did yard work. I did massive decluttering, getting rid of piles of paper, a score of empty boxes, five old computers. Some of that stuff is still in the garage, awaiting re-opening of the technology recycling center.

I took my wife to the hospital on the third, bringing her home on the 22nd after two operations and a difficult recovery. Now I’m her caregiver, though she is getting stronger each day and will be somewhat back to normal soon.

Now it’s May 1, my regular blogging day as well as the first of the month. It’s time for me to report on how I did on April goals and set some goals for May. But given how April was, I feel like I need to totally re-start things. I don’t know what the new normal will be, either in the world or in my life. Thus I’m not really ready to set new goals for my writing life. I guess, however, I can report on April progress.

Blog twice a week. I think I missed one day. Otherwise, I continued this through the unsettleness of the month.
Get as far as I can with the genealogy book. I finished this book. Yesterday I did a few tweaks. I still need one last proof, plus one last check to see that I have all events in the people’s lives covered. Plus I need to check the formatting to make sure the graphics insert properly. I may do that this weekend. Then, I head to publishing steps.
Spend at least some time in The Teachings. I should set a word goal. Let’s say 3,000 words is my goal for the month. All I did on The Teachings last month was re-read the first few chapters. Since the genealogy book consumed me, I kept this set aside. Maybe today and this weekend I’ll get back to re-reading the whole thing, and back to new writing next week.
Give my talk to the Village Lake Writers & Poets on April 8. This was to have been a virtual talk due to the ban on gatherings of over ten people. However, this was the day when Lynda was at her lowest in the hospital, and I found I couldn’t give it. I told the organizer I was willing to do it, but she said no, given the circumstances she would do something back-up and reschedule me.
Do some research into the next Documenting America book. Maybe it will just read the document I found. Maybe it will be to peruse the site that document came from and note other documents for use and at least skim them. I did nothing on this.

So there you have it. I’m not ready to set goals for May. Maybe I will be ready by Monday, or maybe not at all. As the U.S.A. looks to turn back to something normal, perhaps a new normal, so it is with me. Right now decluttering will take a higher priority than writing.

Look for my post on Monday. Perhaps I’ll have some clarity by then.

Church History Novels, critique group, Documenting America, Genealogy, goals, Sharon Williams short stories, The Teachings, Writing

2020: March Accomplishment, April Goals

April 3, 2020 David Todd Leave a comment

Here’s what I had for my March goals and how I did relative to them.

Blog twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays. Did this. Once I did a “can’t write much today” post, and once I didn’t get my Friday post in till Saturday, but I got them done.
Make significant progress on The Teachings, my novel-in-progress. I need to make this measurable, so I’ll set 20,000 words to be added this month. That means, at the close of March 31st, I should be at 32, 122 or better. Failed miserably on this when my genealogy book and research took over practically all my waking hours. I ended the month with around 23,250 words. Not awful, but not what I hoped for.
Make a final decision on what Bible study to work on this year. I decided this: it will be Entrusted To My Care: A Bible Study of 1 & 2 Timothy.
Attend three writing group meetings this month, two for Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista and one for Village Lake Writers & Poets. Due to the corona virus outbreak, two of these three meetings were cancelled. The first one, on March 4, we did at the Rogers library. The 2nd Wednesday Noon group will meet as a Facebook livestream followed by a Zoom conference this month, and I’m the speaker.
Spend a little time going through the genealogy book I started over two years ago. My goal is to make a judgment of how much work would be involved and whether I could publish it this year. I haven’t talked much about this on the blog. I’ll have to do a post or two on it. I accomplished this—big time. I’m working hot and heavy on the book, to the detriment of all other writing tasks, and it’s coming along well. Up to 88 pages and the end is not yet.
Republish the two stories in the Sharon Williams Fonseca series I didn’t get done last month, to add my current list of published works (and correct any typos I might find). Did this! All five Sharon Williams Fonseca stories are re-published with most recent data on my published works, as well as a correcting a few typos in each.
Continue reading for research in the next Documenting America book. This will include searching for available documents. I have a few already chosen, but more are needed. This month I may be searching for documents more than reading them. I don’t know if I can claim having done this or not. I found some new on-line sources and skimmed one and bookmarked the site. I guess I can claim it.

So, what about April? I’m somewhat uncertain due to this genealogy obsession that has to run its course before I can get back to other work. Thus I think my goals will be modest this month.

Blog twice a week.
Get as far as I can with the genealogy book.
Spend at least some time in The Teachings. I should set a word goal. Let’s say 3,000 words is my goal for the month.
Give my talk to the Village Lake Writers & Poets on April 8.
Do some research into the next Documenting America book. Maybe it will just read the document I found. Maybe it will be to peruse the site that document came from and note other documents for use and at least skim them.

That’s all for April. It will be a busy month, just not in the things I had on my master 2020 list.

goals, Writing

March 2020 Goals

March 6, 2020 David Todd Leave a comment

Dateline 1 March 2020

A new month, time to set and post new goals. As I sit here in my living room, typing this, with The Sorcerer’s Stone on the tv, I’m still recovering from my cold. I have two appointments this week and four the next. Spring will be upon us and I have lots of yard work to do. Yet, I need to push myself and set aggressive goals. Here they are.

Blog twice a week, on Mondays and Fridays.
Make significant progress on The Teachings, my novel-in-progress. I need to make this measurable, so I’ll set 20,000 words to be added this month. That means, at the close of March 31st, I should be at 32, 122 or better.
Make a final decision on what Bible study to work on this year.
Attend three writing group meetings this month, two for Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista and one for Village Lake Writers & Poets.
Spend a little time going through the genealogy book I started over two years ago. My goal is to make a judgment of how much work would be involved and whether I could publish it this year. I haven’t talked much about this on the blog. I’ll have to do a post or two on it.
Republish the two stories in the Sharon Williams Fonseca series I didn’t get done last month, to add my current list of published works (and correct any typos I might find).
Continue reading for research in the next Documenting America book. This will include searching for available documents. I have a few already chosen, but more are needed. This month I may be searching for documents more than reading them.

That seems like a good amount of goals. As always, I might modify them as the month unfolds.

Bible study, Church History Novels, Documenting America, goals, Sharon Williams short stories, The Teachings, Writing

February Goals

February 3, 2020 David Todd Leave a comment

As reported in my last post, I had a good, productive January, at least in reference to my writing goals. Time now to set writing goals for February. As I’m traveling I’ll back off a little on my goals just a little. I’ll have fewer of them, but hope to spend a fair amount of time on writing.

Blog twice a week. Based on past experience I feel good about this.
Attend the mid-month meeting of Scribblers & Scribes of Bella Vista. I’ll be away for the other two writer group meetings I normally attend.
Write a large amount in The Teachings. I started this last month and would like to get a lot done. I hesitate to set a word goal, as I’ll be doing some research/reading simultaneously. However, goals should be measurable, so I’ll set 10,000 words as my goal. Ideally I should be writing more, at least 1,000 words a day. Maybe, as I get further into it, I’ll write that much a day.
Review the Bible studies I’ve written before, and ones I have planned, to see which one I’ll write next. I don’t plan on beginning it just yet, but I want to know which one I’m doing so I can be thinking about it.
Finish re-publishing the Sharon Williams Fonseca short stories. I have two more to go. Doing this to correct any typos and to add all my books and stories to the document.
Do more research for Documenting America: Run-up to Revolution. I have two main research books in hand, but will look for other sources, including on-line.

That’s all the official goals. Possibly something else will come up during the month.

David A Todd