Having just finished my October report, and this being the 4th of November, I’d better work on my November goals. Even though I didn’t do well in October relative to goals, I’m going to set a little bit higher goals in November and try harder.

1. Blog at least 12 times. I’ve hit this many consecutive months.

2. Post at least 8 articles at Suite101.com. My current plans call for more than this. I might revise this goal tonight and set a higher target.

3. Write 10,000 words in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. This is in place of just finishing the chapter I’m in. If I make this goal, I will be about 1/4 into the novel.

4. Complete the Bible study goal of October. Assess where I am with that goal; complete the organization; and do the evaluation.

5. Make at least 4 writing related submittals. I won’t specify what type of submittals. I made one yesterday, so I’m 1/4 complete with this goal already.

6. Complete the started but unfinished appendix in my harmony of the gospels. Might as well keep it as a goal until I get it done.

7. Work on Screwtape’s Good Advice, my study guide of The Screwtape Letters. I may be teaching a class in this come February, and it would be nice to have this to use as a guide.

I’ll leave it at seven goals, and see what I can accomplish.

Time to be accountable to my reader(s), and to myself. Here’s my October goals and how I did on them.

1. Blog 12 or more times. >>> I blogged 16 times. Score 1.

2. Write 7 articles for Suite101.com. >>> I wrote and posted 8 articles, so squeaked by. Score 2.

3. Complete chapter 7 of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. >>> I did NOT do this. I did begin sharing the novel with my writers critique group, and did a little bit of editing based on those critiques. Perhaps I can give myself half credit. Score 2.5.

4. Make three literary or freelance magazine submittals. >>> Let’s see if I can remember, because I don’t have my submittal log here at work. I didn’t submit anything to any literary magazines, but I don’t think it was three. In fact, I think it was just one. I’ll check tonight and might edit this. For now I’ll put it down as a goose-egg. Score still 2.5.

5. Make sure that appendix [i.e. the one I’ve worked on since August] in my harmony of the gospels is finished. >>> Did not do. Not sure why I didn’t other than lack of interest. I did read a little in the harmony, and noted a couple of edits I have to make, but that gives me no credit. Score still 2.5.

6. Organize the various Bible studies I’ve started. This includes listing them, and evaluating them to see if I want to take them further. >>> I did some of this, early in the month, and my mind is somewhat hazy about it. I know I gathered all the loose papers of Bible study ideas to one place. I think I made the list, but I didn’t do the evaluation. Can I give myself half credit for this? I think I will. Score 3.0.

So there it is. Not the prettiest of pictures but perhaps not the worst. Hopefully I’ll do better in November, the Thanksgiving holiday not withstanding.

I’m not sure why, but I didn’t accomplish much in September. A death in the family resulted in some time out of town and away from computer, but not enough to account for the lack of progress.

1. Blog 12 times or more.
2. Write 7 articles for Suite101.com.
3. Complete Chapter 7 of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People
4. Make three freelance or literary magazine submittals.
5. Make sure that appendix in my harmony of the gospels is finished.
6. Organize the various Bible studies I’ve started. This includes listing them, and evaluating them to see if I want to take them further.

Let me see if I can made these modest goals. This is not a month for dreaming, scheming, and planning.

September was not a good month. I made much less progress on writing projects in general, and I fear in the specific items I wanted to accomplish. Here’s the results.

Blog at least 12 times. I think I blogged 13 times, so I achieved this goal.

Post at least 12 articles to Suite101.com Let me check at Suite…oh, only 6 articles. My mind didn’t go dead, just my desire to write for them.

Finish chapter 7 in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People; start chapter 8 I worked one evening on this, getting a little farther in Chapter 7 but not completing it, and not working on Chapter 8.

Complete one appendix in the Harmony of the gospels >>> Hard to remember, but I think I got this one done. If I didn’t actually finish it, I’m real close; probably everything except proof-reading and polishing.

Plan at least six lessons in Good King, Bad King series. By plan I mean something more than just a lesson title, something about the king and his life. >>> I did nothing on this, nothing at all. It just wasn’t on my radar screen.

So there it is, a dismal month as far as writing goals. Now I’ll plan for October. Given that I’m starting a day late, I’m not hopeful.

I wasn’t real pleased with how I did on my August goals, so I think I will back off a bit this month. I can always come back and edit this if I want to.

1. Blog at least 12 times.
2. Post at least 12 articles to Suite101.com
3. Finish chapter 7 in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People; start chapter 8
4. Complete one appendix in the Harmony of the gospels
5. Plan at least six lessons in Good King, Bad King series. By plan I mean something more than just a lesson title, something about the king and his life.

More later, if I think of anything.

Okay, time to see how I did relative to the goals I set August 1st.

1. Write 10 articles for Suite101.com. I did this. Actually published 16 articles in August.
   Blog 12 to 15 times. Did this. Had 16 blog posts if I’m not mistaken.
   Study: search engine optimization; sources for royalty free pictures; and picture types for digital photos. Well, I did some of this, enough to get by. But I have much, much more to do.
   Finish chapter 7 in In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People; Begin chapter 8. Fell short on this one. I got some of chapter 7 done, perhaps 2/3, maybe just a half, but didn’t work on chapter 8 at all except for a little brainstorming.
   Finish one appendix in a Harmony of the gospels; also one passage notes section. I did a little better than expected. I completed two appendixes, and I think one set of passage notes. I’m not sure about the passage notes. That’s all on my computer at home, and I’d have to look at it, but I think I got one set done.
   Complete the engineering article on storm water detention that is due Sept. 1. Started, but not done. I found out the deadline is not until Sept 14, so I slacked off a bit. Since this is a non-paying gig, and since CEI can benefit from it, I’m doing it on company time. It’s on today’s to-do list, and I have a fair chance of actually getting to it.
   More work on Good King, Bad King. Try to identify and outline at least four more lessons. I can’t say that I completed this, though I did brainstorm it and write a few notes. I’ll add it again for September.
   Work on The Strongest of All study from the apocrypha. I have the five lessons prepared, but need to add some lead-in and conclusion discussions. Completed, and four of the five lessons taught. This actually didn’t take much time, and probably was not a big enough thing to be considered a goal.
   And, based on my incomplete goals from July, get some more work done on Life on a Yo Yo, in an attempt to make it a publishable study. No, I didn’t even think about Life on a Yo Yo this month. As I feared, writing for Suite101.com has taken up almost all of my creative writing time.

After a successful June, when most of my goals were met, I’m going to be fairly aggressive in setting my July writing goals.

1. Blog at least 12 times.

2. Post 15 articles at Suite101.com.

3. Research, prepare, and submit 2 other freelance queries.

4. Complete one set of passage notes for my Harmony of the Gospels.

5. Complete the first two lessons in Good King, Bad King (already started and maybe half-way done) and outline the full series.

6. For Life on a Yo Yo: Write a “sell sheet” for the Bible study; complete the first four lessons in publishable form.

7. Complete the new chapter of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People that I got half-way done in June. It would be nice to both complete that and start another chapter, but I’m not making that a goal, not with everything else I have going on. Plus, I’m a freelancer not, not a novelist.

Well, it’s accountability time again. I actually looked back at my goals at mid-month and again a few days ago to check how I was doing. Here’s the report.

1. Blog a minimum of twelve times. I’m pretty sure I did this; forgot to check before I got to this page.

2. Evaluate two or three additional freelance markets, and submit to at least one. This will no doubt require quite a bit of Web research as well as preparing some new writing shorts. Did this. Submitted to two others and was accepted for both. Unfortunately, the engineering one is a non-paying market. Fortunately, the article was mostly written before I queried, and will help with my day-job career.

3. Complete one chapter of In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People, begun yesterday. Well, I started but did not quite finish this. I got it about half-written and typed that up. Maybe over the holiday weekend I’ll get it done.

4. Complete my latest Bible study, tentatively titled, “The Strongest Of All”. Actually, this should more be termed a small group study, since it is from the Apocrypha and not the Bible proper. Hmmm, I can almost claim this as being done. I think it is, but I have to proof-read it again and think through questions and answers. But, in addition to this, I came close to finishing another Bible study, the first two lessons in the series “Good King, Bad King.” So between the two I got more done on this than I expected.

5. Complete one appendix (already started) and the notes for one passage in the Harmony of the Gospels. I did a little on this, early in the monthly, but don’t remember exactly where I left off. I think I completed the appendix but not the passage notes.

6. Attend the Chicago Tribune Publishers Row Lit Fair next weekend, and, as a sub-goal, talk with at least three publishers who are real candidates for me to submit to. I did this. All I had to do was show up. Well, that and drive 950 miles going (went there via Oklahoma City) and 580 miles returning.

7. Get back into Life on a Yo Yo and prepare it for publication while it is still somewhat fresh. This one I failed at. All I got done was to gather my notes and research from two or three piles and consolidate it. At least it’s all in one place, and I’ll make it a goal again for next month.

8. Submit a query for another article for Internet Genealogy. I will wait to make sure the article already submitted is acceptable to the editor. Did this. Turned in the query early last week. No response yet, but it’s vacation season.