Okay, here we are again, and we’re back to the proper schedule, at least for now.
So I already mentioned in my previous post about how I got a job, then kinda lost it, but it’s still going to happen in about a month. So in the meantime my overall goal is to get as much of the “home” stuff done as I can manage before I have to go. That means filming videos, taking pictures of things that I can later share on Instagram, and basically just planning for how I’m going to handle things while I’m gone. This upcoming job has the opportunity to last for a few months, during which I’ll be on the other side of the country, so I’ve got to get my nonsense in order by then.
So here we go. This is Tracey trying her gosh darnedest to learn how to adhere to a proper schedule. That’s not particularly easy when your current work schedule is an evening followed by an afternoon followed by a morning, etc, but I’m going to work my butt off to figure it out.
Okay, enough of that stuff, because that’s all I’ve been giving you guys for two weeks now. Let’s get into the actual goal stuff and see how outrageously horrible I’ve been doing! (Note: I wrote that last sentence with a smile, honestly.)
Goal #1: Write half a million words.
Since I didn’t do any actual, numerical reporting in my previous post, this report will actually be for two weeks, and let me say right now…it’s not a great report. Across those two weeks my Pacemaker.net account wanted to me to write a total of 23,035 words. That’s a lot, but not unreasonable considering my half-a-mill goal for the year. And hey, I’ve done NaNoWriMo multiple times! I should be able to easily crank out that many words, right?
WRONG! My epic grand total for those entire two weeks only clocked in at 4775 words. That’s not even a quarter of what I should have written!
Now, that said, I don’t to be too hard on myself, because when I thought I was going to be flying out to a job very shortly I spent nearly a week trying to get all my affairs in order. That involved driving into the city for a drug test, driving back again on another day for a full-day course I was missing, doing a bunch of online orientations that are required before I go out, etc etc. In other words, I had much more important things to worry about.
THAT said, I can’t really say anything for the prior week, during which I was simply very, very lazy.
- Goal #1a: Write at least a quarter million fictional words. Oooooh….hmmm…yeah, see, the thing is…
Yeah, I wrote absolutely nothing fictional over the entire course of those two weeks. Honestly? I’m quite disgusted in myself for this one. It should not have been too much to ask to jot down even a few messy scenes in a notepad or something. For Pete’s sake, I’ve got four different WIPs going. Surely I could have done something on one of them. But nope. Feel free to flog me now.
Goal #2: Read at least 50 books.
As I mentioned in my last post, I was intending to take a pile of books out to my job with me. The flights alone were set to take something like 28 hours out of my life, so I was planning to tackle Stephen King’s IT during that slog. And the work days themselves generally involve 20-40 minutes worth of being on a bus daily, plus break-times, so I figured I’d get a bunch of reading in there as well, if not also during my off-hours and days off. Now that that isn’t happening for another month, I’ve decided to take it a little easy until the time comes back around. Since I want to spend the month focusing on things I can’t do while I’m out at this job, I’m using my little bits of free time for now working through the Sailor Moon manga series. Currently I’m on book 10 of 12 in the main series, and after that I’ve got the 2-part Sailor V and the 2-part Short Stories books to read as well. I should be able to fly through those in no time, and by the time I do I’ll be ready to dive into the stuff I have set aside for while I’m working.
Goal #3: Build my social media communities…EVERYWHERE!
Lately my Twitter game has been pretty steady, but my Instagram game has fallen off considerably. As with the writing above, a good part of this is because I was too busy getting ready for the job that didn’t happen. But in the coming month I intend to take as many random photos as I can so that I can set them aside to share throughout my time away. Since I’m going to be on a work camp, after all, chances are there isn’t going to be much great for me to share on a toy/collector account during that time. Every so often, on my days off, I might take the bus into town and do some window shopping, which could result in some pics, but overall I have to run on the assumption that I’ll have very little to share aside from adorable selfies. (Ha ha)
As for the numbers:
- The YouTube channel lost 4 subscribers
- The YouTube Twitter account went up 10 followers
- The YouTube Instagram account went up 1 follower
- The Snapchat account’s score went up 29 points
- The Author Twitter account gained 4 followers
- The Author Instagram account lost 1 follower
They’re really not all that bad, all things considered. Twitter is obviously where I’ve been spending my time, and I’ve also actually been remembering to Snapchat every now and then lately. The two Instagram accounts are pretty stale though, as I already mentioned. I really have to up my game there. The YouTube channel, I’m not really worried about, because all YT channel sub counts seem to bounce between -10 and +10 on a daily basis. Watching those numbers too closely will actually drive you insane.
Goal #4: Play more (proper) video games.
Games have not been first and foremost on my mind lately, for reasons that I’m sure I don’t have to repeat again in this post. I have picked up Tetris 99 a few times in the past couple of weeks, but generally only for a few minutes before I move on to something that needs doing. Aside from that, though, I did play a little bit of Smash Bros, a little bit of Kirby Star Allies, and a little bit of Mario Party with Adrianna and/or Jason over the past week or so. Because, come on…you’ve gotta play games with your family!
Goal #5: Put more time, focus, and energy into the YouTube channel.
Last but not least, we have the YouTube channel, and I can’t honestly say that I put a huge effort into it the past two weeks, but a lot of the effort has been behind the scenes. I did film, edit, and publish a vid that Adrianna and I did, unboxing a full case of Series 2 Cryptkins, and that was tons of fun because we both love those adorable little monsters. Everything else I’ve done has been more or less internal. I mentioned in my previous post that I’ve taken to carrying around a little notebook that I can jot down ideas and stuff in. That notebook now has several pages dedicated to vid ideas that I went asking some of my most trusted friend-followers for, as well as a list of ideas I have for posts for the website which could, theoretically, turn into voice-over videos down the line. See, wheels are turning. Things are happening. You just might not see them quite yet. 😛
And that is that! It wasn’t the most positive of updates, but I honestly do have high hopes for the future. Knowing that a good job is coming my way is definitely a big up toward keeping my spirits high, and if I’m being totally honest, I think that losing a bit of weight and feeling stronger has put me in a motivated kind of mood as well. Drink your water, people! Eat good foods! You’ll be surprised how much better it makes you feel in life!
How was your week? Did you accomplish any goals? Make any new ones? Do anything else that made you feel awesome and accomplished? Feel free to share in the comments!