We are very nearly through July, my friends, and the world is still a big ol’ steaming pile of-
Okay, okay, no, let’s back up. I am NOT freaking out and devolving into a big ol’ soapbox rant, because I am NOT a self-indulgent, I’m-the-only-important-person-in-the-world arsehole. Just sayin’. 😀
As we plunge headlong into the second half of 2020, I want to remind everyone to say safe, pick your battles, and remember that it could always be worse, so let’s all just get through this thing together and try not to tear each other apart over nonsense? Alright? Alright.
That’s enough of that nonsense.
GOALS AHOY!
Goal #1: Be Healthier
Let me tell you…Monday through Friday was fan-fucking-tastic. Couldn’t have been better, as a matter of fact.
You don’t have to be a master at sub-text to see where this one is headed.
- Eat better (and less) – Yeah, so, the work week (can it be called that if you’re not currently working? Something to think about) was absolutely excellent. We had healthy suppers with lots of veggies, avoided snacking, restricted meals to an intermittent-fasting time frame, and honestly felt pretty good for it all.
Then came the pool party. Hubby’s aunt had a bunch of us over for a day of swimming, lawn games, and a backyard fire, and with such an event comes a lot of alcohol and a lot of food. I think I did moderately okay when it came to the alcohol because I was mostly drinking ‘Palm Bay Zero’, which are coolers with 100 calories per can and no sugar. But when it comes to the food I may have gone overboard. There was SO MUCH and it was all SO GOOD, and then late in the night when I was too drunk to give a damn anymore CHIPS AND DIP appeared, and it was really all over then.
That was Saturday, and Sunday wasn’t all that much better because it was a recovery day. Herein, the words “recovery day” mean “move as little as possible and gorge on greasy fat food like a total slob”.
So…yeah! Monday through Friday both hubby and I were the pinnacle of healthy eating. Saturday and Sunday…not so much.
. - Drink more water – I’m not gonna lie; I definitely could have consumed more water during that pool day, which would have gone a long way toward cutting some of the mass quantity of calories I consumed instead. That said, the rest of the day was a-ok. I’ve never drank so much water in my life.
. - Get more exercise – Continuing the thought above, I have also never exercised so much in my life, at least not while presently out of work. I did a P90 video every morning from Monday through Saturday, took at least one walk with hubby every one of those days as well, spent a good portion of Wednesday playing badminton with my mother (who, as it turns out, is ridiculously competitive), and spent a good portion of Saturday playing yard games and chasing around my cousin-in-law’s adorable daughter. All of this movement is, I wager, the only reason why I didn’t gain ten pounds over the weekend.
. - Lose 2 lbs per month – And speaking of weight… Last week at this time I weighed in at 176.6 lbs. Prior to the weekend of excess I was weighing in at roughly 175.4, but this morning I was back up to 177.2 lbs. I am obviously not impressed, but I suspect a good bit of that is actually bloating from all the drinking and whatnot, so hopefully it’ll even out now that we’re back to our healthier eating habits. Fingers crossed, anyway.
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Goal #2: Be an Author
If only the author process only involved the writing bit…I’d be doing fabulously! Does anyone want to be my personal agent/editor/promotion specialist? I promise to pay you once I, myself, start making some actual money. 😛
- Write 500,000 words throughout the year – To be honest, I expected my word count for the week to be higher, but I got a bit thrown off due to a mid-week overnight visit from my parents, followed by the previously mentioned pool party and recovery day. Regardless, I’d shored up earlier in the week, so I still managed to squash my Pacemaker.press goals. The site wanted me to write 6970 words, and I flew by it with 8347. That also brought me up to 61% completion of my goal for the year, which is pretty damn awesome! I am definitely pleased.
. - Promote published books – Nothing much to report here, and it’s mostly just that I didn’t even really think of it. I did make a single Instagram post related to my books last week, but that was it. Ironically, I got some KU pages read on my erotic stuff (which is under a pen name) but not the books I actually promoted. Dealing with this stuff is genuinely flabbergasting.
. - Promote Patreon & exclusive content – A bit of an early-access treat went up on the Patreon last week: my short-fic prize for the DTIYS I did on Instagram. It was a fun little story to write and I was pleased with how it turned out in the end, so I offered it up to my Patrons right away. It will be posted on AO3 publicly, soon, but if you want to read it right now, plus get early access to lots of other fics and exclusive access to Patron-only content, check out my Patron by clicking the link to your right!
. - Work on Author social media – Pleasingly enough, it was an all-positives week when it comes to social media! It rarely happens, so I was pretty excited. lol The numbers aren’t exactly mind-blowing, but all positives always gives me a smile.
For the Author accounts, I gained two followers on Twitter and four on Instagram, and I’ve also been getting a decent amount of interaction, which is always nice.
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Goal #3: Be a YouTuber
Bit by bit we’re getting back into the swing of things…
- Film/edit/upload – I’ve honestly rather lost track of which videos went up when and on what days. But I know for SURE That we FILMED two videos last week, and uploaded at least one after getting it all properly edited. We actually might have gotten more done, but the visitors and visiting got us a little off-course. We’re not doing half-bad though, considering how long we were off!
. - Promote and Interact (Social Media) – As previously mentioned, it was an all-positives week for the social media. The channel accounts got two new followers on Twitter and one on Instagram. Again, those aren’t exactly mind-blowing numbers, but a positive is a positive and I’ll happily take it!
. - Expand website content – *incoherent screaming in a variety of different languages*
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Goal #4: Be Fun!
Well, we certainly had a lot of fun on the weekend, I can tell you that much. Buuuuut, that’s not really the kind of fun I normally talk about, is it?
- Read 50 books throughout the year – I believe that I mentioned last week that I’d actually started reading a proper book: “A Whole New World” from the ‘Twisted Tales’ series. I finished that book last week and found it to be my favorite of the series so far. I love that both Jasmine and Aladdin were painted as equal heroes each doing their best with the situation, and though the story is by no means all sunshine and rainbows, I enjoyed the idea of citizens from all walks of life in Agrabah coming together to defend their way of life. It really was quite excellent, and now that I’ve read all three of the TT books from the set I got for Christmas, I definitely need to find the rest of them!
And for the record, yes, I did still read a bunch of GO fanfiction, shut up. I’m working on it.
. - Play video games – At the moment I’m a little hung up on ‘Mary Skelter: Nightmares’, which I believe I mentioned last week. It’s an odd game, but I’ve become rather addicted to it and I really want to see where the story goes. I’m also highly amused by the fact that the heroes are all girls based on fairy tales (Red Riding Hood, Alice, Snow White, etc.) and that the only male hero is actually not a fighter at all (you can’t even attack with him) but just does his best to defend the girls. It’s an interesting kind of mix-up.
. - Watch shows/movies – When it comes to screen time we’ve been mostly watching ‘F is for Family’ during supper, and that’s about it. There have been a couple of movie nights, but also many without while hubby enjoys ‘Anime Souls’ (aka. ‘Code Vein’). We did watch ‘Sorority Row’ the other day; it was a pretty standard, mostly predictable slasher of the type that makes you actually root for the idiot/asshole teenagers to die, but was enjoyable enough. Then, last night, we showed the kid ‘The Grudge’, which she enjoyed immensely, as she’s been bugging to watch a Japanese-folk-tale type of movie for a while now because she loves all those creepy stories. A funny note: she barely twitched at any of the jump scares, but nearly flew out of her seat in the exact same place hubby did several years earlier when we saw it in theaters: the part where Ted Raimi’s character slips in blood and his shoes squeak. XD
All in all, it was a pretty decent week that involved perhaps a little bit too much drinking. Things are getting done, if occasionally a bit slowly, and we’re all staying safe and more-or-less productive. You really can’t ask for much better than that, am I right? Of course I am. ❤
How was your week? Any accomplishments you want to share? Goals you worked hard on? Feel free to share in the comments! ❤
Tracey Tobin 