In honor of the unofficial end of summer, I decided to change my blog's outfit for the new season. Lately I've been in love with the combination of teal/turquoise and bright orange/red, and orange is a good fall color. It's also a cheerful color, which will hopefully reflect the more hopeful tone I hope to set around here.
I also added a bit of scripture to the top of the blog. If you're reading this via RSS and can't be bothered to click on over for a peek, it's Psalm 113:9 (NIV): "He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children." This verse is my new mantra, a promise that I'm standing on in my prayers both for myself and other IFers in my blogosphere.
In other news, I'm in a fantastic mood today. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I feel rested for the first time this week. Or maybe it's that I just realized this morning that it's a 3-day weekend. It could also be because today is the last 100+ degree day in the forecast, and next week the highs will be in the 80s all week long. I think my awesome mood is mostly due to the fact that, for all intents and purposes, today is the last day of summer. I mean, let's face it: this has been a pretty cruddy summer, what with gallstones and intense heat and drought and no opportunity for any kind of vacation, not to mention the economy taking yet another nosedive and very nearly killing off my business. Nosir, I am most definitely NOT sad to see summer's backside. Hopefully it will get a good, long rest and not be quite so cranky and mean when it comes back next year.
My plans for the last ridiculously hot day of summer? Stay inside and chill. I'm going to tweak the new layout a bit more, play around with Photoshop, finish reading A Feast for Crows so I can FINALLY start in on A Dance With Dragons, watch Doctor Who and work on my impending grandniece's blanket. Then I plan to spend the rest of the weekend doing yard work and housework, because I always like to put the "labor" in Labor Day.
Oh, and if my Photoshoppery goes as hoped, then I just might have some freebies to kick off the week.
What are your plans for the weekend?
Showing posts with label web design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label web design. Show all posts
September 3, 2011
April 26, 2011
Breather
With my business blogging course launch behind me and all of my client projects on hold awaiting either payment or feedback, I had a little bit of a breather today to exercise my right brain. Everything I've been doing lately has been so left-brain leaning, it felt good to focus on purely creative stuff for a little while. I met and exceeded my 250 Word Challenge goal (by about 1,200 words), and then I came here and made a new spring/summer theme for my blog. I don't know about you, but I think it's purdy.
I couldn't be bothered to take a picture today, partly because the weather just has me feeling too lazy and bleah. Also irritated, because all this rain is seriously frelling (remember Farscape? Sigh.) with my workout routine. Of course, the other reason for no picture is because all this creative hyper-focus tends to make me forget little things like personal hygiene. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with a tolerant and understanding husband. I suppose I should probably tear myself away from the computer and go hose off, though, for his sake if nothing else.
I couldn't be bothered to take a picture today, partly because the weather just has me feeling too lazy and bleah. Also irritated, because all this rain is seriously frelling (remember Farscape? Sigh.) with my workout routine. Of course, the other reason for no picture is because all this creative hyper-focus tends to make me forget little things like personal hygiene. Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with a tolerant and understanding husband. I suppose I should probably tear myself away from the computer and go hose off, though, for his sake if nothing else.
July 3, 2010
The Task Wrangler Is All New
Well, I was going to say that I would be using my usual Follow Friday slot for some shameless self-promotion, but we're 11 minutes into Saturday as I type this, so it's too late. No Follow Friday for you! But the self-promotion continues apace.
I've been a busy bee lately over at The Task Wrangler, where I finally launched my new web site last week. Earlier this week I also launched a semi-regular newsletter, The Task Wrangler Report, which you can subscribe to right here to keep up with news and special offers in a more timely fashion than waiting for me to get around to talking about it here.
And then tonight, in the final step in my plan forworld domination finishing my web site, I launched a blog, where I'll be offering news, how-to tips and advice on blogging, SEO and social networking. Check out my first post, How To Hire a Virtual Assistant, if you've been wondering what exactly that entails.
After all of that, I think I've earned myself a holiday weekend. Good thing there's a holiday conveniently scheduled this Sunday. Too bad that means I have to spend my Saturday cleaning the house I've been neglecting in favor of all this new web site stuff before my mother-in-law comes over to help us commemorate the founding of our nation with a cook-out. Or possibly take-out, depending on the weather.
At any rate, everybody have a good weekend, and a happy 4th!
I've been a busy bee lately over at The Task Wrangler, where I finally launched my new web site last week. Earlier this week I also launched a semi-regular newsletter, The Task Wrangler Report, which you can subscribe to right here to keep up with news and special offers in a more timely fashion than waiting for me to get around to talking about it here.
And then tonight, in the final step in my plan for
After all of that, I think I've earned myself a holiday weekend. Good thing there's a holiday conveniently scheduled this Sunday. Too bad that means I have to spend my Saturday cleaning the house I've been neglecting in favor of all this new web site stuff before my mother-in-law comes over to help us commemorate the founding of our nation with a cook-out. Or possibly take-out, depending on the weather.
At any rate, everybody have a good weekend, and a happy 4th!
February 1, 2010
Goal Post: Week 5
Well, despite being crazy-busy all week, I didn't finish anything, but that's mostly because of waiting for other people to get back to me before I can continue. I did come within only $40 of my weekly quota, which I don't believe will be too hard to make up. The main thing is that I'm getting more billable work done in the allotted time, and if I can get through a week without any major schedule interruptions, I should get all of my work in just fine.
Last week's class on state taxes was really helpful. After that class I took the rest of the afternoon to do everything I needed to do to make my business official, so say hello to the sole proprietor of J. M. Bauhaus Enterprises. I was scheduled to attend an IRS business workshop on Thursday, but as we were under a Weather Advisory of Doom, I didn't go. Still, the time I would have lost to the class was lost instead to preparing to become a shut-in for days. The big panic was that this storm would rival the ice-pocalypse of 2007 that blacked out half the state, and we'd end up without power for days, if not weeks. But thankfully, it didn't. We didn't lose power, and the roads don't even appear to be that bad, if the sound of traffic whizzing by outside my office window is any indication.
Enough about last week. On to this week's goals: Now that my biggest projects are winding down and I've gotten into a rhythm with my working hours, I'm ready to get back to the novel. So back to trying to revise or write a scene a day until it's done. I wrote a whole new chapter this morning, to replace one I threw out, so that's a good feeling to carry with me through the day.
My personal goal is pretty standard -- exercise more consistently. I always start out pretty good at the beginning of the week, but then by Wednesday I just can't be bothered and then it's Monday before I work out again. No wonder I'm usually stiff and grumpy by the time the weekend rolls around. So I'm going to do my best to get on the stationery bike every day -- and barring that, at least do some stretching exercises every evening to keep this torturous desk chair from crippling me.
Work goals are the same--wrap up these web design projects. I also have a couple of new clients waiting in the wings, so I need to hurry up and clear some space for them on my schedule. And if I can't get that Wordpress blog working properly this week, then I don't know what I'll do. Find somebody with more WP experience than me to subcontract it out to, I guess. But I've got a couple of ideas and suggested fixes to try first, so hopefully it won't come to that.
How about you guys? What dragons do you intend to slay this week?
Last week's class on state taxes was really helpful. After that class I took the rest of the afternoon to do everything I needed to do to make my business official, so say hello to the sole proprietor of J. M. Bauhaus Enterprises. I was scheduled to attend an IRS business workshop on Thursday, but as we were under a Weather Advisory of Doom, I didn't go. Still, the time I would have lost to the class was lost instead to preparing to become a shut-in for days. The big panic was that this storm would rival the ice-pocalypse of 2007 that blacked out half the state, and we'd end up without power for days, if not weeks. But thankfully, it didn't. We didn't lose power, and the roads don't even appear to be that bad, if the sound of traffic whizzing by outside my office window is any indication.
Enough about last week. On to this week's goals: Now that my biggest projects are winding down and I've gotten into a rhythm with my working hours, I'm ready to get back to the novel. So back to trying to revise or write a scene a day until it's done. I wrote a whole new chapter this morning, to replace one I threw out, so that's a good feeling to carry with me through the day.
My personal goal is pretty standard -- exercise more consistently. I always start out pretty good at the beginning of the week, but then by Wednesday I just can't be bothered and then it's Monday before I work out again. No wonder I'm usually stiff and grumpy by the time the weekend rolls around. So I'm going to do my best to get on the stationery bike every day -- and barring that, at least do some stretching exercises every evening to keep this torturous desk chair from crippling me.
Work goals are the same--wrap up these web design projects. I also have a couple of new clients waiting in the wings, so I need to hurry up and clear some space for them on my schedule. And if I can't get that Wordpress blog working properly this week, then I don't know what I'll do. Find somebody with more WP experience than me to subcontract it out to, I guess. But I've got a couple of ideas and suggested fixes to try first, so hopefully it won't come to that.
How about you guys? What dragons do you intend to slay this week?
January 19, 2010
Goal Post: Week 3
I'm running behind this week, thanks to an entire day lost to trying to figure out a problem in Wordpress and making no progress. I've actually been trying to figure out for several days now why the blog page I set up only shows the content of a single post, with no title, date, permalinks or comment links. I spent all day on it yesterday, which ended in tears of frustration, and I finally posted the problem on the Wordpress help forums, so hopefully some kind WP guru will come to my rescue. I really need to get this project done so I can wipe this site and get started on another client's Wordpress site that's currently waiting in the wings. And naturally, I didn't earn any money for my troubles, because I refuse to charge the client for time wasted by my own ineptitude. A total waste, that was my Monday. I hope yours was more productive.
Anyhoo, how's about we discuss some goals for this week? Really, my main goal is to fix this broken blog and get this project off of my plate so I can focus on new ones. If I can do that I will consider this week a win.
Otherwise, I need to work on organizing my time better and putting in six to eight hours a day on PAID activity. I don't really understand how this keeps failing to happen, but it does. By my math, eight hours of sleep leaves eight hours each for work and other stuff. It feels like I spend way more than eight hours a day on work, and way less on other stuff, and yet when I check my billable hours at the end of the day I usually haven't put in that many.
Clearly, I'm doing something wrong. I need to spend this week and next figuring out what that wrong thing is and correcting it, because come the end of the month my unemployment year will end I won't have that as a cushion anymore to make up for my slack-arsed ways. I'm going to need a bare minimum of six solid billable hours every weekday in order to make ends meet. I have the work. I just need the time management skills. So that's obviously the priority for the rest of the month, to the detriment of my writing and personal goals.
Except for exercise. I need to make myself make time to get up and move, because my brain needs it as much as my body does. And I haven't been doing so well in that area lately. Which shouldn't be a problem, if I can find those eight hours that should be left over after I'm done with my work.
What's your Goliath this week, my fellow goalies?
Anyhoo, how's about we discuss some goals for this week? Really, my main goal is to fix this broken blog and get this project off of my plate so I can focus on new ones. If I can do that I will consider this week a win.
Otherwise, I need to work on organizing my time better and putting in six to eight hours a day on PAID activity. I don't really understand how this keeps failing to happen, but it does. By my math, eight hours of sleep leaves eight hours each for work and other stuff. It feels like I spend way more than eight hours a day on work, and way less on other stuff, and yet when I check my billable hours at the end of the day I usually haven't put in that many.
Clearly, I'm doing something wrong. I need to spend this week and next figuring out what that wrong thing is and correcting it, because come the end of the month my unemployment year will end I won't have that as a cushion anymore to make up for my slack-arsed ways. I'm going to need a bare minimum of six solid billable hours every weekday in order to make ends meet. I have the work. I just need the time management skills. So that's obviously the priority for the rest of the month, to the detriment of my writing and personal goals.
Except for exercise. I need to make myself make time to get up and move, because my brain needs it as much as my body does. And I haven't been doing so well in that area lately. Which shouldn't be a problem, if I can find those eight hours that should be left over after I'm done with my work.
What's your Goliath this week, my fellow goalies?
September 15, 2009
Why being too focused is a bad thing.
If you've been reading the Twitter updates that get gathered up and posted here once a day, then you already know I've got a perfectly good excuse for not posting anything else last week--I was bogged down with a big web redesign project that the client needed done ASAP. I kept my head down in hyperfocus mode, coming up with mockup after mockup trying to capture what the clients wanted, and feeling frustrated and a bit depressed because everything I came up with was just passably adequate and completely uninspired. I was giving them everything they asked for, but nobody was happy with it. After days of this I realized that they had a feeling in mind more than a specific look, and if I could capture that feeling they'd probably love it, even if it looked nothing like what they described. I threw out all of their feedback and finally found some inspiration, and at last came up with a look that made them say "Wow! I love it!" Now I'm just waiting for the go ahead to start coding it. So that was a valuable lesson learned - it's more important to pay attention to what a client wants to evoke or accomplish with their site than any specifics they give about what they want it to look like, because sometimes, they don't really know what they want.
So that was pretty much my whole week. For the sake of that project I neglected all kinds of other things--not only this blog and my writing, but also any healthy habits I'd developed in the way of exercise, eating or sleep, and this week I'm paying for it. Despite taking Saturday off to rest and recover, I'm not feeling so hot lately. Yesterday I was just tired and cranky and a little depressed, and with the weather having been gray and rainy for days, I figured I was getting a preview of the SAD I usually struggle with during the winter. But today, with a mildly upset stomach and some lightheadedness added to the mix, I think I might have a touch of something else. Most significantly, my limbs feel heavy and I feel like I can't get enough sleep. Allergies aren't helping - my eyes constantly sting and my sinuses feel like I'm trying to grow a second head from the inside out.
So this week I'm going to go easy on myself and just focus on keeping my clients happy in between taking naps, munching on Vitamin C & Zinc tablets, and drinking lots and lots of tea. Unpaid projects will still be there when I'm feeling better. Getting the next episode of This Old Haunt up is a high priority, but not over fighting off whatever this crud is before it can turn into something requiring medical intervention.
I think I'm ready to take one of those naps right now. While I'm out, tell me what you've been up to. Are your goals still on track, or are they getting derailed by life and other inconveniences?
So that was pretty much my whole week. For the sake of that project I neglected all kinds of other things--not only this blog and my writing, but also any healthy habits I'd developed in the way of exercise, eating or sleep, and this week I'm paying for it. Despite taking Saturday off to rest and recover, I'm not feeling so hot lately. Yesterday I was just tired and cranky and a little depressed, and with the weather having been gray and rainy for days, I figured I was getting a preview of the SAD I usually struggle with during the winter. But today, with a mildly upset stomach and some lightheadedness added to the mix, I think I might have a touch of something else. Most significantly, my limbs feel heavy and I feel like I can't get enough sleep. Allergies aren't helping - my eyes constantly sting and my sinuses feel like I'm trying to grow a second head from the inside out.
So this week I'm going to go easy on myself and just focus on keeping my clients happy in between taking naps, munching on Vitamin C & Zinc tablets, and drinking lots and lots of tea. Unpaid projects will still be there when I'm feeling better. Getting the next episode of This Old Haunt up is a high priority, but not over fighting off whatever this crud is before it can turn into something requiring medical intervention.
I think I'm ready to take one of those naps right now. While I'm out, tell me what you've been up to. Are your goals still on track, or are they getting derailed by life and other inconveniences?
September 5, 2009
Friday Rewind
Oy. As much as I love how my free web site means my business has practically zero overhead (and as much as I love that cow), I'm starting to realize that if I want to be taken seriously as a web designer, I'm going to have to, y'know, design my own site. What a concept, I know. The good news is that I've got some inspiration for it (another cow!). The bad news is, who knows when I'll have time to work on my own site, because I actually AM getting web design work (I just think I'd get more if people could see what I'm capable of at first glance instead of having to dig into my portfolio). But that's also good news, because I'm in no great hurry to give up this whole all-profit thing I've got going.
Did I mention that this has been a trying day? Well, it has. It's gotten better as the evening's worn on, but I am so ready for the weekend. Not that it's going to be very restful - I've got more inventory to add to my Etsy shop, and Husband has stuff he needs to sell (read: needs me to sell for him) on eBay. Plus there's cleaning. Lots of cleaning, because my mother-in-law is coming over to hang out with us on Labor Day, and a friend is coming for dinner and a DVD the day after that. Which means I also need to get ahead on some of my web work and article writing. AND there's editing to try to cram in there. I'm into the home stretch on the novel edits (as far as markups go, at least), and I think it's a good sign that I'm enjoying reading it. Hopefully I'll just have one more week of marking, and then I'll get to the typing and actual re-writing. I think I've got a pretty good pace going for getting it done in time for NaNoWriMo.
I keep wanting to do a post about things I've learned from this round of editing, but that's one of those thoughtful-type posts that I never have time to write. Especially now that I've given myself the goal of doing thoughtful-type industry posts over on my VA blog (more on that in the next goal-setting post).
Speaking of goals, to recap this week: I still need to finish cleaning my office. The storm door is on the back burner until we have a more steady source of income. I have the start of a pretty good idea about how to pay my business taxes, and I have a lot of notes that can be organized into a business and marketing plan, so that's progress. And I already mentioned the editing. I don't think I could have done more than I did this week, which is a pretty satisfying feeling.
How did you guys do? Are you satisfied with how your week went? Or do you need to scroll down and look at the kittehs to cheer yourselves up? Let me know! Meanwhile, I'm going to do my best to fit some actual rest into this crazy weekend.
Did I mention that this has been a trying day? Well, it has. It's gotten better as the evening's worn on, but I am so ready for the weekend. Not that it's going to be very restful - I've got more inventory to add to my Etsy shop, and Husband has stuff he needs to sell (read: needs me to sell for him) on eBay. Plus there's cleaning. Lots of cleaning, because my mother-in-law is coming over to hang out with us on Labor Day, and a friend is coming for dinner and a DVD the day after that. Which means I also need to get ahead on some of my web work and article writing. AND there's editing to try to cram in there. I'm into the home stretch on the novel edits (as far as markups go, at least), and I think it's a good sign that I'm enjoying reading it. Hopefully I'll just have one more week of marking, and then I'll get to the typing and actual re-writing. I think I've got a pretty good pace going for getting it done in time for NaNoWriMo.
I keep wanting to do a post about things I've learned from this round of editing, but that's one of those thoughtful-type posts that I never have time to write. Especially now that I've given myself the goal of doing thoughtful-type industry posts over on my VA blog (more on that in the next goal-setting post).
Speaking of goals, to recap this week: I still need to finish cleaning my office. The storm door is on the back burner until we have a more steady source of income. I have the start of a pretty good idea about how to pay my business taxes, and I have a lot of notes that can be organized into a business and marketing plan, so that's progress. And I already mentioned the editing. I don't think I could have done more than I did this week, which is a pretty satisfying feeling.
How did you guys do? Are you satisfied with how your week went? Or do you need to scroll down and look at the kittehs to cheer yourselves up? Let me know! Meanwhile, I'm going to do my best to fit some actual rest into this crazy weekend.
August 7, 2009
Friday Goal Report
I'm generally pleased with my progress this week. I had some pretty major distractions going on, but I managed to stay the course and meet all of my goals. Today I was really tempted to stay in my PJs since I had no plans to leave the house or see anyone other than Husband. I sucked it up, though, and got dressed by 10 which, except for Tuesday's minor exception, I've managed to do all week. Go team me!
I also not only figured out wireframes, I also discovered and joined Creately, a free web tool for creating and sharing diagrams and wireframes. I think it will be just what I need, and also perfect for helping my clients figure out what they want their web sites to be and do. They can just sign in and look at what I've done, and leave comments about any changes they'd like to see. The only problem I see with it right now is that it's still in Beta, and therefore the sign-up process isn't as quick and easy as I'd like it to be for them, which might make it a bit of a hard sell. At any rate, that's one more skill and tool added to my arsenal.
The novel edits are also off to a good start. I'm only two scenes in as far as red-lining goes, but I've got extensive notes on what needs to be changed to fix what's been hanging me up. It's going to require a lot of rewrites and some new scenes written out of whole cloth. I suspected that would be the case, which was another thing that was hanging me up on the edits. I was looking for ways to avoid all of that extra writing. But now that I've accepted the inevitability and committed to the changes, I'm starting to get excited about it.
Next week is going to be more of a challenge, since the first half will be full of obligations, including the funeral for my friend. I'm going to have to get some of my paid writing done over the weekend, and I don't even know if I'm going to have time for goal-setting. So I guess my personal goal for next week is to not get stressed out, and to just take the week as it comes, and that includes not being too hard on myself if I don't have time to work in a business goal. The writing goal is, of course, to continue the novel edits, and that will be my writing goal until it's done.
Well, hey. I guess the goal-setting just took care of itself.
So how did you guys do on your goals for this week? What are your goals for next week? Chat about it and cheer each other on in the comments.
I also not only figured out wireframes, I also discovered and joined Creately, a free web tool for creating and sharing diagrams and wireframes. I think it will be just what I need, and also perfect for helping my clients figure out what they want their web sites to be and do. They can just sign in and look at what I've done, and leave comments about any changes they'd like to see. The only problem I see with it right now is that it's still in Beta, and therefore the sign-up process isn't as quick and easy as I'd like it to be for them, which might make it a bit of a hard sell. At any rate, that's one more skill and tool added to my arsenal.
The novel edits are also off to a good start. I'm only two scenes in as far as red-lining goes, but I've got extensive notes on what needs to be changed to fix what's been hanging me up. It's going to require a lot of rewrites and some new scenes written out of whole cloth. I suspected that would be the case, which was another thing that was hanging me up on the edits. I was looking for ways to avoid all of that extra writing. But now that I've accepted the inevitability and committed to the changes, I'm starting to get excited about it.
Next week is going to be more of a challenge, since the first half will be full of obligations, including the funeral for my friend. I'm going to have to get some of my paid writing done over the weekend, and I don't even know if I'm going to have time for goal-setting. So I guess my personal goal for next week is to not get stressed out, and to just take the week as it comes, and that includes not being too hard on myself if I don't have time to work in a business goal. The writing goal is, of course, to continue the novel edits, and that will be my writing goal until it's done.
Well, hey. I guess the goal-setting just took care of itself.
So how did you guys do on your goals for this week? What are your goals for next week? Chat about it and cheer each other on in the comments.
August 4, 2009
Tuesday Goal Report
So far, so good. I was fully dressed by 10:30 this morning, but I didn't get back from my workout until after 10, so I'm not going to count the extra half hour against myself.
On the editing front, I offered my manuscript up to the beta pool, but so far there aren't any takers. That's understandable -- people are busy these days, and beta-reading a rough novel is a pretty big undertaking. I might finally have to break down and join some kind of writing group for this one. In the meantime, Holly Lisle gets another link here for her One Pass Manuscript Revision method (seriously, if you're a writer, just go read everything on that woman's site. It's rare to find so much useful info in one place). I'll be going through that with my manuscript, and maybe it will be all I need to get past the plot problems that are hanging me up. Starting tomorrow, though; I used up my writing/editing time allotment today on a nice, long chat over coffee with Husband.
As for the wireframes learnin', I'm going to get started on that today. Yesterday I was too busy with other client work, but today I have time to give it proper focus.
And that is why these are weekly goals instead of daily ones. Some days, you're just not in control of your time. There was a time when something like Husband wanting to sit down and discuss something would have made me really anxious over having to give up time that I was planning to devote to something else. I still struggle with that sometimes, but I'm getting a lot better at learning to be flexible with my time and take things as they come. That kind of flexibility, I'm finding, is a necessity when it comes to doing freelance work.
How are your goals coming? Feel free to share your own progress in the comments.
On the editing front, I offered my manuscript up to the beta pool, but so far there aren't any takers. That's understandable -- people are busy these days, and beta-reading a rough novel is a pretty big undertaking. I might finally have to break down and join some kind of writing group for this one. In the meantime, Holly Lisle gets another link here for her One Pass Manuscript Revision method (seriously, if you're a writer, just go read everything on that woman's site. It's rare to find so much useful info in one place). I'll be going through that with my manuscript, and maybe it will be all I need to get past the plot problems that are hanging me up. Starting tomorrow, though; I used up my writing/editing time allotment today on a nice, long chat over coffee with Husband.
As for the wireframes learnin', I'm going to get started on that today. Yesterday I was too busy with other client work, but today I have time to give it proper focus.
And that is why these are weekly goals instead of daily ones. Some days, you're just not in control of your time. There was a time when something like Husband wanting to sit down and discuss something would have made me really anxious over having to give up time that I was planning to devote to something else. I still struggle with that sometimes, but I'm getting a lot better at learning to be flexible with my time and take things as they come. That kind of flexibility, I'm finding, is a necessity when it comes to doing freelance work.
How are your goals coming? Feel free to share your own progress in the comments.
August 3, 2009
Goals: I got 'em
Before the rest of this year gets away from me, I'm taking August by the horns and setting some measurable goals for myself.
Goals can be tricky. I have to be careful not to go overboard with them, lest I become hopeless and give up on all of them, like New Year's Resolutions. So I've decided to go easy on myself by dividing my life into three areas -- personal, business, and writing -- and tackle one weekly goal for each.
My personal goal for this week is pretty simple: get back into the habit of getting dressed for work. Mur Lafferty has helped to kickstart something of a revolution, inspiring freelancers and other work-at-home types to stop lazing about in our PJs all day and put on actual pants. I've been resistant--isn't getting to work in your PJs supposed to be one of the great benefits of working at home, after all? But the fact is that getting dressed makes me feel more professional, which in turn makes me more productive. So I'm hopping on the pants-wagon and am going to aim to be fully dressed by 10AM every day. So far so good - I was dressed by 9 this morning, and I already feel more accomplished.
My business goal is a learning goal: to educate myself about wireframes and how they can help me as a web designer. My cursory research hasn't convinced me that they're anything to get excited about, but when a client recently asked if I can do them, I said that I could learn, and so that's what I'm going to do.
My writing goal is a little harder to pin down. I have so many that it's hard to pick one to focus on. I need to get back into the habit of writing fiction daily. I have two novel ideas that want outlining, and I have a first draft manuscript that needs editing. All of that is aside from continuing to edit and post This Old Haunt, which is also crying out for some kind of marketing effort (and which, incidentally, has a new episode as of this morning). I also have a novellette-length short story that I wrote earlier this year that needs some severe editing so I can send it out for consideration. That's a lot to think about all at once.
Being forced to pick one, I think I'll go with the first draft novel edits. My goal for this week is to get that to the beta readers, and while I await their feedback, to tackle the plot problems I already know about by applying Holly Lisle's Index Card Plotting Method that was mentioned here last week.
Now that those are set, I'll be checking in with progress reports throughout the week. If I don't fully accomplish a goal this week, it will carry over to next, and so on until I can mark it accomplished and move on to a new goal. For today, number one is already accomplished. Time to get busy on the other two.
What about you guys? Got any weekly goals you'd like to track with me? Tell me about it, or link to your own blog post about same, in the comments.
Goals can be tricky. I have to be careful not to go overboard with them, lest I become hopeless and give up on all of them, like New Year's Resolutions. So I've decided to go easy on myself by dividing my life into three areas -- personal, business, and writing -- and tackle one weekly goal for each.
My personal goal for this week is pretty simple: get back into the habit of getting dressed for work. Mur Lafferty has helped to kickstart something of a revolution, inspiring freelancers and other work-at-home types to stop lazing about in our PJs all day and put on actual pants. I've been resistant--isn't getting to work in your PJs supposed to be one of the great benefits of working at home, after all? But the fact is that getting dressed makes me feel more professional, which in turn makes me more productive. So I'm hopping on the pants-wagon and am going to aim to be fully dressed by 10AM every day. So far so good - I was dressed by 9 this morning, and I already feel more accomplished.
My business goal is a learning goal: to educate myself about wireframes and how they can help me as a web designer. My cursory research hasn't convinced me that they're anything to get excited about, but when a client recently asked if I can do them, I said that I could learn, and so that's what I'm going to do.
My writing goal is a little harder to pin down. I have so many that it's hard to pick one to focus on. I need to get back into the habit of writing fiction daily. I have two novel ideas that want outlining, and I have a first draft manuscript that needs editing. All of that is aside from continuing to edit and post This Old Haunt, which is also crying out for some kind of marketing effort (and which, incidentally, has a new episode as of this morning). I also have a novellette-length short story that I wrote earlier this year that needs some severe editing so I can send it out for consideration. That's a lot to think about all at once.
Being forced to pick one, I think I'll go with the first draft novel edits. My goal for this week is to get that to the beta readers, and while I await their feedback, to tackle the plot problems I already know about by applying Holly Lisle's Index Card Plotting Method that was mentioned here last week.
Now that those are set, I'll be checking in with progress reports throughout the week. If I don't fully accomplish a goal this week, it will carry over to next, and so on until I can mark it accomplished and move on to a new goal. For today, number one is already accomplished. Time to get busy on the other two.
What about you guys? Got any weekly goals you'd like to track with me? Tell me about it, or link to your own blog post about same, in the comments.
July 25, 2009
A New Background, A New Beginning
Okay, I'm probably overreaching with the "New Beginning" part, being more ambitious and optimistic than history has given me any cause to be. But at least I finally got around to replacing the broken template. I really wanted to design one for myself, but until I find time for that, this one will do. I tweaked it a little, so at least it's somewhat unique to this blog. The original came from BTemplates, and they had so many gorgeous templates that fit right in line with the "Daydreamer" theme I've got going that it was really hard to pick one. I think I'm glad I settled on this one, though. We'll see if I still love it a week from now [/ADD].
Hopefully, this is the start of a new beginning. I have so many things I want to write about, but they require a thoughtfulness that I haven't had the simultaneous time and energy to give. I guess I should start putting my blog on my daily schedule so it doesn't keep getting neglected. I also see a few minor problems with this template that need fixing (like the way the weekday names are getting cut in half and other issues with alignment).
Now is not the time, though, because I've already spent all afternoon on this, and I'm starving, and Husband is itching to start the MST3K that I still have to go get from the mail box (I saw the mail lady stuff the tell-tale red envelope in there a couple of hours ago).
I hope y'all are enjoying your Saturday as much as I'm enjoying mine. Whatcha up to?
Hopefully, this is the start of a new beginning. I have so many things I want to write about, but they require a thoughtfulness that I haven't had the simultaneous time and energy to give. I guess I should start putting my blog on my daily schedule so it doesn't keep getting neglected. I also see a few minor problems with this template that need fixing (like the way the weekday names are getting cut in half and other issues with alignment).
Now is not the time, though, because I've already spent all afternoon on this, and I'm starving, and Husband is itching to start the MST3K that I still have to go get from the mail box (I saw the mail lady stuff the tell-tale red envelope in there a couple of hours ago).
I hope y'all are enjoying your Saturday as much as I'm enjoying mine. Whatcha up to?
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