We’re not quite at the middle of the year yet, but we are somehow approaching it at lighting speed and so now seems like a good a time as any to do a little check-in with my goals.
I would like to say that I am more disciplined in this whole setting goals thing and that I check in on them on a regular basis, but in all honesty, I don’t. I have a vague memory of what I made them at the top of the year and so I do make moves towards them, they’re just not necessarily hyper focused.
However, that is not a bad thing. Any progress is still progress and for some of these, I actually think that I have made a decent amount of progress.
1) Complete PT qualification
2) Start coaching - I still don’t know what I’m doing with this one. I’ve done nothing with it for the last 3 months and I am feeling no desire to do anything with it in the near future, so maybe I won’t…who knows, it’s hard to say at this point.
3) Finish the first draft - You know, I am so close with this one. As you know I’m doing 1,000 words of Summer and making myself get those (what will be) 14,000 words onto the page has been a great help. As has this Baronfig journal which was created with Roxane Gay. The layout of the whole thing made it incredibly easy for me to finalise my storyboard and figure out what scenes were missing when I was basically bullshitting my way through telling the story. It’s made it clearer what I need to add and where I can layer tension in and blah, blah, blah. The bones of this particular story (please explain to me how I am on Thing 4 though) existed in about 5 different physical spaces and then also in my head which made it a disaster. With the help of this little notebook, it all feels much more coherent. And I actually think that by the end of July I will have the damn thing done.
4) Grow my Substack - In the grand scheme of things, there is not much to report here. I’m still doing the baby steps thing because I am still terrible about actually remembering to shout about this on a regular basis. I mean, I do. Just not as often as I should. Once my first draft is done and I spend some time trying not to think about the blob of clay that I’ve somehow gotta carve into something decent I will work out an actual plan of action and see how that goes.
5) Submit/Share my work to more places - I have submitted a short story to something so I’ll see if anything comes out of that. I forgot that I signed up for the NYC Flash Fiction competition and so I am doing that, which comes with the bonus of guaranteed feedback. I seem to discount this newsletter when it comes to the idea of ‘sharing’ my work because it’s not fiction (for the most part), but to be honest, I show up here every week and that’s not nothing. Also once I’ve gotten over myself and figured out my synopsis then I will submit that to a mentorship scheme and see what happens there. All that to say, I am doing this. Slowly, but surely, I am doing this.
6) Read more - I’ll be honest, getting a New York Times subscription was a great idea and I’ve definitely found myself reading a lot more in that sense. Same goes for Substack newsletters, I’ve read a lot of great ones and am always finding new ones. In terms of reading books, I am on a roll with that one. In March I upped to 20,000 pages and 60 books, in May I went up again. My reading challenges for the year now stand at 25,000 pages and 70 books.
7) Fitness - I’m gonna do a whole deep dive on my relationship to exercise imminently because I took a rest week recently and it brought some shit up. Some shit that I’ve kind of left on a back burner for some time and I finally feel like I might need to address it. The top line is, this one is ticking along just fine.
8) Solo Dates - For a couple of reasons, my May trip to Liverpool got bumped to August/September, but it is scheduled for then. I’m having a little weekend away this weekend because I’m going to Balance Festival and it’s easier to stay in Shoreditch than constantly going in and out of London. I’ve seen a few shows on my own and am always looking to go to more wherever I can. I’ve still yet to make my yearly pilgrimage to Oz, so that is next on my list. I’ve enjoyed some lunch dates and I have finally managed to find my rhythm again when it comes to enjoying spending time on my own out and about in the world. Content is a word for it.
Jumpin’ Jumpin’
What I’m reading - Part of my brain thought that I would use this month to read some of the non-fiction books that have been collecting dust on whatever pile I discarded them on almost immediately after purchasing, but almost all of them are heavy and frankly it’s summertime and I don’t want to feel rage. Let me live my best hot girl summer life in peace and in fiction. Having said that, my reading rate has plummeted in comparison to last month. As such I’m about 3/4 of the way through The Hacienda - Isabel Cañas and 1/4 of the way through Hide - Kiersten White. As mentioned above, I’m popping ‘away’ for a couple of nights and because I need options A Lesson in Vengeance - Victoria Lee and The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner are making the journey with me. (affiliate links)
What I’m watching - I finally finished the last season of Killing Eve. And in keeping with watching shows with the word ‘kill’ in the title, I have also watched First Kill, which was always going to happen at a breakneck speed because I believe in V.E Schwab supremacy always.
What I’m listening to - American Idol really did what it needed to do straight out the gate when it gave the world Kelly Clarkson 20 years ago. This cover of Happier than Ever (and almost any and all Kellyoke covers that are out there in the world - don’t talk to me about the She Used to Be Mine one) is truly a masterpiece and I am so happy that she gave us a full length version. And any time I get to listen to Queen of the Night is a good time.
Title Inspiration - It’s a Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi situation this week.