Q2 Goals (**ho ho, HHB laugh**)
This post might be a little jibbery, if you know what I mean. I'm in Starbucks, where I just got my free venti latte from my rewards card. I haven't been drinking as much caffeine since I stopped working in an office and I don't think I realized that until this exact moment.
I left the house for some new scenery, hoping it might get my writing going. There are more people here than I expected – and an interesting mix of people, too. A kid drawing in a book while his mom and her friend talk. A man in dad jeans with his HP notebook, sitting back with headphones in and his hands clasped in his lap, his eyes focused on something on his screen as if in a trance. Students working at a table, laughing and playing with their phones. A woman in a suit with Toms and Spotify and Luna music stickers on her laptop. And a girl who from the side looks like someone I know, but she won't turn enough for me to be sure.
It's been almost three months since I started working for myself. On one hand I want to say it hasn't been very successful because 1) I haven't written a bestselling novel 2) Olive & Clyde hasn't had any buyout offers from Hallmark 3) I haven't even kept up with this blogvery well at all. But here's the thing – I'm really happy. Sure, there's anxiety over things not being stable and worrying that I'm not accomplishing enough, but I feel like I'm actually living my life now. That's kind of a ridiculous thing to say, because it's not like I had a horrible job – in fact, I had a great job. But it's such a change to be able to spend your days how you want, or at least to know that what you're doing, you're doing for yourself, and there's nobody but you structuring your day. Maybe I'll be sick of it in a year and long for the security and stability of the office and a boss, but right now I love it so much it makes me feel a bit giddy (that might be the caffeine). I'm getting enough sleep, I'm spending more time with my husband, and I've been able to spend time with my grandparents and visit my best friend from high school. I'm focusing more on writing and Olive & Clyde, I've established relationships with a few consulting clients who seem happy with my work, and I'm healthier than I've been in a long time. I'm getting my 10,000 steps a day + working out, and I actually ate vegetables last night and LIKED IT. Who knows how long that part will last.
So things are going well. January was spent mostly on a few big client projects and getting a store up on oliveandclyde.com, February was more client work and some weak networking attempts, and March so far has been more about writing, Olive & Clyde planning, and doing random things like helping to bottle wine at a winery. But as I finish my first quarter (**ho ho, haughty HHB laugh**) I think it might be good to set some writing goals for the next three months, since that's been the most difficult thing to make progress on. With writing there's no client except myself, and no due dates.
My overarching goal for Q2 (**ho ho, haughty HHB laugh**) is going to be to make writing a habit. I've tried various strategies to accomplish this in the past with different levels of success, but I always end up letting it slide. But if I'm really serious about giving this a shot, I have to treat writing like a job. So here's how I'm going to do that:
Goal #1: For April, I'm going to try writing at least 500 words a day. I'm not going to worry about what those 500 words are about at first – just that I write them.
Goal #2: Participate in the 30 Letters in 30 Days campaign for National Letter Writing Month. To start, I'm going to treat the 500 words as an addition to the letter a day and see how that goes.
Goal #3: Write at least 2 blog posts a month for both the O&C blog and this piece of crap.
These are pretty hefty goals, really. That's a lot of writing. This means I have to find ways to control all the distractions that are readily available, from chatting and texting to Facebook to spending 30 minutes getting all the burrs out of Clyde's hair. TIME MANAGEMENT.
My caffeine is wearing off already and I'm sleepy again :/ I'm going to leave you with the picture of my dinner last night that I felt compelled to text to Michael because it was so healthy and non-Haley.
I left the house for some new scenery, hoping it might get my writing going. There are more people here than I expected – and an interesting mix of people, too. A kid drawing in a book while his mom and her friend talk. A man in dad jeans with his HP notebook, sitting back with headphones in and his hands clasped in his lap, his eyes focused on something on his screen as if in a trance. Students working at a table, laughing and playing with their phones. A woman in a suit with Toms and Spotify and Luna music stickers on her laptop. And a girl who from the side looks like someone I know, but she won't turn enough for me to be sure.
It's been almost three months since I started working for myself. On one hand I want to say it hasn't been very successful because 1) I haven't written a bestselling novel 2) Olive & Clyde hasn't had any buyout offers from Hallmark 3) I haven't even kept up with this blog
So things are going well. January was spent mostly on a few big client projects and getting a store up on oliveandclyde.com, February was more client work and some weak networking attempts, and March so far has been more about writing, Olive & Clyde planning, and doing random things like helping to bottle wine at a winery. But as I finish my first quarter (**ho ho, haughty HHB laugh**) I think it might be good to set some writing goals for the next three months, since that's been the most difficult thing to make progress on. With writing there's no client except myself, and no due dates.
My overarching goal for Q2 (**ho ho, haughty HHB laugh**) is going to be to make writing a habit. I've tried various strategies to accomplish this in the past with different levels of success, but I always end up letting it slide. But if I'm really serious about giving this a shot, I have to treat writing like a job. So here's how I'm going to do that:
Goal #1: For April, I'm going to try writing at least 500 words a day. I'm not going to worry about what those 500 words are about at first – just that I write them.
Goal #2: Participate in the 30 Letters in 30 Days campaign for National Letter Writing Month. To start, I'm going to treat the 500 words as an addition to the letter a day and see how that goes.
Goal #3: Write at least 2 blog posts a month for both the O&C blog and this piece of crap.
These are pretty hefty goals, really. That's a lot of writing. This means I have to find ways to control all the distractions that are readily available, from chatting and texting to Facebook to spending 30 minutes getting all the burrs out of Clyde's hair. TIME MANAGEMENT.
My caffeine is wearing off already and I'm sleepy again :/ I'm going to leave you with the picture of my dinner last night that I felt compelled to text to Michael because it was so healthy and non-Haley.