My husband took this picture out his office window; the snow of a few weeks ago has melted for the most part, and this snowfall has renewed the clean whiteness that enchants the landscape.
Kristen Lamb’s blogging course is shifting into high gear, so there will be many changes to this blog over the next few weeks. I am trying to put everything in this self-named blog, but need to transfer some of the posts I don’t want to leave behind. I also have a growing list of posts I want to write, and will have to adjust my goals to fit some time in for them.
Also, I want to thank Claire at Word by Word for alerting me to Mslexia magazine. Although I will probably have to content myself with the digital version, since I live in the States, I was very excited to find out about it.
Writing:
- Spend at least four hours a week on an article, in whatever configuration works for me. Although I usually write before work, I find that frustrating when I want to spend more time than I have between my comatose and rush-out-the-door states. Total fail. I struggled with insomnia this week, a heavy schedule of work commitments, and a stomach bug that arrived just when everything else left my plate. I want to work on this article; I need to work on this article, and I am beyond frustrated with my inability to get to it.
Community:
- As a sponsor, I will visit blogs twice a week. I missed Wednesday’s posts, but plan to visit today. Partial fail.
- I will reply to all comments on my blogs. I replied to the latest set of comments, but there are more to do. Partial fail.
- I will spend no more than 5 hours a week on social media. Done.
Exercise:
- I will walk for twenty minutes an evening. I did well at the beginning of the week, but had to work Thursday night, and that threw me off. Partial fail.
- I will continue to use the stairs. Done.
- I will look into the gym at work. I did visit, and got the times and prices of lockers and towels. A slow start, but a start just the same.
Personal:
- I will set aside a half-hour every evening to read. This past week I finished Mastiff, the third in the Beka Cooper series, and started and finished Eon by Allison Goodman. I started Eona, which is the second book in the series.
- I will spend at least one hour a week contacting a friend by whatever means work best. I had lunch with Eden on Friday, which was very nice.
- I will have a “date night” with my husband at least twice a month. Partial fail; a stomach virus hit me yesterday morning and is proving hard to shake.
- I will spend at least one hour a week with at least one of my kids. Done.
Please go encourage the participants here. We have a varied, interesting group.
Elizabeth Anne Mitchell 
Love the picture, Elizabeth, in all ways. Looking forward to the changes. Thanks for the link to Mslexia.
Karen
The changes are coming slow but sure at this point, Karen. I’ve been hiding for a while, but going to start hacking away at the underbrush again.
I’m glad you enjoyed Mslexia.
Hang in there with your goals. It’s not as if you’re busy. (Ha!) 🙂 The picture is lovely. We don’t get snow like that here.
Who me, busy? Whenever I feel sorry for myself, I look around at all the people doing so much more with the same amount of hours in a day, and try to stop whining.
This snow was pretty–the winter wonderland kind. It’s gone again, now, but we’ll get more. 🙂
can do without the snow but not such a bad week really – work seems to have got in the way but that’s what work likes to do:) all the best for this week
Thank you, Alberta. Yes, work does like to get in the way–silly stuff! I hope you have a wonderful week. 🙂
A SUNYA picture! I think I even know which day your husband must have taken that (and I don’t envy the two of you having to drive to work on it either).
I wonder, thinking about how people use their blogs… Have you ever looked at blogs like Jane Friedman’s? She has one static front page with various links off of it to go toward “topic pages”. It’s something I’ve been looking into doing myself (I know that WordPress makes having a static frontpage easy). This way you could simply have the link pages go to places on the blog or even your other blogs without having to actually move files.
Just a thought. I wanted to jump into Kristen’s class earlier, but this is just not the right time to add that into my daily affairs. The link to Mslexia is wonderful however. Thank you.
Yea, SUNYA! Yes, it was, um, interesting getting to work that day!
Thanks for the suggestion about the blog. I have thought about doing that, and may well just “reblog” posts from the other sites. I just haven’t figured out what to put on the main page.
Isn’t Mslexia a great resource? I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hey come now Elizabeth. Turn your ‘Partial fail’s into partial successes! You’re doing well and you were sick/working/ too! Lovely image – UK in inundated with snow this year, but we live in Dubai now so only hear of it from complaining family and friends. I always loved the snow, so long as I never had to go to work/school 😀 X
Yes, Shah, you’re right–I need to look at the half-full glass.
I have friends in the UK who were complaining about the snow, too. It is a pain to get around if one isn’t used to it, but here it’s usually not too bad. I do have my Nanook of the North outfit, too! xx
Elizabeth, I agree with Shah. You had partial successes. Acknowledge and honor what you accomplished. Success begets success. Calling oneself or one’s efforts a failure is not usually helpful. Remember what Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” You’ll keep at it till you find the way that works for you. 🙂
Lynette, that is a wonderful quotation from Edison! And, since I deal with words, I should be more aware of the power of negative words. I will learn from what hasn’t worked, and keep working on what does!
oooh Mastiff is still in my to-be-read pile as well; I keep forgetting about it. Sorry to hear about the stomach bug, those are so frustrating as they make you too miserable to do anything. Don’t feel too bad about not getting everything done, sometimes life just gets in the way too much; that’s what ROW80 is for 🙂 Good luck for the next week 🙂
Rebecca, Mastiff is very good, and caps the trilogy very well–I highly recommend it!
Thanks for the encouragement, and I hope you have a good week! 🙂
I am definitely in the success camp. I had the stomach thing too, it seems to be rampant here the last couple of weeks. I was feeling too weak to do much of anything, and still feel a bit…bleh.
I hope you are finding beauty in the snow, since more is falling. 🙂
I’m trying one of Kristen’s classes, and am really excited to see what you create from what you’ve learned!
Love that photo! We’ve been getting lots of snow too.
A blogging course sounds interesting! I really like your layout and colours 🙂
Love that idea of a walk in the evenings – I walk to the train station and back every day, but it’s not quite the same…