Goal-Setting – Page 13

August 3 in 30, Week 4

August 27, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

At least I think it’s week 4. I’m losing track. We’re mostly unpacked, and definitely settling in to our new little life, part of which consists of twice weekly trips to the library to let the kids use Headsprout/Dreambox and me catch up on some of my internet use/email, etc.

Things are going well, but we’re going away today and will be gone for 10 days. I’ve packed a bunch of homeschool books to continue working on homeschool planning and my computer to continue work on revision.

So here’s the progress on the goals:

The goals for revision toward the writer’s conference have become goals toward revision for submission to editors and agents within the month. Still plugging away, slightly behind schedule, and hoping to make it up on the road. (I realize we’ve left the realm of the realistic, here!)
The move is complete in terms of moving in. Still unpacking boxes, but we’ve found just about everything we’re urgently needing, and only a few boxes remain, mostly of books we use occasionally. Things are in good shape.
Homeschool planning still needs quite a bit of work, but we’ve actually already started homeschooling, and at my childrens’ request! I convinced them to start Story of the World, and then they asked to do another lesson. They enjoyed so much doing the coloring pages along with the reading, and I appreciated having the comprehension questions to ask afterwards. It’s just so nice when someone has done the hard work for you, isn’t it? We have the homeschool space set up (it’s not actually a room). I still have a bit more of the planning to do–especially for Science. There are a lot of handouts to have photocopied, etc. I’ve decided instead of purchasing resources for Science (and having printables) to use a combination of two science curriculums I was given–big savings, bit of an extra pain.

How are you doing on your back-to-school goal-setting?

August 3 in 30, Part 3

August 19, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I have finished almost all my goals for August. Already! I am very excited about that.

I have:

Prepared for the writer’s conference.
Moved.
Planned the history portion of homeschool until December.

Okay, so here’s the fine print:

We are moved out, but not in. Some of the things we moved we moved without sifting through. There’s still a lot of organization to be done once we start unpacking, although we did manage to reduce in the toy department quite a bit.
I planned only until December. This was intentional. We hope to be back in China sometime during the next few months and I figured there was no point in planning far ahead, since (another) move will certainly disrupt the schedule.
I have some additional work to do in planning out some of the other subjects, but history–for us–is the big deal. It requires the most planning and preparation in terms of the extra readings we’ll add to Story of the World.
I also have “homework” coming out of the writer’s conference, as there was some interest in my manuscript (insert falling confetti and streamers here). I will be continuing revision and I have a proposal to write.

The One-Sheet

August 8, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I freely admit that I have a lot yet to learn about the publishing industry. Which is why I’m really grateful for the opportunity to attend the writer’s conference this week. For the two or three years before we left for China, I was actively working on my freelance writing, doing copywriting work for a local company, writing my novel, staying abreast of the latest books and news, and generally advancing a freelance writing career on the side while I homeschooled my kids.

Then we moved to China, where quite frankly, I cared about other things. Like negotiating the price of a garment in Chinese while three kids were tugging on my sleeve and speaking to me in English. Or keeping mold out of our belongings in mold season, and cockroaches in cockroach season–other things besides writing and publishing.

I don’t regret that. I just need to be aware of how much the publishing industry has changed while I’ve been out of the loop. So this weekend, I learned a new skill: the one-sheet. Thanks to the Writer’s Conference Survival Guide (there you go, another free ad), I figured out how to put mine together. Here it is, but since the one-sheet goes to an editor or agent, who want to know how you’ve rounded out the ending, I’ve hidden some information to prevent a spoiler.

I created it in Photoshop Elements with a stock photograph in the background from my favorite stock photography company, Pond 5.

July 3 in 30 Week 4

July 23, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

The biggest factor in our lives this week has been the heat! Sleeping has been difficult, and the days have been lazy. In spite of the weather, I’m doing great on two of my goals for 3 in 30. Exercise has been a challenge for me, since I just couldn’t bear to get any sweatier:

Bible in 90 Days – Got caught up at the beginning of the week and then lost a day one day this week because I just tried to do too many things in a day. But I’m caught up again, and really glad I decided to take the challenge.
Manuscript Revision – Posted my revision schedule in yesterday’s post. Feeling very good about this, although I can’t help getting a little nervous that I’ll actually be able to pull this off. It feels like I have A LOT to do in the countdown to the writer’s conference I’m attending August 10-13. You do know that’s only 19 days away, right?
Exercise – I’m really trying to cut myself some slack here. It has been crazy hot, and with the air conditioning on and fans blowing everywhere, the temperature on the lower floor of the house hasn’t gone below 27 all week. In the face of this, I’ve wimped out on exercise. I exercised three days this week instead of the four I hoped for, or the five to seven I was doing last month. Fortunately, with the heat, my appetite has been reduced as well, so I’m holding steady. Looks like there’s a break in the temperature coming up next week. Looking forward to that!

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