Happy 1,111th post

I love hitting interesting milestones on my blog.  I just noticed this week that my next post would be my 1,111th post.  I've been keeping this blog since December of 2005, and although it has changed a lot over the years -- from just general blatherings to a more focused writing blog -- and I've gone through periods of writing more and writing less, I always like seeing these milestones as they pop up.

Goals check for the week of May 20

Happy Memorial Day!  I have a rare day off today, where I don't nanny OR babysit at any point during the day, but I do plan on getting some work done here at home (novel work).  I hope everyone else is enjoying their holiday.

Last week felt quite busy, but also surprisingly productive, considering how many other demands on my time I had.  I still haven't gotten around to working on my websites or blogs, not to mention some of the other writing projects I wanted to work on this year, but I got a lot done on my novel -- the thing I want to be most productive on.

Goals check for the week of May 13

I thought last week was going to be more productive, but it turned out it wasn't.  I wrote my goals check-in on Wednesday, and on that day I was spending a lot of time on my novel, so it felt like the week would be a good one.  But the truth was that I hadn't accomplished much Monday , and I went on to accomplish very little on Thursday and Friday.  As I said in my post yesterday, how I start the week -- how productive I am on Monday -- seems to set the stage for the rest of the week, and I simply wasn't productive last Monday.  And since I have my riding lesson on Thursdays, and often other responsibilities on Fridays, waiting until Tuesday or Wednesday to get anything done is generally bad policy.

Starting the week off right

Sometimes I think how I start the week off sets the mood for the rest of the week.  I often call Monday my "recovery" day -- recovery from my busy weekends, that is.  If I can stay home on Monday and get work done in the morning, I feel like it puts me in a good place for the rest of the week.  But if I have a lot of other demands on my time on Monday (as I did last week), one thing often leads to another, and I feel like the week is almost over by the time I finally sit down at my desk.

Goals check for the week of May 6

I decided to go ahead and continue making these posts weekly, at least until summer starts.  Come summer I may not have as much time for weekly updates (or as much time to work on my goals for the year) since I will be working more with the kids while they are out of school, so that may mean monthly goal updates over the summer.  At least for now, though, I think that weekly posts are more helpful to me -- with so much time between posts, monthly updates will most likely result in me losing track of my goals, whereas the weekly posts keep me more on track.

As for last week: not the most productive of weeks, I'm afraid.  I didn't have as many mornings at home as I would have liked, for reasons that I can't now remember (how quickly I forget the previous week! another reason monthly updates won't work).  This week is already shaping up to be a little better, thankfully, but last week -- the subject of this post -- was dismal.

Support for writers and freelancers

The other day, a blog I follow linked to this article:

Freelancers Union Tackles Concerns of Independent Workers

It's about how the Freelancers Union, based in New York, provides access to health insurance -- the biggest concern for most freelancers -- for its members.  Especially interesting was the part of the article about the union's health care center, which charges no co-pays and provides a more unified approach to primary care.

Goals check for the week of April 29

Last week was a good week -- for the most part.  I've discovered that my daily writing goals usually fall apart toward the end of the week -- Thursday I have my riding lesson and Friday I often have other things going on; last week it was lunch with my mom -- though sometimes I am able to get a little done over the weekend.  But as of last week I am back on track with two goals, my novel and my 2013 reading list, which is a step in the right direction.