Goals check for the week of July 29

I'm in the middle of another busy week, which is why this is again a day late.  I keep reminding myself that there are only two more weeks until I go back to my regular school-year schedule -- it's the only way I'm getting through these last few weeks of the summer.  The family I work for has company and so things have been busier and more hectic than ever.  Once I am only working after school hours again, however, I'll have my mornings and early afternoons to myself again...  I can't wait!

Last week being the first week of their company, I worked some extra hours and didn't have much time for my goals.  I've had worse weeks, but I've also had much better.

1. Novels: I didn't "win" at Camp NaNo this time around -- I only got about 24k out of my goal of 40k.  Most of that was research, rather than revisions as I'd planned -- I encountered a lot of notes for myself about things I wanted to research to make sure I got the details right, and to ensure that I didn't forget about anything or have to go back through and do another round of revisions to catch the things I missed, I decided not to move on to the next page until everything was resolved on the current page.  Luckily, Camp NaNo had a guideline for translating research into word count, so I was able to count the time I spent on the novel -- it just wasn't quite enough to "win" the thing.

As for individual days, last week was solidly mediocre -- I worked on the novel four days out of seven, with the four being Monday and Tuesday (when I was still trying to win at Camp) and of course both days over the weekend.  I did have a weekend completely to myself, since I had kept my schedule clear for a horse show and then couldn't find a ride for Panama.  I put that to good use and got some research done.

2. Blogs and websites: No progress yet.

3. Other writing projects: No progress yet.

4. Books: Les Miz is still on hold.

5. Horses: The one advantage to my busy summer weeks with the kids is that the horses gets ridden more, since V. and I are often riding together or having our lessons back to back.  Last week I rode Panama a little while V. had her lesson on Rondo, and then her cousin G., who is visiting for a few weeks, rode Panama for the first time.  He isn't the most coordinated kid and it was his first time on a horse, so I just led him around and let him figure out his balance.  Then on Thursday, I had a jumping lesson on Panama in the morning, and V. had a lesson on Rondo in the afternoon while the boys (A. and their cousin G.) took turns riding Panama.  A. has been riding for a little longer, since the fall or winter I think, so he is doing a little more than G. -- he practiced steering at the walk for a little bit, and then practiced trotting on the lunge line (without reins until he figures out his balance, for the sake of Panama's mouth).  It was a good week for the horses!

I'm not expecting great things from this week or next week, since I will continue to be quite busy, but as soon as my schedule goes back to "normal" I intend to spend more time on both riding (especially trail riding) and on my novel's research and revisions!