February Has Arrived

Why does my calendar feature a photo of a blobbish, heart-shaped donut? Because it's February, of course! No longer does the idea of candy hearts and pounds of chocolate given to me by a loved one rule my thoughts--as much as I would love to have someone show their undying love for me, I'd rather have it on a random day instead of when Hallmark tells them to shower me with gifts. Or any day at all. Ya know. Anywhoo...

Turning the calendar page makes me happy and sad at the same time. Happy because I'm no longer wallowing my heart and brain in the terror that has been dubbed Singles Awareness Day (see above; I've finally become enlightened instead of a bitter shell of a human about Feb. 14). Sad because every flip of the calendar page tells me I didn't do enough personally and professionally. It's the audible Homer Simpson "D'Oh!" when you realize you haven't moved an inch from where you were in January. The productivity gurus all tell you it's about small steps. What about microscopic ones? What about those that are invisible to the naked eye? A basket of my microscopic steps towards goals of any kind still isn't really visible. Especially to me.

But I'm not stopping, even if I have virtually nothing to show for the previous weeks.  I could throw out that whole the journey, not the destination stuff, but no. I'll spare you. I want to arrive at that golden destination, look around, say, "Eh, not bad," and go about finding a new destination. That's the goal for me. Multiple figurative and literal destinations. Maybe February will be the stepping stone I'm looking for. Let's get to it.

**PS: I've got a fun freebie coming up next week; I'll post more about that later. Be prepared with your Kindle/Kindle app in hand. ;-)

Still Working On It

The beginning of February brings with it another round of goals and milestones that I am aiming for. One of the biggest is completing the two first drafts I have sitting on my desktop. One is a couple of pages from the end, while the other one is about right in the middle of the original outline. I would love to finish both of these by the end of this very short month so I can spend the spring in revision.

I'm also looking forward to submitting work to more journals, magazines and other places accepting work. Once I get a few rejection letters, I tend to get lax on sending more out. But not this month. I have found at least a dozen that I would want to submit to and a good majority of the deadlines are March 1, so I really need to get going on choosing the right pieces for the right publication.

I'm also still looking for more freelancing work. This isn't really a deadline-type goal, but it's good to always keep it as a top priority on the list since that's what pays the bills. Unfortunately, those bills have gotten in the way of concentrating only on obtaining only work that provides a fair wage. I've dipped my toes back into the water of seedy little content mills, but they are only quick dips. I don't want to make them my life again because no matter how good they may seem for quick and easy work, they don't pay well and tend to dry up just when I get on a roll.