Monday, June 6, 2011

The Summer "To-Do" List (aka Blogfest 2011!)

I've got my mug of coffee. I've got my mood music (this morning it's Ingrid Michaelson and Marie Digby). The laptop is humming. The cats and dog have had breakfast (so as to keep them out of my hair). My goals are listed in a journal on the counter next to me... and I hesitate...

The idea of Blogfest 2011 (as hosted by one Bess Weatherby via her own blog) is for those of us willing participants to list our summer goals (creative/writing/etc.) on our own blogs and find encouragement through forming our own little cyber community. A super awesome idea. I always work better when I voice my goals, thus making myself accountable to reaching them... If I keep my goals to myself, I have no one to disappoint but myself.

You see my dilemma?

I spent a few minutes the other week and put goals down in a journal with Blogfest in mind. As I look at those goals now, I'm a little frightened by the ambitious nature of some/all of them! Can I accomplish ANY of these goals this summer? Hmmm... are you expecting me to accomplish them? Am I expecting myself to accomplish them? If I just don't tell you about them, then we never have to know! I can come back at the end of the summer and list off anything I did accomplish without the added pressure of measuring up to a list... much more free form... surely accountability is overrated... that list is arbitrary anyhow...

Except that... I made that list. I wrote down those goals weeks ago. And if I'm honest I probably already scaled down my expectations before I put those goals on paper... so what would be the point of obliterating my expectations altogether except to give me no reason to fail...

Right on cue, the morning soundtrack offers up my summer anthem :) "Unfold" by Marie Digby. (video and lyrics at the end of this post)... And I find the strength to put those goals out there for you all to see. Here's hoping I accomplish something this summer!

Goals for my summer: Blogfest 2011

  1. More blog posts! Right now I'm at about a post a week and it's mostly autobiographical (i.e. what I did this week). I'd like to up that to at least 2 posts a week. Likely I'll still wax autobiographical, but I would like to spend some time postulating on theories/ideas/current events in at least one of those posts. I'd also like to include at least one new photo for each post (whether or not it is relevant to the post :)).
  2. Finish the first draft of novel #1 and begin re-write... because it will have to be rewritten. I have stalled and I really really really want to get this project off my plate (i.e. in editable form) so that I can just MOVE ON!!!
  3. Outline novel #2 so that it does not become the directionless black hole that its predecessor has become. It's really a good idea. It just needs to be mapped out so that I can take it there.
  4. Submit all or part of novel #2 for a writing workshop to get fine tuning/advice. (this goal may not be accomplished this summer specifically, because the deadlines for workshops are not known...)
  5. Photo at least 2 clients (and by clients I mean people who are not just friends whom I take candid shots of while hanging out) for a portfolio.
  6. Target a photo contest to enter... just for the fun of it.
  7. Hike every day (even as I write this, I know it is overly ambitious, and that some days I will not feel like hiking... and that's ok... but I need to get outside to have a clear head.... so my goal in saying "Hike every day" is to get me to get outside!!! with the dog... and my camera).
  8. Make a new friend. (I moved a year ago and I still don't know anyone in our new hometown. Partly I've become a hermit and needed the time for self-reflection... but... I need to branch out a little, I recognize :).

Now to go about accomplishing these goals. Here's hoping you'll come back and remind me to keep chipping away. Encouragement is underrated!

Going for a hike now :)




Lyrics:
What I can remember
Is a lot like water
Trickling down a page
Of the most beautiful colors
I can't quite put my finger
Down on the moment
That I became like this...

You see I am the bravest girl
You will ever come to meet
Yet I shrink down to nothing
At the thought of someone
Really seeing me
I think my heart is wrapped around
And tangled up in winding weeds

But I don't wanna go on living
Being so afraid of showing
Someone else my imperfections
And even though my feet
Are trembling
And every word I say I'm stumbling
I will bare it all, watch me unfold
Unfold, unfold

These hands that I hold
Behind my back are
Bound and broken
By my own doing
And I can't feel
Anything anymore
I need a touch to remind me
I'm still real
Oh no...

I don't wanna go on living
Being so afraid of showing
Someone else my imperfections
And even though my feet
Are trembling
And every word I say I'm stumbling
I will bare it all, watch me unfold
Unfold, unfold, unfold...

Unfold, unfold...

My soul
It's dying to be freed
You see.. I can't live the rest of my life
So guarded
It's dying to be freed
It's up to me to choose
What kind of life I'd lead

'Cause I don't wanna go on living
Being so afraid of showing
Someone else my imperfections
And even though my feet
Are trembling
And every word I say I'm stumbling
I will bare it all... watch me unfold
Unfold, unfold, unfold, unfold...

Unfold, unfold...

I will allow someone to love me...
I will allow someone to love me...
Love me, love me...

11 comments:

  1. Great goals! I love organizing my writing plans and having something to work towards! Love you blog! :)

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  2. I so can sympathize. That's why I did the blogfest in the first place. Accountability is SCARY.

    But it does yield results :)

    And that song is awesome. I popped over to youtube and started playing it before I read your goals. I think I need to get some more Marie Digby on my iPod.

    So . . . your goals are ambitious, but you can definitely get them done. I'm trying to finish my WIP by the end of the summer, too. Whenever you get stuck in a black hole of plotting (I do it all the time...mine got out of control, too!) just think of me in a closet in New York also banging my head against the wall and brewing more coffee :)

    I'm jealous of your hikes. Like. Seriously. Seriously. Jealous. Do that every day. PLEASE.

    Have a great day (and week) dear!

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  3. You did it! See, posting your goals is not frightening. And you can achieve them!

    Ellie Garratt

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  4. I like the idea of unfolding ourselves... and, as to your goals, reaching out to make a new friend, hiking every day - I only made a writing goal but now I'm thinking of adding some writing-help goals too because you need that other stuff to keep you going with writing, to keep inspired.

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  5. It seems like you have a great to-do list. I think this blogfest was a great way for us writers to "outline" our summers. Good luck with everything!

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  6. Thanks to everyone who has commented so far for the encouragement :)

    I realized I forgot to describe my WIP... but that's probably for the best :) I will put myself in the YA Fantasy category... and leave it there.

    Happy trails and see you on the nets soon!

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  7. That looks like a good list.
    And I can totally relate to the whole friend thing. I've been in CA for... a long time, and I still don't really have any friends. Not like I had back "home." No one I hang out with or anything. >sigh<
    So, yeah! go make a friend! I fully support you in that!

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  8. Cool idea! I like all the writing goals, and I'm sure Tag is thrilled about the hiking goal! =)

    *cough*start.riding.again*cough*

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  9. Love your goals - good luck! I love that feeling of ticking off goals :)

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  10. Very nice. Definitely get out a be social eh? It improves character writing. =)

    I love that you bounce between writing and photography. It's only healthy to have a hobby to take away time from your hobby.

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  11. Great goals! Especially the hiking - I hadn't thought of including no-writing goals. Hope you make lots of new friends :-)

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