Whoooooooshhh

Did you see January fly by??? I know it was just Christmas. I KNOW it!

But here it is, February 2. One-twelfth of the way through 2011. And, for the loyal Open Book readers, you know what that means. Time to review my goals for January, and set some new ones for February. I'll also look over my goals for the year and see how I'm doing after a month.

My annual goals include getting an agent for Ailing Body, Nourished Soul, and I'm pleased to say that complete manuscript is in the hands of a prominent Christian literary agent's assistant. So now I wait to hear back :) I've been making progress on Handmaiden to a Princess, which is also an annual goal (more info below). I feel like my life is a bit more balanced, and I've been keeping up with my platform (in addition to my usual stuff, I had several posts on other blogs this month!). I also managed two tech-free days (one of which is tomorrow as of this writing, and yesterday as of your reading :::wink:::) So...there's a quick update on my annual goals.

And now...my January goals, straight from my goals/progress post:

1. Keep up on Ailing Body, Nourished Soul and if at all possible, get it to the agent's assistant
2. Either enter, or be prepared to enter, the ACFW Genesis contest with Handmaiden to a Princess (deadline is in March)
3. Three blog posts minimum a week
4. Write 5k more in Handmaiden to a Princess
5. Enter an idea or two in the Peculiar People Orphan Plane project (I highlighted this project a couple of months ago here)

Overall, I did quite well. I already reported on #1 (yeah - it's there!). I also managed to enter Genesis, and submit two stories to The Orphan Plane project (by the way, they're still open for submissions! Click here for details.). As far as blog posts, I managed 19 in January, which is more than three a week, so I'm good.

The only place where I fell short was in my word count for Handmaiden to a Princess. As of the last day of January, I managed 1,996 words--not my goals, but certainly better than nothing. At least I'm moving forward, right??

And now, my goals for February:

1. 7,000 words in Handmaiden to a Princess (that works out to 250 words a day, every day)
2. Three blog posts a week minimum.
3. Do whatever is needed for Ailing Body, Nourished Soul (including looking out for contests to enter it in!)
4. Keep up on my house so I don't have to spend most of my "tech free day" cleaning (by the way, did NOT make this one for January :::blush:::)

So, there ya go! Thanks for reading and cheering me on!


Paving Rough Roads With God's Presence