“The summer air is hot and still, the afternoon hazy; crickets call relentlessly from among the brown grasses, and ears of corn are the same heavy, burnished gold as the late-day sun. Hawks circle in the blue-white sky overhead, and seedpods ripen where flowers bloomed just a month before. But shadows begin to lengthen along the garden wall, and the nights come, just a bit cooler, perhaps; a settling begins in the Earth, a gathering, a slow, quiet turning toward the coming darkness.”
– Michele Morgan
August was much better. I began to feel my energy returning, and started to catch up on the progress I’ve been falling behind on. And then it all kind of fell apart by the end, but I managed to keep the baseline going.
I wrote every single day. I completed an online fitness challenge to do a daily plank.
Reflections on the Journey
i. Read 12 books: 2/12 – I read a book!! Only one, but each staircase starts with the next step.
ii. Edit second novel for submission: 1/1 – Paused for #NaNo planning.
iii. Track my wordcount and aim for 100,000 words: 34,491/100,000 words – I wrote 10,259 words in August: that’s more than my monthly counts for Feb, Mar, May, June and July combined. Relying on the skills of the WriteChain, I committed to writing 269 new words a day.
In the 212 days of 1st Jan – 31st July, I reached my ‘daily minimum’ on only 18 of those days.
In the 31 days of August, I met my minimum writing goal on all 31 days.
iv. Build upon my wellness routine: I was unwell for a lot of August: a mix of physical, run down and stress-related it seems. Even on days I didn’t have to work I’d dream of breaking down in the middle of the office in front of everyone: so not the greatest experience, but one that’s passing.
I completed an exercise challenge: to track my longest ‘plank’ for the month, and across the 6 different styles, I increased my hold by an average of 16.8 seconds, considering I did each type of plank around 5 times across the month. I also walked an extra 14.5km above my usual routine.
August’s Experience Collected
- 200/200XP
- 175/350XP
- 300/300XP
- 400/400XP
Total XP for August: 1,075/1,250
Total XP towards Level Up: 5,475/7,500
Smoke and Embers
This month they were pretty nuts: racing around the house at night and hallucinating as cats like to do.
The fleas are definitely on the way out: we’ve only found in the flea-combing-sessions this week. We’ve also had some fun in the garden with them, since the weather seems to have finally decided to be stable for more than ten minutes!
Jumping the Wall…
- Secret project has quietly launched. Being unwell slowed progress although I felt I should have have the time to work on it. If you’ve ever wondered what Resilience and Self-Development Coaching is all about: check this out.
- I completed two online courses and returned to the storytelling one from earlier in the year. Hoping to at least finish the third module in September.
- I got that extra thing signed off for university. Phew!
- I received a short submission rejection, and began looking at the next possible submission options.
- I began preparing my NaNoWriMo novel…
The Path Ahead…
- I’ll be finalising the launch of my sekrit project.
- I’m hoping to finish reading another book!
- We have new bedside tables to make.