An Unfortunate Habit
Greta's Reach

ROW80-2 -05/05 -Getting Old(er)

I find I collect a few new aches and pains and physical limitations every year. My sister often says it's because I'm getting old - true, but I prefer it to be a process of getting older, day by day, since I was born. I'm still doing pretty good

Not so much my garden bench. It's one of those fake teakwoods, maybe Shorea? I bought it maybe 10 years ago, and enjoyed it at my house. When I sold the house, I gave the bench - in pieces - to a friend. I have it back now, but it spent 7 or so years in storage, so is really dried out, with a number of cracks. It was a beauty day out there, so I put on shorts, did some gardening, then tackled the bench. I oiled the hell out of it, but the seat fell apart during assembly. Several times. A dozen slats to fit back in each time.  I'll try again tomorrow, when I'm calmer ;-) 

Writerly things have gone okay the past few days - status below.

Objectives (writerly and an 'other' section):

  • Write - Because I do enjoy it. I'll set a new and very modest target of 1h/day, early in the day. Hasn't happened yet, I'll drop this target. 
    • Write new material - one draft Flash Fiction a week. Story done and posted here.  It's about eavesdropping, and is titled An Unfortunate Habit. Once again. a slow start but trusted myself to pull through. And did - a good ego boost.  
    • Edit existing material - to send in for publication - none
  • Write better - Read about how to write, and get constructive feedback.
    • My main source of writing info is a series of writerly blogs. Objective  -stay current.  Yup, still  current. 
    • Objective - set a FF challenge a week.  Prompt is set, this week the topic is one of six settings..
    • MasterClass on Storytelling, by Neil Gaiman. Did #12, description. This is a good course, but I will need to repeat, and then do the exercises too. 
  • Publish/market  - We publish partially for the glory and bags of money, but also for the feedback and increased marketability. 
    • I have many FF written already, here. I'll re-examine them, and send off one a week to some publishers. 
      • Reviewed all 17 written this year, picked and tweaked two more, ready to submit somewhere.
    • Facebook ads - none.  I'll drop this for now I think.
    • Amazon Marketing Services Campaigns on KDP -Some sales, but not a big profit on this yet. But I continue to tweak once a week. No recent sales.  
    • New technique - give away print copies of Flash Fiction Stories. Or sell for $1? Was at my local, owner have me a free beer. So I gave him a copy of a story, An Unfortunate Habit.
  • Read with purpose
    • Objective - read and review a book a week. I read Lisey's Story, ny Stephen King. Well done 6/5. . 
  • Better health
    • It's spring now. Fitbit target Objective - 7 day average 3500.  I'm feeling logey lately, average is below 3000. 
    • Set sleep target to 7.5 hours, starting at midnight. Objective - 5 times a week.  Missing target, as well as a consistent bedtime. . 
  • Stay social - That's a given, what with walking about, visits to local cafes and bars, and all my grandkids being in Ottawa. Not much last few days.
  • Have fun - Gaming, Netflix - both indoors. Outdoors?
    • Netflix - reruns of Grey's Anatomy. 
    • Gaming - yes, lots of truck driving. Back in Europe.
    • Vacation -no plans yet
  • Chores - I added this to capture bigger jobs.  Oiled old wooden garden bench. Assembled several times - not giving up. 

Comments

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Shan Jeniah Burton

So sorry your bench is feeling the press of years, Mike - but also happy you're not giving up on it.

Looks like the adjustments in your goals are well-considered. May they work well for you over the next weeks.

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