Update Day: So Far So Good

It's the last Friday of the month, which means it's time to update everyone on my goals as part of the Got Goals? Bloghop. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, JEN Garrett and I host a monthly bloghop where we set crazy or just crazy important goals, and then post regular updates on our progress on the last Friday of every month. You're welcome to join. Just click here and follow the instructions.

I have to say, for someone who didn't set any official goals for the month, I actually did great. Despite the fact that there were some bad stuff that happened to rock the boat, I still managed to float enough to get some of my goals done, including some of the big year-goals I set for 2018.

To list my progress:

Five-Year Goal: Making a Living Off My Writing

The major headline is that I had a record month in January, making more than $200 more than I did in December. 

I didn't quite make it to the number I'd hoped for, as things just fell quiet towards the middle of the month. But that was also good in its own way, as I could then devote more time to Book 3, which I really do need to publish if I'm to achieve my goal of making more money from my own writing. 

Writing and Publishing Goals

Although it was impossible for me to spend time on my work on some days, I did manage to catch up on the days where I could work on my own stuff to the point where I spent an average of 38 minutes every day on it. 

This means that I got through 20 chapters (out of 85) of my revision to Book 3 and I managed to write a poem as well. 

Marketing Goals

The major bit of news here is that I figured out my content strategy, both for my blog and for my YouTube Channel. I'll write more about this on Monday, since I don't want to make this post too long, but suffice it to say, I basically have an entire year's content (and back-up content) planned out for both. 

I'm hoping that not having to sit down and figure out what I need to write about will help me make more efficient use of my time, and to be more active overall. 

Life Goals

I can't really say I achieved anything here, but I can officially say that I'm actively working on my health now. 

The major change I made is to get more serious about my water consumption. It's seriously hot here at the moment, and even the slightest dehydration can have bad effects not only on my health, but on my writing as well. 

For example, if I get a headache because I'm thirsty, it doesn't take much for that to turn into a migraine that puts me out of commission for at least a day or two. 

The nice side-effect is that drinking more water has made me less hungry, which means I've been able to improve my food choices and portions. It's also given me a bit more energy, which means it became an almost natural progression for me to start exercising. 

Which is important when you'd otherwise spend your whole life in a chair, y'all. 

Finally, I did manage to read for an average of 15 minutes every day. (I would have liked to spend that time every day in a literal sense, but on some days that was simply impossible.)

What Do I Want to Achieve in February? 

To keep things simple, I'm going to pick five goals that are important to me, so I can prioritize them over the other things I want to do. 

1) I want to finish this revision round of Book 3 by month end, if I can. 

2) I want to make a final decision with regards to whether I'm going to use my old system of CPs for each round of edits after this point, or hire an editor. 

3) I want to post regular updates to my blog and vlog, and also update the content that goes to my other networks. (The two are related.) 

4) Maintain and further improve the healthy habits I've started to establish in January. 

5) Read for an average of 15 minutes per day. 

How did January go for you guys? Any progress on your goals?