Hey everyone! It’s the end of June, closing out the second quarter of the year, and that means it’s time to check my progress versus my goals. I’ll say up front that I delivered two presentations at a professional conference in early June, and preparing for that took away from my writing time. Plus we’re now two weeks into the summer schedule rollercoaster where my wife and I are readjusting drop-offs/pickups and general coverage on a day-to-day basis, so carving out (or rather, reestablishing) regular writing time has been even less likely—i.e. I write when I can, when I’m not exhausted. But more on that bullet below. Let’s check the goals!
Read 20 books in 2019: According to goodreads.com, I’ve completed six books so far, just today finishing Dangerous Ground by Larry Bond, a Navy procedural recommended by my dad which is pretty decent. I’ve just started Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Max Tegmark, who I met at the same conference where I gave my presentations. It’s a very provocative read about AI, where it is, where it’s going, and what it means for all of us. Heady stuff. Regardless, with only six completed, I’m 30% of the way toward my goal with 50% of the year gone by. I need to catch up, which is still do-able.
Write 50 posts in 2019: This post marks my 15th for the year, putting me at 30% of the way toward my goal. Same as my reading goal, yet still woefully behind schedule. Although that rate is 300% of my 2018 output (>cough<, 5 posts), so yay me!
Catch up on the Writing Schedule for Togahan #4: I’m still 200+ days behind. I’ve got two scenes left (~ 10,000 words) before the rough draft is finished. I lost some time doing prep for the conference, and have to reread several sections to refresh my memory. While I wrap up a few threads in this novel, I’m leaving a few hanging and I’m trying to be careful about how I do these scenes. There are a hundred wrong ways to leave things in flux, and I’m trying to avoid those. So, by Q3, I want to have the rough draft done, and have the first edit underway. That’s what I’m shooting for.
As always, thank you for your patience and encouragement. I’m hoping to accelerate things this summer and get back to a more productive pace. I’ll let you know. -Pete