Groundhog Day 2015 Resolutions: July Check-In

There’s been loads going on, mostly good.

This month’s Groundhog Day Resolutions recap is below the break:

Goals:

1. Make regular money from writing
   • Subgoal: Small press solvency
2. Schedule self-care and practice self-love
3. Solidify my graduate degree path, and apply to grad school

Month in Review:

What worked? What didn’t?
1) Got my piece in the Spectrum — yay! It feels nice to have pieces in print. (This is my second one.) I’ve been pitching other places now. I made a few tools to help me with submissions tracking last year, and I started using them again, which has also helped motivate me to submit more. I’ve sent stuff in to 9 publications in the last week or so, which is great. I also sent my book in to the Tufts poetry prize; I don’t think I’ll win, but it’s worth a shot.
•) Subgoal: I am awful at asking for help and support, but I finally directly contacted a bunch of people in my network to support my press’s Indiegogo for our next book, and with 13 days to go, it’s sooooo close to meeting the goal. I’m gonna do another round of reaching out, and look into other ways to advertise this and other forthcoming books. I’ve spent some time working on my business plan, as well, using The Right-Brain Business Plan as a guide and jumping off point. It’s a bit woo-ey — lots of collaging, some meditation — but it’s been kind of fun so far.
2) I have been relatively good about this: continuing to have regular self-care days, listening to my body, not pushing beyond my capabilities and asking for help. I’ve been trying to be honest about when I need help, though I’m still probably not doing as well on that part. I didn’t actually take my birthday off, but I did get to spend time being rather productive on the After Ferguson, In Solidarity anthology, which felt good. Since then, I’ve mucked up my sleep schedule, so that’s not great. I also spent a bunch of time crafting over the last couple of days, and marathoned a couple of my favorite shows (Elementary and Gilmore Girls) while doing that. Plus: love both of them, and that was fun. Minus: I’m experiencing some pain in my hands from doing tiny detail work on a sewing project. I’ve been feeling like a bit of a homebody, and I have gone on a few massive cleaning jags, which means things are pretty clean, and that makes me feel happy, even though my muscles have been complaining.
3) I recently added up my credits remaining and realized that it’s gonna be a bit of a squeeze to get them done in a year — I may end up doing a term of 16 credits. I don’t want to have to do summer classes next year, which means I have to rearrange fall’s class schedule and talk to folks in the Black Studies department about my Caribbean credits. I’m going to start pulling things together for the grad school app in September.

Planning the Next Month:

What am I working on going forward?
1) I have a piece due this Saturday, one that’s sure to make me really popular! (Just kidding: it’s about being Black and Jewish and grappling with the colonialist actions of Israel. I anticipate many internet fights. Sigh.) I’m gonna keep submitting things, and hopefully work up a bunch of essays to send around. Working on some poetry for ditto.
•) Subgoal: Business plan in progress, as mentioned above. I’m hoping that the silly/woo-ey information will make it easier to crystallize a more traditional plan and use that info for grant applications. Moving forward, I’ll be working on the plan and gathering grant information to start applying for those. And finishing the next two books for my press, which are nearly done!
2) I’ll be doing more cleaning, as I’m able, but I’ve been taking advantage of the summer to do more reading for pleasure, which has been lovely. Now that the heat isn’t as awful here (30° to 36° for the past week or so!), I may even go outside in the sun. I’ve been working on my costume wardrobe for reenactment, in the hopes I can get to one of the upcoming Oregon Regency Society events, but I might figure out how my sewing machine works and do less by hand. And I’d like to finish a knitting project I’ve been working on.
3) Rearrange class schedule, contact my department. Need to bone up on my spanish in prep for fall term.

See all of the Groundhog Day Resolutions posts here.