July 2023 / Art4Accountability

July 2023 Art4Accountability

July was a great month for me - lots of relaxation, family time, my birthday and some slow plodding progress on my Art4Accountability checklist.

I was lucky enough to get away to Corsica for ten days with the family. We were near Bastia on the east coast which is absolutely beautiful.

We were there for July 14th so got to see fireworks on the beach and enjoyed lots of great seafood and amazing croissants every morning.

Here’s my July ART4ACCOUNTABILITY Update:

  • Read Ghost Girl Banana

  • Read Salem’s Lot

  • Drafted and Edited up to 40k of EoE book 2**

  • Sleep More Habit (Good)

  • Reducing Caffeine (Fair)

  • Reducing Sugar (Fair)

** Where most of my time / attention has gone.

A little disappointed with my progress on the caffeine / sugar front and that I didn’t get any drawing done, but hopefully will make some headway in August.

Will aim to post an update mid-month and at the end of August. In the meantime, wishing you all the best with your creative work my friends!

Organization & Accountability

2023 Q3 GOALS

I can’t quite believe we’re almost halfway through 2023!

If you’re anything like me you may be starting to panic - will you actually finish your draft, will you get your edits done? How are you going to complete everything and keep up with your kids’ schedueles? It’s the end of year madness here - birthday parties, school events, everything and everyone seems to want to cram in an activity in June.

I’ve decided that I need to start being more realistic with my planning. I usually try to take on too much and end up starting MANY things and finishing ZERO. It’s frustrating to be so easily distracted and have your time, energy and focus pulled in so many directions. Creating anything takes time and FOCUS (and a degree of solitude those around you might not really respect or understand).

Inspired by Sarra Cannon’s HB90 Method, I’m going to try and be more realistic about the time I actually have when setting my goals for Q3.

I have 2 young kids and a parent with health issues so carving out time has been particularly challenging over the past 6 months. I’m hoping posting more regularly on Twitter and blogging here will help to keep me more accountable in tracking my goals.

So, here we go, Q3 Goals:

  • Finish YA Horror Draft by 31.08.2023 (This is a rewrite, I’ve got about 30k of a garbage fire draft out of 70k at the moment).

  • Reading TBR: Salem’s Lot, Ghost Girl Banana (book club), She is a Haunting, Fairy Tale, When Women Were Dragons, Deraciné (Uprooted in French).

  • Finish EoE Book 2 by 30.09.2023 (We’ve got about 30k drafted out of 50k at the moment).

  • Complete 5 Illustations by 30.09.2023 (This will be a challenge for me!).

  • Complete Horror Short Story (Snowfall) Serialization by 30.09.2023.

  • Sleep MORE!

  • Reduce Caffeine and Sugar (Honestly the thing I dread the most as a chocoholic!).

I plan to start posting an accountability thread on Twitter in July, if you’d like to join me in sticking to your goals over the next 3 months you can use the hashtag #art4accountability.

Wishing you a great, productive, sun-soaked summer!