Friday, June 26, 2015

Do You Have Goals and Celebrations?

"'It's a military academy.'
Colt McAlister looked at his dad sideways. They were in Washington, D.C., on what was supposed to be a summer vacation, but this didn't look like the kind of place tourists would visit - especially a sixteen-year-old tourist like Colt. 'I thought you said this was a camp.'"
Where are these first lines from? Answer located right before the massive goal/celebration list.


And yes, Colt's surprise feels like my own sometimes . . . wait, how did I get here? This doesn't look like a tourist stop. 

The Pacific Northwest has been experiencing a dry summer. While the rest of the USA had record snowfall, rains, and flooding, the usually rainy Northwest has had tons of sunshine, warmer temperatures, and not enough rain. If you saw any footage of the dry golf course of the US Open last week, you know what I'm talking about. It's normally green here, but not so much right now. 

So, what does this have to do with goals and celebrations? Or, even better yet, my goal to create more interesting content? Should I create a link for the US Open comment? Would that help draw visitors?  Naw, I should have done it a week ago.

I guess I'm still experiencing a shock at the change of seasons, as well as other events in life. I thought I had a reasonable plan for June, but June has been hotter both in heat and in our family schedule than I realized it would be. I'm looking around sideways and trying to figure out how it got to be the end of the month. 

The Colt McAlister quote is from Invasion by Jon S. Lewis, a YA super-hero vs. aliens speculative fiction novel. 

So, how did I actually do in June? (not just based on my emotional gut feeling about this)

1. Publication goals and celebrations:
June goal:To re-pub my Summer Vacation Devotions booklets that I created way back in 2009 for my old church. 
Goal Accomplished and I decided to send my proceeds to Peace Rehabilitation Center in Nepal. 

Underlying Long-term goal: To get work off my pc and into the world. 

July Goal for this area: I'm putting the third season of my Ashes Burn micro-fiction series into e-book format, but I'm holding off on putting out my fourth season on the Ashes Burn blog until fall.

2. Writing and Write 1 Sub 1 Goals and Celebrations:
June goals: 
Finish revision of Eight if by Sea - I need to add a few more thousand words of description for my editor.
Goal accomplished and the editor is pleased. Eight if By Sea has a tentative September release.

Finish revision of C.D. and DW1, plus write and submit at least one story.
Hahaha - whimper, laugh. Ugh. Definitely didn't get finished with the mammoth revisions. 

Underlying long-term goal: To strengthen my writing skills and finish several projects this year.

July goals:
Finish revision of C.D.
Finish revision of DW1
Write two chapters of DW2
Write and submit for W1S1

3. Marketing goals and celebrations:

June goals: Apply for spot in book fair in July. Make action-items for the rest of the year. Guest post?
1 goal accomplished! I will be at the 7th Annual NW Book Fair on July 25th in Portland! And, signed-up for the Third Annual Puyallup Festival of Books in October.
Action-items - um. Sort of.
Guest post . . . had a lead and dropped it, totally my fault. Sigh.

Underlying goal: To get better at this strange thing called marketing.

July goals: Track down that guest post e-mail, make action-item list for the rest of the year and follow it.
Go to and rock the NW Book Fair without falling over in a nervous sweat. 
Figure out my newsletter.

4. Exercise goals and celebrations:

June Goal: Bike 150 miles, walk 50 miles, get yoga routine back, start swimming/kayaking. Drink more water (not while swimming/kayaking).
Hahaha . . .urg. Didn't happen. 
Biked ten miles. walked 35 miles, tiny yoga amount, only swam once.

Underlying goal: Health and fitness.

July goal: Bike 40 miles, walk 40 miles, get yoga routine back, swim and kayak at least 5 times. Drink more water. (I think this is more reasonable)

5. Invitational goal:

June goal: Invite friends over for at least one backyard barbecue/grill session.
Sort of accomplished . . . 
We had some of my husband's cousins from Wisconsin and my in-laws over for grilled steaks and side dishes. 

I also gave a ride to two teenage kayak/canoe coaches to the Bellingham Regatta last weekend - although they did the asking and I didn't invite so I'm not sure that counts as being more invitational.

Underlying goal: To have an invitational attitude.

July goal: Invite friends and/or family over for dinner/hang-out time.

6. Spiritual goals:

June goal:  Prayer, Bible Study, Cell group, look at volunteer opportunities.
Um, somewhat accomplished three out of the four. 

July goal: same as June. 

June is ending in a blaze just as it started. This weekend includes my oldest daughter's dance recital, and a memorial service for a friend who passed away earlier this month. Larry Claar was a talented musician, a caring husband and father, and a faithful prayer warrior. His death came as a shock. It still doesn't feel real. I feel as if I could walk into worship on Sunday morning and see Larry playing his guitar, beckoning me to come up and sing on the praise team (even if I hadn't practiced and wasn't a regular part of the team), then praying tough and deep prayers in worship and in cell group, and welcoming everyone with a huge smile and a big heart. 

I am celebrating life this month - life in the present with all the craziness of a busy family and life in heaven when I hope and plan to hear Larry play his guitar again. "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" performed by Larry Claar.  Please pray for his family to have comfort and hope.

What are you celebrating?















29 comments:

Cathrina Constantine said...

Tyrean, with all that you have on your plate, I can't believe your looking for volunteer opportunities. I dislike marketing so much it give me migraines just thinking about it...

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Maybe the dry heat frazzled you a little? July will be better!

Madeline Mora-Summonte said...

I think your July exercise goals are much more achievable - good luck with them! And I laughed about drinking more water but not while kayaking. :)

Unknown said...

ooh I love exercise goals :) it's always harder for me to work out in the summer but I get it done early in the AM and then go about my day. Good luck with all those goals! :)

Tyrean Martinson said...

Well, I haven't figured out volunteering yet . . . it will probably be a while, and it is more like the family plate is over-flowing.

Tyrean Martinson said...

I hope so!

Tyrean Martinson said...

:) Thanks, Madeline!

Tyrean Martinson said...

The early AM is great for exercise in the summer.

Tyrean Martinson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Natalie Aguirre said...

I think June is always busy for people with kids. I can't believe all you accomplished and you have some awesome goals set for July, too. Awesome you're including exercise and spiritual in your goals. Me too.

Maurice Mitchell said...

Get that work off your pc and into the world! We should all drink more water, so that's a great goal.

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Sorry about your friend. My husband and boys watched a lot of the open so we saw the dry golf course. Really wish we could send you some of our rain. July has a lot of family stuff going on for me so I'm not setting really high writing goals.

Tyrean Martinson said...

June is definitely a busy month. I think July will be slightly calmer. :)
Thanks for stopping by, Natalie!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Thanks for the encouragement, Maurice!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Thanks, Susan. I wish we could take some of your rain. :)
Have fun this July!

Shah Wharton said...

I so need to drink more water and my only exercise really is walking the dog - Go You! And well done on all your writing successes :)

shahwharton.com

Unknown said...

You're doing great, but you drive yourself so hard. I hope you slow down enough to appreciate the wonderful life you have and don't feel bad if you didn't hit all your goals. Take it from me - happiness is everything. :)

Cherie Reich said...

I'm amazed you got as much accomplished as you did. Good luck with your July goals! I hope you have a great weekend, Tyrean!

Spanj said...

Wow, you've been busy and still accomplished so much! Good luck with the book fair, and your goals for July.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

And I thought my schedule and plans were insane - holy cow!

Tonja Drecker said...

Wow. Just wow. I'm in awe at all you got done and still have planned to do. Good luck with the book fair!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you did a good job on your goals for June. Congrats on what you accomplished. On to July!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on all those achievements, I'm amazed by how much you do! It's as the saying goes -- if you want something done, give it to a busy person :)

Good luck with the book fair, that will be very exciting!!

Ravyne said...

Congrats on reaching so many of your goals and good luck with the book fair! Have a wonderful weekend!

Lori @ The Rattling Bones

Misha Gerrick said...

You're on fire! Best of luck with July.

Unknown said...

You are aspiring towards so many goals! Kudos. LIke, seriously. I've really over committed myself these days (I'm doing volunteer work for a couple of businesses) but I really enjoy helping people, so it's all worth it. Besides, what would I do with free time??? Who has that? I've also been focusing on just relaxing and enjoying life. It's summer time and all I want to do is eat ice cream and barbecue and think about going to the gym. Sorry to hear about your friend. Life is so short we really have to appreciate every second we have with our loved ones.

Blogoratti said...

Congratulations on those achievements, and best wishes with everything in the new month!

Karen Lange said...

Ah, you inspire me! Now that July is nearly upon us, I'd best get to making some goals. Thanks for the inspiration! :)

Dixie@dcrelief said...

Wow! You've been really at it! I wish I had some of that energy. I'm umping off of Celebrate until I recoup more.- each day is some better - that's the goal for now.