November 2017 Goals

And a recap of October 2017 goals

*Please note: this post includes affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of my links I get a small (at no cost to you!) commission. I promise to only link products that I'd recommend and use myself. I strongly encourage you to first consider shopping small and locally, even if it means I don't get the referral commission. Otherwise I really appreciate your support: blogs are expensive to run and maintain and I'd like to get out of the red one of these days, thanks!

I don't know about you, but October has disappeared! I'm super excited about November though because I signed up to do a stupid thing or two. Check out the goals this month to find out what!

Recap of October 2017 Goals:

Writing

Post at least twice a week: Eh. Nope. More like once a week this month. Ah well, sorry folks. 

Read my draft of fiction at my writers' group. I did this though! I signed up to read, so come the end of the month I had to read. I managed to only freak out half the people in the room and there was some lively discussion about my blatant disregard for writing rules. But rules are meant to be broken, right? 😈

Photography

Finish one photography class. I didn't do this. In fact I was bad and purchased a few more workshops. But if I make slow progress on a bunch of different classes and workshops then surely I'll finish a single class eventually!

Plan a photography project for 2018. I really liked working on the Wake County Parks project because it really made me focus on a subject and explore it. I noticed my photography improved so much with that work, and I'd love to have a photography project to focus on in 2018. Know any parks that need a photographer?? 😉📸

Okay, I'm going to keep the request to the universe out for more park photography work, but in the meantime I've been bumping around this idea of photographing abandoned places. And I mean that term loosely from temporarily abandoned campsites to old half-rotten tobacco barns to boarded up buildings. Got a favorite abandoned place that no one else knows of? Let me know!

Running/Fitness

Run three times a week. It's just a good goal to have. And I didn't do it. At least not consistently. I was under the weather one week and recovered one week after Tuna and then the other week I just didn't run that third day.

Race the Tuna Run 200 again! I did it! It was amazing! I can't wait to do it again! 🐟💦🏃💨

Climb at least twice a week. On average I climbed once a week - but it was more like two weeks of climbing twice in the week and two weeks of not climbing at all. Not a good record.

Go hiking at least twice. I did this! More than twice! I hiked with my dad around Durant Nature Park (post coming in a bit), and explored Yates Mill again (old link) with my friend Qiudi and her coworker Kerry (hi!). I also explored the trails around the NC Museum of Art with a friend I reconnected with from the high school reunion and we've already started planning fun backpacking adventures! Plus McCrae and I went traipsing around some random spots along the Haw River and Jordan Lake, so yes, you can definitely say I went hiking at least twice! Easy goal, check! ✅

Do yoga at least once. Failed.

Travel

Spend some time at the beach. I didn't have a lot of extra time at the beach, but it was nice to dip my toes into the ocean after Tuna and spending an extra evening there reading a book on a screened-in porch overlooking the waterway. 🏖

See fall foliage. Nope. Failed. Unless you count fall foliage in the Triangle area, which is pretty good this year.

Plan a trip to Iceland. What is this planning that you speak of?! I fail at this every time. Know any good trip planners or travel advisors?!

Personal

Finish reading "Absalom, Absalom!" I did this! It was long and hard, but what an enriching book.

Plus read one other book. I did this! I also read Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. Because hello Halloween! And why not? 🎃📚

Clean up the house and have friends over. Bleargh. Cleaning should never be on my to-do list. Let's put it this way: it's been 2 weeks post-Tuna run and I still haven't unpacked everything. Clean house = unrealistic expectation.

Go to my high school reunion. It's nice to go back after ten years and discover people don't hate you. Hooray!

Pick out paint colors. Well, I have a few paint options. But then again, I still rather like the idea of painting a forest in my living room. Do you think that will ruin the resale value? 

Alright! So November!

November 2017 Goals:

Writing

NaNoWriMo: I did a stupid thing. I signed up for NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, which if you think about it is totally doable seeing as I wrote almost 17,000 words in October without even trying (yeah, I'm prolific AF). In any case it will be a fun adventure and experiment to see how this goes. ✍️

Post at least once a week. I'm lowering my expectations because 1) lowered expectations are always nice and make it easier to succeed, and 2) if I'm doing NaNoWriMo I'll have less time for blogging. Sorry in advance.

Photography

Plan a fun project for winter photos. Winter always looks drab and dull in photos if there isn't any snow, so I need to be creative and find the beauty where I can.

Running/Fitness

Run City of Oaks Marathon Relay! I'm running this relay race this weekend with some Oiselle teammates, and I'm excited about it! 🎽

Run RDC Half Marathon! Hooray my fall half marathon! It's the inaugural race for Run RDC and I'm looking forward to racing on the ATT since I'm always running there anyways.

Indoor soccer! Indoor soccer starts this month, and I'm excited to play again! ⚽️

Climb at least once a week. The real goal is twice a week, but since that doesn't happen I'm aiming for once a week reliably.

Go hiking at least once! Hey there Thanksgiving weekend, I'm looking at you for a nice long hiking (and maybe backpacking!) trip.

Personal

Read two books. I've started reading A Walk for Sunshine*, which you'll hear about more later! 

I'm going to keep the goals list simple this month since NaNoWriMo is such a massive undertaking. Wish me luck this month!

What are your goals this November? Let me know in the comments!