As I mentioned in the March 31 Q1 check-in, I do these check-ins in my planners every 90-days. Yes, I did mean to pluralize “planners.” While I was searching for a project management tool, I realized that the planner that I use for personal to dos and scheduling was exactly what I needed to organize my content calendar, Patreon posts, and goals.
This quarterly check in is intended to serve as an accountability tool, and to allow me to adjust my goals for the next three months.
How I’m doing against my Q2 2024 goals:
- Grow my email lists and social media platform to 10K people – as of 6/26 my current number is 8,570, which is still shy of that 10K mark. Growth is still happening slowly but surely. As I have things to market that produce income (like the Burnout Prevention courses) I will start exploring paid social campaigns which will probably accelerate some of this. One of the things I’ve been focused on this quarter is learning more about how to do this. I’ve studied and tested calls to action, and I’ve been working on increasing my pinterest engagement.
- Teaching classes at Morbid Anatomy, and perhaps at least one other venue – I’d like to get at least 2 more classes on the calendar at Morbid Anatomy for Q3 – Pretty sure this is met, met, met. The unicorn class went really well, and I’ll be offering those recordings via Patreon soon. The Fairy tale retelling class is live, and because it SOLD OUT! I have another round of it scheduled for October 29th. Grim Grimm will begin August 12. The Thinkific classes are slowly going live for the burnout content. I have so many more of these in the works.
- Take at least 2 classes – I took a class on play writing from the local community college, and I’m signed up for a course on herbalism and medicinal plants right now.
- Get at least one book onto a publisher’s 2025 calendar and sign the papers – Advanced Unicorn Theory is scheduled for Spring of 2025, and I have gotten plenty of chapter submissions from interested scholars.
- Audition and Perform – continuing to pursue some form of this, be it storytelling or acting – I’ve attended some storytelling sessions, but haven’t told many stories this quarter. The playwriting class allowed me to do some impromptu acting, which was fun.
- Reimagine and reenvision the dissertation as a book, complete its book proposal packet, and start submitting by June 30 – The outline is complete, and I’ve got about 22K words written. This week is all about getting that proposal started and finishing the three sample chapters so I can start proposing by July 10.
- Complete at least one novella and get it in the submission process – I completed a romantasy novella called The Last Red Dragon and have been submitting it to small presses.
- Re-read all editor’s notes on the novel revision, and begin the rewrite process – No movement on this one. I won’t be able to really pay attention to the novel until November, so we’re going to bump this out to Q4.
- Attend the NSN conference zoom, and submit at least one more call for papers in Q2. The NSN conference is in Q3 (July). I did submit 2 CFPs, and spoke at one conference. I’m scheduled to present in November at another.
- Build more income streams, and have an idea of what making a living looks like in this new world – I’ve got a pretty good idea of what my three careers in a trenchcoat will look like as I grow and learn. The income streams are still relatively small, but I still feel secure and supported by the universe.
- Take one or two more trips with Josh – Josh and I went to Texas to see the Eclipse in April. We have more trips planned in July and October.
- Plant and tend garden (it’s a bigger one this year!) plus all the annual fire season safety work – This is going well, and will be an ongoing goal in Q3. I did eat a salad that was from my first little tiny harvest.
- Attend a live music performance – I did not do this. I’d like to do so, but I need to find a venue I’m comfortable with.
- Read 13 books this quarter (for a total of 20 for the year by 6/30) – I’m very very behind on this. The writing has turned into research, which is far more heady reading than the fiction I envisioned devouring when I created this goal. I’ve read six books in Q2. And well, I guess that’s better than nothing.
Things that surprised me in in Q2
One of the things that I do like to do when I’m reviewing goals and accomplishments is to make note of the things I got done that weren’t on the list. Or the events that surprised me or showed up unexpectedly.
The main gist of these surprises was an exercise that I did around embodying and expressing self-confidence. (I wrote about it here.)
- The unicorn class grew a number of things – the chapters I want to write in Advanced Unicorn Theory, my confidence in my ability to teach, an idea for a new course to offer at Morbid Anatomy, and I met a group of amazing people.
- I launched a Patreon community! It’s been an interesting process growing into Patreon and how I want to express myself there. I will be doing more cross-posting and cross-promoting as I get my sea legs.
- I also launched a Thinkific course and community! Because I know the burnout book is appealing to a different audience than my myth, fairy tale, and unicorn stuff, I’ve established a separate space for that information. There is a free course for individuals who think they may be burned out, and I’m growing a list of paid courses for companies that want to prevent or deal with employee burnout.
- I had two poetry acceptances this year!
- Presley’s “Icky task” experiment was incredibly useful and helped me get over a hump that I’ve been writing on my to do list for TWO YEARS.
- I realigned how I want to engage with academic writing and publishing. Using the book From Dissertation to Book, I also determined what I want to do with my dissertation and that research.
A huge, HUGE change that I made in May of this year was in the way I work with my to do list. Instead of one long “infinite scroll” list that is never-ending, I am doing smaller, more finite project-based lists. This means that I get a sense of completion and accomplishment more often, and that there are days when I can completely FINISH a list of to dos, without yet more tasks hanging over my head. This has been a tremendous change in how well I can relax, rest, and play.
Likewise, I came to realize that writing, researching, teaching, and content creation were actually my day-job now. Which requires boundaries and time off. Instead of weekdays blurring into the weekends, I’m more careful about my time away. I see immediate returns on this by way of problem solving and creative insights.
Goals for Q3 2024
Naturally, I need to set my goals for the next Quarter. July, August, and September are going to be very busy. I have a number of deadlines looming in that time frame. I’m also keeping my “North Stars” in mind as I set these goals.
- Grow my platform to 10K people (only 1430 to go!)
- Grow my Patreon to 40 subscribers
- Grow Thinkific to 200 students
- Get two paid courses live on Thinkific
- Have Morbid Anatomy classes scheduled once a month through the end of the year
- Take a class on Morbid Anatomy
- Advanced Unicorn Theory – write my three chapters and a draft introduction for the book. Support authors over the finish line and get edits back to them as quickly as possible. (Current deadline to move into peer review is Nov 1.)
- Send out queries and proposals for the non-fiction book based on the dissertation findings.
- Get two more print acceptances to get to 6 new entries on the “proud of myself” shelf by the end of the year
- Marketing the 2 anthologies coming out this summer – Both Medusa and the Jethro Tull books have my stories included
- Attend the National Storytelling Network’s conference zoom in July
- Take a trip with Josh, take a trip with Sara
- Tending garden and ongoing yard work – I’d love to pickle beets and radishes, to hang a ristra of chiles I grew, and to have too many zucchinis.
- Complete at least one novella and get it in the submission process
- Establish financial security into 2025
- Attend a live music performance
- Read 10 books this quarter