In my annual class on goal-setting, I talk a lot about 90-day increments for goals. How important it is to apply lessons learned from each period to the next, and how we have a chance to reassess and redetermine our goals given the new information that has arisen in the last 90 days. To that end, the writing of these quarterly posts is all about giving myself a little bit of grace. It allows me to hold myself accountable to the goals I’ve set, acknowledge the achievements I’ve made, as well as to make note of the pivots and lessons learned that happened along the way.
What I Envisioned for Q2
The high level version of what I’d been planning to create, preparing for next quarter, and building long-term.
- Push – Launch podcast, Complete proposal for nonfiction book, sell out the “Creating Space” workshop
- Prep – Preparing to launch “Creating Space”, and to query the book proposal
- Ongoing – Burnout book marketing, Marketing, Patreon, Oracle deck, teaching
The details of my goals for Q2 (as listed in last quarter’s post):
- Continue doing and pursuing more Burnout Recovery events
- Sell seats for my 6-month workshop
- Launch the Podcast and its supporting website, Instagram and Patreon accounts
- Get the nonfiction book proposal done and sent out to 1stchoice publisher (prior to agent queries)
- Meet minimum enrollment for Age-Old Story Tactics and Solstice Ritual Design classes on Morbid Anatomy
- Adventure with Sara in June, visit with Mom in May
- Prep Patreon and all other pre-scheduled posts through May 31
- Finish last vaccine due til fall
- Ensure classes for Q3-Q4 are submitted to Morbid Anatomy
- Pitch classes at other venues
- Add one coaching 4-pack per month
- Garden prep, hardening off seedlings, planting
- Fire season prep, yard work and go-kits
What I got Done in Q2
Usually, when I do this process, the list of things I got done is way longer than the list of things I didn’t. That’s not the case this quarter. Many of the reasons WHY that is are in the next section about what surprised me over the past 3 months.
- Burnout Recovery events and workshops
- Alchemy and Solstice class minimum enrollments met
- Mom visit in May
- Patreon scheduled ahead
- Pitching classes at other venues
- Garden prep, hardening off seedlings, planting
- Fire season prep, yard work and go-kits
Things that aren’t listed in the goals above, that DID still happen include ongoing work on the Oracle Deck, recording podcast episodes, and ongoing experiments with marketing in ways that feel in integrity.
A HUGE win that happened in Q2 was that Burnout Recovery sold almost 1,000 copies, and earned out the advance. Not by much, but enough to have met that milestone!
What Surprised me in Q2
Early in the quarter, I was working on selling a 6-month workshop designed to build on the work in the Burnout book. I had it all set to go, but wasn’t marketing it enough. No one was passively signing up for it, and I wasn’t actively pushing it. Then, while I was experimenting with my marketing channels, I came to realize that I didn’t want to do it. I wasn’t selling it because I didn’t want to make it happen. No one was signing up because I wasn’t signed up, either. This was a powerful lesson-learned. It helped me to uncover and discern what I do and don’t want to offer, and how I can rethink my business plans as a result.
I’ve really been leaning into the work of an author without many of the other bells and whistles. I am still thinking through what this looks like business-wise, but it’s shifting my priorities and helping me gain clarity around where I want to be spending my time. I also think my inner muse is happy with these changes. The day I decided I didn’t want to do the workshop, I started a brand new novel draft.
This realization – as well as the fact that my income from class materials no longer justifies the time and effort they require – has also led me to reevaluate my teaching and class schedules. I still might pitch some classes to teach in Q3 and Q4, but then again, I might not. This feels like an area where the ROI is weaker right now. We’ll see!
Toward the end of May, my dad and stepmom were in a horrible car accident that ultimately took both their lives. This required that I travel to Ohio (and will have to do so again in July), and it derailed a lot of my May and June goals and activities. Now, as I work through grief and its brain fog as well as the details of the estate, I’m asking less of myself in terms of my goals over all. I have limited capacity, and acknowledging that just helps me better prioritize.
What Didn’t Get Done in Q2
Some of these things are bumping out to next quarter.
- Podcast launch
- Non fiction book proposal completed
- Adding a coaching 4-pack per month (I did 2 of these, but not 3)
Some of them are not happening at all because they were specifically cancelled due to my June travels.
- Story tactics min enrollment
- Sara adventure in June
- Vaccine
Some of them are not happening at all due to the changes in direction that happened with the surprises outlined above.
- Selling seats for the 6 month workshop
- Q3-Q4 classes submitted
My Goals for Q3 2026
I’m writing and posting this about a week before the end of Q2. My goal for this week is that the last forms and documents will be submitted to the publisher for the Unicorn book before the official end of the quarter. I’d also like to get Patreon scheduled out through 7/31 before the end of Q2 if possible.
I will have to go back to Ohio for a week in July, and the ongoing estate and grief work will continue. For this reason, I’m delaying and reducing my workload as much as possible. The podcast keeps getting pushed out because it’s much easier to wait now – before anyone is expecting it – than it is once it’s going.
But my hope is that I’ll be focusing on this:
- Push – Launch podcast, Start querying proposal for nonfiction book, record audiobook for MMM
- Prep – Pre-launch marketing for MMM audiobook, Burnout Recovery workbook book proposal
- Ongoing – Burnout book marketing, Marketing, Patreon, Oracle deck, Writing and Submitting
And the specific goals and details that I’d like to move forward in Q3 are going to be divided into two parts. The first part is the stuff that HAS to happen this quarter – the stuff that needs to happen to “keep the lights on” so to speak.
- Schedule Patreon posts at least one full calendar month in advance
- Finish nonfiction book sample chapters and start querying proposal by 7/31
- Garden upkeep and harvesting, feeding the hummingbirds
- Trip to Ohio in July for the Celebration of Life
- Trip to San Francisco in August to speak at CIIS about the Burnout Book
- Meet minimum enrollment for my Journaling for Self-Discovery class
- Working with the publisher to move the unicorn book forward
- Adding a coaching 4-pack per month
The second part of the Q3 list are the items I’d love to be able to prioritize and work on, but that might end up getting bumped as time and energy might not allow for them all to happen.
- Edit podcast episodes and get them scheduled (I have 7 recorded)
- Get 5-6 more episodes recorded for this season
- Launch Podcast, and its instagram, Patreon and website
- Recording the audiobook files for Magic, Murder, and Machines (then editing and equalizing the files)
- Re-launching and remarketing MMM with the audiobook
- Submitting short stories to paying markets (at least 1 per month)
- Finishing the draft novel I’m working on and getting it to Beta readers
I am on the fence about submitting my class ideas for Q3 and Q4. I have done small one-day solstice and equinox ritual workshops that sell pretty well and are well-liked. I might do one for the autumn equinox. For the past 2 years I’ve done a class called Mythopoeic Midwinter, covering lots of midwinter myths, including the solstice. I’m trying to envision whether I want to do it again the same way this upcoming year, or if I’d prefer to change it up. I have other class ideas I could offer, but I’m just not sure I’m feeling it. Stay tuned for more there as I do some soul-searching.