December Goals and NaNoWriMo Recap

Good morning and happy Friday!  I didn’t mean to disappear lately, but things have been very busy!  We just got back from Wisconsin on Wednesday and now it seems like all the things need to happen to prepare for Christmas and some upcoming trips.

I will likely be blogging less this month, but will pop in when I can 🙂

Here is a recap of last month’s goals, and my goals for December.  I would love to read yours in the comments!

November Goals

I had only one goal in November, which was to participate in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).  This was a little bit of a last minute decision, and I am so happy I did it!

NaNoWriMo is basically a free program designed to help people write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November.  Most adult fiction is longer than that, so it’s not really a whole book, but it’s a sizable chunnk.

I sort of wish this challenge were in October instead, as I, like many people, traveled for Thanksgiving, which makes it harder.  Knowing I had upcoming travel planned, I focused on this goal big time in the beginning of November and completed the goal on November 18!  This way I could just relax and spend time with family and friends for the week we were away for Thanksgiving.

Two things were key for me in succeeding – Completing an outline of what I wanted to write before November 1 and writing at the same time every day.

I know some people don’t like to write from an outline, but for me, it was extremely helpful in making it easier to keep writing when I was perhaps too tired or not feeling creative enough to make big decisions about the story.

Writing every morning, usually at 5 AM, also worked really well for me.  I was generally done with the daily word goal (1667 words) by the time James was up for the day.  I often wrote more later in the day, but having the minimum done took the pressure off.

I definitely recommend NaNoWriMo for anyone trying to start a writing habit!  There is also no reason you could not complete a challenge like this on your own, or with a friend, in a different month of course.

December Goals

Does survival count as a goal?  Just kidding, but this month is going to be a whirlwind, even more than most years – for good reasons though!  My sister is getting married and we are going on a family vacation before Christmas this year.  Then we’re traveling for Christmas as well.  It’s going to be nuts, but hopefully very fun too.

I’m mostly done with Christmas shopping at least, so that’s something!

I’m only setting two goals for the month, and they are really more intentions than goals.

1. Read the Bible daily

I already know I will likely miss some days, but I’m going to stick to this as much as possible because it’s so easy to lose sight of the meaning behind Christmas.  I personally like this site for daily readings.  I’m also going to try to read to James daily from his children’s Bible I got him for his Baptism, at least while we are in town.

2. Set Reasonable Expectations

I wrote a little about this here, but I am working on having reasonable expectations for holidays, and experiences in general.  I am really excited about both our vacation and Christmas, but I know they will be 1000 times more enjoyable if I don’t try to fit in every tradition and every fun activity.  I just want to spend time with family and see James’s little smile.  That will be more than enough.

Do you have Demember goals?

Is this a crazy month for you?