Constant Content

By now, most of us have come up with our New Year's writing resolutions, right? Good. Now, what action steps are you going to take to make sure those goals are met? That's what this challenge is all about: taking action. It doesn't matter what your goal is. What matters is taking positive steps toward that goal. Otherwise, it's up to chance whether or not you'll get there. Who's in?

I'll start:

My goal this year is to manage my time better to achieve a better balance between work and family. So, how am I going to do that? What action steps do I need to take? I'm still figuring that out but some of my ideas are to:
* End my work day at 3:30 - Maybe even turn off the computer *gasp*
* Take regular breaks
* Turn off email notifications
* Check my email at set times each day such as 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM
* Cruise the forum at set times or limit the number of visits I make each day

In 2009, I made myself stop writing at night and on weekends and that was a good start. Most of us know that working at home isn't as easy as it's cracked up to be! While the nights and weekends restriction has helped me to feel less like I'm working all the time, I'm hoping that my new action steps will further help me distinguish between work time and family time.

What are your goals? What action steps are you going to take? Goals of all sizes and baby steps are encouraged!

My goal this year is similar in one way to yours, Celeste. I have been writing part-time and still maintaining a full-time job. I am going crazy! So, my goal for this year is to allocate actual work time for writing, and stop my husband complaining at nights that he is a "computer widow". To do this, I need to get a part-time job or make my writing pay the same as my full-time job. I'm working on the part-time version as the first step. I figure if I can get a part-time job of two or three days a week, I will have the rest of the time to write, and will be able to have a no writing at nights or weekends rule. So, I'm exploring the options at the moment.

Kind regards,

Hayley

Okay, so time management for Hayley and me.

Hayley, any chance your employer will consider an alternate work arrangement? I've had two employers who were awesome about schedules. The first was about 15 years ago when I moved to the suburbs - about an hour's drive north of the city (on a good traffic day.) He didn't want to lose me, so he offered a four day, ten-hour-a-day work week. It was awesome! Plus he gave me a bunch of audio books to make the commute more tolerable. The extra hours worked each day counteracted the bad traffic in a sense because I was traveling before and after the peak times. Plus I had Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays off. The commute eventually took its toll and I ended up finding a job a few miles from home after about a year or so. (Sorry Bob).

My second flex schedule happend in 2000 when I was pregnant with my first child. I was planning on being a stay-at-home mom for a while but my boss suggested that I try working from home part time. Yes! He told me to write up a proposal. I proposed a 15-hour work week (and gave myself a raise in the process) and he approved it immediately. Three hours a day from home was awesome for over five years until CC came along and stole me away

Anyhow, maybe my stories contradict my point, but employers are often more flexible than we give them credit for. It's worth exploring potential options at your workplace if you haven't already. I'm not sure how Australia's economy is doing but I'm guessing if it's like the U.S.'s, many employers would be relieved to have an employee voluntarily cut back on hours.

Okay, so why am I on the forums right now? Quittin' time was 7 1/2 hours ago. . . LOL

Catie is now 6 months old and thankfully more independent. We also have a pretty decent routine during the day, and she has 3 naps that give me 6 hours of work time. Now, all of this time can't be for writing, and I also sometimes write when she is just playing on the floor.

My goal is to make more than $4,000 this year. I only made $2,000 last year, mainly due to the last stages of pregnancy and a new born. I am shooting for $6,000, which is $500 per month. It's going to be tough, but I know if I miss the stars, I will at least land on the moon.

I am also working to submit my first fiction piece by April 30.

I'm aiming for writing more content per month, but my ultimate goal, like EAW's, is a higher income. I think a reasonable goal for me is 16,000 words per month, which equates to about 800 words per day if I work 20 days. Whether that translates to 20 articles per month, fewer long pieces, or a greater number of shorter pieces will depend on topics and requests, but looking at it as word count helps me to plan. I plan to keep track with an excel spreadsheet. Any existing leftover work days I'll use for non-CC writing projects.

Good luck with your goals!

Time management is good. Time with family: very good. More income, yes this is good. All of these, please, and for me - I want to work on articles I really enjoy writing. I want every article - and broaden that, every writing project, to grab the heck out of me, fill me with that wonderful writing adrenilen, and not let go until the thing is done.

So far my goals have been to write enough to afford things I really want. First, I wanted to have my dog Gretchen DNA breed tested and I did that, then I wanted to get a treadmill and that is ordered and on the way. Now I want to make enough to buy a netbook or small notebook. Everyone who has one, remind me which brands and models you like best and the cost?

Have you written an article about DNA breed testing yet? That sounds like a good topic!

I love my Vaio (VGN-NW150J), but my model is a bit larger than a netbook/small notebook. It has a 15.5" screen and cost around $850 or so. I wanted a fairly large laptop because it's my main computer. It needs to be comfortable enough for everyday use but yet overly huge because I do tote it around. Sony has smaller ones as well, and they looked pretty cool. My husband's Vaio is super light and probably a 13" model, but I have no clue what the model number is. It's a year or two old anyway, so it's probably been replaced with a newer model.

I have an idea for a neat tech website. Very simple, and I think it's a useful tool. I have the tool programmed, but I need to create the site. My problem with websites is that I'm a coder, not a designer, so websites take me longer.

I want to increase my CC and Suite101 output to replace DS. I love the freedom to write anything I want at CC and Suite101. I've already done much better this month!

I took a class at school this semester that is totally out of my normal classes. It's a tech class, but it's different. It's more hardware based.

Less forum time is on my list too! Forums are my weak spot. However, I want to get back into gaming...particularly, I want to get back into Warcraft, so really I want to replace one time sink for another. LOL

I have some emo goals, too. I hate emo goals, but sometimes they are a necessity.

This thread should be bumped in 3 months to remind us all about our goals and push us to explain why we haven't made them yet!

I have two desktops so I want something I can cart around with me and use out on the front porch while Gretchen chases the dog next door along the fence. What I really want is just a keyboard with a hard drive, a USB slot and an earphone jack so I can hear what I'm typing. I'd just take a pad and pen but don't want to have to transcribe later (even if I could read my handwriting!). There are some assistive devices like that but they cost in the $3,000 range so that's out. My adaptive equipment tech says I'd be better off getting a >$500 netbook/notebook. I don't need a monitor to just take notes and do first drafts that I can transfer to my desktop for polishing but I guess I have to put up with one

Celeste, I've got that DNA breed article in my In progress folder I keep thinking I'm going to get ahead on the requisite earnings each month and have time to write it but it hasn't been happening lately.

Lys, I'd like to hear more about your webiste!

Debbi, have you tried Dragon Speaking or one of the other voice-to-text programs? Also, what about a tablet PC? I haven't tried one lately, but way back when the old Palm Pilots came along, I was pretty fast with the handwriting recognition software. I imagine the software has improved since then. With the tablets, you can either use it like a regular laptop or write directly on the screen. My dad has one and it's pretty neat.

The tablet thing is a good one if you like to write with a pen and paper. They kinda lost popularity after netbooks. I don't know much about them. I only see netbooks and lappies in the classroom now. You should be able to get one cheap.

Since they do have handwriting recognition software, I imagine they might have some device where you can write as if it's a pen and paper and then use a USB connection to transfer the info to your desktop. If that hasn't been invented yet, then it's a good idea. I bet you can find something like that already, though.

Yes, I've seen ads for pens that store your text and then connect to a computer. Pretty cool. I think I saw one at Target. I'm not sure if the pens actually put ink on paper or not. I would hope so but I'm not sure. I never really thought how such an gadget would be useful, but I can totally see Debbi on her porch scribbling away as Gretchen naps at her feet.

Here's one:
http://www.iogear.com/product/GPEN200N/

Looks like it's $99 and it uses real ink and paper. Kind of cool Now I want one!

That IS cool Makes me want one right now. I wonder if it really could read my horrible, terrible, chicken-scratching handwriting? I can see how that could be so useful and so small. I prefer to type because I am so much faster at typing than hand-writing, but that little goober is really neat! Oh, for a $100 I could spend frivously