As promised, I'm starting up monthly updates this month since I'm no longer doing Sunday Updates!
As January 2024 rolled in, I found myself embracing a mix of personal and professional endeavors. The year kicked off with a long walk and a series of homey activities, including knitting and watching Alias, setting the tone for a month of balancing work with personal care and relationships. I'm not sure if I achieved that, but I certainly tried! I continued with my weekly zooms with friends, dove into my writing and teaching, and navigated through daily routines like a boss. I even decided to kick off the month with a dry January, which meant no alcohol but plenty of good food. It was a mix of sticking to my daily routines, like getting the kids to school and working out, mixed with some fun, like pizza nights and trying not to cave into my chocolate cravings. I really kept it together the first part of the month!
The middle of the month was a bit of a rollercoaster. My birthday came around, and I tried to keep things upbeat despite a few letdowns, like my husband being out of town and finding out my stories won't make it to the moon due to a project hiccup. I still managed to enjoy some Korean food and treated myself to a year of Britbox as an early gift. I also got new walking shoes, and I love them! It wasn't all smooth sailing, though, with the winter weather causing some chaos and me having to juggle family health issues (both kids got sick), school drama, and keeping up with my writing and teaching gigs. I even broke my dry January for a seafood dinner on my birthday, which was totally worth it. 100%.
Ending the month, things didn't exactly slow down. Significant progress was made on the beach house primary bathroom! It's almost done being converted to a nice modern tiled shower. But between dealing with a sick family (my husband now has a cough, I'm the only one who hasn't been sick) and trying to stay on top of my work, it felt like I was running a marathon. But, despite feeling a bit worn out and craving a break, I made sure to carve out some me-time with Peloton workouts and sumo watching in the evenings. It was a month full of ups and downs, but through it all, I kept pushing forward, trying to balance the craziness of everyday life with my writing and teaching.
Goals check-in
Well, I think I'm starting off the year fine with my goals. There are two goals that I'm going to abandon, though.
No to getting my exercise done early. I forgot just how cold it is here in the early morning! So I don't think I'll be doing this goal in the winter. I'm better off switching to early morning exercise in the summer when it gets too hot in the late morning to workout.
No to intermittent fasting. I am just not in the mindset to take this on this year. I have too much else going on.
Otherwise, all of my goals are proceeding as planned.
Writing and publishing check-in
I did not get enough writing done this month. We made a big switch at Future Fiction Academy to our schedule and so I worked twice as hard there this month as I thought I would. That meant no writing.
I did start publishing my novella A Dangerous Connection on Ream! If you want to follow along, you can subscribe to the Kintsugi tier and read with others.
What I watched and what I'm reading
This month I read Joanna Penn's Writing the Shadow and I listened to Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Thorns and Roses. We also watched Slow Horses and For All Mankind on Apple TV+, Alias on Freevee, Break Point on Netflix, and Reacher on Prime TV. I enjoyed all of it!
Okay, that's it for this month! Tomorrow, it's February's Goals. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy everyone!
