Things I accomplished in August

Today is September 1st!

        Last month (aka yesterday :D) I laid out goals for each week. Some were for editing, writing for my books, setting up appointments, an assignment, etc. It helped me keep track of the things I needed to get done. It also held me accountable for completing each task by the end of the week. With my weekly goals, I had daily tasks from Sunday to Saturday except for the first week, because I started on August 1st, a Wednesday. Each week I also worked on a specific book of mine, and read books I had been harboring for months!.

       August 1st to August 4th:  This week the book I was read was Wraith by Phaedra Weldon. I edited my completed story Our Father. It's about a young woman named Robyn being stalked by her childhood best friend who ends up kidnapping and taking Robyn to her estranged father. I finalized a dance choreography that was inspired by another dance video. I wrote a blog post for the next week, submitted to literary magazines, did an outline for my assignment, and memorized two bible verses.

          August 5th to August 11th: This week the book I was read was Nzingha: Warrior Queen of Angola 1595 by Patricia McKissack. I wrote for Being a Model, a story about Mai aspiring to be a model and struggling in the fashion industry. Working on this story has always been difficult for me. There are many avenues I could take this, I'm just not sure which one is the best one. I can't seem to get inside my main character's head and really understand her as an individual person. There are a lot of ideas in my head, but typing them out and being satisfied with how it fits with the story is what I struggled. I outlined page two of my essay and filled it in, worked on music composition, took creative photos, submitted to a few literary magazines, and memorized two more bible verses.

          August 12th to August 18th: This week the book I was read was The Sound of Butterflies by Rachael King. This week was fun in terms of writing for The Other Side of the Mirror. This story is about a young woman dealing with alopecia and discovering she is adopted. She then travels to Madagascar to find her biological parents, but instead finds love, and becomes Queen of Fleur Fanjakana. Rather than Volana feeling happy and free, she feels stuck and lost after not finding her parents, and gaining new responsibilities as a Queen. Whew, that was long. World building was necessary for this story because even though it takes place in real countries, the way things are set up are not the same. It's a modern setting with some futuristic elements. The politics and landscape are different too. It was a bit of a headache, but my connection with this main character is much stronger than with Mai from Being a Model. 

            I planned a video for Skillshare (a platform for watching online classes on various subjects you may be interested in like writing, technology, business, etc) about making a writing schedule. Recording wasn't difficult but finding a video editor was. The ones I found were terrible. I also submited to another literary magazine and made a dentist appointment.

          August 19th to August 25th: I wasn't done reading the book from last week so it rolled into this week. I did another round of editing for Our Father which went by quicker. This week's story was Her War. It's set during the future during a third world war. No one know what it's really about. A group of people trying to figure out what the war is about band together to search for a photojournalist who was also looking for a reason for the war before he disappeared. This story was fun and easier to write for because last summer I created a complete outline. It's not detailed, just important scenes that need to happen. I hung up two posters on my wall, submitted to another literary magazine, went to my dentist appointment, walked around downtown taking pictures and wrote at a coffee shop. 

           August 26th to August 31st: Last week of August! No reading this week, still trying to get over The Sound of Butterflies before diving into another novel. I made another outline for 16 years ago​, the story I wrote for Nanowrimo. This one is about a man who believes his sister that died 16 years has reincarnated into 16 year old Christy due to some resemblances in appearance and personality. I also worked on my posters, this blog post, and found a couple books on reincarnation at the library.

        Some days I woke up before eleven, other days I didn't. For me, it doesn't matter what time I wake up, I can still be very productive throughout the day because I don't sleep as early as most people so it gives me a few extra hours. Though, I try to wake up earlier because for some reason I'm not an afternoon person. I'm a night owl and a bit of a morning person, but afternoons really kill the mood. I feel like the day is just dragging on. Once the sky begins to dim, I get a surge of energy. Anyways, my point is, it was possible to get everything or almost everything crossed off on my list regardless of what time I woke up. It was fun trying new things like making music or coming up with a dance or taking photos. Every morning I was encouraged to get working because it was fun and I learned something. I took charge of this summer and made it what I wanted it to be. 

*​Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash