DreamWard Bound with things.

success

This week went really well for me, minus the icky feeling I felt all week. I was able to listen to a good audiobook on my way to work each day and had a half-day on Friday. I also was able to go to two BJJ classes this week. I wanted to go to more, but I’m happy that at least I got to go to my 2 normal classes. I also scribbled down some creative writing thoughts.

I am most happy about editing and publishing a few portfolio pages. Now my portfolio is complete and up for everyone to see.  I do have to go back and fix a few mistakes I made and put up some Pinterest pin buttons so that everyone can share anything they want.  Plus, it’ll be an easy way for me to share my artwork on Pinterest. I will also be adding a section to my portfolio for the quote art that I do for the blog posts. Still, I have the major chunk done and up.

That is all I have to tell you now, so here is an actual list of things I did this week.

Main Photography page (Link removed due to removal of page)

People Photography page (Link removed due to removal of page)

Nature Photography page (Link removed due to removal of page)

Other Photography page (Link removed due to removal of page)

Random Art Work page

My Artistic side page

Inside thoughts (creative writing)

Images of you (poem)

Weekly Writing Prompt

Better Late Than Never For DreamWard Bound

success

I figure writing my weekly update post is better late than not doing one. I will make it quick though, since I actually already did write this week’s post. My computer just decided that the internet wasn’t its friend though and for some reason would not save the post. It could also be the site, but more likely my computer, since its old and filled up with a bunch of different projects.

I did awesome with my God goal and listened to at least an hour of an audiobook about God centered things every day this week.  I also did pretty well with my weight/ fitness goal. I realized that I’m starting to see definition and I have lost 5 lbs since starting to actually weigh myself and try.

I didn’t do so great with editing my novel, since I was planning on doing that yesterday. Instead though I got the pleasure of staying in bed with a killer headache. Basically my Saturday was me waking up at 8 drinking a bunch of water, having breakfast and going to class with a slight headache. The Friday night ratio of whiskey to water may have been a bit off, since I had whiskey but no water the entire night of dancing. I thought I would be fine but after a full Brazilian Jit-Jitsu class I was not feeling well at all. I went home, showered, and went back to bed. I slept most of the day and then went out to a birthday dinner.  Needless to say I did not get any editing done this weekend.

I would have worked on writing or editing today, but I had another birthday party to go to after Church today. This week I should be able to write and edit. I look forward to at least one night this week sitting down working on things.  I did fix my break light this weekend, so I was productive. It’s not as productive as I usually am, but that break light has been out for months.

Now, I will leave you with the two things I posted this week. This next week should be more. At least I hope this next week I will post more.

Bury Deep

Weekly Writing Prompt

DreamWard Bound like always.

success

I actually am not always dreamward bound. Some days I don’t even think about my goals. However, I feel most like myself when I am. If I have a goal, a plan and a schedule I am happiest. That is why I am happily writing this post.

I at least feel like this week went real well. I revised my goals early in the week and revised my schedule last weekend. I didn’t make every goal and did change one midweek. Still I worked towards my goals.

I should tell you what my new goals are now, before I tell you how I did with them. It might make sense to you if I told you the aim before telling you how close or far I came to the target.

My first goal is to finish my second draft of my novel by May 3rd. This has been my goal for almost a year now. I just kept saying it was a priority but not really acting like it was. I kept writing blog posts and poems. I did not actually give most of my time to it. Now I will. I have my schedule worked out, so that I am editing more. I am also going to take most of next weekend, if not all of it, and dedicate it to getting the novel done. I may even rent a hotel room in order for fewer distractions.

My next goal is the one that I actually revise twice this week. First I was going to try to read the Bible within a year again. The trouble I found with that was that I actually did not pick up the Bible. It was too scary and big of a challenge. I decided it was best to change it. I wanted to focus on God, but actually focus on learning and not just reading. If I stuck with reading the Bible within a year I would not be focusing on learning about God. I would only focus on reading and reading fast enough. It would be come a chore like it had in the past and not  a joy and learning experience. So, I changed my goal to taking 10 minutes a day to learn about God. I will either pray for 10 minutes or listen to some audiobook, podcast or sermon. I may also read a book or a chapter in the Bible. This gives me more options and is not as big as a project.  After a month I will increase the amount of time I spend learning about God.

After that the next important goal is my weight/ health goal. I want to lose 30lbs by the start of next year. The main reason I want to lose this weight is to make jiu-jitsu easier and if I do compete I won’t be in the heavyweight division if I lose the 30lbs. Honestly, though I am not sure if I will end up losing 30 pounds. I want muscle and having muscle is more important to me than weighing less, so if I lose a bunch of weight and realize that I am losing muscle I’ll stop. Right now though, I want to lose 30lbs.

This goal is followed by my creative writing goal. I  want to get back up to writing 5 creative posts a week. This will include my weekly writing prompt, but I will also try to actually use the writing prompts to write more posts. That was the idea for the weekly writing prompts to start with. It was going to be inspiration for the next posts. I got busy though and my schedule was just not allowing for me to write. I want to start writing more, again. That is why my goal will be to get up to 5 posts a week, well 6 if you count my DreamWard bound posts.

Finally my last goal is to read a book a month and I mean really read. I am not going to count audio books as reading. At least I won’t count them at this time. Maybe in the future my ideas will change, but for now I want to actually read a book a month. I mean I have a years worth of real hard copies of books and even more e-books. The main focus for this goal though is to expand my knowledge base, get inspiration and learn about different author’s voices.

I think these goals will be a good mix of challenging and fun to do. I am looking forward to accomplishing them and letting you know how I am doing with them every week.

A New DreamWard Bound Post

success

This week was a good week. I posted a few extra poems this week and wasn’t too stressed at work. I also planned out my normal weeks today. I am slowly getting back on track with being productive. I am also going to sit down, either today or tomorrow, and look at my goals. I need to take time to actually look at my goals and decide how I what I want my goals to be.  Time is a resource that I am lacking these days.

On another note, I am seeing improvements with my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skills. This is funny to say, since I am a white belt, which means I have every little skills. Yet, I am improving. I can do things I haven’t been able to do and learning how to move my body and my partners body in order to get submissions or escapes. I know I’m still far from my blue belt, but it’s a journey and I can seeing the steps I’m taking moving me towards the first goals.

That is really all I have to say about my week. I did not do anything too excited, so I will leave you with my list of things I wrote.

Pairs Of Two

A Needed Poem

Weekly Writing Prompt

DreamWard Bound, sort of.

success

This week was full of work and being stressed out. I still found time to do some extra writing. I posted one poem and have two more to post this week. It was a long week though and I’m not even sure what I did. I just know that it felt never-ending and the days blurred together.

Since my week was so focused on work I don’t have much to say about my progress towards my goals and dreams. It feels like my future is taking a back seat to my present surrounds. I want to sit down and figure out how to be more focused on my future, but that takes time. We’ll see when I can actually get back on my dream track.

Until I do here is what I’ve posted this last week.

Weekly Writing Prompt(#7)

Half way to 100 days

Contrasting Human (Poetry)

Can We Just Say (Poetry)

Dream’s journey to Reality

DreamWard Bound, Still.

success

I did not fall off the face of the planet or get kidnapped by aliens. Nothing drastic or dramatic has happened to me. I did not even go on a spontaneous vacation. I simply was drained of energy when I had time to write this week and at the end of last week.

I did jot down thoughts and notes, which I will be completing today, hopefully. They just did not make it to completion or to being published, yet. A main reason for writing and not publishing, besides the time and being drained thing, is that I just did not want to fight with my computer or any computer. I love simply writing with a pen and paper more than with typing when I have things I need to figure out. This week seemed to be either figure out stuff or don’t think. Those were my two options this week.

That being said, I don’t have too much else to say, at least not in this post. I could go on and tell you how Otis (the cat that lives in my house) tried to trap me in my bed or that I wore two different shoes the day after. Those deserve their own post though. I wouldn’t want to go off on that tantrum.

I also have a realization post and a pleading poem. I will be sharing both this week, but the poem will be hard for me. I typically try to hold off on certain types of poems before I  publish them. This time I just want to be brave and show my heart how it is now.

So, stay tune there will be more writings this week.

DreamWard Bound From A Packed Week

success

This week was a packed week for me. I of course worked at my day job every day, but I was on a role that I enjoy. After work on Monday I went to my BJJ class, which was great. I even stayed for a little while after class, since it was an open mat time.

Tuesday I went to a Bible study and Wednesday I spent the night with friends.

Where it gets kind of crazy is Thursday. Not only did I work and go to my improv group, I also led the group and worked on this site. I wound up finishing my painting portfolio.

Friday I went to a show and took pictures and video.

Today (Saturday) I had class and took a nap, so it wasn’t that busy. I guess when I write it all out I didn’t do too much. It just felt like the week was packed because I did not have a single night to myself.

I also did write at some point during the week. Here is the short list of things I wrote this week.

Writing Prompt #5

A Quarter of the way to 100

DreamWard Bound, Another Week Another Post.

success

How do I start this post? I always find it hard to actually start either writing something or starting a goal. It seems like starting is always the hardest part. Once you have momentum or get in a rhythm of either writing or goal achieving it is gets easier. Things start to flow and progress is made. Sometimes, like now, you just have to start and hope that you’ll keep going, keep writing.

So, I’ve started writing I guess I should continue you and tell you about my week. It seemed like a long week. At work I was doing a role called support, which is where I answer client’s questions and figure out issues that are more client facing and not the tech side of things. It is dealing with people, which I don’t think I am too good at and do not enjoy. I mostly don’t like it because it’s a combination of juggling acts, waiting games, and trying to translate my brain into something that the client will understand.

Well, half way through my week I started to get stuffed up. I held off the head cold until today, when I decided that it would not be a good idea to get buggers on other people. I skipped class, made a fort under my loft bed and watched a bunch of the first season of supernatural. Once I decided that was my plan for the day my body responded with basically giving in to the head cold, which after zoning out and napping for most of the day has gotten a lot better. Instead of a sinus headache, drained feeling, and super stuffy nose that the decision to relax for the day brought, it is now just a super stuffy nose.

I am happy to say that I did manage it write an extra post this past week, before I started to feel icky. I also am now on day 28 of my 100 day challenge and I’ve kept a daily thought log. I have one page of one line thoughts that  I will be putting into another post soon. After publishing this post, though, I do have to go do my exercises since I did skip my BJJ class. I am not liking the fact that I have to do the mini-workout, but that is mostly because I really would have rather gone to class. If only I wasn’t so bugger-filled.

Here is a list of the things I wrote this week.

The Poem I wear

Not An Ordinary Walk

Writing Prompt (#4)

Another DreamWard Bound

success

Right now, it is hard for me to recap this week as far as it goes in my journey towards my dreams and life goals. Instead of going into my goals, like I did last week I will simply recap what I did this pass week.

I had Monday off from work,so I did write a little and got to chapter 2 in editing my book. Only being on chapter 2 might seem like I’ve not been doing anything with the book. As I am writing it down I am having that thought at least. I’ve been working on this book for over a year. I think it is actually closer to two years since I started writing it.I should be further along right? Well I did do a full sweep a while back and took notes on a few chapters. There is also an outline of the full series and notes on characters, races and the town. So, as you can see I have worked on it. Of course, I am also a procrastinator and that has come into play with my editing. Still, I am working on the book, it is just slow going.

On Monday I was also able to write 2 post which meant  I met my new blog goal for the week. I actually posted 3 posts last week, which I am happy about. Before the new year I would be beating myself up, feeling guilty, and not happy that I only got 3 posts, with one of them being a DreamWard Bound post. Now, I am smiling though. I got 3 posts out to the public.

On Monday I also went to my BJJ class and hung out with my friends after class. It was a full yet relaxing day off.

When Tuesday came around I had to go back to work. I drove over the hill with my friends, but listened to my podcast, which is a goal of mine to do. I also had a Bible study after work.

Wednesday was work and hanging out for dinner with a few friends.

Thursday I led my improv class after work.

Friday was my nerd night, which ran long since it was our last D&D for  a while, since our game master is living in Ireland now.

This, Saturday, morning I went to another BJJ class then had lunch at the Windmill, which is my favorite cafe. I then took a walk on the beach, did laundry and took a nap. Now I am writing this post trying to sit in a way that my soreness from the class does not affect me too much. It was a great class to say the least.

Here are the links to the two posts I wrote after the last DreamWard Bound post.

Weekly Writing Prompt

The Bagel Love Affair.

DreamWard Bound With Where I am

success

I took some time today to figure out where I am with my goals, what I am doing, and what I can change. I know that I don’t want to push myself too much. I don’t want to burn out like I did before Christmas. I do want to keep on keeping on with them. I do want to work towards my goals, challenging myself as I do.

I realized that for now I need to have a more relaxed format and although I will be trying to do more and more as time goes on I am only going to do a little with each category of my life that I want to focus on.

With God and the Bible I have been listening to an audio Bible instead of reading it. I allow myself to relax and have even fallen asleep listening to it. I know this is not ideal, but at least I am listening and going through the Bible. Now when I try to read it I will at least have some knowledge of all the books. I am also starting to listening to two podcasts on my way to work. At least I am trying to start listening to the podcasts, but technology is fighting against me.

Next, I did have a goal about my family. I want to talk to them more. I realized though, I want stronger relationships with everyone in my life. That is why I am going to still try to contact my family members at least once a week, something that I still have not mastered, but I am also going to be intentional with the people around me. I going to try to encourage my BJJ classmates more, help my friends, and talk to people more. I am going to try to be intentionally more friendly and more open.

As far as my novel goes I am going to be focusing the most sit down alone time to that. I want to keep my deadline and to do that I have to edit 1.5 chapters a week. I am planning to spend most of this weekend with my characters and story. Hopefully I will be able to polish it up nicely and only have to go over it one or two more times. I want to be finishing up with it this time next year.

My health is next on the important scale. Since I have started Brazilian Jit Jitsu I have found a want and almost need to be healthier. I want to push myself harder to be healthy in my eating and activities. I am not going to jump right over to the super healthy side of things. If I do that I will wind up giving into the not healthy eating patterns that I fall into so often. Instead I will start gradual and listen to my body. I will be eating more salads and vegetables. I am also doing a 100 day exercise  challenge, which I mentioned in another post.  I did revise the challenge, since I did not have enough space to safely do any sort of rolls. As it is I have to reset my shrimps and hip switches at least 3 times. I am doing the challenge though. I am at day 15, so far. My fitness and health will be steps towards being in the best shape that I can be. It will be a long journey, but I am on it.

Now, there is my acting. It is on the back burner and I am not really focused on it as a career or really an actionable goal at the moment. However, that does not mean I am doing nothing with it. I am still going to my improv group almost weekly. I have had to take a few weeks off in this new year. It seemed like I was either sick or burnt out by Thursday. I am getting back in the rhythm of life it seems, though. I am even leading a group this coming week. Since, this is my only outlet for acting I will be intentional with it. I am going to focus on growing my skills, learning more about improv and hopefully leading when needed.

Finally, there is this blog thing that I am trying to do, also. I love writing and seeing people visiting what I wrote. I enjoy the feedback, even if it is mostly just likes. I am learning what people like to read and what is the most interesting to them. I am also learning what pulls them in and how what I say affects the stats of the site. This blog is a learning experience for me just as much as it is about the writing and making me focused on my writing.  Although I am learning and enjoying having this outlet, like I said last week I believe, I need to not have this be my main focus. I will be trying to do at least two posts every week, one being the DreamWard Bound posts and the other being my weekly writing prompt posts, that have been a lot less than weekly.

Those are all the thoughts I have now. I know this post is longer than my recent posts. I am sure I will go back to basically having no updates next week. It is the whole thinking about my DreamWard journey, that makes this one long.

I do hope you enjoyed this and like always, please, let me know what you think.