Greetings from frigid upstate New York! This weekend we are anticipating Minus 40 degrees with wind chill!

The Good News: I guess you might say I’ve learned something about my lifestyle over the past six weeks.

The Bad News: I haven’t met my 3500 words/week goal. Well, at least not 3500/week on Gram & Me.

When you set a writing goal, you should specify what project(s) you will be working on that count in your goal. And think about how much time those other projects eat up.

I’ve probably managed to write 3500 words/week. But when I set the goal, I was thinking specifically of a timetable for completion of Gram & Me. I hadn’t thought about the other kinds of writing I do and how much time I spend on them.

I’ve been paying attention since I set the goal. Here are my excuses and I’m sticking with them. I manage the web page for my high school class, and with a major reunion coming up (okay, true confessions—it’s the 50^th), there’s been a lot of activity there. And over the past month, I’ve taken two online courses, one requiring considerable writing, and the other a combination of writing and time, including the Blogging 101 course that has resulted, happily, in a bit of transformation of this site.

So I haven’t been lying on the couch in my jammies, eating bon-bons and watching Hallmark movie marathons. But technically, I haven’t met my goal. So, just for my internal and public record, my writing goal allows for any written words, but I’m still focused on getting Gram & Me completed by early spring!