2014 Goals Update (March)

You can find my goals post from the beginning of the year HERE.

Personal:

• I got back into the job-hunting swing a bit toward the latter half of this month. Mostly with this one place I feel good about. Of course, they're not currently hiring...but I believe I shall politely and professionally hound them. ;) The person I spoke with there said to keep checking in, so I plan to! I actually have jury duty this week (unless it's canceled), so maybe it's for the best that my schedule's still open. If everything works out, this will be my first-ever jury duty experience. Could be interesting!

• Books...ummmm.... I totally went over my self-imposed limit in both departments (reviews and purchases). I think I acquired almost twenty new reads in March. See, I received a gift card, so that accounted for several purchases. (Honestly, gifts don't really count anyway, right? ;)) I visited a local bookstore and couldn't leave without buying a couple of books. I scouted out some interesting review opportunities and had a couple fall in my lap. And then Kindle books - so many great deals and new releases this month! I basically just let my addiction take over. So, the book-acquiring got a little out of control. Which has led me to decide that next month I will not acquire any new books - with a couple of exceptions. (You know there's always an exception...) If Karen Witemeyer's next release comes up for review, I plan to snatch up that opportunity! It just sounds and looks so wonderful, and I really enjoy Karen's stories. The book is set to release in June, so I wouldn't receive it until May anyway. :) And I have to add that if I'm gifted any books, that's a different story. ;) On the plus side of all this, hopefully you'll have some fun reviews headed your way! LOL. (By the way, if we're not already friends on Shelfari or Goodreads, you can connect with me on those sites to keep up with my reading habits and view the latest titles I've acquired - or you can check out the widgets in my sidebar to see what I plan to read and what I'm currently reading!)

• I'm doing all right with the reviews. There were a couple of books I finished that I chose not to review, and I have one I just finished yesterday that I need to review sometime. Otherwise, it's coming along!

• Exercise... Seriously, this month's updates are a little embarrassing. I didn't keep up with my goal of exercising four times a week. I did get in a few workout video sessions, though, and there were a couple of square dances I attended this month (love those!), so I didn't completely fail...

• There was one week where I didn't send any letters, but otherwise I got at least one letter out to friends/giveaway winners each of the other weeks. :)

Publishing:

• It was a fun month on the publishing front! While I didn't get as far as I wanted to in starting Morning Glory, I've at least started on that project. (You can meet the main characters HERE.) I received my Forget Me Not paperbacks, and the book is now available to purchase in that format. I published Bellflower & Fairy Slippers as a $.99 combo ebook and did a release-day promotion. I offered the Kindle version of Forget Me Not for free for a week, which got some good visibility and has led to much better sales this month. I also ended the month with a book giveaway (still going on!) in celebration of my 4th blogoversary. 

March was kind of a crazy month. (Do I say that about every month?) In addition to all my own book marketing, I had two blog tours for clients (so fun!), a client's book release and cover reveal (which was especially stressful because the Internet went out the worst possible time! But God is good, and it all worked out. :)), and planning for client projects coming in the next two months. We also had our choir concerts, and since our semester was so short and our director has a rather long commute, we had a week of back-to-back practices that took up a lot of time. But it was a lot of fun, and the songs were very special and beautiful. (I especially loved performing "Blessings" by Laura Story.) Then there was St. Patrick's Day, my sister's wonderful Irish dance performances (two of them!), my mom falling and hurting her knee and ankle at the beginning of the month :(, visits to my grandpa at the care home, taxes... Yeah. There's been a lot of drama, but also a lot of reminders of God's faithfulness and provision.

How was March for you? What are you looking forward to in April?