Goal setting

by Jill Burgoyne

As a mother of two little ones with one on the way, I find myself at home more than 90% of the time. I have learned not to mind. One thing that I have learned to use and that has kept me going, is to actually set goals and check them off.

One drastic difference and difficulty about motherhood, is that there is no dean's list. No  one gives out certificates for "Edible food", "1000th load of Laundry" or "12th diaper today". Where once, I was recognized for my professional manner and prestigious grades, I have nothing to gauge myself on. I used to have sort of accounting sessions with myself where I would assess different areas of my life, classes, church stuff, family stuff, and I had grades, medallions and other such evidence that I was progressing. Not to mention, I had friends and teachers to recognize me and tell me I was doing well.

Life has changed. And I recently discovered a wonderful tool to combat the lack of progression I felt. (Whether true or not.) And I created new areas of growth that I wanted to progress in and set different goals in each area. My areas right now, are: parenting, finances, homemaking, academics, genealogy, church calling, relationship with husband, spirituality, physical fitness, and writing. These are the areas I've identified that I want to progress in. I make one goal a month in each area.

As a wise man once said: Goals help us realize our potential.

Three Keys to Goal setting:
 1. Setting goals you are motivated to make. Why make a goal you don't care about?
2. Setting challenging and yet realistic goals. What energy, time and resources are realistic for you to keep your goal?
3. Committing to keep them. If you aren't going to work for your goal, why make it at all?

When I realize that one of my goals is too challenging and I don't have energy or time to complete it, I re-evaluate and set a goal more in my reach.

The entire reason behind goal setting is to reach our potential. I've learned that goal setting and reaching gives me a personal fulfillment that brings joy.

Journal Your Life, Part II

By Leesa Ostrander

I recently saw a quote that said, “Don’t expect everyone to understand your journey, especially if they’ve never had to walk your path!”

Journaling is not having others walk your path; it is allowing them a glimpse of what the road seemed like to you.

Through exploring inner feelings, strife’s, joy and accomplishments, words on a paper (bound in a book) take on a life force. They become a story. They become a journey. They become the path you walked.

For some journaling is difficult. My mom told me, “How about I tell you my story and you write it?”

Thanks mom, but it is for you to write - J.

I have always loved journaling and writing stories. I also love writing research essays – but that is for another entry.

Journaling is important for help writing skills. It can help organize your thoughts, give meaning behind actions, and be good practice. Also, some plot twists can come from everyday occurrences that may be unknown because they seem simple. Yet, the simple daily behaviors are what create a story that shaoes a reader’s reality.

So, how can we encourage those not journaling?

First, set a goal to write one event in the day.

Second, (which I feel is really first) get a good book to write in. I like a classic journal for my daily and leather bound for my spiritual journaling. Or if you prefer typing, set up a folder to save your entries in.

Third, do it. The journal is for you. It is not to be published. Well, it may be if you become ultra-famous and the public wants to see inside your thoughts and then you die and a long-lost relative decides to make money.  For this entry sake, know the journal is for you and building a strong foundation to better writing.

Last, read your previous entries. When reading through entries for weeks, months, even years ago you remember and inspire to write more.

My mom’s mom kept her wall calendars. I thought it was strange, until I could look back at them and see her journal on them. She wrote her appointments on the calendar and life’s moments. Every year I saw my birthday and sharing the day was a moment in her life; a doctor’s appointment, the neighbor brought her cookies and one year the little birds on her porch hatched.

Share the path you are walking.

Taking a Vacation from Writing

by Marsha Ward

In August, I had the immense pleasure to provide a trip for my sister-in-law so that she could get back east to visit elderly aunts and contemporary cousins and to search out local cemetery and library records for ancestral lines of my husband's side. It was a two-week road trip of epic proportions, including five hours stuck in a parking-lot-on-the-highway situation in the Shenandoah Valley, due to a haz-mat accident earlier in the day.

I had been feeling the same urgency my SIL had, that we needed to take this trip now. My only conditions were to be able to visit a couple of places in Virginia for my own research needs for the next novel in the Owen Family Saga.

Cannon at Gettysburg

Due to time constraints, we weren't able to see as much as I had wanted, but we got to enough places, and I now have a real sense of the locations and conditions to suit my purposes.

Our record gathering on the genealogy side was quite successful, and we met people who were willing to help us in any way we needed. We also met a couple who were researching one of the same ancestral lines, and who are willing to obtain necessary courthouse records for us.

We found a cemetery that long-time residents of the town didn't know a location for. There we found the grave marker of the first ancestor on the Ward line to come to America. What a thrill that was! We still wonder what his middle initial "M" stands for, but we know we'll find out some day.

After an exhausting walk over a large cemetery in the Pittsburgh area trying to find Su's grandparents, she made a few phone calls to several of the aunts. Then, with new information in hand, she told the driver-cousin to stop the van so she could search a new portion of the cemetery, opened the door, and stepped out onto the very grave markers we had been seeking for two or three hours.

A day trip to another town turned into a two-day stay, where we met the aforementioned couple and gleaned vast numbers of records that can't be found online.

Due to many things I had to accomplish before I left, I felt I wasn't as prepared for this trip as I could have been. I didn't take my own copy of genealogical records that would have primed me better for the searches we made. I took the wrong computer for Internet communications on the road. However, I did take the right one for recording the records and information we gathered, since I actually had a genealogy program loaded on it, and found a file with some of the records I needed to tie in with the new information. I also happened to grab a keypad add-on that I'd bought a while ago but never used, and it really helped with inputting all the dates.

Did I get to work on editing my novel while I was gone? No. Will it put my publication schedule behind? Maybe. What was more important was that I got to see relatives I hadn't seen in fifteen years, and gathered vital information on family members I'll meet someday on the Other Side. That makes my Vacation from Writing worth it to me.

Computer Crashes and Kidney Stones

by Cindy R. Williams

My last blog two weeks ago was a detailed walk through what I consider one of the greatest horrors to a writer . . . the crash of your hard drive on your the most critical writing tool, the revered lap top.

If you read that post, you know that after several long days of panic as I worked to capture all my files and emails, it all came together. Note after all my many hours of working with Sony, my talented 22 year old nephew showed up at my house. He just happens to be a computer genius and was able to pull things out of my hard drive that other companies bid at $900 - $3,500. Thanks to Yuri Burkinshaw, said nephew, I have recovered EVERYTHING!  Everyone needs a Yuri Burkinshaw. What an amazing young man.

This week brought another challenge, as life will right? On Monday afternoon, my husband came home early from work. That's not the challenge, although, it is quite unusual. He said he felt he needed to be home. Then at 3:55 pm, just like flipping a switch, the right side of my abdomen and back started screaming --it might have been me doing the screaming. I know the exact time because I teach guitar, piano and harp, and my next student was due to arrive at 4. Two of my sons were home from school and while my husband rushed me to the ER my sons contacted the rest of my students to cancel music lessons for the rest of the week.

I won't go into detail about my enforced hospital vacation and surgery over the next four days. Suffice it to say that I am the proud mother of a kidney stone named Isaac, after the hurricane.

As I lived every slow motion painful minute this week, I prayed and often. I received more peace and comfort from prayer than I did from any medicine. Feeding my spirit became more important than feeding my body.

My lament over my computer hard drive crashing two weeks ago paled compared to this new adventure. I wonder what the next two weeks will bring before I post again.