Happy Sunday, everyone! Hope you’re having a great one. After a crazy-busy yesterday teaching wrangling kiddos, today I’m savoring some relaxation! Breakfast with my sweetheart, church, lunch with Dana, and family dinner tonight. A perfect Sunday, in my book!

Now let’s move onto goals. My brother, who is an extremely talented painter and fine artist in addition to his many other talents, reminded me of the importance of enjoying the PROCESS of creating art, instead of only focusing on the results or finished product.

In that vein, I have decided to take the pressure off completing my novel, and instead focus on writing it little by little, day by day. As long as I am investing the time into writing it, I will make progress and I will eventually write those glorious words THE END 🙂 I’m getting so close {!!!} but I don’t want to rush the process. Instead of focusing on making it to the finish line, I want to focus on making it the very best it can be. If I see loose ends, I want to tie them up. If I get a new idea for another thread I can weave through the storyline, I want to feel like I have the freedom and time to do that.

So, all that goes to say, I won’t be putting pressure on myself to finish the whole novel this week, as I have been doing in previous weeks. I always tend to bite off more than I can chew and think that I can make more progress than is realistic. Even though I’ve been putting in lots of time and making significant progress on my novel, I’ve been feeling like a failure because I haven’t been able to cross it off my list on here yet! But I’m learning. Goals are a work-in-progress! And as far as my novel goes, it’s not rewarding or creatively conducive to approach it as an all-or-nothing task. So I’m going to try to complete one chapter this week, and continue to move forward from there.

Here’s how I did on my goals from last time: 
– complete new draft of my novel-in-progress
– celebrate Allyn’s birthday! 🙂
– do yoga twice & core exercises five times
– finish reading Into the Night Sky by Caroline Finnerty

Here are my goals for this upcoming week:
– complete one new chapter of my novel-in-progress
– prepare for tutoring through the end of the month
– go to the gym three times
– read 100 pages of After Dakota by Kevin Sharp

And here are some recipes I’m drooling over this week:
– baked caramel apple mini doughnuts via The Pajama Chef
– kale salad w/sesame lime dressing via The Pajama Chef
– cheesy broccoli quinoa via Peanut Butter Fingers
– crockpot lentil & wheatberry soup via Peanut Butter Fingers
– hearty fall soup w/yucca & coconut milk via sometimes.always.never
– my own

Questions of the day:

• What are your goals for this upcoming week?
• What recipes are you drooling over lately?

This post is featured on Menu Plan Monday!