Rearview Mirror: October 2011

Earlier this year, I set several goals for myself that I want to accomplish before the year is out.  Previously, I would routinely set goals and then hope to accomplish them.  Sometimes I did and sometimes I didn’t.  But what I didn’t do is follow up periodically to see if I was making any progress.  That changes this year.

Here is a list of the goals I have set for myself along with notes on the progress, if any, I made on the goal during October.  The majority of the goals were detailed in my Making Plans for 2011 post from earlier this year.  I’ve added a few goals to the list since then as well.

You can find updates from previous months here:

• January 2011
• February 2011
• March 2011
• April 2011
• May 2011
• June 2011
• July 2011
• August 2011
• September 2011

October may have been the least productive month I had all year.  I was traveling the entire month and because of that, I got very little done.  Here’s what my travel schedule looked like for October:

• Murfreesboro, TN to Arlington, VA
• Arlington, VA to Murfreesboro, TN
• Murfreesboro, TN to Port St. Lucie, FL
• Port St. Lucie, FL to Murfreesboro, TN
• Murfreesboro, TN to Elgin, IL to Viroqua, WI
• Viroqua, WI to Elgin, IL to Viroqua, WI
• Viroqua, WI to Elgin, IL to Aurora, IL to Somonauk, IL to Murfreesboro, TN
• Murfreesboro, TN to Port St. Lucie, FL
• Port St. Lucie, FL to Murfreesboro, TN
• Murfreesboro, TN to Atlanta, GA to Murfreesboro, TN
• Murfreesboro, TN to Viroqua, WI
• Viroqua, WI to Wisconsin Dells, WI
• Wisconsin Dells, WI to Viroqua, WI
• Viroqua, WI to Murfreesboro, TN

That’s a lot of driving! I’m disappointed that I didn’t get more done during the month, but I understand that the circumstances weren’t the best. More traveling is planned for November, but it shouldn’t be nearly as bad as it was in October.
Here’s how I did on my goals during the month:

Write a Novel — I made very little progress on my novel during October.  I probably only wrote about 2500 words.  I’ve got to do better in November.  I had planned on having the book finished by the end of the year, but that is looking unlikely now.  I did come up with an exciting plan to publish 3-4 books each year, but of course, that is going to be tough to do if I continue to spend my time driving instead of writing.

Continue With Plans to Race in the Rolex 24 at Daytona — My trip to Alexandria, VA early in October was to pick up a new race car I purchased on the cheap.  The car is a Geo Storm and should be a fun little car to drive in ChumpCar in 2012.  The 2012 ChumpCar schedule came out at the end of October and if things work out, I’ll be doing 11 races in the Storm and the RX-7 we purchased previously.  Now the trick will be to get the cars ready and motivate my potential co-drivers.

Learn to Play Guitar — I had my final guitar lesson in June.  CJ Vaughn, my guitar teacher, is terrific, but I just haven’t found time to attend the lessons or practice like I should.  I may still try to learn, but if I do, it will be by using a DVD or Internet-based lessons.

Learn to Play Piano — I had planned on starting on this goal by now.  However, with the time I am spending on writing and my travel schedule, I just haven’t found time to pursue it.  This goal might be one I push back until next year.

Kayak the Length of the St. John’s River — I had hoped to make a run at this goal during October, but that didn’t happen.  I’m going to be tied up with work and family matters during much of the rest of the year and simply won’t have time to get it done this year.  Maybe in 2012.

Circumnavigate Wisconsin by Bicyle or Foot — This goal is officially changed to hiking the length of the Ice Age Trail (IAT).  That’s 1,000 miles across Wisconsin.  I visited the IAT offices in Cross Plains, WI in July and purchased the maps and companion guide for the trail.  I’m currently in the process of breaking the trail down into daily hikes.  That’s the easy part.  The hard part will be figuring out the logistics (drop off, pick up, where to sleep) of such a goal.

Start the Adoption Process — I hate to sound overly pessimistic, but I just don’t see this goal coming to fruition.  I hate that because adopting a child is something I have felt driven to do for many, many years.  It is more than just something that would have been nice to do.  I feel an obligation based on my personal beliefs to adopt a child, so failing to do so feels very disingenuous and even hypocritical.  I can live with failing to achieve some of the other goals I set for myself, but this one hurts me to my very soul.

Apply for an MFA in Creative Writing — I applied for the MFA in January and received word at the beginning of March that I had not been accepted into the program.  I’m disappointed, but not surprised.  I applied solely to Vanderbilt University.  They received more than 600 applications and chose just six candidates.  I’m convinced I was 7th on the list.

Launch Short Stories Website — Accomplished!  Check it out.  Update: The site is currently not working.  I’ve done nothing with the site since August or September, and I don’t think I’ll be relaunching it.

Launch Other Internet Businesses — I spoke to Rob Monster from Epik.com about using his services on some of my domains.  Still no decisions, but at least we seem to be moving forward.  I need to get together with Rob again in November and get things moving.

Read the 100 Best Novels of the 20th Century — During October, I read two of the novels from the Modern Library’s 100 best novels of the 20th Century.  The first was Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.  I really enjoyed it.  I have to admit that my expectations were pretty low.  Most of the books I have read from the list recently were long, drawn out stories about nothing.  Others were practically incomprehensible.  Slaughterhouse Five was a funny, poignant story about a soldier’s life after returning from Germany in World War II and suffering through the bombings of Dresden.  The book reminded me of Catch-22 (they are both World War II books), but to me,Slaughterhouse Five was a more enjoyable read…The second book I read during October was Henderson The Rain King by Saul Bellows.  Again, my expectations were low, but I found that I liked the book.  In fact, I really liked the first third of the book.   I thought Bellows did a very good job of telling an interesting story.  He drew me into the book.  But then the story started to drag.  As I went from chapter to chapter  in the middle of the book, I felt like I was trying to walk through knee-deep caramel.  The story dragged on, but nothing much was happening.  The end of the book picked up speed a little, but it never regained the enjoyment I found in the beginning of the story.  Even so, I still enjoyed the book and would recommend it.  I enjoyed Bellows writing and look forward to reading more from him in the future.