​My planner game hasn’t been the strongest. In fact…I have been a "burnout" type of planner as of late. I go ham for a few months/weeks, where I am on my shit. I will know exactly where I need to be, will check my planner multiple times through the day and get my to do list done early. But then I start adding more and more to my list. Because I’ve been so productive, that I can do more, right? Wrong. That's when the lists get so long that I can’t possibly do it all. Which makes me sad. Which means I feel like (and often do) throw the whole planner game out the window.
 
Why am I mentioning this? Because it’s the start of a new year. It’s the start of a new month, and I am procrastinating about setting up my planner for February. I was going to get this blog up last week, so I could set up my new habit tracker that I’d been loving in January. I was going to be on task and loving what I did. As usual, I'm adding too much to my plate, and I need to knock that shit out.
 
I have decided to do mini goals for 2020 instead of one big one, or massive never-ending To Do lists. With my kids’ activities taking up more and more time, and random life events causing massive shifts in my day, I have no idea what next month, let alone the end of the year is going to look like.
 
So I am going to use monthly goals instead. And super small ones. Some things might turn into habits, and I may end up getting way more than three things done, but it's my thought that if I can accomplish three little things every day to push me toward the joy I want to achieve this year...then I'm moving in the right direction.
 
I’m using a mini Happy Planner to attempt to wrangle all the kid/family activities this year, and having a habit tracker gives me yet another reason to open my planner.
 
Along with working on finding my joy this year, I’m also trying to give myself a little grace. There are going to be days when I am on it, and getting shit done like a badass. Then there are going to be days where I’m not mentally or physically capable. So I am going for a top three, and the idea that some is better than none.
 
In January my top 3 items were Journal, Read, and, Water before Coffee. I didn’t do too bad. And I have a feeling some of these items are going to become habitual for me.
 
In February, I’m hoping to get back into some of the things I love. I’ve been digging back into my tarot collection, and want to start doing daily pulls for myself. I’ve already been journaling on my iPad as a morning page practice, but I’ve found myself truly enjoying making notes about my tarot spread for the day, and want to keep that up.
 
I also want to start writing fiction again. I am not putting pressure on myself other than needing to sit down and get words on the page. The creative muscles need some exercise, and I’m going to get back into it 200 words at a time. So my second daily goal, is 200 fiction words per day.
 
The third goal was one I have been going back and forth on, but I think it is going to be to develop a night time routine. My pets and crazy morning schedule don’t leave me much flex in my mornings. What I have a bit more control of is how I spend my nights. I want to develop and do an evening routine every night in February. Even laying out my clothes for the next day and prepping the coffee maker makes the morning feel so much less stressful. I still have to come up with said "routine" but I work well under pressure. So I should have something by the end of the night, right? LOL.
 
As far as the year goes, I have no idea where I’ll end up, but I’m going to try and take it one month at a time.
 
I love the idea of monthly goals instead of yearly ones. How do you set goals for yourself? Have you changed how you set yourself up for success?
 
I’d love to hear about it.
 
~Roxy

If I have learned anything about myself, it is that I am a self-help book ho. I love self-help books. 

There aren't a ton of brilliant break through moments in these tomes. Many self-help books talk about the same basic tenants. 

Some of the themes I see repeated...

1. Use affirmations to tell yourself exactly who you are about to become.

2. Think big, but start with small steps. Goals need baby steps, just like we did.

3. Start your day off right. Most of the time, by starting it off early.

Yeah. Early morning productivity is a big theme I see a lot in books. We all remember my Miracle Morning kick, right? If not, I'll spare you. I got injured and felt like absolute shit when I couldn't complete the umpteen million steps I had laid out for myself every day.

My miracle mornings had me feeling like I could take on the world...if I got them done. When I started missing the routine, I felt like absolute shit. I felt like a failure, and added into the other craziness that was going on in my life around the time I started missing my routine, it was one more issue that sent me spiraling. 

As a straight-A student for the vast majority of my life, failure is something I fear. Failure causes an eruption of emotions that should probably be addressed by a professional, but that would involve me admitting my own short-comings to a real person face-to-face, and I can't think of a more real vision of hell.

And after saying all that...my latest self-help read is about waking up early and doing morning routines. 

Now that you've all face-palmed at me, let me explain why. 

I thrive in the mornings. The house is quiet. I get one-on-one time with my pets. I get to listen to audiobooks or podcasts without someone constantly interrupting me (in a house with 5 people and 4 pets that's huge), and I get to drink my coffee all the way through without reheating it.

When I was writing regularly, my best words came before noon. After making lunch for everyone and scarfing down my own food in between the different meals for my pickyass family, I wasn't good for much more than mundane tasks.

In the new year I want to find the joy in my life again, and much of that joy came from writing, reading, and my animals. When did I get time for all that? Around 5am.

​Which is why I used some built up audible credits to download, Good Morning, Good Life.

I'm also following along with a book club through one of my favorite planner channels on YouTube, Cindy Guentert-Baldo. She is doing a lot of "plan with me" style videos for the new year, and while she and I are not of the same planning style, I like hearing her opinions, and she's a foul-mouthed momma that I relate to on a lot of levels. 

My thoughts on this book...

1. Buy or borrow in paper if you can.

This book has a few exercises at the end of the chapters that are a pain the butt to do if you have to keep rewinding to get the information down. In fact, I only completed the first prompt, because I was listening to this book while running errands, and stopping in the middle of the grocery store to write down deep meaningful journal entries just wasn't going to work for me. I'm probably going to re-read this or at least jump to the prompt pages when I have more time.

2. This is a kidless woman who works out of her home talking about how to make the most out of your mornings. 

To be fair, she acknowledges that she has it easier than a lot of people, but I know many folks will be grumpy by this fact, so giving you the heads up if you're thinking of purchasing. That being said, I don't disagree with her logic or her methods. There is always a way to fit in your dreams, but you have to make it a serious priority. I published my first book in a 1200 square foot house with no office, three kids, and two dogs underfoot. Everyone has their problems, and if we assign priority to something, we can do it. (Not talking about people with chronic health issues or people in crisis mode. You know when you're ready to do something about your dreams.)

3. I view this as Miracle Morning Lite

I saw a lot of the Miracle Morning mindset and techniques in this book. The difference? Amy doesn't expect you to do all of them every morning. She just suggests options and wants you to craft your own experience. 

4. A couple of items I plan on getting back to after reading this.

I'm going to start drinking water first thing in the morning again. Hydration is super important, and being that I'm recovering from the plague over here, it's extra vital. I'm also going to start journaling again. But I'm not ready to do anything too commitment heavy, so I'm journaling in the goodnotes app. One page. Big text. I'm also going to start reading more. But I have to admit that I'm not ready for romance yet. So I'm picking up alternatives. I'm getting into The Burial Society, by Nina Sadowsky, and I'm trying to read paper again to work on disconnecting from the internet. I learned I need to have a healthy distance sometimes, and it's important to have mental downtime.


The new year is always a time that I feel inspired to mix things up in my life. But rather than a radical shift this year, I'm going to start plucking bits from past years and make a new reality for myself. 

I started this morning sitting alone and writing this blog. The kids and hubby are all asleep. School and all the activities that come with it start back up tomorrow, so I'm taking today to enjoy the calm before the storm.

I'm off to do a quick journal entry, and then read a book to unplug. After a load of dishes, because I think they multiplied overnight. 

What are you going to do for yourself today?

~Roxy

I threw out my dead plant today. To my defense, my husband killed my poor bamboo by shoving the little low light lover under a blazingly bright growth bulb. But I was so far removed from caring for it, I didn’t argue.

See…this bamboo once lived in my office. My writing office. My office I have been avoiding for the last 8 months.

Other things I have avoided the last 8 months...

~ all my friends (online and IRL)
~ my writing (haven't touched a manuscript since April)
~ social media
~ paying my bills
~ doing my hair, or even brushing it

Back near the beginning of the year, I injured my back at work and was effectively a walking zombie. Thankfully my local RWA chapter let me step down from the role I had accepted with a lot more grace than I probably deserved.

Because when I walked out of my last RWA meeting, I didn’t intend to go back.

I was going to have a lot to say about how I had mentally imploded this past year and what I was going to try and do to tear myself out of it. I had it all planned in my head. I was going to login to Twitter first. Tell people I was going to go live on Facebook, and then get online and just talk.
​
However, I decided to do this on Christmas Eve. Well, turns out RWA decided to take a ride on the WTFery Express that very same day.

As a pro lurker, I always "read the room" before I talk. I had cocooned myself into a tight ball of YouTube and Shelly Laurenston re-reads. I probably re-read her Mangus Pack, Pride, and Badger series, three times this year. That woman's books offered me so much comfort, that I have no way to repay her. Anyway, I knew better than to jump in to any online forum without seeing what else was going on. What I saw had my jaw on the floor.

Check out various hashtags like #IStandWithCourtney and #RWAShitshow for some current information, because even as I write this shit is changing. I'm not up to date, but this is where the majority of the information is flowing through, and where a lot of people are organizing.

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books put out a great article on the goings on, with links to the official filings.

@RomancingNope has a great thread on the goings on.

Needless to say, I knew better than to hop on a live feed and ask how everyone’s day was.  

At this point, my RWA membership has long since lapsed, and so had my local chapter membership.

I am not about to come on this dusty blog and say I dropped my membership as soon as I learned what had gone on. I was already gone, but I can say I'm not surprised. Because if I had learned anything through my time in RWA, it was that the organization was about fitting in and doing things the "right" way.

I'm a white woman. I never experienced anything close to the brush aside that many authors of color had. I also came to RWA as a PAN (Paid Authors Network) member. So I had some legs to stand on. My first book released through Samhain Publishing (RIP) earned just enough to skate into the title. 
 
Here's the main reason I struggled in RWA... I am not wealthy. I am not financially secure. And I felt every bit the poor schlub during each and every “opportunity” RWA afforded me.   

I work a part time job, because daycare erased enough of my salary as a general manager that I would have taken a paycut if I had stayed where I was after my third child was born.

That’s right. Third. I am a momma. Have been for over fifteen years now. And let me tell you, horror stories have nothing on the thought of turning the boychild loose behind the wheel. I made a decision early on that I would not publicly post about my kids. But I did myself a disservice by segmenting that part of myself. And I'm going to stop that going into this new year.
 
When my kids were younger, nap time meant writing time. I had an easy schedule and aside from a few quirks that come from two of my kids dancing on the autism spectrum, there were only a few days I had to shut all the chairs in another room to save some of the furniture from a determined and impressively strong 2 year old and his tantrum.

When I started writing, it was an escape from talking about Thomas the Train, and getting to imagine a world where I played with sexy, confident, and fun characters.

I was blessed to get in with a few amazing women whose books I loved, and they took me under their wing. They gave me a boost, and I published my first books. 

Those books didn't take off. And when Samhain Publishing went under, the meager checks that had been paying for my self-published work, and giveaways, evaporated. 

There was no money coming in. I figured it was a hiccup, and I threw myself into RWA. There were a lot of successful women in my local chapter.

Surely I'd find advice to get where I wanted to be if I just took these classes...
If I just bought this book that my chaptermates recommended...
If I just went to this conference...
If I just went out to dinner with these people...
If I just entered this contest...

Do you see the problem with this plan I was working on? Everything cost money. I skrimped and saved. I haven't bought clothes from anywhere but a thrift store in over five years. "A Meal Out" for our family treat is McDonalds. We are splurging if we grab crazy bread with our Little Caesars.

The credit card debt started to climb as my kids found their own passions. Surely, I'll start making money again. I just needed to do this one more thing. Right?!?!

But the money never came in. My chapter was nice, but I kept getting the impression that everyone expected me to do more. Surely someone can provide snacks for the group. Surely someone can donate their time. Surely someone is able to take our guest out to dinner. 

My last year at RWA I took advantage of the "Perseverance Fund". This is a fund where you get to write a stranger and tell them you don't have money. It's super fun.

I don't ever ask for money. I make do on what I have. And begging for freebies made me feel like absolute shit. There's not too many people who take advantage of the fund. RWA board, this isn't the way to do this. I'm not sure what the other option is, but if no one uses the current option, you need to look at the reasons why. My reason? It feels degrading.

In my real life the bills started to pile, and the debt collectors started ringing my phone. I was in over my head. Way over my head. So I hid.

To the people I roped into writing with me...I have no excuse. I am so incredibly sorry I abandoned all of you. I put a message in our group.

Working my way out of the hole I was in both mentally and financially took everything I had in me, and I couldn't open anything involving this part of my life. I finally had to admit that I screwed up, and apologize. So that's what I'm working on now.

I'm not going to say I know what I'm doing anymore, because I obviously don't. What I am going to say, is that RWA didn't work for me, and I felt like a huge fucking failure for having all the support I did, and not making it. 

What am I going to do in 2020? 

I'm going to survive. 

I'm going to rediscover my joy in both reading and writing.

I'm going to try and tell you about it in this blog.

For a good while, I wrote here everyday. It's not "RoxyRocksMe.com" anymore, because someone bought my domain out from under me when it lapsed. I'm working on updating my social media to reflect that. I'll try and buy back the other domain if the money comes in to do so. Otherwise...it's just my name now. 

And that's kind of fitting for where I'm at mentally. I'm just me. I'm not an expert, I'm just trying the best I can, and trying to share what I love and what works. 

If you're willing to follow along with me, I'd love to have you.

Here's to 2020. Let's see what happens.

~Roxy

I've been obsessing over the idea of choosing a single word for the year for quite some time. And part of the reason my interest in this idea was sparked was through the #MyIntent project. 

I don't remember if I first saw this company on Facebook or a morning show, but the minimalistic beauty of wearing your intention every single day, and looking at it to keep you on track was brilliant to me.

If you have no idea what "My Intent" is, here's a quick video about it.

I have been eyeing the Maker's Kit at the My Intent website for almost as many years as I've been picking my own word of the year. And now, since my word is "START", I thought it was time I start wearing my intention as well as just trying to live it.

So I bit the bullet and ordered the kit. The basic package I ordered, came with some practice discs, the bracelets, the hammer, platform, and letters. I'm already itching to order more. 

I practiced for a few discs, and then swiped some washers of the same size from my husband's workshop. I wanted to get the hang of the spacing and technique before I penned my own word.

There is something incredibly powerful about metal stamping your word into a bracelet. It takes thoughtfulness and, if you're a klutz like me, a very real risk of pain if you miss. I was impressed by the quality of the metals used and the cord in the kit. 

The website truly doesn't do the products justice. And after stamping a few "My Intent" branded discs put up against the regular washers, I realized that the way the metal looks is night and day with the stamping process.

So I was totally done waiting. I stamped my own word standing at hubby's work bench. Scaring the crap out of the animals in the process. LOL.

In just a few minutes I had something I made that means quite a lot to me. I've only been wearing it a couple days, but I find I'm noticing it often. I'll end up spinning the disc so the word sits just right, or touching the etching on the metal.

It reminds me that I've been completing my Miracle Morning at the start of every day, and that there are so many adventures waiting for me if I simply start with the first step. 

I'm three weeks into the new year and my new routine, and I'm so pumped for 2019. There is so much awful going on every damn day in our world. Maybe there's a chance I can start something good for someone. So wether it's sharing my writing in books, on this blog, making bracelets, or even breaking out my notes on podcasting, I'm hoping to start something inspirative this year. I just have to...start.

Do you have a word of the year? How do you keep it to the front of your mind? Would you wear a bracelet like this? Or is this type of jewelry not your thing? I'd love to hear about it.

​~Roxy

I'm a week into my New Year's Resolution of doing my Miracle Morning every day, and today was a struggle. I work 12 hour shifts every Sunday, so my body was not too happy with me when the alarm went off and I had to get my butt out of bed.

But instead of wasting time on my phone until it was time to get head into work for the day, I started with my seventh day of Miracle Morning in a row. Here are some changes I'm already noticing after a week.

1. I feel my body settle quicker when I start meditating.

I'm only doing ten minutes of mediation to start out my day, but I may add an afternoon or evening practice in as well. I don't want to add onto my morning because I want to make sure what I'm doing is sustainable all year, but I'm feeling the benefits. I feel my muscles sink into the couch where I close my eyes and breathe deeply every morning. I am able to let the million and one thought bubbles pop a little easier. And I can focus on things more than I'd been able to before this week began.

Not only that, but when I sit down and close my eyes, my shoulders drop. My jaw unclenches. The pressure behind my eyes softens. I'm incredibly grateful I picked up my mediation practice again.

2. I'm able to let more shit go instead of holding onto the anger or pain.

I was feeling really sad, and any horrible thing tended to send me spiraling. All the awful things piled on and my tears or rage would spring to the surface easily. After just one week, I can feel a space forming for me between those extreme reactions. Don't get me wrong. When an asshole cuts me off or drives fifteen under the speed limit, I still test the magnitude of my cursing abilities. Road rage is real, y'all. But when I turn off my social media for the day, I'm able to let some of the awful things go. Certain things chase me down and find me anyway, but I've got some armor on. I've got the knowledge that I'm working on making things better by starting with myself.

3. I can go up and down the stairs multiple times without getting winded.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not signing up at a modeling agency or to run a marathon, but even just 3 minutes a day of movement has made a difference in how I am able to make it around my house of many stairs. I'm interested to see what happens when I make it up to 5 minutes a day.

4. My confidence is experiencing a nice boost.

There is something about journaling on a regular basis that pumps me up. I always seem to end on a little pep talk to myself, and it seriously gets me ready for the day. Don't get me wrong. A customer service job tends to knock the wind out of your sails pretty soon after, but I get that fresh start all over again the very next day. I don't enjoy my job, but I can already tell, I head into work hating it a little less.

5. I want to do more.

I'm on the lookout for personal development classes. I'm wrangling people to write with me. (And we're starting tomorrow, ladies, so get your shit ready!) I am thinking of adding in some afternoon and evening items to my week. Now, don't get me wrong. I have been a victim of the crash and burn before. So I know better than to pile on too much at once. But I think I'm going to put together a list of items I can do if I'm feeling particularly on top of things that day.


I'm even finishing up my blog before I head into the evil day job. Look at me go! Did you make any New Year's Resolutions? Now that it's the 7th day of the year, have you kept up? Or have you realized the thing you wanted to do most wasn't right for you? I'd love to hear how the first week of your 2019 is going. Tell me in the comments!

~Roxy

A long time ago, on a platform far away, I sent an email to the amazing Mary Hughes. I told her I adored her books, and offered her a beer if she was ever up my way.

Amazingly she didn't kick me to the curb for being her stalker, and we struck up a friendship. She's far too good to me, and I miss chatting with her more often. 

Last year Mary started turning old blog posts into videos and asked if I minded if she used mine. She chose a blog post from years ago, that I posted regarding trying new things in the new year.

I was just about to release my first ROBOSEX book, and I had the last book in my Hart Clan trilogy about to release from Samhain Publishing (RIP). My publishing world was a very different place than it is now. But one line from this caught my attention...

"I want to be more like the strong female characters I write about."

When this video popped up in my feed for a group I was reviewing, I realized it's so damn true. I want to have the ability to go for what I want, no matter who says I can't do it. Even if that someone is me.

So being that this whole week was about my New Year's Resolutions, I figured I'd share it with you. And if you enjoy this format, check out Mary's YouTube Channel. She has a ton more of these.

Do you find inspiration from the characters you read or write about? Or are you inspired by the authors that write them? Who is on your list to pick up when you need a kick in the ass? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

~Roxy

The theme of this year so far seems to be, "Listen to the good advice you've heard a million times, and follow it for once."

One of those bits of advice that I begin with the greatest of intentions but never follow through on is the idea of tracking my writing in a spreadsheet to figure out when and where I am the most prolific. 

I SUCK at this.

The only time I'm ever able to record my writing on a consistent basis is NaNoWriMo, and even then, I only get the word count, I don't get any other information about where I was writing, or what time of day it was. Since I'm working on new habits and consistency, evaluating where and when I write best will be great information to have about myself. I kind of have an idea on this, but concrete evidence to back up my theory would be nice. 

Not to mention the fact that wanting to write "more" this year doesn't mean shit if I have no idea how much I wrote in the years prior. (And I seriously have no clue.)

So when I read the passages about tracking writing in The Miracle Morning for Writers...again...I realized I should shut up and figure something out.

I've tried a few different techniques over the years, so I thought I'd share some of my failed attempts, almosts, and gonna try nexts. They all kind of meld together, so here are my Top 3.

1. Put it in the Planner

I've been on a planner journey, and whether it was in my bullet journal, my traveler's journal, my Happy Planner, or a random notebook I deemed worthy of the job, I have used lots of paper in trying to figure out what works for me.

The most successful I've been included a few week streak with a sprinting buddy. I sectioned off one of the daily boxes in my Happy Planner and left it specifically for words. I wrote how long we sprinted for, and how many words I got in that time. Since we were racing, it was easy for me to take the total I reported in with and jot it down.

My problem was in that I didn't write every day. I broke the chain frequently, and that pretty little writing section sat blank and ate away at my soul. 

2. Excel Spreadsheets

I've created a few of my own excel sheets to track my writing. I love Excel and enjoy fiddling with the equations to make pretty graphs, so I was always able to enter totals with these, but again, the where and when weren't part of it.

If you've never made your own sheet, I found a blog explaining it by author Ava Jae. She does a much better job of explaining it than I ever could. So check out her blog. 

I also found a great looking chart made up for you with lots of tracking and time management and calculating capabilities. She's charging $10 for the file, but if you want to download and not deal, you might check out Jamie Raintree's tracker on her website.

I'm a tinkerer, so I'd probably try and customize someone else's template and screw it up anyway, but the options are out there.

I haven't been able to stick to this, because I tend to give myself a set amount of time to write, and then have to book it to the next place I have to be. Opening up another document and jotting down more info after I've just written to the point of my brain is oozing out my ears, isn't something I keep up with. 

That being said, I'm still going to try and set up one today. I'm thinking of setting aside time at the end of the week to input the data after jotting it down on sticky notes or in my planner. But I'm not going to beat myself up if it doesn't work.

​3. HabitBull

This is the app I'm using to help with motivation for my Miracle Morning too. I'm only a couple days into using the app and I'm not at the point where I automatically pick it up yet. 

The problem with any phone app for me is that it's not immediately visible. I have my calendar on the wall. I have postit notes in front of me. I keep my main planner open. Those things are visual and let me know what's coming up next, or what I still need to do for the day. Apps tend to disappear. Unless I turn on push notifications, but I'm trying to get away from that to be more mindful of what's going on around me.

The nice thing about this app in particular, is that there is a spot for notes to go along with word count. So you could totally include information like the when and where your writing time took place. All your data is exportable to CSV files from the app as well, which could make it more manageable. I'm not sure how easy it would be to manipulate in that form, though. I don't have enough to export yet. 

Below is the video that made me give this particular habit tracker a shot.

I'm trying to remember that change doesn't happen over night. I'm also trying not to add too much to my plate at once. I'm one of those people that keeps heaping on the To Do's to the point of needing a clone to complete them all. It's hard not to keep adding in new habits when you see such good things happening with the one's you've already implemented. 

What about you? Are you an author who tracks your writing in a spreadsheet? Or are there other habits you want to keep track of in the upcoming year? Tell me how you keep tabs on your own progress. I'd love to hear about it.

~Roxy

No, I'm not talking about those chain letters that tell you to pass a sparkly .GIF on to five people to get good luck. Anyone who has sent me one of those...they always die with me. Sorry, not sorry. So you might as well stop. Please.

The chain I'm talking about today has to do with habits, or resolutions. Whatever you want to call them, I'm talking about something you want to start doing every day. This doesn't include cutting out sugar or chocolate, unless you're going for a shorter chain. 

What I want to accomplish this year is to integrate habits into my morning routine. Every morning. The Miracle Morning I posted about isn't something that would ever be bad for me. Even if I'm sick or turn up injured, every one of my SAVERS could be modified to fit new restrictions or breakthroughs. 

The phrase, "Don't Break the Chain", has been simmering in the back of my brain for a long time. I'm sure I've heard it in many self-help or productivity guides, but lately it's been resonating with me. Because it takes something shiny and techy to get my attention, the first place I really started to think about this was with Simone Giertz's kickstarter for the everyday calendar. She wanted to mediate everyday, and made a gadget to help her keep track visually for an entire year. 

While I love the idea, I'm not in a position to drop $400 on a calendar. Do you know how many planner stickers I could buy with that?!?!

If you've never heard of the "Don't Break the Chain" idea, below is a short video about why it works.

This idea for me, is like the red car phenomenon. You know how you buy a car that's red, and suddenly you see red cars everywhere? That's what the chain method has been for me over the past few days. I know I'd heard the idea before, but it seems to be everywhere I turn now. I've seriously run across it at least once a day for the past week. 

Maybe that has to do with the New Year and resolution content being so prevalent, but either way, I took notice.

Since I want to start doing my SAVERS everyday, it's the perfect time for me to get in on the chain action. I bought myself a cheap but pretty calendar from Dollar Tree, and I'm going to be marking off each day with a big pen slash. I would use a red marker, but I bought this shit at the Dollar Tree, and that paper isn't thick enough for marker. ;)

I'm also testing out HabitBull on my phone. I was thinking about writing out all the SAVERS individually for separate habit arcs, but that's too much effort. I already mark off the acronym in my planner as I go. So I only get to click the little button on the day when I complete all six aspects of my Miracle Morning. I'm also going to play around with the writing/blogging aspect of my goals. I'd like a way to differentiate between fiction writing and blogging without technically breaking my streak. So I've combined them for now, and I'm going to count each blog as only 250 words. That way, on days when I only have 250, I'll know it was a blog day. We'll see if I find value in the app. If not, I'll just stick to the calendar. 

What do you think about the idea of doing something EVERY DAY no matter what? Do you think it's a good idea? Or are you in the camp I used to occupy where you think it's too much pressure? I'd love to hear what you think.

~Roxy