I feel like I did a lot this week, yet I didn’t quite manage to hit all my goals. In addition to my ROW80 goals, I reworked the cover for “Time’s Holiday,” my Christmas short story. My publisher is also redoing the formatting on the ebook and preparing a print version, so I reviewed proofs for those as well. So yes, “Time’s Holiday” will soon be available in print as a standalone book (more like a booklet). (More info and links to where you can get it on my Saturn Society Books page)

It all started with the cover, which I’ve never been completely happy with. On my other Saturn Society books, the scene at the bottom is an actual setting from the book, but for this one, I couldn’t find a good photo, so I settled for the generic Christmas tree close-up the publisher suggested. Last week, I decided it was time to do something about it, so I went downtown (Dayton) and took some photos of Courthouse Square, where the story opens. (I also took my daughter to dinner at Thai 9, to celebrate my NaNoWriMo win–because hey, we need to celebrate our accomplishments, right?) The photos turned out well–better than I expected–and the folks at Mythical Press agreed, so “Time’s Holiday” has a new look. I like the new cover much better!

They also did a little reworking of the covers to my other books, with the exception of Hangar 18. Nothing major, but on the covers I’ve done for friends, I’ve given them top billing, so I figured I get the same. And again, the folks at Mythical Press agreed. 😀

As for my ROW80 goals, here’s how they went:

• 2,500 words on combined WIPs – Done!
• Keep up with new writing workshop & assignments – Done!
• Finish Checkout pages for website – Done!
• Fitness 4 times, even if short – partial. Did 2 or 3.
• Figure out what I’m doing for Christmas cards and gift list – partial. I did start shopping, but I need ideas for some of the people on my list, and still need to do the card design, as I’m still not sure what we’re doing here.

Here’s what’s up for this week:

• 2,500 words on combined WIPs
• Keep up with writing workshop assignments
• Test and refine shipping calculations and Paypal integration for website
• Fitness 4 times
• Design Christmas cards, figure out rest of gift list, complete online shopping as much as possible (and I do as much of it online as possible–the older I get, the more I hate crowds)

Thanks to everyone who’s offered good wishes for my mom and my dog! My mom’s been pretty much laid up this week. Her doctor said she could walk, but doing much of that is painful. Wolfgang is still hobbling a bit, too, though he seems to do better once he gets a bit of walking in, yet it doesn’t seem to be getting better overall, as it did the last time he did this, so DH is taking him back to the vet.

What about you–do you ever have days or weeks where you feel like you’ve done a lot, but it’s still not what you planned? If you do gift-giving and/or send cards for the holidays, is your shopping done and are your cards sent? If you’re doing ROW80, or just have other specific goals, how are those going? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.