Goals for 2020

For the last few years, I've done goals for what I want to do in the year.  I schedule blog posts to post on the last day of each month, but half of the months, I didn't remember to go in and enter the amounts for the things I did! I'm going to alter my goals for this year to be a little more generic since I had put specifics like "Sculpt x babies, tat x crosses, knit x hats..." but then I don't do those specific things, but I crochet 5 teapots and knit 4 pairs of socks, but they aren't "counted" because I didn't put them on my goal list. I want to be more specific in my writing goals, however, and not just that I want to write each month.

My goals for 2020:

• Write everyday at least a minimum of 100 words
• Write 500 words a day
• Write 12,000 words a month
• Be creative
• Tat
• Crochet
• Knit
• Sculpt
• Exercise 5 days a week
• Read my Bible everyday
• Blog more than book reviews
• Read books

The Difference a Year Makes

With being part of the Mosaic Reviews Team, I started keeping track of statistics for my blog and other social media.  Most of them have changed a bit in the past year.

Blog Followers:            January - 38,  December - 47
Blog Facebook Page:   January - 22,  December - 38
Google + Followers:     January - 1,  December - 8
Pinterest Followers:     January - 46,  December - 86
Twitter Followers:        November - 16,  December - 17  (not such a big difference in just a month!)

Review: MamaJenn Blogging Planner

I have been blogging since June 2007, but never thought of using a blogging planner.  I'm not even sure I'd ever heard of them before!  The review group that I belong to assigned us the task of reviewing a blogging planner. 

I choose MamaJenn's Blogging Planner, which is a free download.  I printed all the odd pages first, but then because I was afraid that if I just stuck the whole stack back in and printed the even sides, it'd mess up the order and that I'd run out of ink before I even got January printed, I decided to print the even sides manually.  I grabbed the first page I'd printed and printed the next page on the back.  I printed January that way and decided that I would like it better if the "Blog Post Notes" page showed the same time as the "Giveaways/ Reviews" page.  So, I altered what order I was feeding the pages through when printing the even sides.   I went on my merry way printing with my "improved" order through May when I made another discovery....The "Monthly Blog Planning" page was visible at the same time as the "Monthly Blog Calendar" page for the next month!  I looked at MamaJenn's blog and realized that those two pages for the SAME month were supposed to be together!  I printed an extra "Notes" page on the back of June's "Monthly Blog Calendar" and then everything else fell into the right order!  At least the last half of the year will be the way it's supposed to be! 

My two main reasons for picking the MamaJenn Blogging Planner in the first place were:
1) The calendars were already dated and ready to use (ie.  I didn't have to hand write all those numbers!)
2) The Giveaways/Reviews pages

I tend to have tons of blog post ideas and never get around to actually blogging about them, or I forget to do it.  The "Monthly Blog Calendar" is great to help me keep on track and the "Monthly Blog Planning" page helps me to plan out what I want to blog about. I usually just come up with the content for my blog posts as I write them, but with the "Blog Post Notes" page, I can plan out what I'm going to say ahead of time and save time once I'm at the computer.  The "Giveaways/Reviews" page is wonderful for keeping track of my thoughts about a product while using it so I can remember them when it comes time to write the review!  It gives you a place to keep track of when the review is due, which is helpful to me so I don't forget to post it! I found that I needed more room for my notes on a product, so I printed an extra page of "Giveaways/Reviews" with an extra page of "Blog Post Notes" on the back to make sure I had plenty of room for my thoughts.

 

 

Each month's page has the same color flower.   It helps you know that you are on the right month and I liked the little pop of color on each page.  In the back of the planner, there are pages for "Future Blog Post Ideas", "Notes",  "Year at a Glance", and "Monthly Blog Statistics".  I have quite a few ideas already in the "Future Blog Post Ideas" and I like being able to track how many followers and page views I'm getting.

 

 

This is an awesome product and for free it's even better!  I really liked all the features of this planner and can't think of anything I'd change other than my issue with the size of the review sections (which may just mean I need to write down major points and not full thoughts!)

 

 

 

 

This is my honest opinion and I didn't receive anything in exchange for this review.

Blog Followers Contest

Hi!  I have the opportunity to maybe test products and write reviews on my blog.  But I need to have 50 followers.  So I decided that if you become a follower of my blog and then comment on this post, I will draw a name and they will win something.  I'm not sure what yet, but something!  I will draw a name on Nove 22nd, so that gives you 5 days to join!

I Really Need to Update my Blog!

I am really behind in the things I want to put on here!  I have Andy's 2nd birthday, Danish Festival and the sewing I did for it, my garden and I'm sure that I'm forgetting something!  School starts in 2 days and I'll want to blog about that, too.   Maybe I'll get more time once school starts.  (Probably not, but we can hope, right?)

I Must be Slipping!

I was just noticing that in 2008, I wrote 149 blog posts, but in 2009 I only wrote 120. Well, this year, so far, I've written a measly 96! I think it's called being busy with the kids!