It's all about the numbers

I do not want to say that I'm motivated by numbers, but it's nice to check your progress to know that you're on track. Like the virtual challenges - we get to see our progress on the map and see the progress by the numbers. 

Yesterday our group of four passed the 50% mark of our Virtual walk across Canada. I think that's pretty impressive as we are NOT runners, we are not athletes - we're just ordinary people. A HUGE thank you to Shelly, Helen Anne, and Nancy for walking along with me. Think about it -- in 138 days, the four of us walked over 5,000 KM. 

At some point, it would be great to get a picture of us, and we could easily manage to get three of us in the photo, but the fourth member lives a bit further away. But that's OK -- since the whole thing is virtual, we can walk from anywhere! Maybe we need a photoshopped picture of us. If I were to extrapolate the numbers and we were able to keep up the same pace, we could finish by the end of March. The only thing is that it does become a bit more complicated in the winter with ice and snow. So let's hope for continued injury-free and safe walking! We'll get there when we get there! The deadline to finish is June 30th!

And last night, I got an e-mail that kind of floored me. It was from Grammarly with my weekly writing stats. OK. I use Grammarly to check spelling and grammar and hopefully, it makes my blog posts easier to read. I'm learning loads about writing. I would say my biggest culprit is writing in the passive tense. 

But LOOK at this. WHAT??? I wrote over 80,000 words last week? How? 

It checks my documents in Word, the blog, and any e-mails that I send. This is an insane amount of writing. For me, a typical week is about half of that, but I was prepping blog posts for QUILTsocial and writing some documents for my lectures. 

In total, since I started using Grammarly, this is how many words it has checked for me. That's a LOT of words. 

I think I mentioned this before, but a novel is about 80,000 words! Granted, a book takes a lot more concentration and a different writing process than my shorter documents! I could be a published author -- there is never writer's block at my house! But I really want to write a quilt book, but what should the topic be? Something historical! Or I could compile all my technical stuff into one book and self-publish it! 

It would be fun to write a book, even if it didn't get published. But it would take a lot of discipline. Would I be a plotter, or would I wing it? 

I had a super successful day at Monday sewing. I accomplished a lot, but I'd prefer to wait to share it with you. Yep -- I'll let the group see the quilt before you get to see it. If I keep up that pace, I may actually get all those ongoing big projects done this year. It's my goal! What the heck will I sew in December? No worries about that - I might actually get something else done that's sitting on the current project table! 

I also got some scrappy half-square triangles done. OK -- they got sewn together, but that was it. I'll press and trim them another day. 

Scrappy half-square triangles

There were more pick-ups and drop-offs, and I got seven placemats that will be donated to Meals on Wheels. I don't know how to contact them, but I know someone who does. I must get in touch with them. 

Placemats for Meals on Wheels

And there's Murphy. She's pretty proud of herself with her big stick. She managed to pull that through the fence! Yep - since we have the forest behind us, we tend to dump our garden stuff over the fence. This was a branch trimmed from somewhere in the yard, and she managed to pull that through. Oh, Murphy! Never a dull moment with her. 

Murphy and her BIG stick

One presentation down, one more writing assignment is done, and now I get to start the process again today. You'll be happy to note that I'm not submitting anything to the magazines at the moment because the due dates for those (should they have been accepted) are at the same time when I have another big assignment due, so I'm being reasonable!  Just saying....................

I popped by the drugstore yesterday to check on getting my booster for COVID. Do I need an appointment, and what other details? I have to wait until the middle of December, and I just walk in. Now that's my kind of process. If I don't have to make an appointment, I won't. Walk-in is good enough for me. 

And just so you know how many words go into a blog post, there are about 900 today. I took all these words and popped them in a word document to get the count. 

And now, I'm off to get the day started. The girls need to be walked, and then I have presentations on and off all day. A little bit of prep work needs to happen for a couple of them, but I'm good. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!