On January 1st, I posted my 2020 goals. Now today, November 1^st, I am posting my goals update for the month of October. October was a rough month for me. My mental and physical health suffered quite a bit. I had my worst experience ever with a doctor and an antibiotic that made me feel worse instead of better. I still have another test that needs to get done and I’m hoping nothing else pops up. I’m only now starting to feel better, but I still don’t feel like my usual self. It sucks, but I’m getting through it all as best as I can. But with all that aside, here is my goals update for the month of October!

1. Write 500 words a day: So I didn’t get 500 words every day nor did I write every single day, but after months of falling short on this goal, I feel proud of what I did accomplish this month. So my final word count for the month of October was 20,760 word written. I think that is the highest amount of words I’ve written during any month, so I am super proud of that! My best day of writing was October 8th. I wrote 6,617 words that day, which is probably the most amount of words I’ve written on a single day ever! I wish I would write that many words every day of the week… maybe one day!

2. Learn or try something new every month: Another month of culinary firsts for me and this one was successful on the first try! You can read about it here.

3. One post a week: Thanks to all my planning and having blog posts prepared for the next few months, I was able to meet this goal with no issues! 

4. Finally finish a draft of a novel: I didn’t think this was a goal I would make any progress on this month, but I did! Inspiration struck, I decided to change the point-of-view, and have written (insert word count here). I’m feeling proud of myself for the progress made on my novel. I know I still have a lot more to do with it, but I’m feeling optimistic about it. I know I will have a lot of editing ahead of me once the first draft is done, but I’m honestly looking forward to it. Every day I write or read a book about writing, I feel like I’m improving my skills and it’s all important to the writing process. I feel like I’m beginning to understand things better and I hope that it will all eventually translate into my novel!

So that was my October! It turned out way better than I expected, which shocks the hell out of me! I’m hoping that November somehow goes equally as well. And before anyone asks, no I will not be participating in NaNoWriMo. I’m happy with the pace I’m going at and I’m getting to a better place mentally and don’t want to jeopardize that!

So how was your October? Did you achieve your goals for the month? And will you be participating in NaNoWriMo? I would love to know! I hope everyone has a productive week!