Happy February: Reaching Your Goals and Setting New Challenges

How's that goal-setting working out for you so far? Seems like 2016 barely ended and January hit the ground running. I wasn't in that marathon and didn't hit the ground very hard when it came to blogging. Rather than give up, though, I decided it was time to rev up my motor and get kicking.

 

February is NOT too late to set goals, or to begin working toward the goals you set in December.



FIREWORKS OVER MAGIC ISLAND IN HONOLULU
Celebrating Our Accomplishments of 2016
and looking forward to all that 2017 has to offer!

Two goals on my list for 2016 were to post thoughts about the 70 poems in my book of linked poetry; and to read and review 71 books. As New Years Eve approached, I could breath easier, knowing those two goals were met. That meant less guilt for me when transferring other goals to 2017.

 

You can access my Goodreads Reading Challenge 2016 page here:

https://www.goodreads.com/challenges/show/3890-2016-reading-challenge

My goal for 2017 is to read and review 72 books, in a wider variety of genres than ever before!

Facing Forward

 

There wasn't much time to celebrate reaching the end of the above goals, however. November 1st marked the beginning of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writers Month. If you haven't participated in this annual ritual yet, check out what all the shouting is about and consider setting it as a goal for November, 2017. Here's the link:

 https://nanowrimo.org/sign_in



 

Not everyone sets goals at the start of each new year. Some have routines that keep them soaring toward their lifetime goals without hesitation. Others accomplish tasks and projects in routine fashion, gliding over bumps in the road and sidestepping obstacles with ease. My most heartfelt congratulations to you. I really, really need to watch more TED talks!

 

To everyone:

Happy FEBRUARY of this New Year

ALOHA

and

Best of Success in 2017

  

 

November: An Exciting Month for a Writer

Author's initial concept of
Book #3 Cover

This is the first year I chose to accept the National November Writers Month challenge to write 50,000 words of a new novel. Once I created a page on the NaNoWriMo internet site and signed up on Critique Circle to chart my progress, I had to make a decision about the setting of my next Pepper Bibeau Mystery. Then I started writing.

Thanks to the encouragement from a local NaNoWriMo writers’ group, which met each Saturday afternoon for a Write-In and word-wars, I was able to stay on track. In fact, I met my goal of reaching 50K words the day before Thanksgiving and on my page am labeled "WINNER!". http://nanowrimo.org/en/participants/gail-m-baugniet The experience was exhilarating for me and in the process, I have made many new friends, discovered another writers’ critique group, and have the first draft of my next novel on paper. “They” say, you cannot edit until you have words on paper (or desktop). yippee (small letters intended) now I can edit.

During the month of November, I also held a four-book giveaway on Goodreads for my second Pepper Bibeau Mystery in the series, DEADLY AS NATURE Envy Spawns Grief.  

Copies of this novel are on the way to the winning readers in four states: Maryland, Florida, Minnesota, and New York. I thank the 610 people who entered the giveaway and congratulate the four people who won a copy of DEADLY AS NATURE.

Along with a five-day giveaway of my first novel, FOR EVERY ACTION, in eBook format on Amazon, I held a book review drawing for two “Pepper Dolls” as prizes. The winning names drawn are, for:

DEADLY AS NATURE

Reviewer: saniko (Canada)

AND

FOR EVERY ACTION

Reviewer: M. Palmer (Florida)

Mahalo and Aloha to everyone who joined in my month-long birthday celebration from October 22 - November 22, 2012.

JACKIE WHO?

There are many people with the name Jackie that I find interesting. But the person I chose to write about is also mentioned briefly in my first novel.

First, I'll list a few of the others I considered. There's Jackie from That 70's Show, the on-screen girl friend of Kelso - Ashton Kutcher, BDM-before Demi Moore. After the show ended, Mila Kunas took on less comedic roles in movies such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Black Swan.

Another Jackie, a child star from the same era as Mickey Rooney, Shirley Temple and Elizabeth Taylor, is Jackie Cooper, one of the ruffians in the Our Gang movies. He also directed episodes of TV's M*A*S*H and played editor Perry White in the Superman movies starring Christopher Reeve. 

One of my favorite people called Jackie is the opera singer, Jackie Chan. Ah, bet not everyone knew this martial arts superstar sang so well. I had the opportunity to hear him sing at a benefit he held in Honolulu some years ago. Along with everyone else in the audience, I enjoyed his musical side. He also wrote and sang the title song for his first serious acting role in the movie, Police Story.

But the Jackie I chose for this article is Jackie O, aka Mrs. John F. Kennedy, the only Jackie on my list who didn't appear in a movie. Though I'd always admired Jackie's elegance and quiet determination, I respected the staunch independence she demonstrated when she chose to work as a book editor in 1975.

A beautifully written article entitled Jackie O, Working Girl, appears in the January 2011 edition of Vanity Fair. Included in the story is this quote: If you produce one book, you will have done something wonderful in your life. --Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

IOLANI PALACE:

'Iolani Palace is one of three royal residences in Hawaii. It became the home of King Kamehameha V after the originally commisioned Ali'iolani Hale across the street proved too small.

'Io is a Hawaiian hawk, endemic to the Big Island of Hawaii. Lani means sky, heaven; and heavenly, spiritual.

The last king to reside in 'Iolani Palace was King David Kalakaua, with his wife Queen Kapiolani. After King Kalakaua's death, his sister Lydia Kamaka'eha Liliuokalani became the last reigning monarch of the Hawaiian Islands before the overthrow of the government in 1893.

Queen Liliuokalani was an accomplished musician and played many instruments, including piano, ukulele, and zither. Among the songs she composed are Hawaii's national anthem and the popular love song, Aloha 'Oe. After the takeover, she was tried for treason against the Republic of Hawaii in 1895 and imprisoned in a small room within 'Iolani Palace.