Well, we’ve entered the month of October—less than 90 days left in the year and we’re going to be heading into another ‘new moon’ phase tomorrow. That means before I look ahead to the October Libra New Moon, I should look back at the goals I set for the Virgo new moon and see how I did with each of them.

So what were the goals that I set for the September Virgo new moon? They included:

1. Taking inventory of various aspects of life (research/writing/editing/publishing, crafts/hobbies, fitness, and mental health/spirituality) and trying to develop a working schedule that will allow me to be both productive, but at teh same time enjoy time outside as well.
2. Continue with daily workouts (either weight lifting/shadow-boxing or starting a second round of MM100)
3. In combination with #1–organize the schedule and block out periods of time (or set certain days to certain tasks) and see if that helps improve my productivity
4. Work on completing the third and fourth goal from the Leo New Moon goal list:
   • Determine the top five to ten types of freelance/remote/contract writing that I would like to do and start drafting examples of each. Also start drafting my ‘own’ medical content pieces.
   • Determine the top five to fifteen items/sponsors/affiliates and so-forth for the other three ‘blocks’ of my business foundation.
5. Continue with evening meditations and start trying to incorporate them into the mornings as well.

So how did I do with each of them?

1. I’ve realized that one of the things I’ve really been struggling with is setting aside enough time to do the research/writing and editing for various writing projects that I have on my plate. Why? Mainly because I haven’t prioritized them, and unlike the bird pages, I haven’t done a lot of ‘batch research’ (looking for papers on different topics on PubMed at the same time). So, this is something that I’m going to be working on (in addition to making sure that I schedule in enough time for fitness as well).
2. September was a roller coaster month (one of the younger dogs developed hemolytic anemia after getting an allergy shot—so there were several vet visits, and a lot of worrying), and I didn’t get into an fitness routine. I also decided I’d renew my Beachbody-on-Demand subscription one more year, so I will actually be figuring out the best time to schedule in my daily workout (probably going to start with a second round of Morning Meltdown 100).
3. Organizing the schedule is still something I’m working on—I’m going to make use of my larger bullet journal as a planner and over the upcoming weekend see how many pages will be required for a monthly/weekly/daily spread.
4. In terms of the freelance/remote/contract writing areas: I published a post earlier this week mentioning how I’d decided that I was going to be a ‘multi-niche’ writer/blogger. I decided that the three ‘main’ niches were going to be health/wellness, science/medical education/communication, and personal/professional development. In addition, I would still be doing posts on photography, travel, book reviews, and various other things as well (though they may be shorter in length compared to topics from the three main ‘niches’). While those areas are still extremely broad, I’m slowly working on narrowing down to say three to five areas within each one (for example within personal/professional development I’m interested in learning more on personal finances, minimalism, time and project management, and online learning). After choosing the three to five (possibly more) areas, I’ll slowly be writing longer posts/pages for those areas and publishing them both on the blog, possibly LinkedIn, and other sites as well. In terms of the other three pillars (advertising, selling photographs and jewelry), I’m still working on determining those top five plus items (though I’m also thinking of possibly trying to sell my cross-stitch projects as well).
5. I’ve been doing really well with the evening mediation (or sometimes just sitting quietly), but haven’t really been able to get into the habit yet of doing it earlier in the day.

Okay—so I managed to possibly get two of the five goals met during the Virgo new moon (meditation and slowly figuring out the main ‘niches’ I am going to migrate towards for starting a freelance/remote/contract writing business. I’ve also decided that the best thing to do will be to have polished examples on the ‘tabs’ (the main ‘portfolio’ pages), and then additional posts within the blog. So this means that I will really need to get on top of developing a editorial calendar, and making sure that I’ve got my ‘key words’ for the different niches narrowed down and picked out (something else to put on the to-do list for the weekend).

Luckily, we hopefully caught the hemolytic anemia in time, and our younger dog will be making a ‘full recovery’. It may be another month on the high dose of meds until the allergy shot is totally out of her system, and then a gradual tampering down on the dose of the two meds.

Hopefully it will be somewhat smoother sailing for the rest of the year (as long as there are no more medical emergencies—either animal or human, or any other problems). Minor progress is still progress, and trying to develop a schedule has always been a minor problem for me (I don’t really like trying to totally plan out my days/weeks to far in advance).

But tomorrow, is another new moon—which means it is another chance to set a series of new goals, but also to continue working on the goals that have been previously set—but not totally met.

As I’d mentioned at the end of my Virgo New Moon goals—I’m going to be focusing on progress not perfection, slowly starting to write the next chapter of my life, and not allowing the opinions of others to deter me from the path that I’ve started on. It is usually the bumpy and windy roads that lead to unique places.

Though I am curious: when is your favorite time to meditate?