November Goals – The Finish Line
Monthly Goals

At the beginning of last month, I shared my November Goals. It’s now the beginning of December and time to share where I got up to.

Goal 1: November Challenge

Each month my Apple Watch tells me the challenge for the month – sometimes it’s really easy and I can get through it quickly and other times it’s that bit harder. This month’s goal is to close the Exercise Ring 13 times. As I’m cycling a lot each week, it shouldn’t be too hard to complete but I guess we will see. I will also be trying to close all 3 circles as well. (If you’re not sure about the circles there are videos on YouTube, this one from Cult of Mac is interesting).

I DID IT! My exercise goal is set at 410 kcal so that’s probably not that much and could do with being a little higher maybe. But even then completing it 13 times still feels like a win!

Goal 2: NaNoWriMo

Let’s do this thing! Back in 2017, Chris and I had a whole discussion about me writing a book. We were talking about goals and things we wanted to achieve and writing a book was something I said. It was a little crazy and I’m still not sure it’s that sane! But I’m taking part in NaNoWriMo again, bringing a previous draft with me in the hope that I can actually hit that word count this year. I guess we’ll see if I actually make it. I’m sure the writing group I’ve been attending will be checking in on me to make sure I’m still going!

This one didn’t happen. I think if you’re trying to do it around taking care of your kids you need to be disciplined and make sure you write as much as you can once they are in bed or something like that. I’m not deterred thought I think I will get some more planning time in between now and next November and properly work on my book. It might never see the light of day but it’ll be there on my hard drive lol.

Goal 3: Ride 75km in November

I wrote this one down as 70km, then looked at the tracking on my watch/phone and realised that in October (25 days of being in Copenhagen), I’d already hit 68.17km. So as long as I tracked it all adding another 7km shouldn’t be too hard.

Well, I did it! So my goal was 75km but when I did my Check-In post I realised that I was already on 60km and it was the 19th. I did a rough calculation in my head between the trips I expected to do and was going to smash that 75km and reach maybe even 100km. When I checked on the 30th November, I was at 112.96km and considered just getting the bike out to do a lap of the block or something like that so I could get that little bit more to hit 113 instead. It definitely helped that we went for a bike ride as a family which was just under 13km before I then did another 10km bike ride into the centre and back!

Goal 4: Finished Shawlography MKAL

Like so many other people, I cast on the MKAL from West Knits but haven’t always been speedy enough to get through a Clue per week. I’m currently still on Clue 2 but there are more straightforward knit/purl short rows to come so hopefully I can get through those bits before I slow down again for my first attempt at Brioche. (to me Brioche is yummy French bread not knitting lol).

This got put on pause. Between moving apartment and also

Goal 5: Reduce my Currently Reading

My currently reading list on Goodreads keeps growing even though I’ve either finished or completely stopped reading some of the books. Now some of them are physical books and are back in the UK, but the ones that I can clear I will try to and hopefully, that will reduce the list. It’s currently at 22 and that’s even with me reading some that I really won’t go back to.

This is the list as it stands (where I know it’s definitely a physical book that I don’t have access to I will put it in Italics with an * at the beginning. (You will notice a theme… I read lots, but mostly light stuff that I can pick up around the boys or at bedtime. I am about to start also reading Podcast with Impact by Anna Parker-Naples which is more of a work thing but still very interesting).

The list hasn’t shrunk – if anything it’s grown oops! But it’s okay there’s still time – I’ll try and knock one maybe two of them off by the end of the month.

Completed in November

• Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson
• The Cosy Teashop in the Castle by Caroline Roberts

Also finished in November but not on this list

• The Boat House Pretty Beach by Polly Babbington
• Summer Weddings at Pretty Beach by Polly Babbington
• Winter at Pretty Beach by Polly Babbington
• Snow Falls Over Sunnybrook by Rosie Green
• Welcome to Seabury by Beth Rain

Deleted from the List

Physical Book

• *The Highland Falcon Thief by M. G. Leonard
• *The Austen Girls by Lucy Worsley
• *Ordinary Mum, Extraordinary Mission
• *From Blah to Awe by Jenna Lucado-Bishop (I started this *years* ago and for some reason still not finished it)

Currently Reading (According to Goodreads)

• Falling for Your Best Friend’s Girl – Emma St. Clair
• Perfectly Unique by Annie F. Downs
• My Christmas Number One by Leonie Mack
• The Summer of Magic Moments by Caroline Roberts
• Women Rise up by Katey Zeh
• Runaway Sumer by Ruth Saberton
• Escape for the Summer by Ruth Saberton
• Looking for Lucy by Julie Houston (I’m sure I have already finished this one but Goodreads say it’s still in progress…)
• The One Saving Grace by Julie Houston (Same with this one)
• No Cure for Love by Jean Fullerton
• Sleigh Ride
• An Event to Remember or Forget
• Happiness for Humans by P. Z. Reizin
• Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
• Two Nights by Kathy Reichs
• Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni

So having finished those 7 books this month, I’m now on 39 out of 40 when it comes to my Goodreads Challenge Goal for 2021. That’s an easy one to complete I think.

Did you set any goals for November? How did it go? Come back for my December goals which should be live later this week.