Best of October 2019 + Powersheets Progress

Hello, November!

Man, oh man, October was busy. I had two big website copy projects start at the beginning of October that required a lot of attention. I also had a rush job for 17 pages of website copy in the middle of the month, so I would say October was a success, even if it was a little stressful.

With so much going on, Halloween kind of snuck up on me. I didn't have any major plans other than handing out candy to trick or treaters, eating pizza, and watching Netflix but I'd say it was a great night. #homebody

via GIPHY

Now that Halloween's over though, I'm getting the itch to decorate for Christmas. Especially because we bought our first Christmas tree when all the Christmas stuff went on sale last year. So, we've had this darn thing for almost a year but haven't used it yet!

Despite my excitement to decorate, I'm making myself wait until after Thanksgiving to put everything up. It will definitely be interesting to have a Christmas tree with two mischevious cats. Let me know if you have any tips to keep them out of trouble!

What about you? How early do you start to decorate for the holidays?

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October GOAL REVIEW

Here's how I filled out October's Trending List in my Powersheets Planner:

TOP PRIORITY

Update my Freelancer’s Guide to Setting Rates freebie ❌

MONTHLY ACTION ITEMS

Publish 4 new blog posts ✅
Send 2 emails to The Quiet Type subscribers ❌
Read a personal development/nonfiction book ✅
Take 2 classes on Skillshare ❌

WEEKLY ACTION ITEMS

Check + respond to blog comments ✅
Post 3 Facebook posts ✅
Publish 1 new blog post ✅

DAILY ACTION ITEMS

Gratitude ✅
Practice hand lettering ✅
Read from a personal development/nonfiction book ✅

BLOG POSTs I PUBLISHED IN October

All in all, I published 4 new posts and updated three existing blog posts.

FREE TOOLS I’VE BEEN LOVING

Ubersuggest – If you've been following along for a while, you know I'm a big fan of using Moz's Keyword Explorer for SEO. While I still love Moz, I was recently introduced to a new free SEO tool through Meg Casebolt's SEOctober email course. It's called Ubersuggest but was recently taken over by Neil Patel. Like Moz's Keyword Explorer, you can use this tool to search for keywords and see how difficult they are to rank for. It also shows the SERP Analysis, which is helpful. One thing I really like about Ubersuggest is that it has a “content ideas” section which shows you how your chosen keyword has been used and to help you generate ideas. It's pretty cool and I highly recommend it!

Grammarly – Grammarly still continues to be one of my top tools. It saves me so much time with editing and I really love the built-in thesaurus feature! I tested out a free 30-day trial of Grammarly premium in October and I loved it so much, I upgraded. One of my coolest features of Grammarly premium is the plagiarism checker. As a freelance writer, I want my clients to have original content, so having the ability to compare work to billions (yes, billions!) of online works is so helpful. Grammarly will highlight content that matches another site and create a citation for it. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you definitely should!

MY FAVORITE BLOG POSTS FROM October

How to Write a Case Study – An Easy Step-by-Step Guide (Elna Cain)
Making Smart Business Investments as a Freelance Writer (Creative Revolt)
How to Create a Client Welcome Packet (Ashlyn Writes)
How to Turn a Blog Post into 13 New Pieces of Content (Ivory Mix)

BOOKS I LOVED IN October

While I read 12 books in October. Of the 12, these are my top three:

Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison
Those People by Louise Candlish
I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella

MAGIC MOMENT OF October

October was a really great month work-wise and personal life-wise. I had two long term clients refer businesses to me for website copy, which was awesome. Receiving referrals from clients is a GREAT feeling!

My boyfriend and I also got to sit front row at a Sara Bareilles concert. His brother and his fiance weren't able to go, so they offered us the tickets at the last minute. I don't know a lot of her music other than “Love Song” and “Brave,” but it was such a great concert! If you ever get the chance to see her live, do it!

November GOALS

Okay, I can't believe I'm just about done with Powersheets planner! I'll be doing a review on my experience using the Powersheets planner at the end of December, so if you're on the fence about purchasing one, check back then.

If you'd like to get your own Powersheets planner, the 2020 version is now available and there are some super cute designs. Get your own here!