Tag Archives: #ROW80

Writing and Reading and ROWing, Oh My!

Hey, look at me, being ready to get in on something at the beginning!

Since I already have two posts scheduled for tomorrow (the actual start date for this round of “A Round of Words in 80 Days”), I’m going to post this today. It’s Sunday, right? Regular update day.

GOALS

Writing:

Bound: finish editing this draft and have it out to readers by August 1. This should leave time for the fine-toothed comb treatment if I use my time wisely, but will depend on what I can get done before we go on holidays at the end of the month.

Torn: finish a full draft by the end of this round. This is a challenge for me, as this is another thing that was lost when I my own computer broke, so I’ve been starting from scratch. Big changes were coming, anyway, but it would have been nice to have my road-map…

Super Secret Project: Remember when I had those vampires bouncing around in my head, and I used them to take a break from my fantasy world? I have the beginnings of another world rattling around in my brain, and it all started to come together when I was walking the dog yesterday. No promises or goals, except to say that if I need a break, I’ll be working on this, and possibly offering an opening scene some time for WIPpet Wednesday. It’s not a genre I’ve had anything to do with in the past, so this could be interesting…

Disregard the Prologue: Yes, blog goals! I’m going a 31 day challenge in July, to keep me going through vacation and to allow me to schedule posts (because everything else is just going to be going SO WELL that I won’t need the distraction of this blog. HA!). So for July, I’ll make it a goal to post every day. After that… Well, I’ll readjust, and stop bombarding y’all with myself.

Other Stuff:

Art: I need to do a couple of custom My Little Ponies by the end of the summer, so I’m throwing that goal in here, because they’ll never get done otherwise. Two by the end of August, for sure, and if I can find time, there’s a personal project I’ve been itching to get to. This is what happens when you have a friend who sells doll hair, and you can’t stop yourself from buying all the pretty colours.

Family: Throwing a few more personal goals in here. Meal planning every week, one big, fun outing with the kids every week of vacation, reading one book (or chapter of a book) with each of the kids every day. Yes, we’re sometimes bad about that, especially when they forget to remind be until it’s quarter-past bedtime.

Reading: A book a week. Shouldn’t be too hard, but sometimes I get off-track when nothing’s grabbing me. I’ve got a ton of books waiting, though, so it should be fine. I have one book I’m alpha reading for someone this summer (I didn’t even know that term until she asked me… I’ve only used beta readers. You learn something new every day, don’t you?), I have my new paperbacks, I have a few books to finish on my kobo, and a bunch stranded in the Kindle app on my computer… plus the library. This should be doable, especially if I sit outside and read when the kids are playing.

So that’s the big, overarching goals. As far as time spent/word count, those goals will have to be broken down as I go along. My word count goal for July’s Camp NaNoWriMo session is only 25,000 words, and I’m cheating (editing/partial rewrites), so my goal should be 1,000 words a day… unless you account for vacation… so still 2,000 words a day.  After that, who knows? Maybe I’ll go easy on myself in August, or maybe I’ll have to write my poor little heart out to distract me from the torment of hearing back from beta readers (who I love. Have I mentioned that I love you all?).

Wish me luck… and let me know if you’re participating so I can be sure to stop by and offer encouragement as the round goes on! I don’t always get updates on the blogs I’ve signed up to follow…


Sunday #ROW80 Update: Writing, Reading, and… Cleaning?!

Hello! First Round of Words update since JuNoWriMo started yesterday, so I guess it’s time for those updated goals, isn’t it?

Yes, Kate. Yes it is.

ROW80Logocopy50,000 words in a month breaks down to 1667 words a day, which isn’t so bad on good days. Sadly, they’re not all good days, so I set my goal at 2,000+ words a day so that there’s some wiggle room when family stuff comes up and I can’t write, depression decides to kick my ass into the corner, my personal muse decides to sit his own ass in the corner and pick the dirt from under his fingernails instead of doing his share of the work… whatever.

So here are my goals for June (which will take me past the end of this round of ROW80):

  • write 2,000 words a day on TORN
  • read one novel a week
  • continue edits on BOUND after writing is done for the day so I can get that out to my dear darling special reader friends and start looking for an editor (eep!)

We’ve had some not great news concerning my husband’s job. He’s not losing it, and I’m probably not supposed to share details, but it looks like he’s going to be having a very stressful summer. Not pleased. So in addition to my writing goals, I’m making a set of goals focusing on making his home life easier and less stressful, since there’s bugger all I can do about his work life. He’s been my biggest supporter (and to be honest, my hero) through a lot of my tough times. Now it’s my turn to be at my best for him. It might affect my writing, but there’s not much I can do about that.

  • full menu plan for each week with healthy meals (eating out/getting pizza still allowed, but should be planned)
  • 10-minute tidy (or 15 on bad days) with the kids every day before AJ comes home (clutter REALLY stresses him out) and before bed
  • get the basement in shape so the kids want to play down there more and keep the upstairs tidier
  • save extra money so when he does get days off we can get out of town and he can relax (I hope), and also to buy an elliptical for days when he can’t get out to exercise (and days when I can’t get out with Jack)

That’s all I’ve got for that so far. I know from experience that if I set my goals too high I’ll fail and give up, so I’ll leave it at that for now. If you have any suggestions, though, I’m open to them, and prayers and happy thoughts over the summer would be much appreciated.  And no, he’s not a drinker, so I can’t greet him at the door with something alcoholic in hand when he gets home (and he’s going to be on-call anyway, so no drinking even if he did. Which he doesn’t. I, on the other hand, might take up drinking as a hobby. YAY!)

So what have I achieved since my last update?

  • Not much on Thursday or Friday, but yesterday was a good day. I woke up with a migraine (bloody weather), but I took a frightening amount of painkillers and cranked out 3800 words over the course of the day. Were they good words? Darned if I know. I think they were.
  • Started reading Fallen. It starts out with one of my least favourite set-ups (people who are DESTINED to fall in love and they JUST CAN’T HELP IT!), but I like the writing, and I’m going to keep going to see what happens.  It might lose me if an IMPOSSIBLY GORGEOUS AND PERFECT BOY shows up, but I’m giving it a good chance. 🙂
  • Still struggling with reading fiction on the Kobo. I’m about 12 chapters in on First of Her Kind by K.L. Schwengel. I like the story, but the format makes me put it down a lot, and that makes me sad. Would be better if I was travelling. Great for reading in the bathtub, though (except that my husband thinks I’m nuts for having the Kobo near water)
  • Holy crap, how is the living room a mess again? Nobody is doing anything! Ugh, guess I should go round up the troops to take care of that…

I hope you’re all having a fantastic weekend wherever you are, whatever you’re doing. Take care, and I’ll see you later (I’ve scheduled posts for Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Will there be Engrish? Stay tuned to find out…)


#ROW80 Update/Goals

ROW80Logocopy

Hello, all! Hope you’re having fantastic weekends, and Happy Mother’s day to all of you who this applies to.

I was going to take today to chat about mommy blogs or do something special for Mother’s Day, but I’m stuck in The Land of No WiFi this weekend and don’t feel like writing that out on my phone. Maybe later.

So.

Part of #ROW80 is posting updates on Sundays and Wednesdays. I can’t add my link to the list until we get home, but here we go, anyway:

I wanted to do 1,000 words a day on the new story, which REALLY needs a title. I almost made it; 1600 on Wednesday, 400 on Thursday (bad day for scheduling), 200 on Friday and 1200 on Saturday.

Not back to editing Bound yet, but I’m getting really antsy, wanting to dive back into it. I think that’s good. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder; I’m hoping it also makes the brain grow sharper.

Blog posts: check (even if the one about Merida got at least one facebook friend upset with me)

So, this coming week we’ll stick with 1000 words a day on the new one. Three blog posts, including WIPpet Wednesday (which I haven’t even thought about yet). I usually do more, but blog writing is supposed to be the add-on writing, not the focus.

And that’s it. 7,000 words for the week, and hoping to finish the first draft before I dive back into edits on Bound; goals for that will be coming soon.

How have you all been doing on your goals the week, writing or otherwise? Need a friendly kick in the pants? High five? I’m here for you!


Updates and Various Administrivia (and ROW80)

I had a teacher in high school who used the word “administrivia” all the time. Makes me smile.

Anyway, a few non-WIPpet items for this Wednesday afternoon:

  • Update on the schedule thing: I forgot about mornings when I wake up feeling like a troll just caved in my skull with a mallet and my back is so stiff I can’t move. Oops. Well, I’m fine now and AJ’s working tonight, so today’s not a total loss. All it took was lying on my back, legs up like a dead bug (there’s a mental image for you) for a while to get my back moving and some Advil and caffeine for the head, and I’m good to go. *cue inspirational music*
  • Those plants I mentioned the other day are now outside in the garden. No hidden message about writing here, I just want you all to cross your fingers, toes, lungs, whatever that at least some of them survive. 🙂

One more thing: I think I’m going to join ROW80. Because, y’know, I had Camp NaNoWriMo last month, I have JuNoWriMo next month and then Camp in July and NaNo proper in November, but I need something to fill the gaps. *cough* I will always be a NaNo gal first and foremost, but I see no reason I can’t do both. It’s all about goals and accountability, right?

So I guess I needs to set me some goals to get through until June 20, hmm? Let’s see…

I don’t know when I’ll get back to editing Bound, so those goals will have to wait. As far as writing, I’m going to say 1,000 words a day on the vampire thing I posted from earlier today. I don’t expect it’ll be novel-length, so I could be done before the end of this round. We’ll see how she goes. Also, 3+ blog posts a week (not a problem so far)

Did I do that right?

If you think you might want to join in (set your own goals, report back on Wednesdays and Sundays), check it out here and sign up here.


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