This is my 4th ROW80 round and I’m excited to get going!
I f you’re unfamiliar with ROW80, the challenge that knows you have a life, you can read all about Kait Nolan’s amazing challenge HERE.If you’ve participated before, here’s the link to get started again!To learn more about Kait, click HERE
I have my writing and exercise schedules on my calendar. My desk is clean for a fresh start. Got my best smile on to go meet other ROWers. Let’s get started:
April 2 ROW Goals:
Write on short stories in progress 3 days/week with a weekly goal of 2000 words
Plot outlines of a 2nd short story idea
Begin the publishing process of at least one short story
Exercise 5 days a week – at least 30 minutes each time
Staying focused on my short stories now and believe that will lead me to achieving these goals. Maintaining my fitness routine to reach my end of year goal should keep the creative juices flowing.
Wishing us all a productive and successful ROWnd!
You know I love hearing from you!
Have you signed up yet? What are you waiting for? Sign up here or go support your fellow ROWers here!
The awesome Fabio Bueno tagged my in the Lucky 7 meme recently!
Here are the rules:
1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line 7
3. Copy down the next 7 lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written.
4. Tag 7 authors, and let them know.
Okay, here’s mine. It’s from book one of my historical trilogy, The Dancer.
Line 77, 7th line down, 12 sentences
Maeve looked around to see where she was, but she didn’t recognize the neighborhood. Pushing off from the building, she wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing the goosebumps away, until she found a street she recognized. She began to run again, toward home now, knowing Ma would be worried about her being out after dark.
~~~~~~
Maeve turned the knob without a sound and tiptoed into the kitchen. The sight of Ma, head down, working her rosary and mumbling prayers at the table startled Maeve. Ma looked up, her lined forehead relaxed as her eyes scanned Maeve’s face for trouble. Seeing Maeve was unhurt, anger boiled under the surface, reddening her checks and pursing her lips. She pushed herself to her feet, warmed Maeve’s dinner plate of bangers and mash in the oven, dropped it on the table and left the room without a word.
Maeve’s eyes moistened. She wiped away the unfallen tears and refused to give in to the hurt. If Ma had hollered or slapped her, she might have known that Ma still loved her. To be ignored cut deep in Maeve’s heart.
1. Continue with my 13-month Health Challenge. Read about that Here. I did more exercise this week, but I’m still behind in my treadmill challenge with Gene Lempp. Check out more details on my health challenge in last week’s post, #HotWriterBods Health Challenge Update #3. Also have a list of things to implement based on blogs I’ve read this week, like Kate MacNicol’s post on aging that I reblogged on Wednesday.
2. Write on my projects – Claim a weekly total of 2,500 words. I didn’t write on my WIP this week, but I was productive. I’m piling blogs in my queue so that I can have the last week of the month to celebrate our anniversary and our youngest grandgirl’s 3rd birthday, without worrying about my readers missing anything.
Also, I have been doing a lot of thinking about my brand and how I want to be known. That has caused me to make some adjustments in what I write. I wrote brief 3-Act outlines for 3 short stories. When I ran out of short story ideas, I spent several late night hours scouring every book and magazine on my shelves. I was delighted to have come up with 3 more story ideas. I also have a personal story that I will turn into one that people would actually want to read. I’m considering this progress.
3. Streamline my social media and support efforts so that I visit all my blogger friends and ROW80 friends over the course of each week. I’m still behind on the blog reading and working at it – promoting is on track. Promo tweets are in good shape and I actually found time for some social tweets this week.
My new schedule I set up last week is working pretty well except for writing on my stories. Our grandson is with us this week, so I have had less time to work. Even so, I can see that the schedule will work. If you’re not sure what I’m speaking of, click HEREto read last week’s idea.
With only 3 days left in Round 1 and considering that I don’t check-in on Wednesdays, this will be my last update for this round. I feel good about my efforts this round and feel I’m on a better path in all things, writing, social media and health. And that’s what all this is about, right?
I’ve met so many new friends since my 1st round last July and love the cheerleader atmosphere we all have. So, I will be back for 2012′s Round 2 next month. Thanks to Kait Nolan for creating this challenge that has brought us all together.
Thanks to all the wonderful people I’ve met who have supported me on good and bad days. I promise to continue doing the same for all of you. So throw yourselves a party next Wednesday and heartily celebrate all your excellent progress.
See you in ROWnd 2!
Please check out ROW80for yourself, if you’re not already involved! Creator, Kait Nolan, offers a flexible, supportive atmosphere for meeting your writing goals. There are so many awesome people involved and they make it so much fun! They are the best cheerleaders you could ever hope to have.
Please share your struggles and triumphs. How are you feeling this close to the end of Round 1?
Before you go:
I know I gave you lots of juicy links on Friday, but I have one more that’s really important. Joel Friedman hosts media expert, Dan Blank. Here’s a tidbit of what Dan says about Analytics and Author Platforms:
“The key lessons here today are about establishing a process for learning more about your audience, a process that you can leverage across many tools.
And before you shrug away the value of analytics, consider this: how can you improve what you don’t measure? I have seen far too many writers waste unbelievable amounts of time pursuing strategies to grow their audiences that “felt” right, but were completely ineffective.
When you measure performance, you acquire data that allows you to make educated decisions about which strategy is best to reach your goals as a writer.”
So, hop over to Joel’s blog and read the rest of Dan Blank’s post. I highly recommend it if you want to keep growing as a blogger and author!
Let me just turn the music down a bit…Okay, welcome to the party! It’s Milestone Friday again! We’re celebrating our progress and the coming New Year! Grab yourself a drink and a partner and dance the night away to Sam Cooke’s Havin’ a Party!
Hungry?
Watch for the fireworks at midnight when we bring in the New Year a little early!
In the meantime, listen to the music and check out the big reason we’re celebrating!
The last three months flew by! But don’t worry, we writers were all working hard on our goals. Were you?
My goal achievement as of September 23rd are in green and my accomplishments since then are in pink. After the party, I’ll be shortening my list by removing the goals I’ve accomplished. Take a look at how I’ve done so far:
1. Write for the book no less often than 5 days a week.I did poorly on writing daily due to grandchildren life getting in the way. I did this well in October, but in November I was focused on blogging ahead to have December set aside for writing on the book which means I wrote 1000s of words for the blog-nothing on the WIP. 1st week of December started out well (2500 words), then life got in my way again.
2.Write a minimum of 400 words each of 5 days each week.This would have equaled 24,000 words over 12 wks. If we count my WIP, my blog, flash fiction and short story I’ve written approximately 45,000 words. YAY!! (If we only count my WIP, my numbers stink!) As you can see above, I exceeded that goal during Oct and the 1st week of Dec, but not since then,
3. Visit ROW80 twice a week to stay motivated in my writing goal.I chose, instead, to visit once a week, but missed a few weeks during the summer. Checked in all this month and am ready to go for Round 4 with a fresh set of goals! In Round 4, I did well in October and then fell off the wagon in November and December.
4. Get my butt out of my desk chair for at least 10 minutes every hour.I don’t get up every hour-I get too engrossed in writing-but I do get up more often than I used to. This is one thing I’ve mastered! YAY!!
5. Take at least 2 online classes to improve my blog and/or writing.So far, I’ve taken one (another was canceled) and am signed up for a second one this fall. I completed a second class in October. YAY #2!!
6. Find a critique partner/group to get feedback on my book.No luck with this yet. Does anybody have a connection with a good group or individual? I found a great resource for critique partners but haven’t had time to go any further yet.
7. Feed my addiction to chocolate, daily. I’m stellar at this! Another YAY!! Still stellar! YAY #3!!
8. Allow myself only 2 hours a day to read blogs and keep up with social media marketing.I have found that 2 hours is just not enough time everyday. Sometimes it takes 3 hours to take care of the above, plus responding to comments on my blog posts and commenting on other blogs. Still keeping my time on social media and reading blogs under control. YAY #4!!
9. Get moving! Exercise at least 30 minutes 6 days a week.Ugh! This summer with the grandgirls was more movement in my days, but not necessarily exercise, per se. Started this week back to my routine and got in 3 days so far. Since beginning my treadmill challenge with Gene Lempp on Dec 1st, I’m hitting the mark each week of 30 minutes, 4 x a week. So, I’m doing better. YAY #5!!
10. Only have 1 dessert each week.Yeah, right! What was I thinking? I vow to do better, though. How about 3 per week? Doing pretty well at this. Most weeks I’m on target. YAY #6!!
11. Read 25 books in the next 12 months.On target with this. I’ve read 7 books in 3 months. YAY!! I’ve slacked on this. Using my time to research, blog ahead and taking care of life’s interruptions…3 books in 3 months. But I’ll catch up.
12. Attend a writer’s conference or workshop.No time so far; found one in Dallas next May that I’m hoping to attend. Still considering the DFW conference in May, but not sure if the funds will be available. Might look for something closer to home.
13. Teach my granddaughters good new habits, like how much fun it is to do chores. Oooh, they learned this so well! They set the table and cleaned up toys, put dirty laundry in the hamper, helped with dusting and making their big bed, and took their dirty dishes to the sink. Even my 2yr old accomplished all of this! They were awesome, especially since they never complained. They are continuing to be awesome these last 3 months with their Mom.
14. Add more fruits and vegetables into my diet. So far, no rotting fruits or veggies in the refrigerator drawer! That means I’m eating what I buy every week! YAY!! Can I count the fruit in my yogurt? Is chocolate a vegetable since it comes from cocoa beans?
15. Create 15 minute pockets of time each day to spend alone with my hubs.We spend time at breakfast talking, planning and catching up. After dinner, we watch a movie together and late night, he stops in my office to chat for a while. It ends up being roughly 2 1/2 hours a day. And you just nevermind what we do after we talk in my office. Still rockin’ this one! Jimmy’s a happy man!
16. Lose at least 35 lbs, in order to get off all my meds, about 3 pounds a month.This means I should have lost 9 lbs so far…uh, no. I’ve lost 2 lbs and am working harder now that the grands have gone home to their Mama. Since Sept 23rd, I’ve lost 7lbs. Not great but better than gaining.
17. Get back to the routine of cleaning bathrooms and dusting weekly, instead of pushing it off on my honey.Done! YAY!! Not doing this weekly (The place really doesn’t get that dirty with just the two of us.), but not pushing it off on my hubby. So it’s kind of a wash.
18. Be in, or finished with, the process of publishing my book by December, 2011.On target to finish the writing and self-editing, but may have to adjust the timeframe for publishing. Big fail here! I’ve put my novel aside to complete an anthology of short stories, thinking I could get that done faster. I was on track this month, but then family needs and holidays took over all my time. I’m part way there and hopefully will finish in January.
19. Floss everyday.Almost. Same status.
20. Remember to thank my husband everyday for his constant love and support.Always do! YAY! Still attending to my man. YAY #7!!
21. Learn how to create podcasts and videos for my blog site.Not yet, maybe next time. Still, not yet.
22. Eat more slowly. Practice.Practicing, but I still finish first. Dang! Still practicing.
23. Notice the little things and appreciate them.Doing it! YES, most of the time! Yay #8!!
24. Live in the moment.YES! Yes, again!Yay #9!!
25. Play.Often. Still. Yay #10!!
So, not so great this quarter…40% positive – 60% negative. I think January may be a bit less hectic which will help me do better. I’ve learned a few things that might help you, too, if you’ve experienced some difficulty in staying on track:
* I get burned out on writing if I isolate myself. I have to get out of the house more to get inspired by people, nature and my surroundings.
* Exercise really helps make everything flow well, especially ideas.
* I have to think more like a professional writer. I may give myself deadlines like copywriters have.
* Shutting down the internet when I decide to begin writing helps immensely.
* Breaking bad habits is so much harder than making them. Note to self: Don’t create bad habits anymore.
To thank all of you for your support for the last 6 months, all of us writers have prizes to give away!
Here’s the list of all the prizes you could be eligible for when you visit all the writers’ blogs:
Marcia Richards: To 1 subscriber, new or existing, an Amazon gift card and the opportunity to guest post or be interviewed on Marcia’s blog.
Jess Witkins: To 1 subscriber/commenter, an iTunes gift card and the opportunity to guest post or be interviewed on Jess’ blog
Jennie Bennett: To 2 commenters, a copy of Totally Cliche’, the ebook in which her work is published
Pam Hawley: To 1 subscriber and 1 commenter, choice of one prize: guest post @ Hawleyville, be interviewed @ Hawleyville, OR Pam will guest post at winner’s blog and promote @ Hawleyville
Jenny Hansen: To 1 commenter and 1 subscriber, choice of 1 prize: be interviewed @ More Cowbell or Jenny will guest post at winner’s blog
David N. Walker: To a subscriber and/or commenter, 1 interview and 1 guest post trade
There you have it! Eight awesome prizes which will help you promote your site, garner new followers for you and just make you smile!
We, at LLC, are currently looking for new writers to join our team. If you’re interested in guest posting every other week about achieving goals and hope to increase your blog’s readership (as well as have a lot of fun and work with some amazing people), please contact Marcia at marcia DOT a DOT richards AT gmail DOT com, or Jess Witkins at jessi DOT witkins AT gmail DOT com.
Happy New Year!
We wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012!
Thank you for joining us today. Go ahead hop over to some of the other writer’s blogs to see how they have progressed.
How have you been doing on your goals? Please share…we’d love to hear all about it!
The writing scheduling advice I’ve found in the writing community just doesn’t work for me. At least not yet. I seem to get the most writing on my WIP done when I have no other writing to think about. If I know have blog posts to write and research, it’s very hard for me to focus on my WIP.
Last month I decided to conduct a test that would begin on December 1st. I spent the month of November writing blogs ahead of schedule. By Thanksgiving, I had blog posts written for my 3 x week schedule through the first week of January, 2012. That means that in 21 days, I wrote 30 blog posts – 10 posts each week. I didn’t write even one word on my manuscript.
Why did I scramble like crazy to get so far ahead on my posts?
image source: Google.com
I wanted to have the entire month of December free to write only on my manuscript, and I ended up being able to begin a few days earlier than December 1st and I had Thanksgiving week with no worries.
December has been an interesting month! Some out of the ordinary things happened. My sisters and I found an opportunity to move our 88 yr old mother to an assisted living facility two weeks ago. We had one week to pack her and move her in. For me, there was travel time involved as I live 2 1/2 hours away. So, between packing her things, moving her and unpacking her things, 10 days were consumed. In addition, my daughter needed help babysitting on Saturdays to finish up her schooling, so that wiped out 3 more days.
Total – 13 days…no writing.
With one week left of the month, I don’t expect to hit my word goal of 25,000. I have written 2,600 words and I still have another week free to write some more. My granddaughter is with us this week and I have another day of traveling to return her to her mother, but I hope to get another 2,500 words written before the end of the month.
I have been diligent about making sure my blogs posted properly and I enjoyed time chatting with my readers via comments. Having all that writing and research done allowed me such peace of mind, especially the past couple of weeks. If you can find the time to push through it, blogging ahead it definitely worth it.
And as for writing, I’m going to continue working on my current projects week by week and I’ll continue to build a backlog of posts, hopefully to cover more than a month at a time. It’s invaluable when life throws a curve ball. My goal is to write quality content and be responsible about posting regularly.
One way I’ll be doing that is by trimming my posting schedule to two regular days each week – Wednesday and Friday. My Wednesday posts will consist of all the elements I had in both Monday and Wednesday(before the holidays), so you won’t be missing out on any of your favorite topics.
#1 Big lesson learned…Be Flexible! Family is more important than any self-imposed deadline or schedule. No point in banging your head against the wall because the schedule didn’t pan out the way you’d hoped. You’ll just give yourself a bigger headache.
#2 Big lesson learned…The 30 posts I wrote in the first 3 weeks of November totaled approximately 30,000 words. That means that I am capable of writing beyond my blog posts. January will hold 9 blog posts – at most 9,000 words. That leaves me more than 20,000 words I should be able to write on my WIP.
image source: Google.com
Beginning January 4th:
Wednesdays will beWoman’s Day. The posts will consist of all the elements I had in both Monday and Wednesday, so you won’t be missing out on any of your favorite topics. I will be including more posts on and for women – our strength, courage, sexiness, health and inspiration with a little history included now and then.
Fridays will beLists and Links. Every other Friday will continue to be The Life List Club. Alternate Fridays will be lists on writing and other topics I feel would be of some value to you. A mash-up of links will be at the end of the lists. They will include the best of the blogosphere for the previous two weeks.
The last Saturday of each month I will post an update on my Health Challenge. This is where you’ll learn about new and ongoing health challenges in which you can participate. At the end of each post will be doctor approved health tips just for you.
I hope you’ll enjoy the changes and will continue to visit with me Wednesdays, Fridays and one Saturday a month.
Don’t forget! This Friday is The Life List Club Milestone Party! It will be a celebration of 6 months of working toward our goals and a look ahead to the New Year. Please join us to win some awesome prizes as our gift to you for sticking with us.
As you might expect, at my house we have CHOCOLATE Parties! So dive in to the goodies on the table…come on, I’ll show you what we have:
Flouted Milk Chocolate Custard
Chocolate Amaretto Semifreddo
Chocolate-covered Strawberries
Dark Chocolate and Mocha Truffles
Grab a Chocolatini or a glass of Merlot and a plate of your favorite chocolates. Then rock to the music!
Wow! What a party! Okay, settle down a bit. I need your attention!
I have an announcement to make!
We have A GIVEAWAY, PEOPLE!
Each of The Life List Club writers has a gift for one or more subscribers/commenters on today’s post. Check individual writers’ blogs for their details on how many winners will be chosen and when the contest ends.
My contest runs between 7am, 9/23 and midnight, 9/30(EST). Winner will be announced Saturday, October 1st! You have lots of time to subscribe and comment!
For one subscriber commenting on this post, my Prize Package includes:
1. A copy of my flash fiction story, Night Moves!
2. An invitation for you to guest post or be interviewed on my blog! (A guest post can be a work of flash fiction, a short story up to 2,000 words, or a post on history, life lessons, sweet obsessions, women’s issues, health & wellness, or writing)
3. I will name a character in my trilogy, The Dance and The Dancer, after you!
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Let’s get to the reason for this celebration…my 3-month progress report: (My progress is in red.)
1. Write for the book no less often than 5 days a week. I did poorly on writing daily due to grandchildren life getting in the way.
2. Write a minimum of 400 words each of 5 days each week. This would have equaled 24,000 words over 12 wks. If we count my WIP, my blog, flash fiction and short story I’ve written approximately 45,000 words. YAY!! (If we only count my WIP, my numbers stink!)
3. Visit ROW80 twice a week to stay motivated in my writing goal. I chose, instead, to visit once a week, but missed a few weeks during the summer. Checked in all this month and am ready to go for Round 4 with a fresh set of goals!
4. Get my butt out of my desk chair for at least 10 minutes every hour. I don’t get up every hour-I get too engrossed in writing-but I do get up more often than I used to.
5. Take at least 2 online classes to improve my blog and/or writing. So far, I’ve taken one (another was canceled) and am signed up for a second one this fall.
6. Find a critique partner/group to get feedback on my book. No luck with this yet. Does anybody have a connection with a good group or individual?
7. Feed my addiction to chocolate, daily. I’m stellar at this! Another YAY!!
8. Allow myself only 2 hours a day to read blogs and keep up with social media marketing. I have found that 2 hours is just not enough time everyday. Sometimes it takes 3 hours to take care of the above, plus responding to comments on my blog posts and commenting on other blogs.
9. Get moving! Exercise at least 30 minutes 6 days a week. Ugh! This summer with the grandgirls was more movement in my days, but not necessarily exercise, per se. Started this week back to my routine and got in 3 days so far.
10. Only have 1 dessert each week. Yeah, right! What was I thinking? I vow to do better, though. How about 3 per week?
11. Read 25 books in the next 12 months. On target with this. I’ve read 7 books in 3 months. YAY!!
12. Attend a writer’s conference or workshop. No time so far; found one in Dallas next May that I’m hoping to attend.
13. Teach my granddaughters good new habits, like how much fun it is to do chores. Oooh, they learned this so well! They set the table and cleaned up toys, put dirty laundry in the hamper, helped with dusting and making their big bed, and took their dirty dishes to the sink. Even my 2yr old accomplished all of this! They were awesome, especially since they never complained.
14. Add more fruits and vegetables into my diet. So far, no rotting fruits or veggies in the refrigerator drawer! That means I’m eating what I buy every week! YAY!!
15. Create 15 minute pockets of time each day to spend alone with my hubs. We spend time at breakfast talking, planning and catching up. After dinner, we watch a movie together and late night, he stops in my office to chat for a while. It ends up being roughly 2 1/2 hours a day. And you just nevermind what we do after we talk in my office.
16. Lose at least 35 lbs, in order to get off all my meds, about 3 pounds a month. This means I should have lost 9 lbs so far…uh, no. I’ve lost 2 lbs and am working harder now that the grands have gone home to their Mama.
17. Get back to the routine of cleaning bathrooms and dusting weekly, instead of pushing it off on my honey. Done! YAY!!
18. Be in, or finished with, the process of publishing my book by December, 2011. On target to finish the writing and self-editing, but may have to adjust the timeframe for publishing.
19. Floss everyday. Almost.
20. Remember to thank my husband everyday for his constant love and support. Always do! YAY!
21. Learn how to create podcasts, videos and a book trailer for my blog site. Not yet, maybe next time.
22. Eat more slowly. Practice. Practicing, but I still finish first. Dang!
23. Notice the little things and appreciate them. Doing it!
24. Live in the moment. YES!
25. Play. Often.
So, what do you think? Please rate my progress below, 1-5 stars. The score you give me has no effect on choosing the winner of the Prize Package, truly!
Now to go visit the other amazing writer’s blogs and enter to win their fabulous prizes, listed here. Just click on the writers’ links below:
Pam Hawley - package including: 1. Winner’s choice of excerpt from my novel-in-progress or a copy of my short story, ”Elevated.” 2. I will interview the winner on their goals and ambitions for a future post in Hawleyville. 3. Option to publish a piece of their own fiction/essay (up to 2,000 words) or do a guest post at my blog.
Sign up here or go support your fellow ROWers here!
I’m considering this progress. 
