Good Evening, computer friends! How does our pale greyish brownish tannish spring find you? Or, have you been found by a Different spring than our Twin Cities variety? Anyone out there spotting fresh blades of grass? Pale peridot tree-buds? Crocus? Hmmm. Well, worth a try. Tonight is the night - if something pretty happened outside in your neck of the woods, feel free to comment and brag about it here, because I'd give someone's a gimpy foot to hear about SOMEONE having a pretty season. (Oops - hang on a sec. Last night we had a baby pink/baby blue sunset. That Almost offsets the, erm, rabbit leavings that are dotting the beige grass in the yard!)
Having been thrashed REPEATEDLY by my goals last round of ROW 80, I'm trying to wise up a bit setting goals for round 2. (For those of you who missed it - A Round of Words in 80 Days is a writing challenge - you set your goals, and blog/post progress 2x weekly to stay accountable. Others on the challenge cheer you on and you boost them up and it's all pretty damned nifty. Click badge at right to visit the homepage ;-). So, hmm. what are these goals? Gladja asked.
#1. Don't exclude poetry. Edit - even partially - one poem/week, or come up with a new one if I'm too sick of editing. I've written either 12 or 13 poems this year and most of them need the mighty 'de-crapify' button. Sending them off to crit partners only counts if I revise something that same week.
#2. Continue the Work In Progress (hereafter = the WIP, a.k.a. the evil un-named short novella or long story). Now that I understand some writing time is mulling, pacing, grumping, drawing a blank, researching, I get that tracking word count just won't help me. Effort will. I've learned that yes, sometimes, I really do need large blocks of time. But my head will still be here when I turn off the computer (sometimes it does it's Best work when I'm not using it!) So, my best effort will come if I just pick a time slot and stick to it. 30 minutes. It won't be the WIP every day. Some days it might be poetry, some days it may be research, and some days it will be fretting, mulling, and writing complete crap, but, I'll show up and I'll do it. Even editing someone else's work counts here, folks, I'm still beyond thrilled about what I've learned while beta-reading. That is Totally writing work!
#3. I'm kind of liking the idea of self publishing, so part of the 30 minutes might start turning into educating myself on that aspect, once most of the poetry is solid. However, ROW 80 is a writing challenge, and I may have to turn education into a whole different time slot. Given that the story has so far to go, I'm thinking this should come into play further down the road. Carts before horses, and all that....
#4. Save one weekend day as a writing-free zone unless it happens in the a.m., before the family wakes. Otherwise, I won't have much fun to feed my week, and it's massively unfair to them to boot.
Besides, eventually, it's going to be gorgeous out there.....someday. I'd hate to miss it.
G'night.
Having been thrashed REPEATEDLY by my goals last round of ROW 80, I'm trying to wise up a bit setting goals for round 2. (For those of you who missed it - A Round of Words in 80 Days is a writing challenge - you set your goals, and blog/post progress 2x weekly to stay accountable. Others on the challenge cheer you on and you boost them up and it's all pretty damned nifty. Click badge at right to visit the homepage ;-). So, hmm. what are these goals? Gladja asked.
#1. Don't exclude poetry. Edit - even partially - one poem/week, or come up with a new one if I'm too sick of editing. I've written either 12 or 13 poems this year and most of them need the mighty 'de-crapify' button. Sending them off to crit partners only counts if I revise something that same week.
#2. Continue the Work In Progress (hereafter = the WIP, a.k.a. the evil un-named short novella or long story). Now that I understand some writing time is mulling, pacing, grumping, drawing a blank, researching, I get that tracking word count just won't help me. Effort will. I've learned that yes, sometimes, I really do need large blocks of time. But my head will still be here when I turn off the computer (sometimes it does it's Best work when I'm not using it!) So, my best effort will come if I just pick a time slot and stick to it. 30 minutes. It won't be the WIP every day. Some days it might be poetry, some days it may be research, and some days it will be fretting, mulling, and writing complete crap, but, I'll show up and I'll do it. Even editing someone else's work counts here, folks, I'm still beyond thrilled about what I've learned while beta-reading. That is Totally writing work!
#3. I'm kind of liking the idea of self publishing, so part of the 30 minutes might start turning into educating myself on that aspect, once most of the poetry is solid. However, ROW 80 is a writing challenge, and I may have to turn education into a whole different time slot. Given that the story has so far to go, I'm thinking this should come into play further down the road. Carts before horses, and all that....
#4. Save one weekend day as a writing-free zone unless it happens in the a.m., before the family wakes. Otherwise, I won't have much fun to feed my week, and it's massively unfair to them to boot.
Besides, eventually, it's going to be gorgeous out there.....someday. I'd hate to miss it.
G'night.
Great goals. Looking forward to your checkins.
ReplyDeletegood goals - best of luck - self publishing? a lot to learn but everyone around is very generous I have found - put out your queiries someone will see and advise - well worth the effort though
ReplyDeleteThank you Alberta! Mainly I am shooting for Sane goals ;-) Self-pub education definitely can come in later - I think an unfinished story makes the point moot, so I need to be pretty modest on the topic for awhile. I'm fired up to see how this round goes for all of us. As always, your generous insights are always welcome here :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you on #4. A day off is nice and super-recharges the writing batteries. Good luck on all your goals this round and on getting that WIP done!
ReplyDelete@Cathryn - good to see you again! I'm hoping to deploy anything I've learned from our ROW 80 crowd, I'll consider it a massive success if I do ;-) Good luck to you as well - I'm glad you and so many are staying for round 2!
ReplyDelete@Katen - hello there! I think sticking hard to #4 actually feeds the other goals, so it's important to me. Best of luck to you - I look forward to seeing what you'll be putting out there. Thanks for coming by!
Good luck with your goals! This is my first time doing ROW80 and I hope to finish my WIP. I'm also trying to focus on "sane" goals. :)
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Ghenet! welcome aboard! I look forward to hearing your progress - think about the reality of 'pace yourself'. You are certain to learn a lot about yourself in the process, and get some solid writing time in. Best of luck to you, and thanks for coming by!
ReplyDeleteA rainy and windy spring for me so far. I'm not complaining because it's warmer. :)
ReplyDeleteYes, reading totally counts as writing work. Beautiful, isn't it? :)
Good luck with your self-publishing ventures, your free zones, your poetry (practice in poetry really enhances fiction) and your WIP!
:-) Rainy and windy isn't bad if it's warmer rain - should help something green come up! Thanks so much for the encouragement and wishes - it's great to have insights of more Experienced writers like you! Like I said, I'm looking forward to your feedback on the Artists Way - and that On Top of French, too! Fabulous goals you've got - I'm guessing we'll learn a lot from you this round ;-) Have a great week, see ya tomorrow!
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