Sunday 27 January 2013

ROW80 Check-in 27th January 2013

It has been a really good week this week. Just not so great writing wise!

My goals are:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!

2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times a week on writing related things. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.


3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1
I just started reading book number six of the year so I am a little bit behind but still chugging along. I need to STOP BUYING BOOKS especially on my kindle as it is so easy and I have a pile of books on my shelf that I need to read first. We will see how this goes.....

Goal 2
Monday - started strong and wrote 1,042 words during the ROW80 sprint on Monday. I finished off the break up scene and felt the words were flowing well.
Tuesday - I wasn't feeling well so I read sprint instead of writing but am not sure how much I read.
Wednesday - read 10% of a book for half an hour of the sprint.
Thursday - nothing
Friday - nothing
Saturday - nothing
Today - check-in and....nothing!

So as you can see it hasn't been great. I need to think about the week ahead but more about that in the minute.

Goal 3
Once I press publish this is done.

Now once again I feel I need to think about where I am going with my writing. I have three current chick lit WIP's and I will point out my issues with each one:
WIP 1 - Finished writing this one, 50k in wrong tense, love story premise but not sure I wrote it in the right way. Unedited.
WIP 2 - NaNo 2012 project - half written but not sure of plot. Really like one aspect of the story and think this aspect in a better story could be good. Hope that makes sense!
WIP 3 - Nearly 60k written of Matchmaker Matchmaker from CampNaNo 2012. Again not sure of plot but love the main character so don't want to stop writing about her.

I feel a bit dissatisfied with all three WIP's at the moment, even the one I have finished but not edited. I feel like I need a bit of direction. So, I am going to put my thinking cap on about what to do and plough on with Matchmaker Matchmaker as I do like the story and I might be using my doubt as an excuse not to write. I guess my aim is to polish something up to actually submit to agents etc but I am not sure I have that perfect story yet but again it could be the doubt monster!

So here is to a better week although it is my 30th birthday on Friday so I have plans on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday so it might not be my best ever week! Hope you have all had more productive weeks then me!!

Sunday 20 January 2013

ROW80 Check-in 20th January

Well it has been a mixed bag of a week but I have made some progress. My goals were:

1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!

2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times a week on writing related things. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.

3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.

Goal One - I am still reading book 4 for the year so slightly behind but doing ok. I need to work out where I need to be at the end of each week or maybe month so I can keep an eye on my progress.

Goal Two:
Monday - Wrote late ROW80 check-in and for 30 minutes read 13 pages of my WIP
Tuesday - Nothing...but went to see The Impossible and watching films is important to develop story plotting skills etc right?
Wednesday - An hour of reading WIP - 12 pages read. Not sure why my reading was so slow but it was! Also commented on some ROW80er's blogs.
Thursday - 50 minutes reading WIP and I have reached the end of the 58k I had written. For some reason I stopped mid break-up scene, in quite an emotional place so is going to be a challenge to pick this up.

So I am ten minutes a drift but I know I have spent at least ten minutes thinking about my WIP so am going to count this goal as done.

Goal Three - done!

So I have done ok but I need to get back into writing. From tomorrow I am going to aim to write for at least 30 minutes a day although I am going to keep goal two the same to allow for days I need to plot/rethink etc. I had serious doubts about whether my plot was strong enough on Thursday but the doubt monster has been locked out and I am going to plough on. As I mentioned I need to finish off a big break up scene which is going to be a challenge since I haven't written in ages but at least I have something juicy to sink my teeth into! I hope to be at at least three sprints this week to help me!

Hope you are all smashing your goals :)

I hope you have all had wonderful weeks and let's hope the next week is even better!

Monday 14 January 2013

ROW80 Check-in 14th January 2013

This is day late but better late than never!

My goals are:

1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!

2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times a week on writing related things. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.

3) Write a ROW80 check-in every sunday.
So check-in is done for goal 3 at the end of this but late but I am still counting that as done!

Now in my goal post I said I had already read three books but I lied my friends! I have read two! I forgot one was at the end of December. But I have read one this week so have read three so far this year which is ok but slightly behind. But I feel I have more reading time which is great!

Goal 2 went well as well! Here was my week:
Monday - Decding on goals and goal post
Tuesday - 30 minutes finding and recapping my plot, read story notes, read eight pages of WIP.
30 minutes - commenting and reading on ROW80 posts.
Wedneday - 25 minutes reading 12 pages of WIP.
Thursday - one hour reading 24 pages of WIP

I don't want to include commenting on ROW80 blogs in my 30 minutes but this week I will count it. My WIP is 95 pages long and I am now 58 pages through so am getting there! I am not editing at all, not even spelling mistakes. I just want to read it so I remember the tone and feel and then I can carry on writing it! Hopefully I will finish reading it this week. I do seem slightly obsessed with what everyone is drinking though....lots of work to do! So I technically did 2 hours and 25 minutes of WIP related stuff so I fall slightly short of my goal but I am going to consider it completed because if you added together all my thinking time it would be over two and a half hours.

So here is to another week and hopefully meeting all my goals, not falling slightly short! Hope you are all doing well!

Monday 7 January 2013

ROW80 2013 Round One Goals

I wanted a plan. A really concrete, systematic plan with lots of parts and to know where I am heading but I have to say I have fallen a bit flat. Since I moved house in December (I hope never to move just before Christmas again!) I haven't written since November and NaNo and I barely read until the Christmas holidays too. I also have the busiest few months coming up with two hen parties, two weddings, five 30th birthdays (INCLUDING MY OWN!) so I know I need to be sensible in what I set out to achieve. But I still want to achieve.

There are still some paperwork bits I need to get sorted after my move and some clothes I need to unpack...still! But on the whole I feel set up. In fact sitting for the first time at my dining room table I think this will be a great place to write. I have decided to return to my WIP 'Matchmaker, Matchmaker' that I wrote during CampNaNo last year. I am 58,240 words into it and the other day when I finally located it on my laptop I read the last page I wrote and was actually quite liked what I saw! So this is what I will write. I also want to have another stab at reading 100 books this year so I will need a reading goal too. I have managed to read three so far already this year but as I am back to work today my reading time is obviously reduced. Don't you find work always gets in the way?!

But I have to admit that my writing stuff got packed into a big bag and there it remains. I need to sort this stuff and reaquaint myself with 'Matchmaker' and what I had planned for the plot from here on out. Therefore I don't feel I can set a word count goal because I need to do some reading of Matchmaker and work out some next steps. So I think a time goal would be good for now because it can go from time spent preparing to time spent writing hopefully. So here are my goals:

1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!

2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times a week on writing related things. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.

3) Write a ROW80 check-in every sunday.

I have gone for five lots of writing related time a week to allow for some insanely busy weekends and as always when I set a time goal I am aiming for two and a half hours total a week.

So that is the plan. Hopefully simple and hopefully effective! I hope to make as many sprints on the #ROW80 twitter feed as possible and hopefully visit lots of you fellow ROW80ers as I was really slack about that last round. I hope everyone feels like they know where they are heading and I have a feeling it is going to be a good round!!!