Another crazy week in my 'real life', another successful one here! This is how I have got on:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
Reading time has been near impossible to find. Which I hate. I am reading Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo and am 65% through (good old Kindle!). I am loving it but as I said I am not getting much of a chance to read it! Hopefully I will finish it this week. I meant to mention that my blog is listed in the ones thanked at the start of the UK version as I reviewed The Gathering Dark (Shadow and Bone) last year. I can't tell you what a thrill it was to see my blog listed in a real life book! It made me think about how INSANELY great it would be if something I had written was an actual book! Little bit of motivation right there!
2) Write 5 sentences a day.
My five sentences a day goal is still going well! Whilst sometimes the sentences still reflect my day/things that are on my mind I have started to include more story/plot ideas.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Done :)
Once again my progress feels small but at least I am doing something. With work as it is at the moment this is what I feel I can achieve. Fingers cross over the summer I will be able to step things up a gear. I hope you have all had wonderful weeks and have a wonderful week to come!
Sunday, 16 June 2013
Sunday, 9 June 2013
ROW80 Check-in 9th June 2013
Another week of tiny, weeny progress. But progress is progress! This is how I have got on:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
As predicted the moment I got back to work my lovely reading time was snatched away! I read one book this week so I have read 35 books so far this year. Reading time is still going to be tough to find but I hope to keep reading as much as possible.
2) Write 5 sentences a day.I am still loving this challenge! I forgot to do my five sentences one day so I did ten the next day. I do find that the sentences reflect my day/things that are on my mind. I want to start gearing them more towards story/plot ideas.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Done :)
I feel this is manageable at the moment especially as work is crazy busy but I hope to get back to writing soon. Maybe rewriting my chick-lit, maybe something new, who knows! Hope you have all been productive this week and get even more done next week!
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
As predicted the moment I got back to work my lovely reading time was snatched away! I read one book this week so I have read 35 books so far this year. Reading time is still going to be tough to find but I hope to keep reading as much as possible.
2) Write 5 sentences a day.I am still loving this challenge! I forgot to do my five sentences one day so I did ten the next day. I do find that the sentences reflect my day/things that are on my mind. I want to start gearing them more towards story/plot ideas.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Done :)
I feel this is manageable at the moment especially as work is crazy busy but I hope to get back to writing soon. Maybe rewriting my chick-lit, maybe something new, who knows! Hope you have all been productive this week and get even more done next week!
Sunday, 2 June 2013
ROW80 Check-in 2nd June 2013
Some progress has been made this week!
Here were my lovely little goals and how I have done:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
I wasn't at work this week as it was half term and I got lots of lovely reading done. I read five books. Five! My good old kindle has barely been out of my hand. I am currently reading book 35 of the year which is still behind schedule but I have made up a little ground. Now I am back at work the pace will slow down again but I enjoyed having lots of reading time!
2) Write 5 sentences a day.
Success! I wrote five sentences a day in a little notebook. Some were random thoughts, some were ideas, some were observations I made of things I saw. It felt good to be getting something down however short.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Done!
So a successful week. I am slowly tiptoeing my way back into writing and I hope to keep going this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Here were my lovely little goals and how I have done:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
I wasn't at work this week as it was half term and I got lots of lovely reading done. I read five books. Five! My good old kindle has barely been out of my hand. I am currently reading book 35 of the year which is still behind schedule but I have made up a little ground. Now I am back at work the pace will slow down again but I enjoyed having lots of reading time!
2) Write 5 sentences a day.
Success! I wrote five sentences a day in a little notebook. Some were random thoughts, some were ideas, some were observations I made of things I saw. It felt good to be getting something down however short.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Done!
So a successful week. I am slowly tiptoeing my way back into writing and I hope to keep going this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Sunday, 26 May 2013
ROW80 Check-in 26th May 2013
Firstly, a huge thank you to everyone who commented on my check-in last week or tweeted me about it. Even though I know you ROW80 buddies are there I sometimes lose sight of how great you are! No-one judged me and people gave me useful tips. I've spent this week thinking and I have come u with a plan of action even though my goals are not that impressive!
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Write 5 sentences a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
So goal one stays the same and this week I am off work so hopefully I will have lots of lovely reading time. I am currently reading book 30 of the year. Goal three is simple but I know I need to check-in to be accountable.
Goal two is new. Eden suggested this in her comment last week and I like the idea. The five sentences can be thoughts, ideas, things I have overheard, anything! I like this idea because no matter how crazy work gets in the next two months, (and it will get CRAZY!) I will be able to write five sentences about something. I am quite excited by this plan and feel it will get my writing head back in action.
So simple but effective. That is the plan! Hope you have wonderful weeks!
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Write 5 sentences a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
So goal one stays the same and this week I am off work so hopefully I will have lots of lovely reading time. I am currently reading book 30 of the year. Goal three is simple but I know I need to check-in to be accountable.
Goal two is new. Eden suggested this in her comment last week and I like the idea. The five sentences can be thoughts, ideas, things I have overheard, anything! I like this idea because no matter how crazy work gets in the next two months, (and it will get CRAZY!) I will be able to write five sentences about something. I am quite excited by this plan and feel it will get my writing head back in action.
So simple but effective. That is the plan! Hope you have wonderful weeks!
Sunday, 19 May 2013
Row80 Check-in 18th May 2013
I have completely lost my way. I don't quite know when it happened and I have no idea why but I have suddenly lost all faith in my writing and my ability. Nothing triggered it. Well, nothing I am aware of anyway. I just suddenly one day a few weeks ago thought 'Why are you doing this? You can't write anything good so why bother?'
So I slunk away and didn't say anything. I haven't written anything and I haven't read any of my WIP. I haven't been on Twitter much and I haven't been checking in. I just don't quite know what to do.
I have been reading so my goal of Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week is still kind of in play. I have read 27 books this year so behind schedule for my 100 books this year goal but there is still time. For now I might just go with that. I need to find a way forward because I do want to write. I just have a block. And not writer's block. Just a block.
When Lauren asked me if I was still alive today on Twitter I figured I better say something. I'll find my way, I'm sure. I just maybe need some time.
I hope you are all going strong and smashing your goals. I hope to check-in again with a bit more focus and direction. But for now, I'll continue reading.
So I slunk away and didn't say anything. I haven't written anything and I haven't read any of my WIP. I haven't been on Twitter much and I haven't been checking in. I just don't quite know what to do.
I have been reading so my goal of Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week is still kind of in play. I have read 27 books this year so behind schedule for my 100 books this year goal but there is still time. For now I might just go with that. I need to find a way forward because I do want to write. I just have a block. And not writer's block. Just a block.
When Lauren asked me if I was still alive today on Twitter I figured I better say something. I'll find my way, I'm sure. I just maybe need some time.
I hope you are all going strong and smashing your goals. I hope to check-in again with a bit more focus and direction. But for now, I'll continue reading.
Sunday, 28 April 2013
ROW80 Check-in 28th April 2013
Ok. This is going to be short but definitely not sweet!
Here were my goals:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least ten minutes a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Goal One
I finished book 22 and have nearly finished book 23. I had a train journey yesterday and today and read 408 pages and hope to finish this book later tonight. I love reading!
Goal Two
On Monday and Tuesday I did ten minutes of reading my WIP per day and made notes on two and a half chapters. Since then, nothing. No excuse. I was busy but I could have found ten minutes. MUST DO BETTER THIS WEEK!
Goal Three
Done!
I am not going to analyse. I am just going to move on! Hope you have had wonderful weeks and hopefully this week I will DO BETTER!!
Here were my goals:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least ten minutes a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Goal One
I finished book 22 and have nearly finished book 23. I had a train journey yesterday and today and read 408 pages and hope to finish this book later tonight. I love reading!
Goal Two
On Monday and Tuesday I did ten minutes of reading my WIP per day and made notes on two and a half chapters. Since then, nothing. No excuse. I was busy but I could have found ten minutes. MUST DO BETTER THIS WEEK!
Goal Three
Done!
I am not going to analyse. I am just going to move on! Hope you have had wonderful weeks and hopefully this week I will DO BETTER!!
Sunday, 21 April 2013
ROW80 Check-in 21st April 2013
Well it has been a busy crazy week in many ways! First, let's check out my goals and how I did!
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least ten minutes a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Goal One
I read book 21 of the year and am halfway through book 22 and loving it!
Goal Two
Success! Nearly!
I was aiming for 10 minutes each day of re-reading and making notes and I managed ten every day but one so I did 20 minutes the next day. I felt much more like a habit was starting to form even though it is very much a baby step. Ten minutes isn't an intimidating amount so it felt achievable except the day work got in the way. Very pleased with this change of goal and starting to form some firm opinions on how my re-write should go because my WIP definitely needs a re-write!
Goal Three
Check!
All in all I am feeling positive and trying not to get too down about all the changes that need to be made. You need the words down to be able to change them though right?! My concern is I don't think it needs to be edited, I think it needs to be completely re-written. An edit would not do enough and I think I need totweak overhaul the plot. But it will be fine!
Something lovely happened this week! I saw a tweet that if you retweeted it you might win a query critique. I retweeted it and I WON! I never thought I would win in a million years! I felt like quite a fraud because whilst I have notes for my WIP query because I am going to re-write it, the notes I have probably won't make much sense! And it will need to change! So I tweeted the lovely jessmontgomery and explained my situation. She was absolutely wonderful and understands my situation. She has been kind and said she will critique my query whenever it is ready even if it takes a year! Let's face it, it probably will! It made me feel a bit overwhelmed, in a good way! For someone who I have never had any contact with to be so understanding and kind to me made me realise what a wonderful community the online writing community is. I knew Jess was EMCastellan's crit partner so I know she must be good people :) It made my week. And made me more determined to read this WIP and get started re-writing it!
I hope you are all having fantastic weeks and here is to another great one!!
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least ten minutes a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Goal One
I read book 21 of the year and am halfway through book 22 and loving it!
Goal Two
Success! Nearly!
I was aiming for 10 minutes each day of re-reading and making notes and I managed ten every day but one so I did 20 minutes the next day. I felt much more like a habit was starting to form even though it is very much a baby step. Ten minutes isn't an intimidating amount so it felt achievable except the day work got in the way. Very pleased with this change of goal and starting to form some firm opinions on how my re-write should go because my WIP definitely needs a re-write!
Goal Three
Check!
All in all I am feeling positive and trying not to get too down about all the changes that need to be made. You need the words down to be able to change them though right?! My concern is I don't think it needs to be edited, I think it needs to be completely re-written. An edit would not do enough and I think I need to
Something lovely happened this week! I saw a tweet that if you retweeted it you might win a query critique. I retweeted it and I WON! I never thought I would win in a million years! I felt like quite a fraud because whilst I have notes for my WIP query because I am going to re-write it, the notes I have probably won't make much sense! And it will need to change! So I tweeted the lovely jessmontgomery and explained my situation. She was absolutely wonderful and understands my situation. She has been kind and said she will critique my query whenever it is ready even if it takes a year! Let's face it, it probably will! It made me feel a bit overwhelmed, in a good way! For someone who I have never had any contact with to be so understanding and kind to me made me realise what a wonderful community the online writing community is. I knew Jess was EMCastellan's crit partner so I know she must be good people :) It made my week. And made me more determined to read this WIP and get started re-writing it!
I hope you are all having fantastic weeks and here is to another great one!!
Sunday, 14 April 2013
ROW80 Check-in 14th April 2013
Well, this week has been a mixed bag of success. I think a little goal change is in order!
Here were my goals for this week:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least an hour and a half of this each week.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Goal One
I managed to read two books this week (books 19 and 20 of the year) and am halfway through a third. I have also started a non-fiction book given to me which I will read alongside the fiction one. I got lots of reading done but was hoping for more to make up some ground on my 100 books in a year challenge but I feel happy with how this week has gone with this goal.
Goal Two
This goal hasn't gone so well. I have many issues with myself as a writer. One issue is I am worse at getting things done if I have time on my hands. I haven't been at work this week and yes, I have had plans but I could have done lots of reading of my WIP, but I didn't. I did that age old thing of putting it off till tomorrow and then crammed some in today. I read through 5 chapters of my WIP today in half an hour so I am an hour short for this goal. I do seem to struggle to get in a writing habit unless I am in a NaNoWriMo situation so I think this goal needs some tweaking. I am going to change my goal to reading my WIP for ten minutes each day. This is completely do-able and of course I can do more than ten minutes but that is at least an hour and ten minutes of reading a week and will hopefully help me develop a habit of doing something every day.
Linked to this goal is the good news that I found the end of my WIP in a bag of writing things in my flat. I genuinely have no recollection of handwriting the end of my WIP but I am so relieved I found it! I found some bits I like in my WIP in the chapters I read today but again, lots of painful notes to myself. If I write 'Show don't tell' enough hopefully it will sink in?! My favourite note to my self from this week is 'Needs sexier co-worker then old lady?' Sometimes I amaze myself!
Goal Three
Done!
So, not a terrible week but definitely could do better! Here are my goals for the week ahead:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least ten minutes a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
I hope you all have had wonderful weeks and good luck for the week ahead!
Here were my goals for this week:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least an hour and a half of this each week.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Goal One
I managed to read two books this week (books 19 and 20 of the year) and am halfway through a third. I have also started a non-fiction book given to me which I will read alongside the fiction one. I got lots of reading done but was hoping for more to make up some ground on my 100 books in a year challenge but I feel happy with how this week has gone with this goal.
Goal Two
This goal hasn't gone so well. I have many issues with myself as a writer. One issue is I am worse at getting things done if I have time on my hands. I haven't been at work this week and yes, I have had plans but I could have done lots of reading of my WIP, but I didn't. I did that age old thing of putting it off till tomorrow and then crammed some in today. I read through 5 chapters of my WIP today in half an hour so I am an hour short for this goal. I do seem to struggle to get in a writing habit unless I am in a NaNoWriMo situation so I think this goal needs some tweaking. I am going to change my goal to reading my WIP for ten minutes each day. This is completely do-able and of course I can do more than ten minutes but that is at least an hour and ten minutes of reading a week and will hopefully help me develop a habit of doing something every day.
Linked to this goal is the good news that I found the end of my WIP in a bag of writing things in my flat. I genuinely have no recollection of handwriting the end of my WIP but I am so relieved I found it! I found some bits I like in my WIP in the chapters I read today but again, lots of painful notes to myself. If I write 'Show don't tell' enough hopefully it will sink in?! My favourite note to my self from this week is 'Needs sexier co-worker then old lady?' Sometimes I amaze myself!
Goal Three
Done!
So, not a terrible week but definitely could do better! Here are my goals for the week ahead:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least ten minutes a day.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
I hope you all have had wonderful weeks and good luck for the week ahead!
Sunday, 7 April 2013
ROW80 Check-in 7th April 2013
Well week one has gone well! I am on holiday from School so I should have probably achieved double what I achieved but still, achieving something is an achievement, right?!
Here are my goals:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least an hour and a half of this each week.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
And here is how my week has looked:
Monday - Finished a book I was reading (book 16 of the year).
Wednesday - Put all of my WIP in one document to re-read as it was scattered all over the place. It was today that I had a mini freak out when I couldn't find the end of my WIP. By checking my blog post from last year I uncovered that I handwrote the end. How do I not remember this?! Fingers and toes crossed I can find it when I get back to my flat on Wednesday!
Thursday - Finished a book (book 17 of the year).
30 minutes re-reading my WIP and making notes on four chapters.
Friday - 20 minutes reading through WIP and made notes on four chapters.
Sunday - Finished a book (book 18 of the year).
50 minutes reading WIP and made notes on 5 chapters
So I have achieved all three goals this week! I have LOVED having reading time and I have enjoyed re-reading my WIP even though I make painful notes such as 'change the plot/change the order of the whole thing'. I have some thinking to do about my MC and the theme of the story (wink at Lauren for the gchat earlier!) but I will mull them over as I read through the rest of my WIP.
I hope you are all having fantastic weeks and let's hope the coming week is even better!!
Here are my goals:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least an hour and a half of this each week.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
And here is how my week has looked:
Monday - Finished a book I was reading (book 16 of the year).
Wednesday - Put all of my WIP in one document to re-read as it was scattered all over the place. It was today that I had a mini freak out when I couldn't find the end of my WIP. By checking my blog post from last year I uncovered that I handwrote the end. How do I not remember this?! Fingers and toes crossed I can find it when I get back to my flat on Wednesday!
Thursday - Finished a book (book 17 of the year).
30 minutes re-reading my WIP and making notes on four chapters.
Friday - 20 minutes reading through WIP and made notes on four chapters.
Sunday - Finished a book (book 18 of the year).
50 minutes reading WIP and made notes on 5 chapters
So I have achieved all three goals this week! I have LOVED having reading time and I have enjoyed re-reading my WIP even though I make painful notes such as 'change the plot/change the order of the whole thing'. I have some thinking to do about my MC and the theme of the story (wink at Lauren for the gchat earlier!) but I will mull them over as I read through the rest of my WIP.
I hope you are all having fantastic weeks and let's hope the coming week is even better!!
Monday, 1 April 2013
ROW80 Goals for Round Two!
The last month didn't go as planned. I didn't end up submitting a story for the short story competition after all. To cut a long story short it was a slight confidence dip mixed with trying to force a story because of the requirements of the competition and not writing a story I loved. I might go into the details one day and I had moments where I did think about whether I wanted to carry on with this crazy writing game but I am ok. As always I need to give a huge shout out to the lovely Lauren who really helped me and I felt quite overwhelmed by the time she put into helping me. It also scared me how well she can 'read me' even though she has not met me in person. Yet!
So, here we are. A fresh round of ROW80 and a fresh Em. Hopefully!
I toyed with the idea of doing CampNaNo alongside this round but I didn't have the preparation time I needed. I have done a lot of thinking and have decided I am going to re-write my first chick-lit story. I love the premise of this story but HATE the way I wrote it! I was thinking of re-writing during Camp but I know I need to actually stop, read the first draft and do some planning/plotting/sorting before I start re-writing.
Therefore April = THE MONTH OF READING!
My plan is to read, read and read some more as I am behind with my 100 books in a year challenge but I also need to read through my chick-lit draft and make notes. It is all about reading! I am not going to set any writing goals but reading through my story and plotting/planning will be invaluable when I come to re-write my story.
Therefore, my goals this round are:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least an hour and a half of this each week.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Simple goals work best for me and I am excited about this new round! I hope everyone feels like they know where they are heading and I look forward to sharing this round with you!
So, here we are. A fresh round of ROW80 and a fresh Em. Hopefully!
I toyed with the idea of doing CampNaNo alongside this round but I didn't have the preparation time I needed. I have done a lot of thinking and have decided I am going to re-write my first chick-lit story. I love the premise of this story but HATE the way I wrote it! I was thinking of re-writing during Camp but I know I need to actually stop, read the first draft and do some planning/plotting/sorting before I start re-writing.
Therefore April = THE MONTH OF READING!
My plan is to read, read and read some more as I am behind with my 100 books in a year challenge but I also need to read through my chick-lit draft and make notes. It is all about reading! I am not going to set any writing goals but reading through my story and plotting/planning will be invaluable when I come to re-write my story.
Therefore, my goals this round are:
1) Read as much as possible aiming for at least TWO books a week.
2) Read through my chick-lit first draft and make notes. At least an hour and a half of this each week.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in each Sunday.
Simple goals work best for me and I am excited about this new round! I hope everyone feels like they know where they are heading and I look forward to sharing this round with you!
Sunday, 24 March 2013
ROW80 Check-in Sunday 24th March 2013
It has been a busy week at work. I know I keep saying that but this week really and truly was insane. Here were my goals:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) a) change short story draft,
b) email to Lauren with fingers crossed,
c) submit to competition!
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
So, let's see how I have done.
Goal One
I finished book number 14 this year and managed to squeeze in a little reading time. I have a shelf of books to be read and am meant to be reading through them before I buy any new ones. But on Wednesday I accidently bought three new books. I have no excuse and I'd do it again! I am about ten books behind where I should be for the 100 books in a year challenge but I have a plan which I'll talk about later.
Goal Two
I did change my short story draft and then I printed it out and yesterday I edited it again. I wasn't expecting as much pink pen as the first edit but there is still lots of pink pen! I am starting to freak out about sending it to Lauren and the competition because I am not 100% happy with it so I am going to wait till tomorrow to send it to Lauren as I feel I need to think more on it. I know I am stalling and it might mean she doesn't have time to read it which will only be my fault for procrastinating but I need to take a step away. I am going to submit it whatever because I need to challenge myself to do that.
Goal Three
DONE!
Now as I mentioned earlier I need a plan. I needed a plan for CampNaNo and for reading so I have come up with a plan of sorts. In April I am not going to take part in camp. I am slightly gutted as I love the NaNo experience but I am completely unprepared and feel I need to look at some of the writing I have already done rather than hash out 50k new words. So I have decided April will be a month of reading. Even typing that makes me feel happy! I need to get some quality reading time in partly for my sanity and partly for my 100 books goal. But I have added a twist as I felt it was a cop out to not write in April. One of the things I must read and make notes on is my first finished chick lit novel. I have spoken about this one before and I love the premise but not the main character and it had the first 50k in the wrong tense so needs work. I also know that I don't like the way I wrote it. I was going through a tough time in my own love life (remember that? not pretty!) which I know impacted on my writing and my writing was much too serious. I was thinking of re-writing it for NaNo but I know if I don't stop, read it, make notes and sort out some issues I will end up hammering out lots of words that will need lots of work. So that is my plan for April and I'll be able to have these goals as my ROW80 goals for the new round and also jump in on some sprints.
It has been a bumpy round but I am still here and excited for round 2! Thank you for all your comments and support especially those of you on twitter who are nothing short of amazing! Here is hoping the next round is even better than this one has been!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) a) change short story draft,
b) email to Lauren with fingers crossed,
c) submit to competition!
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
So, let's see how I have done.
Goal One
I finished book number 14 this year and managed to squeeze in a little reading time. I have a shelf of books to be read and am meant to be reading through them before I buy any new ones. But on Wednesday I accidently bought three new books. I have no excuse and I'd do it again! I am about ten books behind where I should be for the 100 books in a year challenge but I have a plan which I'll talk about later.
Goal Two
I did change my short story draft and then I printed it out and yesterday I edited it again. I wasn't expecting as much pink pen as the first edit but there is still lots of pink pen! I am starting to freak out about sending it to Lauren and the competition because I am not 100% happy with it so I am going to wait till tomorrow to send it to Lauren as I feel I need to think more on it. I know I am stalling and it might mean she doesn't have time to read it which will only be my fault for procrastinating but I need to take a step away. I am going to submit it whatever because I need to challenge myself to do that.
Goal Three
DONE!
Now as I mentioned earlier I need a plan. I needed a plan for CampNaNo and for reading so I have come up with a plan of sorts. In April I am not going to take part in camp. I am slightly gutted as I love the NaNo experience but I am completely unprepared and feel I need to look at some of the writing I have already done rather than hash out 50k new words. So I have decided April will be a month of reading. Even typing that makes me feel happy! I need to get some quality reading time in partly for my sanity and partly for my 100 books goal. But I have added a twist as I felt it was a cop out to not write in April. One of the things I must read and make notes on is my first finished chick lit novel. I have spoken about this one before and I love the premise but not the main character and it had the first 50k in the wrong tense so needs work. I also know that I don't like the way I wrote it. I was going through a tough time in my own love life (remember that? not pretty!) which I know impacted on my writing and my writing was much too serious. I was thinking of re-writing it for NaNo but I know if I don't stop, read it, make notes and sort out some issues I will end up hammering out lots of words that will need lots of work. So that is my plan for April and I'll be able to have these goals as my ROW80 goals for the new round and also jump in on some sprints.
It has been a bumpy round but I am still here and excited for round 2! Thank you for all your comments and support especially those of you on twitter who are nothing short of amazing! Here is hoping the next round is even better than this one has been!
Sunday, 17 March 2013
ROW80 Check-in 17th March 2013
Well it has been a calmer week and I have achieved some goals but failed miserably on one. Here were my goals:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Finish first draft of short story in third person.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal One
Really struggling with this! I am still reading book number 14 of the year but I have barely found time to read this week and weekend. It is a JoJo Moyes book and I love her work but I am just not finding the time. I am about 8 books behind where I would ideally be but I have a two week break soon which means lots of lovely reading time. After posting this I am going to have a relaxing evening so will do some readng. As I always say, there is time to catch up on this one!
Goal Two
COMPLETE! I finished the draft in third person of my short story and it works a better than the first person draft so I am pleased I tried it. The first draft was 1,700 words long but I did the first edit today and whilst I have cut, re-arranged and scrawled out words I also added some. I edited in pink as it feels more positive then red and I am glad I did because there is A LOT of pink on the page!
Goal Three
Done!
So it has been a sucessful week writing wise and as mentioned I have done my first edit. It was painful but the bare bones were there. I need to make the changes on the computer but I am going to do that tomorrow and hopefully the always wonderful Lauren is going to cast her eye over it for me. I have the craziest week at work so I am going to keep goals one and three the same and goal two needs to be simple!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) a) change short story draft,
b) email to Lauren with fingers crossed,
c) submit to competition!
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Oh, hang on. Simple goal three has ended up with three parts! But they are necessary as the deadline is on the 31st March. I aim to be at the sprint tomorrow to do my editing and then the rest of the week is going to be a wash out apart from hopefully some reading time. Next Saturday will hopefull be the day I submit the story. Deep breath. It is also a huge thing for me to let the lovely Lauren read it as no-one has really read anything I have written before. Two deep breaths! But I know she will be honest but gentle!
I hope you are all smashing your goals and have a wonderful week!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Finish first draft of short story in third person.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal One
Really struggling with this! I am still reading book number 14 of the year but I have barely found time to read this week and weekend. It is a JoJo Moyes book and I love her work but I am just not finding the time. I am about 8 books behind where I would ideally be but I have a two week break soon which means lots of lovely reading time. After posting this I am going to have a relaxing evening so will do some readng. As I always say, there is time to catch up on this one!
Goal Two
COMPLETE! I finished the draft in third person of my short story and it works a better than the first person draft so I am pleased I tried it. The first draft was 1,700 words long but I did the first edit today and whilst I have cut, re-arranged and scrawled out words I also added some. I edited in pink as it feels more positive then red and I am glad I did because there is A LOT of pink on the page!
Goal Three
Done!
So it has been a sucessful week writing wise and as mentioned I have done my first edit. It was painful but the bare bones were there. I need to make the changes on the computer but I am going to do that tomorrow and hopefully the always wonderful Lauren is going to cast her eye over it for me. I have the craziest week at work so I am going to keep goals one and three the same and goal two needs to be simple!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) a) change short story draft,
b) email to Lauren with fingers crossed,
c) submit to competition!
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Oh, hang on. Simple goal three has ended up with three parts! But they are necessary as the deadline is on the 31st March. I aim to be at the sprint tomorrow to do my editing and then the rest of the week is going to be a wash out apart from hopefully some reading time. Next Saturday will hopefull be the day I submit the story. Deep breath. It is also a huge thing for me to let the lovely Lauren read it as no-one has really read anything I have written before. Two deep breaths! But I know she will be honest but gentle!
I hope you are all smashing your goals and have a wonderful week!
Sunday, 10 March 2013
R0W80 Check-in Sunday 10th March 2013
I wouldn't say I have been consistent this week but I think goal wise I have done ok! My goals were:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Finish first draft of short story.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal One:
I finished book number 13 this week and started reading another but it was a crazy week at work and I didn't get a lot of reading time. I want to get more reading time in this week and next weekend should be quiet so I will hopefully get to read lots! Hopefully!
Goal Two:
I DID IT!!! I finished the first draft of my short story. I wrote 833 words on Monday and 541 words on Saturday so it is complete at 4,011 words. I now need to write a first draft in third person as the more I think about it the more I think third person will work better. The only issue is I need to write and then edit it by March 31st. Eeeek!
Goal Three:
Done!
So this week my goals are pretty much the same with a tweak to goal 2!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Finish first draft of short story in third person.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
That's right! I am going to try and write an entire first draft this week! I need to if I am going to have enough editing time and this week is calmer (hopefully!) at work then next week so I need to get cracking!!
Now, before I go we need to talk about CampNaNo. I found out that they were holding a Camp in April and July as opposed to August. July will be NO good for me because work will be crazy so that is a no go. April is......soon! I have no idea if I am going to do it but you can set your own word limit which would be good and lots of my ROW80 buddies are taking part and I want to be in the gang! My issue would be with the short story deadline being prepared and ready to write anything. But I was thinking I could re-write my first chick-lit novel. I love the premise of the story but the first 50k words were in the wrong tense and I told the story all wrong. I told it too seriously and the main character needed some work! But I feel I could pick that up and write it with the notes I have. I need to think more on this but I think I am in. Even for a few thousand words.
Anyway, hope you have had wonderful weeks and the next week is even better than the last!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Finish first draft of short story.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal One:
I finished book number 13 this week and started reading another but it was a crazy week at work and I didn't get a lot of reading time. I want to get more reading time in this week and next weekend should be quiet so I will hopefully get to read lots! Hopefully!
Goal Two:
I DID IT!!! I finished the first draft of my short story. I wrote 833 words on Monday and 541 words on Saturday so it is complete at 4,011 words. I now need to write a first draft in third person as the more I think about it the more I think third person will work better. The only issue is I need to write and then edit it by March 31st. Eeeek!
Goal Three:
Done!
So this week my goals are pretty much the same with a tweak to goal 2!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Finish first draft of short story in third person.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
That's right! I am going to try and write an entire first draft this week! I need to if I am going to have enough editing time and this week is calmer (hopefully!) at work then next week so I need to get cracking!!
Now, before I go we need to talk about CampNaNo. I found out that they were holding a Camp in April and July as opposed to August. July will be NO good for me because work will be crazy so that is a no go. April is......soon! I have no idea if I am going to do it but you can set your own word limit which would be good and lots of my ROW80 buddies are taking part and I want to be in the gang! My issue would be with the short story deadline being prepared and ready to write anything. But I was thinking I could re-write my first chick-lit novel. I love the premise of the story but the first 50k words were in the wrong tense and I told the story all wrong. I told it too seriously and the main character needed some work! But I feel I could pick that up and write it with the notes I have. I need to think more on this but I think I am in. Even for a few thousand words.
Anyway, hope you have had wonderful weeks and the next week is even better than the last!
Sunday, 3 March 2013
ROW80 Check-in Sunday 3rd March 2013
Ok. Here is the honest truth. I have been rubbish this week. Let's just get straight into it.
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 on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1
Ok. So goal 1 has not been great. I barely read last week. I started two different books but couldn't get into either so stopped which is very unlike me. I was tired and not feeling great and I didn't have the energy to read. Very, very unlike me. I am now reading 'A Passionate Love Affair With a Total Stranger' by Lucy Robinson and I am loving it so hopefully I will finish it soon. I have read 12 books so far this year so I am behind but there is lots of time to make it up!
Goal 2
On Monday I wrote 735 words in 30 minutes of the #row80 sprint and Thursday I wrote 552 words in 30 minutes. So I managed an hour of writing which falls well short of my goal but I guess an hour is still an hour? Words are still words? My short story is now at 2,637 words and this week I really need to finish the first draft. I am writing in first person but I am going to try a draft in third after this and decide which one to edit for the competition. 28 days and counting until the deadline!
Goal 3
This one is done! So it isn't all completely bad!
Goal 1 is on track and 3 should be fine for next week so goal 2 is the one I need to focus on.
I have a crazy busy week this week. Lots of meetings at work and things that I need to do which which take up a lot of my time in the evenings. Work friends are staying on Tuesday and Wednesday nights so I won't be able to do anything then and I have plans on Friday. So I am going to tweak this goal.I am going to make my goal for this week - finish draft 1 of short story. So by next Sunday draft 1 in first person WILL be done. I am not going to worry about amount of time spent or number of words. I just want one draft finished! I feel calmer not thinking of trying to fit in lots of time, I just need to write when I can.
So there you have it. Not pretty but not every week can be pretty! Hope you are having wonderful weeks and hopefully I will be here telling you I have a completed first draft of my short story next week!
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 on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1
Ok. So goal 1 has not been great. I barely read last week. I started two different books but couldn't get into either so stopped which is very unlike me. I was tired and not feeling great and I didn't have the energy to read. Very, very unlike me. I am now reading 'A Passionate Love Affair With a Total Stranger' by Lucy Robinson and I am loving it so hopefully I will finish it soon. I have read 12 books so far this year so I am behind but there is lots of time to make it up!
Goal 2
On Monday I wrote 735 words in 30 minutes of the #row80 sprint and Thursday I wrote 552 words in 30 minutes. So I managed an hour of writing which falls well short of my goal but I guess an hour is still an hour? Words are still words? My short story is now at 2,637 words and this week I really need to finish the first draft. I am writing in first person but I am going to try a draft in third after this and decide which one to edit for the competition. 28 days and counting until the deadline!
Goal 3
This one is done! So it isn't all completely bad!
Goal 1 is on track and 3 should be fine for next week so goal 2 is the one I need to focus on.
I have a crazy busy week this week. Lots of meetings at work and things that I need to do which which take up a lot of my time in the evenings. Work friends are staying on Tuesday and Wednesday nights so I won't be able to do anything then and I have plans on Friday. So I am going to tweak this goal.I am going to make my goal for this week - finish draft 1 of short story. So by next Sunday draft 1 in first person WILL be done. I am not going to worry about amount of time spent or number of words. I just want one draft finished! I feel calmer not thinking of trying to fit in lots of time, I just need to write when I can.
So there you have it. Not pretty but not every week can be pretty! Hope you are having wonderful weeks and hopefully I will be here telling you I have a completed first draft of my short story next week!
Sunday, 24 February 2013
ROW80 Check-in Sunday 24th February 2013
Well, what a week. I was full of plans to have NO plans and keep things calm but that never really happens. I think I am one of those people who is more productive the less time they have. Some days I have had hours to do things but waited till last minute to squeeze in half an hour. But I have been somewhat successful!
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 on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1 - Definitely achieved this this week. I have finished one book and read three. I have just started reading book number 13 so I am a few behind where I should be but have made up some ground here.
Goal 2 - I have done two and a half hours of short story things. Two half hour slots and one long hour and a half slot yesterday. I can't seem to get into a daily habit but when life calms down (ha!) I hope to do this. Here is what I did:
Monday - 30 minutes spent working on short story notes, jotting down ideas, crossing out bad ideas!
Thursday - 30 minutes writing out brief outline and brief character notes. Writing a short story is a completely different beast and I know I don't need to get bogged down in the details at this stage.
Saturday - An hour and a half of writing, yes WRITING! I tend to put this off and distract myself with such activities as nail painting so my nails look nice as I write but today I managed to sit and write. It will need a lot of editing as as usual I am unsure if I should be writing in first person or whether third would be better. I think I'll try both.
Goal 3 - done!
So there you have it, I have done well this week although not being at work I should have achieved a lot more than I have but I achieved my goals and that is the main thing!!! I hope everyone has had wonderful weeks. Time is flying so I hope you are really finding your stride!
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 on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1 - Definitely achieved this this week. I have finished one book and read three. I have just started reading book number 13 so I am a few behind where I should be but have made up some ground here.
Goal 2 - I have done two and a half hours of short story things. Two half hour slots and one long hour and a half slot yesterday. I can't seem to get into a daily habit but when life calms down (ha!) I hope to do this. Here is what I did:
Monday - 30 minutes spent working on short story notes, jotting down ideas, crossing out bad ideas!
Thursday - 30 minutes writing out brief outline and brief character notes. Writing a short story is a completely different beast and I know I don't need to get bogged down in the details at this stage.
Saturday - An hour and a half of writing, yes WRITING! I tend to put this off and distract myself with such activities as nail painting so my nails look nice as I write but today I managed to sit and write. It will need a lot of editing as as usual I am unsure if I should be writing in first person or whether third would be better. I think I'll try both.
Goal 3 - done!
So there you have it, I have done well this week although not being at work I should have achieved a lot more than I have but I achieved my goals and that is the main thing!!! I hope everyone has had wonderful weeks. Time is flying so I hope you are really finding your stride!
Sunday, 17 February 2013
ROW80 Check-in 17th February 2013
I am pleased and relieved to say I have had a much better week this week. In fact I have actually achieved some of my goals!
Here they are:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1 - I have finished book number 8 and read number 9 this week so guess I achieved this one! Book number 9 was a great collection of short stories put together for a book raising money for Breast Cancer Care and includes stories by writers such as Sophie Kinsella and Jojo Moyes. I wasn't sure if a book of short stories should count in my book count but since it contains 34 stories I decided it would!
Goal 2 - I had a busy week this week what with a good friend's wedding and a weekend long hen party but I still have achieved this goal! One Monday I spent an hour reading five short stories and I emailed my lovely friend and fellow ROW80er Lauren with my short story idea as I was worried it wasn't a good enough idea but she assures me it is! She has even agreed to read it for me before I enter it into the competition. So now I need to write it! On Friday I read seven short stories in an hour on the train and today I read 20 in just over two hours. Although I was reading because I was reading short stories I am counting this as working on my short story. I have learnt so much from reading a lot of different stories by different writers so I am counting this as research. So really I spent over three hours on this goal which is wonderful and a big tick!
Goal 3 - As you are reading this, it is done!
So a successful week even though I haven't put pen to paper. But I will! I am off work for half term this week and considering how cray cray my life has been lately I am looking forward to a calm week! I am going to try and keep things clam and not make too many plans so I have time to sleep, read and write. I am hoping to properly plot my story, work on the characters and maybe even hammer out a first draft (or at least part of one) so I can start to shape it. I know the first draft will be far from perfect and knowing me I will write too much so have to edit it down but that is fine.
I hope everyone has had wonderful weeks and you are smashing your goals whatever they will be. See you next week, hopefully with good news of the writing I have done!
Here they are:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!
2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1 - I have finished book number 8 and read number 9 this week so guess I achieved this one! Book number 9 was a great collection of short stories put together for a book raising money for Breast Cancer Care and includes stories by writers such as Sophie Kinsella and Jojo Moyes. I wasn't sure if a book of short stories should count in my book count but since it contains 34 stories I decided it would!
Goal 2 - I had a busy week this week what with a good friend's wedding and a weekend long hen party but I still have achieved this goal! One Monday I spent an hour reading five short stories and I emailed my lovely friend and fellow ROW80er Lauren with my short story idea as I was worried it wasn't a good enough idea but she assures me it is! She has even agreed to read it for me before I enter it into the competition. So now I need to write it! On Friday I read seven short stories in an hour on the train and today I read 20 in just over two hours. Although I was reading because I was reading short stories I am counting this as working on my short story. I have learnt so much from reading a lot of different stories by different writers so I am counting this as research. So really I spent over three hours on this goal which is wonderful and a big tick!
Goal 3 - As you are reading this, it is done!
So a successful week even though I haven't put pen to paper. But I will! I am off work for half term this week and considering how cray cray my life has been lately I am looking forward to a calm week! I am going to try and keep things clam and not make too many plans so I have time to sleep, read and write. I am hoping to properly plot my story, work on the characters and maybe even hammer out a first draft (or at least part of one) so I can start to shape it. I know the first draft will be far from perfect and knowing me I will write too much so have to edit it down but that is fine.
I hope everyone has had wonderful weeks and you are smashing your goals whatever they will be. See you next week, hopefully with good news of the writing I have done!
Sunday, 10 February 2013
ROW80 Check-in 10th February 2013
I know I wanted 2013 to be an eventful year but some of the things that are going on are not quite what I ordered. I can't think what I have done towards my goals in the last fortnight so I am not going to look back but instead I am going to look forward.
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 on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
So my goals are simple. 1 and 2 are especially simple and I am currently reading book number 8 of the year. By tuesday I should have read book number 12 but I am closing the gap! I have a couple of train journeys next weekend which means quality reading time and I determined not to buy any more books on my kindle until I clear some ofF the 'to be read' pile on my bookshelf.
My last check in was Sunday 27th January and in that check-in I talked about how I felt like I was lacking direction. I have unfinished and finished but unedited WIP's that need editing but nothing was grabbing my interest and therefore motivation was lacking.
So I have taken a different direction altogether and decided to enter a short story competition! I heard from a friend about a short story competition run by Belinda Jones and the winning entry will be published alongside 30 brilliant writers in an anthology. The story needs to be set outside the Uk and have a holiday theme and the genre is romance. The deadline is the 31st March so there is plenty of time *eye twitch* and whilst I am excited I am a bit scared. I have never written a short story so it is a whole new skill to learn but I am going to give it a go. I found a book of short stories on my shelf I have never read which contains lots of my favourite writers so I am going to read that as research and I have been scribbling ideas down for the plot.
So here is to a productive week although I have a wedding on Thursday and a hen weekend all weekend so it could be a struggle at times! I hope everyone is doing well and smashing their goals!
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 on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.
3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
So my goals are simple. 1 and 2 are especially simple and I am currently reading book number 8 of the year. By tuesday I should have read book number 12 but I am closing the gap! I have a couple of train journeys next weekend which means quality reading time and I determined not to buy any more books on my kindle until I clear some ofF the 'to be read' pile on my bookshelf.
My last check in was Sunday 27th January and in that check-in I talked about how I felt like I was lacking direction. I have unfinished and finished but unedited WIP's that need editing but nothing was grabbing my interest and therefore motivation was lacking.
So I have taken a different direction altogether and decided to enter a short story competition! I heard from a friend about a short story competition run by Belinda Jones and the winning entry will be published alongside 30 brilliant writers in an anthology. The story needs to be set outside the Uk and have a holiday theme and the genre is romance. The deadline is the 31st March so there is plenty of time *eye twitch* and whilst I am excited I am a bit scared. I have never written a short story so it is a whole new skill to learn but I am going to give it a go. I found a book of short stories on my shelf I have never read which contains lots of my favourite writers so I am going to read that as research and I have been scribbling ideas down for the plot.
So here is to a productive week although I have a wedding on Thursday and a hen weekend all weekend so it could be a struggle at times! I hope everyone is doing well and smashing their goals!
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!!
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!
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!
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!!!
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!!!
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