OK, maybe not a thousand...
Everyone in my house has been sick, including me. I've been playing catch-up the last few days on all my classwork, so I definitely didn't hit my goals this week.
My goals for this coming week are simple: finish catching up with last week's homework, complete this week's homework and complete my short story for submission. Oh, and analyze and critique a bunch of short stories. Being sick isn't fun but it's the aftermath that's kicking my butt at the moment!
I'll cut this short and leave you with a quick video of two very cute and happy dogs. (Warning: apparently I stink at taking photos and shooting videos.)
January 23, 2012
January 16, 2012
Unexpected and Unstuck, an ROW80 Check-In
Why is it the exercise goals are always the ones to fall by the wayside? Sigh, maybe it's just me.
Excluding the epic exercise fail, I had a productive and eye-opening week. Course #1 forced me to write a compact story that actually had an ending. I have issues with endings: I never seem to write them. It's like a phobia. I noticed with this assignment, as I got to the point where I had to write the ending, I got stuck. I had half of it played out in my head but couldn't get it on paper. I ended up going back to the beginning and re-writing it before I even wrote the ending. Because I had a deadline for this story, there wasn't an option of moving on to something else or starting something new. There's only so much laundry and cleaning a person can do and the size of my guilt at reading a book or watching TV knowing I hadn't finished this story was too much to ignore. I'm happy to say that I finished the assignment and actually smiled when I was done. At 5 in the morning.
Another realization came through course #2: I had to analyze someone else's writing. Wow, did I struggle with this. After reading the darn thing three times and finally handing in my positives and negatives, I read my classmates responses and was like, "Oh yeah, how'd I miss that, and that, and that?" Conclusion? I need to start reading with more of an analytical eye. This will take practice.
I hit all of my goals for the week except for getting on the blasted treadmill.
Goals for Week 3:
1) Keep up with my homework assignments, both reading and writing.
2) Get a solid portion of my short story done.
3) Juice veggies 3x.
4) Get butt on treadmill 2x!
5) Continue with my daily journal entries.
Go forth and conquer my fellow ROW80ers!
Excluding the epic exercise fail, I had a productive and eye-opening week. Course #1 forced me to write a compact story that actually had an ending. I have issues with endings: I never seem to write them. It's like a phobia. I noticed with this assignment, as I got to the point where I had to write the ending, I got stuck. I had half of it played out in my head but couldn't get it on paper. I ended up going back to the beginning and re-writing it before I even wrote the ending. Because I had a deadline for this story, there wasn't an option of moving on to something else or starting something new. There's only so much laundry and cleaning a person can do and the size of my guilt at reading a book or watching TV knowing I hadn't finished this story was too much to ignore. I'm happy to say that I finished the assignment and actually smiled when I was done. At 5 in the morning.
Another realization came through course #2: I had to analyze someone else's writing. Wow, did I struggle with this. After reading the darn thing three times and finally handing in my positives and negatives, I read my classmates responses and was like, "Oh yeah, how'd I miss that, and that, and that?" Conclusion? I need to start reading with more of an analytical eye. This will take practice.
I hit all of my goals for the week except for getting on the blasted treadmill.
Goals for Week 3:
1) Keep up with my homework assignments, both reading and writing.
2) Get a solid portion of my short story done.
3) Juice veggies 3x.
4) Get butt on treadmill 2x!
5) Continue with my daily journal entries.
Go forth and conquer my fellow ROW80ers!
January 11, 2012
Sifting For Goals
We're halfway through week 2 of ROW80 and some serious goal shifting is in progress. My courses started this week and the workload has me rethinking the next two months. One of my courses requires I write two short stories. The first one is due on January 30th, less than three weeks from now. This has left me unsure if I should continue focusing on my MS, finish it, and then start on my short story or start the short story first. I considered revising and finishing a short story I've already started but decided against it. I want to start a fresh story for my class. I really want to get the most out of these courses. I'm hoping to get some solid writing done in the next few months and have a piece that is ready for submission. So, I am going to put my MS on hold for now and focus on my reading and writing assignments.
I think I'll add "consumption of large quantities of java and black tea" to my goal list.
I think I'll add "consumption of large quantities of java and black tea" to my goal list.
"Another word for creativity is courage." ~ George Prince.
January 9, 2012
Play Dates, Puppy or Human, Are Good For The Soul & ROW80 Check-In
It is the end of Week One of ROW80 and between writing, family, and puppy play dates, my brain is a little fried up with salt, kinda like my friend Melanie's stories.
My sister brought over her boston terrier puppy, Miss Pugsli, for a play date with Phoebe. They're both eight months old, only two weeks apart, but there's about a 40 pound weight difference. Can you guess which one was the scaredy cat?
ROW80 Check-in
Baby goals proved to be very effective this first week of 2012. I missed one day of writing because I was exhausted but I hit and passed my goal for the total number of words I wanted to write for the week.
Total written words: 4,055
Here's the breakdown (mostly to help keep me motivated):
Monday - 522
Tuesday - 516
Wednesday - 421
Thursday - 1,144
Friday - 0
Saturday - 804
Sunday - 648
Not too shabby for the first week.
Goals for this week are going to be a lot different. I've noticed people are including goals other than writing and thought I would give that a try. Also, I am blessed to have the opportunity to take two online courses, one on writing fiction and one on reading fiction. The assignment schedules for these two classes will play a major part in my goals for the week, and the next two months, but they don't actually start until Tuesday.
Here are my tentative goals for Week Two, I'll adjust as necessary in my midweek check-in.
1) Write 2,000 words on my romantic thriller MS (NaNo 2011.)
2) Make a daily journal entry, even if it's only one sentence.
3) Watch one new movie toward my 50/50 challenge goal.
4) Juice veggies three times.
5) Get my butt on the treadmill at least twice.
Good luck to all my fellow ROW80ers!
My sister brought over her boston terrier puppy, Miss Pugsli, for a play date with Phoebe. They're both eight months old, only two weeks apart, but there's about a 40 pound weight difference. Can you guess which one was the scaredy cat?
ROW80 Check-in
Baby goals proved to be very effective this first week of 2012. I missed one day of writing because I was exhausted but I hit and passed my goal for the total number of words I wanted to write for the week.
Total written words: 4,055
Here's the breakdown (mostly to help keep me motivated):
Monday - 522
Tuesday - 516
Wednesday - 421
Thursday - 1,144
Friday - 0
Saturday - 804
Sunday - 648
Not too shabby for the first week.
Goals for this week are going to be a lot different. I've noticed people are including goals other than writing and thought I would give that a try. Also, I am blessed to have the opportunity to take two online courses, one on writing fiction and one on reading fiction. The assignment schedules for these two classes will play a major part in my goals for the week, and the next two months, but they don't actually start until Tuesday.
Here are my tentative goals for Week Two, I'll adjust as necessary in my midweek check-in.
1) Write 2,000 words on my romantic thriller MS (NaNo 2011.)
2) Make a daily journal entry, even if it's only one sentence.
3) Watch one new movie toward my 50/50 challenge goal.
4) Juice veggies three times.
5) Get my butt on the treadmill at least twice.
Good luck to all my fellow ROW80ers!
January 5, 2012
ROW80 Round 1/Wk 1 Midweek Check-In
Just a quick ROW80 midweek check-in. I'm on track with my writing goal of 200 words a day.
Here's the breakdown:
Monday - 522 words
Tuesday - 516 words
Wednesday - 421 words
My plan is to keep with the goal of 200 words a day as my minimum. I'm happy that I've already passed my goal for the week of 1,400.
On a side note, I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning. Why is this exciting or worth mentioning, you ask? Because my dentist's office is a pet friendly office.
And, I'll be showing off my beautiful Bella tomorrow. Phoebe will not be joining us because I'm afraid of what she might eat before I could stop her. She will put anything in her mouth! Bella was like that at 8 months old, too.
I wish more places were pet friendly. :)
Here's the breakdown:
Monday - 522 words
Tuesday - 516 words
Wednesday - 421 words
My plan is to keep with the goal of 200 words a day as my minimum. I'm happy that I've already passed my goal for the week of 1,400.
On a side note, I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning. Why is this exciting or worth mentioning, you ask? Because my dentist's office is a pet friendly office.
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And, I'll be showing off my beautiful Bella tomorrow. Phoebe will not be joining us because I'm afraid of what she might eat before I could stop her. She will put anything in her mouth! Bella was like that at 8 months old, too.
I wish more places were pet friendly. :)
January 2, 2012
ROW80 Round One - Week 1 & Kristen Lamb
Have you been reading Kristen Lamb's blog? If not, get to it! Her blog is chock-full of shiny pearls of wisdom for writers. I highly recommend checking it out.
You know how I decided to set baby goals this year rather than New Year's resolutions? Well, imagine how excited I was to read Kristen's post today about planning for success in 2012 in which she suggests, you guessed it, baby steps! :)
Baby goals commencing - ROW80 2012 starts today.
Here are the goals I tentatively set for the first round (listed in previous post):
1) Finish my 2011 NaNo novel. (I'm this close to the ending!)
You know how I decided to set baby goals this year rather than New Year's resolutions? Well, imagine how excited I was to read Kristen's post today about planning for success in 2012 in which she suggests, you guessed it, baby steps! :)
Baby goals commencing - ROW80 2012 starts today.
Here are the goals I tentatively set for the first round (listed in previous post):
1) Finish my 2011 NaNo novel. (I'm this close to the ending!)
2) Write a new poem.
3) Finish one of my short stories and get it ready to send out. (This is a biggie for me as I've not sent one piece of writing out for publishing, yet.)
4) Complete online writing course that begins on January 10th.
Now on to the the nitty-gritty weekly goal setting.
Round One - Week 1
My goal for this first week is to write a minimum of 200 words a day or a total of 1,400 words for the week.
I know that probably doesn't sound like much, but it's what I feel comfortable with right now. I will be working on finishing up my 2011 NaNo novel. I need to write the last few chapters, where my heroine kicks the evil doer's butt. ;) I don't believe it will take more than three chapters to accomplish this, maybe four.
To increase my geekiness level and help keep my motivation going, I've decided to name Jedi Master Yoda my mascot for Round One. :)
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