And the Countdown Begins...

To Christmas of course!  Only one week left and I am slowly but surely crossing things off my list. I got started late, but by going out and picking up gifts and needed supplies before work, I am getting closer to the finish line.  The only hiccup so far has been that I found out Christmas Eve festivities will be at my house.  That was not in the game plan, but nothing I can do about it now. I got the menu together and now, all I have to do is head to the grocery store to make sure I have everything I will need.  Should be interesting to see how it all goes, but well, first time for everything, right? 

As for writing, I've been slowly getting back into the game, writing a little bit each day.  Not as much as I would like, but baby steps! I also have come up with the cover design for my short story thanks to a friend of mine so that will be going up for sale by the end of the month.  (Thank you Sunhi!) And, as an added bonus, as I was working on the cover, I was hit smack in the face with an idea to expand on this story by creating a companion piece.  I kept thinking about my main character and how, in the story I wrote, she only really tells her side--the motivations for her actions and emotions in the relationship and events she recounts.  The other side isn't really explored, and even though he is kinda, well a douche bag in many ways, he still has his own reasons and motivations for how and why things happened the way they did.  So I have decided to write his story as a follow up/companion short story to hers.  I even came up with names for each one which I think fit really well.  

Don't even ask about my working out goals...they have not been going well.  I really really really need to get back into that this week.  I actually MISS it...yes even the getting out of bed a half hour early to do yoga, or stretching, or whatever workout is on the calendar for that day.  So yeah, tomorrow it is back to hitting that weekly goal.  I hope my yoga mat will be happy to see me...

So, lots on my plate but things are looking up after that crazy month of November and early December.  I look forward to checking in to see how everyone else is doing later this week. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!     

I Fell Off the Bike...

Not literally of course.  I don't ride bikes since I have very little balance and it usually ends with some sort of physical injury. I fell of the bike in the sense that I mucked up my ROW80--and NaNo--goals.  This is truly kinda embarrassing  because I had been doing so, so so (yes that is three so(s)) great on my goals and on NaNo.  I had just over 20K words, and then all hell broke loose...something  just had to give. I had 4 projects to complete in November for my classes and major headaches at the office, so I had to step back from the writing, tweeting, blogging etc to get all that done.  Thankfully, there is a light at the end of the tunnel in that my last final is Wednesday.  I will be done until mid-January and things at the office are back to the normal level of chaos I can handle, and should be for the next few months.  

Throughout all the craziness that has consumed me the last month, I did learn a few important things.  Those lessons are:  I can't do everything all at once; that organized or not, there are only so many hours in the day; and sleep is necessary for some of those hours.  Sometimes we have to make sacrifices, even with the stuff we love to do, and prioritizing is key.  Knowing that I had to take some time away from writing, to get done what I needed to, and would eventually get back to my writing once things settled was key.  In the past-and pre-ROW80- I would have wallowed in my 'failures' and got frustrated and let the writing gather dust, but not this time. ROW80 has taught me that having a life, is just as important as meeting my goals--and even though in this instance that 'life' consisted of work and not fun, that's okay.  I had to prioritize and I did.  Now I can get back to my regularly scheduled programming so to speak, without worry that I missed something or stressing out (and ultimately burning out) that I was falling behind as I tried to juggle a hundred million things at once.  Instead, I will take this as a learning experience, sigh, and hop back on the bike.  I can still make it up this next hill by the end of the Round.

As for NaNo--as I mentioned, I didn't 'win' in the sense that I did not reach 50K words.  My final count for November ended up being 31,543, but I didn't even have a chance to update it on the website by the 30th.  However, despite not hitting the 50K mark, I still feel like a winner. I know, it sounds corny right? But seriously, I have a WIP that I am so proud of, I've already knocked out a pretty big portion of it and know where I am going with the rest of it!  Once finals are over, I plan switching up my goals to write a minimum of 1K words a day, 5 days a week and get back to my routine. That should set me on par to complete it and be in the revision process, or close to it anyways, by the time I am ready to hit the books again.  After all, it's all about how we look at things right?  And there is always next November to finally conquer NaNo!  

Hope you guys did great with NaNo and are kicking butt with your ROW80 goals.  I'm so glad to be back and look forward to checking in on everyone later this week!