ROW80 Update for Wednesday. Jan. 25th

This will be a woefully short ROW80 update since I have classes and office hours this afternoon, but seeing as I took some time off last week, I wanted to post a quick note as to my progress.  I need to keep holding myself accountable to my goals after all!  School is back in session and I have returned to running around like crazy, either doing homework for the classes I'm taking, or grading introduction to literature quizzes and papers for the classes I'm teaching.  It's going to be a tough semester since I decided to add another class to my schedule, but I really want to get closer to that goal of my Master's degree.  I took last week off to get all that sorted and ensure I got started on the right foot and didn't fall behind.  So far I'm on track to hit my exercise and writing goals by the end of this week.  The word sprints are a definite help in that regard and I try to participate whenever I am in the office or near a computer.  I hope everyone's week so far is going well and good luck with your goals!

Wednesday ROW80 Update

Things are looking good this week! I am happy with my progress so far, which as of today is:  

• Writing 1500 words a day--check
• Activity--two days so far! Woot! Won't likely get to it today, but that's okay-I can still make the 5 day a week goal.
• Blogging-work in progress.  This goal is more about doing a non-ROW80 blog once a week. I'm shooting to get something out sometime in the next day or two. I won't stick to the same topics every week--it could be anything from tv to music to books to teaching to humorous stuff found around the interwebs.  Bottom line is, I want to have fun writing about it and for it not to seem like a chore. 
• Commenting--check
• Twitter and Tweeting--check and check! I am getting better at this, I think. I hope.  The 2 pm word sprints are a definite help! 

My WIP, which is my unfinished NaNo story, is coming along great with the help of Lauren's  2pm word sprints!  I even have found time to edit the first part of it in the evenings.  I've made several changes, additions and deletions to the outline and the WIP itself, but so far I am happy with them all and really like the direction this is moving in.  I feel like the story and the characters have started to have a mind of their own and are leading me on twists and turns I hadn't even thought about when I was outlining!

In yesterday's word sprint I also made a huge decision about who the bad guy is. I've kept many of the characters mysterious, each having their own set of secrets and I thought I had decided on who the baddie would be. But something clicked as I wrote in the word sprint on Tuesday that made me finally decide. It changes A LOT of what is to come in terms of motive and I have to add a few scenes to my outline...but I think it makes it more fun, less predictable, and it just feels right.  Listening to my inner voice as I write has been something I've been working on since the start of ROW80, and it's finally starting to click.  I can't wait to see where this leads for the rest of my characters!

I am also working on a short story which I'm in no rush to finish--just kind of taking my time there and being lazy. I'm not putting pressure on myself to get something done, or out there. I'm just going to write and relax for a while.

Lastly, I am adding at least one reading challenge to my goals.  In catching up on blog reading the other day, I found Tia's post about the Stephen King Project and I literally squealed with delight.  I love Stephen King and this is the perfect excuse to read more of his books. So a big thank you to Tia and to the Stephen King Project!  Now I just have to choose how many books to read and which to read first.  Decisions, decisions...

Hope all of you are doing well on your goals this week.  See you on Twitter, during the afternoon wordsprints, and/or for Sunday's update!

ROW80 Goals and a Big Accomplishment!

I'm a little late jumping into ROW80 this round, but with good reason.  Well good reason in my view anyways!  But before I get to that, I will set out my goals this round:

• Write 1500 words, a minimum, at least 5 days per week
• Work out/get moving 5 days a week
• Blog weekly
• Comment on a minimum of 3-5 blogs every week
• Work on becoming more present on twitter

Along with these I am still holding the line with my 'get organized' battle.  Slowly but surely I am getting rid of the clutter in my life and finding more time to enjoy myself.  Classes start next week, on the 17th, and I am vowing to keep ahead with those too.  I don’t want to get overwhelmed at the end of the semester. I refuse to let that happen again.  The twitter goal is oddly the one I'm most worried about. I often really have nothing to say or add, so I keep quiet and just watch what scrolls by.  I need to put myself out there more, I know that much. So hence the 'work on' part of that goal. I will hopefully define that goal a bit more as I move forward this round, but for now, that will do.

So that's it for ROW80 goals. I will be heading over tomorrow to see how everyone is doing-can't wait to see what y'all are working on.  Oh and, feel free to stop reading now since the rest is non-ROW80 related. Or if you'd like, read on and learn why this is my first ROW80 post for this round.