Jumping Into ROW80, Round 3: Let's Try This Again

I did so well in ROW80 Round 1. And then Round 2 came and though I was trucking along, doing great, somewhere along the way things slowed down and so did I. A lot was going on in life and I found myself sliding into the fiction of books, reading instead of doing what I should have been, writing. I lost my focus and though I was working on various WiPs sporadically, I wasn't being consistent. I knew I had to get back into it. I knew I had to update my blog and get on top of that too. But I couldn't muster the energy to do it. Even writing a book review was difficult and I was leaving most of those on Goodreads instead of my blog.

I can't explain why all this happened. All I know is that during March and April I was writing all the time and moving forward. It was during this time that I got sick-with pneumonia that lasted way too long and did way too much damage (of which I'm mostly recovered from thank goodness). I did Camp NaNo in April during the height of my illness and that may have had something to do with my burnout, I guess. Though I did NaNo in November and I didn't unravel like I did this time. It's all a mystery really but the bottom line is, I let things go and I needed to get back to my routine, shake off the "dust" from my WiPs, and move ahead. I just wasn't sure how.

And then I remembered ROW80 Round 3 was starting. It's just the push I need to grab onto my focus, hold tight, and move ahead.  I went back and reviewed my year long goals and hammered out some weekly goals to shoot for. They are somewhat simple to start but I want to start small and see how I progress. This will allow me to take stock and make adjustments as I go. It's my way of easing back into things.

So, here are my weekly goals:

• Write/Revise 5 hours per week: I'm starting off with a timed goal and will slowly expand this to daily writing/revising. Eventually. I hope. My focus will be on Wanted (I am halfway there on my second round of revisions!) and my Camp NaNo project. I should have a name for that my next week. 
• Blog a minimum of one book review per week, here and/or on Goodreads.
• Blog once per week on something that isn't a book review or ROW80 update: this will likely be writing/reading related, but not a specific book review or update. Or it could be something I find humorous. Or a TV show I've started to watch. Or music. Who knows? 
• Post my Sunday ROW80 Update: I will be getting back to my "Week In Review" posts and hopefully will have some fun stuff to post, including books I've bought or am reading, and an update on my ROW80 goals. 
• Organize my WiP Plan via Excel: this was a larger goal of Round 2 that I let get away from me. It's now a Round 3 goal and I want to work on this 1 hr per week. I need to prioritize my WiPs (of which there are a lot) and outlines (there are even more of these) and see what was salvageable and what isn't. I've read through most of them and written down my list but I think I am going to make a spreadsheet of some kind so I can not only put them in order I want to work on them, but also track my progress. This should give me some accountability and keep me on track. The only problem is I suck at Excel so figuring out how to organize the spreadsheet and progress via word count (for writing) and page counts (for revisions) might take some time. 

So that's it for now. As for the bigger picture, specifically those year long goals I mentioned earlier, I'm behind in revisions for Wanted as I had hoped to have that ready for submissions by mid year, but the submission process of Music & Motors (f.k.a. Finding Home), delayed all that. (Speaking of which, I'm still in the midst of that, including reviewing/negotiating a possible contract). My hope is to get Wanted finished by the end of July/middle of August and then it will be time for decisions to be made on where I go from there.

I am wishing everyone in ROW80 the best of luck on their goals this Round and I can't wait see you all around the ROW!