The last quarter of the year has begun. Oh, boy. In preparing for my forth round of eighty days I asked a lot of questions. Like many things we love in life, writing is a labor of love. To some it comes easy, to others, like me, we have to work for it. As each round starts I find myself re-committing to my goals, it’s an honest exercise. This marathon will test you, will try to push you down, pick you up and then slam you down. It’s up to you to wipe off the dust, dry the tears, and get back to work.
These last few weeks I have not been the happiest<– there’s honesty for you. I could give you the whys, but I won’t bore you. Let’s talk solution. What makes me happy? Being creative makes me happy. Writing makes me happy. Even editing, as hard as it is, makes me happy. Anything that keeps me close to my characters, molding their lives, makes me happy.
In my third round of eighty days I pushed hard. I made a lot of progress in that round and I see that know. At the time I saw only the things I didn’t get done. Trying and failing allows us to learn, right? We could fail and sit down and give up. OR. We can see a new way and try again.
This forth round I’m going for the positive, I’m going for the happy. The end of the year is always crazy, but I don’t want to lose ground on my progress. I don’t want to lose my connection to my characters. I have three WIPs in various stages of life. WIP-1 is in beta testing, WIP-2 is at the end of first draft, and WIP-3 really wants to get going. I’m not going to commit to a word-count this round. Although I have an idea of the word count I want to see in weeks I’m full on writing. But here is the reality, some weeks are going to be spent in editsville and others in plotting.
The goal list is shorter this time and that makes me happy. 😀 But there will be no slacking, only necessary breaks to smell the roses. I got these roses from my in-laws this week. I married a prince and he learned his tricks from two of the sweetest people around. They know how hard I’ve been working. They reminded me: You have to stop and smell the roses.
What do I want this round? Regardless of the activity, I want to see progress every day. Everyday I will make time for the things I love. Everyday I will enjoy life, I will write…or edit, or plot.
The Goals
- Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters
- Weekly progress in word count, editing, and/or plotting
- Finish reading current craft book
- Workout a minimum of three times a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit
- Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week
- Finish the Nia Sanjana-routine bars and start the Nia Opal-routine bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)
- Stay on top of my co-op preschool Treasurer responsibilities
- Organize something in the house each week
What you might have missed here this week:
LOOK! A Writing Challenge with Taking Chances
S.J. Maylee 
Hear! Hear! We’ve got do what makes us happy. And even with all the trouble and stress and hardship, writing makes us happy, right? Otherwise we wouldn’t be doing it.
Sounds like a good goal list. I’m sure you’ll do great!
Have a great week!
*applauds* Precisely! Progress is what matters above all. I wish you the best in all things during this round. Stay focused and steadily moving toward that end goal and you’ll do great things 🙂
Thank you, wise Gene 😀 Focused and steadily moving forward <–I like the way that sounds. One calming breath and I'm back at it…
What lovely roses from the in-laws! You are working hard (I know it!), and I hope you see tons of progress this round. Let the creativity juices flow!
Can you remind me what craft book you’re reading? Would you recommend it? I am still trying to decide which one to pick up for this round.
Thanks, Julie. I’m barely started with Margie’s Empowering Characters Emotions. I have several craft books on my TBR list: Writing Love by Alexandra Sokoloff, How to Write Hot Sex, Make a Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time and The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well are a few
Your world will always be a happier place when you focus on the positive instead of the negative. You have plenty of goals. It’s a much longer list than mine. 🙂 Good luck with all you’re working to accomplish and….stop and smell the roses.
Thank you, Lauralynn, thanks for stopping by yesterday. Yes, I’m going to smell those roses right now, still very pretty. 🙂
“What do I want this round? Regardless of the activity, I want to see progress every day. Everyday I will make time for the things I love. Everyday I will enjoy life, I will write…or edit, or plot.” I love this! Hope you have a great round! Thanks for stopping by my blog 🙂
Yes, I’m enjoying the positivity of your posts, great stuff. We are both going to have a great round, right? Right!