The 2nd round of 80-days in 2012 is almost done. How did I let so much time slip through my fingers? The project manager in me is telling me to start on lessons learned. Sure I worked my way through my to-do list each week, but I’ve lost sight of the bigger picture. Next round I’m going to need to make longer range plans and create my weekly goals to keep me on schedule. I started my novella towards the end of January and I’m still working on it –>grumpy face. Oh, wait, I have happy news to share!

Just last night I finished the edits I knew I wanted to make. I did one more read through and…sent it to my friend to read. Squee!! But not so fast, loads of tasks got pushed aside this week in order to get my edits done and now there is only one more full week left in this round.

It’s time to dig in and get as much done as we can.

The Goals – week-10 results

• Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters- done
• Write 2,000 words each week– not done, only 180 words were added, but again countless words were cut. I was in editing hell once again this week.
• Spend time editing at least 2-times each week– done! I spent 3-days editing this week. I was at my in-laws for 3-days this week too so I’m thrilled I got as much done as I did.
• Finish reading current craft book and start another– no progress this week, total bummer. I still plan on starting a new craft book before this round ends. WEEK-11 PRIORITY
• Participate in Before You Hit Send Self-Editing Workshop in April– the workshop is over and I’ve incorporated what I’ve learned.
• Turn 2nd-draft chapters to my writer friend for her critique– DONE!!  ~~~happy dance~~~
• Workout a minimum of 200-minutes a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit–  I was out of town 3-days this week, so my workout schedule got raked over. I kept to my water, sleep and calorie goals, but I only got in 2-workouts. WEEK-11 PRIORITY
• Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week (the 52-moves is like the ballet bar for Nia lovers): Front Kick.  Lift your thigh, tucking your heel in toward your buttocks into Ready Position. Look in the direction you intend to kick. With your hands at heart level and your palms flexed, kick your foot out and to the front. IMPORTANT TIP: Push down into the earth with the supporting foot, and use your hands and arms to maintain vertical alignment and balance. Keep your supporting leg unlocked and spring loaded. Benefits: builds balance, coordination, confidence, and strength.
• Finish the. Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)– No progress this week, total bummer WEEK-11 PRIORITY
• Listen to the Nia sound track for the Sanjana routine each week and add Opal when I get to their bars– done
• Plan out and start participating in the last of my needed continuing education credits for PMP certification– I’m going to need to do 4-hours a week of education all summer long to get it all done before my certification comes up for renewal. I’ve known this was coming and I’m not looking forward to it. I’ll start my training this week. WEEK-11 PRIORITY

Lots of good and lots of bad. I’ll keep moving forward. I would be pleased to see my movement go a bit faster though. But nothing really should get me down this week. I got my WIP off to my CP!!

Hope you have a great productive week.

Happy Mother’s Day. Thank you, Ann Jarvis & Anna Jarvis for all you did in your days. According to Wikipedia, during the American Civil War Ann organized women to tend to the needs of the wounded of both sides of the war conflict. Ann went on to organize Mothers’ Day Work Clubs in five cities near their home in what is now West Virginia to improve sanitary and health conditions.

Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis died in Philadelphia in 1905. In 1907, Jarvis’ daughter, Anna Marie Jarvis, passed out 500 white carnations at her mother’s church, one for each mother in the congregation. The following year, she held a memorial to her mother and then embarked upon a campaign to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday, a goal which was achieved when President Woodrow Wilson declared it so in 1914.

Apparently it isn’t just Hallmark commercials that make me cry this time of year. I linked up their current tear jerker below, just in case you missed it. Jenny Hansen explained in a post this past week why I have so many problems with mom, but I still love her with ALL my heart. I’ll see my mom today during our weekly Skype session and then I plan to spend my mother’s day reading and writing. We’ll see how the hubs does in wrangling those kids all day.

Okay, enough procrastinating 😉

The Goals – week-6 results

• Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters- done
• Write 2,000 words each week– I added 2,046 words, plus I deleted a ton (unneeded words/notes for scenes that I no longer need, because they’re written…plus check out the next line.
• Spend time editing at least 2-times each week– I edited 3-days this week
• Finish reading current craft book and start another– made no progress again, WK 7 PRIORITY<–I’m serious this time. My fingers are crossed for week 7, because I’ll be editing a lot this week and doing a good bit of plot review. My current craft book is James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure.
• Participate in Before You Hit Send Self-Editing Workshop in April– the workshop is over and I put more of my new skills to work this week…still more to review here.
• Turn 2nd-draft chapters to my writer friend for her critique– getting closer, no prediction yet though
• Workout a minimum of 200-minutes a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit– Got only 135 minutes again this week and everything else was good. Somehow in the last week I got back to 0.5 pounds to goal. I think we can all agree that our bodies work in strange and mysterious ways.
• Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week (the 52-moves is like the ballet bar for Nia lovers): Lateral Traveling.  Begin in Closed Stance. 3-Steps: side, together, side. Keep your knees spring-loaded, shoulders relaxed, and your spine vertical. Place your foot directly down on the earth. Plant your foot firmly. Sink & rise. Work with various speeds to develop power and agility. Benefits: improves your ability to move from left to right in a relaxed way.
• Finish the Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)– Last week I mentioned that I quit my old route to getting this task done. This week I started creating enlarged simplified notes of each song and I taped them up on the ginormous mirrors in my workout room. Now as I’m going along I can see my notes and I keep going.  So simple, but effective. Yeah, for moving forward on this goal.
• Listen to the Nia sound track for the Sanjana routine each week and add Opal when I get to their bars– done
• Plan out and start participating in the last of my needed continuing education credits for PMP certification– no progress and I’m ok with that…as long as I start participating by the end of the round.

This week I’m going to focus on for realsies finishing the first draft of my WIP…then I’ll give it one more read through and I will send it to my friend.

Did this commercial make you cry too, or is it just me?

My word count from last week did not stay with me this week, but this week was totally different. I actually got to the point in the book where I had to go back and reread everything to ensure my scene and character arc charts were up to date. Good News: I was able to write the scene in the middle that I had trouble with the first time through. Bad News: I found an important scene that had a bad case of the head hops. It took me most of Saturday, but I was able to fix it. Yeah. Okay, enough procrastinating and trying to convince you I was productive this week…

The Goals – week-5 results

• Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters- done
• Write 2,000 words each week– I added 1,640 words, but check out the next line.
• Spend time editing at least 2-times each week– I edited 5-days this week! Oh yeah!!
• Finish reading current craft book and start another– made no progress again, WK 6 PRIORITY
• Participate in Before You Hit Send Self-Editing Workshop in April– the workshop is over and I put some of my new skills to work this week during my read through. Nice!
• Turn 2nd-draft chapters to my writer friend for her critique– I can sense it is going to happen this round…that counts for something, no?
• Workout a minimum of 200-minutes a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit– I slipped down to 135 minutes this week, not terrible, not going to get me to goal weight though either.
• Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week (the 52-moves is like the ballet bar for Nia lovers): Traveling in Directions. Move through the room and consciously change directions every few paces. As you change direction, move the position of your entire body at once. Think about the move before you make it, to heighten your brain-body hook-up. Lead each change of direction with your eyes. Benefits: Practicing traveling in directions keeps your body agile for moving through space with ease.
• Finish the Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)– I’ve been struggling on this one lately. Basically,  I’m trying to remember an hours worth of choreography with movement cues and such. Instead of trying to make it work…I’m quitting…once that decision was made an interesting idea came to mind. I’m going to try it out this week and I’ll let you know how it goes.
• Listen to the Nia sound track for the Sanjana routine each week and add Opal when I get to their bars– done
• Plan out and start participating in the last of my needed continuing education credits for PMP certification– no progress and I’m ok with that…as long as I start participating by the end of the round.

Okay, that wasn’t so hard. Tomorrow I am going to get right back into it. Oh, and since yesterday I forgot to pimp my own blog in my links of the week post I’m going to do it here…

Flash Fiction #6 <– NOTE on my facebook page I’ve posted an alternative 100 words

Links of the week #17

and also today I’ll have another post for Six Sentence Sunday

Have a most excellent week and I’ll see ya all next Sunday.

This week I tried out a new strategy: get the hard stuff done first. It worked fantastic! I got some stuff on my list done that I have not yet this round, plus a few things not on the goal list, score! However, some of the easier stuff on my list became harder to get too. I guess there really are only 24-hours in a day. Did I learn something from the experience? Yes! I CAN get the hard stuff done, but in the end I still need balance. I still need to work on my focus and cut the crap out of my week.

The Goals – week-3 results

• Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters- done
• Write 2,000 words each week– 1246, bummer, WK 4 PRIORITY
• Spend time editing at least 2-times each week– done!
• Finish reading current craft book and start another– made no progress again, WK 4 PRIORITY
• Participate in Before You Hit Send Self-Editing Workshop in April– the workshop is almost over and the day it ends I’m going to revisit each lesson in an effort to make sure it all sinks in.
• Turn 2nd-draft chapters to my writer friend for her critique– maybe after I finish reviewing my workshop notes I’ll be able to push this goal out.
• Workout a minimum of 200-minutes a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit– I got them all this week! Finally!
• Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week (the 52-moves is like the ballet bar for Nia lovers): Cross Front. Start in Open Stance. Step out diagonally and face the corner, pointing both feet in the direction you want to go. Let your arms and hands swing freely. Benefits: strengthens your inner thigh muscles, which helps you develop greater stability when stopping suddenly.
• Finish the Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)– I revisited the Sanjana bars this week, yeah! Would love to see progress on this goal two weeks in a row. WK 4 PRIORITY
• Listen to the Nia sound track for the Sanjana routine each week and add Opal when I get to their bars– done
• Plan out and start participating in the last of my needed continuing education credits for PMP certification– no progress and I’m ok with that…as long as I start participating by the end of the round.

More progress, but still more room for improvement. This week I’m NOT going to shy away from the hard stuff AND I’m going to work on my focus. It’s time to hit a groove and really start moving forward. Have a great week everyone.