ROW80 -Round 2 2012- The Goals

Posted on April 2, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

What’s Row80? A round of words in 80 days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life.

This is my 2nd round of 80-days and this time I’m digging in with both feet and a few other parts too. I actually have other goals in my life besides writing. What did you say, really, you do too? There is no reason to dissect my goals, especially with the ROW80 theme. Besides some shiny new writing goals, I will also be sharing my healthy journey and Nia training goals.

2011 was my year of active change. Not only did I start writing my first serious WIP (the others will go unmentioned), but I started and stayed on a healthy journey and I fell in love with Nia. On April 4th I opened my Simply Sidney blog and a few short months later was introduced to Nia by a fellow blogger. On October 23 I started this blog. Right now SJMaylee is my writing home base, but some day, who knows when, I will be mentioning my published books. In November I took The Nia White Belt Training and ever since I have been studying and trying to learn a routine. And there is that Project Management certification that requires me to do continuing education. Lots of stuff going on for sure, but 2012 is a continuation of forward movement.

On a personal front I’m working on my writing chops, my WIP, my health and Nia. On a family front, I’m raising two active little ones, taking care of my husband of 12 years, our home and that evil day job, which can thankfully be done at home. My goals for round 2 will be based on my personal goals, but I will be keeping my family in mind. No crazy bouncing stretches for me, smooth yoga is the way.

We have a life and that life nourishes our soul and comes out in our writing. Ah…..feels good.

What does my soul want? It wants to finish a book!

My only goal last round was to spend an hour a day with my characters. Living with my characters keeps them close and talking to me=happy place. Last round I also flirted with a word count goal. No more flirting, it’s time to get serious, but what should the number be? I was handling 2,000 words a week pretty well WHEN I managed my time (ended the round with almost 11,000 words). Some day soon I want my weekly number to be 5,000. I need a challenge right now, not a set-up for failure.

The Goals

Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters
Write 2,000 words each week or 22,000 for the round
Spend time editing at least 2 times each week
Finish reading current craft book and start another
Participate in Before You Hit Send Self-Editing Workshop in April
Turn 2nd draft chapters to my writer friend for her critique
Workout a minimum of 200-minutes 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 Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)
Listen to the Nia sound track for the Sanjana routine each week and add Opal when I get to their bars
Plan out and start participating in the last of my needed continuing education credits for PMP certification

That’s one long list, especially compared to my list for the 1st round. Well I wanted to get serious. Wonder how drama filled my updates will be? I’m a pretty reasonable person so I hope to get the drama limited or interesting at least 🙂

ROW80 check-in #12

Posted on March 21, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

The end of the my first round of 80-days has arrived. I survived. More importantly I wrote. I continued working on my first ever WIP and started my second, adding just shy of 12,000 words. Not bad considering I WAS the girl who was too afraid to even have a word count goal. I have continued to find like-minded folks through the social medias and I’m finding my stride.

This round helped me to dip my toe at a word count goal (2,000/week, which I hit a few times during the end of the round) and that more than anything is helping me to claim the name of writer.

Writer is NOT my only goal here, so onward I must march.

I’m excited an anxious to start my 2nd round of 80-days. My mind is all a crazy with goal ideas. I took it easy with my first round goal, but it helped me to take a firm step forward. My goal for this 1st round was to simply spend one hour a day with my characters. The hour helped to spur word count sprints and would leave me giddy all day long!! I have a strong desire to challenge myself in the 2nd round. My hour will remain, but word counts and edit goals WILL be added.

Thank you to all the other ROW80 participants!! We hung in there and I’m very proud of us all.

Goodbye round 1, you will always be my first and for that alone I’m taking fond memories with me.

ROW80 check-in #11

Posted on March 11, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

I’m leaving for vacation today. YEAH!! Right now I am either running around the house, driving to/from the airport, or standing on the beach. It is going to be a crazy, exciting, relaxing day. The 7-days leading up to travel day are always crazy for me, aren’t they for everyone? The big question is did I make time for writing this week, the truth is in, where are my priorities?

Sunday through Wednesday brought me zero words and barely any time with my characters. Sure I was crazy with work, preparing for the trip, and pulling together tax stuff (our goal was to get everything to the accountant before we left today- score, that got done!!), but come on, I can do better than zilch!! Thursday brought me back to comfort. I got coffee time with my characters and writing too.

Distraction was the name of the game this week. Do you have a problem writing when you are distracted? Man oh man, each time I went to work on a scene my mind wandered to packing or cleaning or yuck, taxes. Luckily I got my to-do list done and we are happily on our way to Florida. But what about my characters? Poor Lydia wants some challenges and success too and poor forgotten Sam wants to know when I’m going to finish writing the last couple of scenes for her book!

I finally got to writing on Friday and Saturday and I ended the week with 487 words 😦 I’m totally bummed. My expectations should not have been so high for such a busy week…lesson learned. My priorities are fine, I’m not going to beat myself up over the poor output this week, but I see where some better planning could have helped…lesson learned.

I blogged a little this week too, have you seen my links post from yesterday? Go for the links and stay for the video of Dave Grohl!!

I’m still in the middle of reading James Scott Bells plot and structures and when that is done I will jump right into another craft book, but what about an on-line course? Hmm…I’ve been thinking about this for a while and there are several I’ve been thinking about. Friday I registered for Angela James’ Before You Hit Send workshop and I’m excited!! Not only will I learn a ton over the course of the 3-weeks, but I know this is the next step I need. The decision is making me feel like a writer. Yes, I’ve felt like a writer before, but each step (writing day after day, reading about the craft, joining ROW80, making a word count goal) makes me feel more confident and capable of claiming the moniker.

I am a writer.

I said it and now I need to own it. I am a writer. My skills are a work in progress, but the truth is in. I am a writer.

My vacation priority will be reading and spending time with my characters. Plotting WILL occur on my vacation. I’ll be back next week with tales from the vaca. Next week I’ll also be back to: butt in seat, fingers on the keyboard and I will write.

ROW80 check-in #10

Posted on March 4, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

My birthday week is coming to an end, boo-hoo 🙂 it has seriously been a great week. A party, date night, mom’s spaghetti, songs and a Facebook bonanza of happy wishes all make for a great birthday week…but did I get anything done this week, did I write?

Yes, I wrote and wrote and hit my word goal for the 3rd week in a row, yahoooo!! My word goal really seems to be working for me and it makes me so very happy. With each week I’m also getting a firmer grasp on my time management for blog/craft book reading. It’s a practice not a perfect. My weakness right now is editing. I have a ton to do on my very first WIP and the last three weeks I’ve done zero editing, zilch, zip, nada…boo-hoo for real.

My goals for the week ahead include, spending at least an hour a day with my characters, hitting my word goal (2,000 words), continue with efficient time management for blog/craft book reading, and edit! I will edit. 🙂

short post this week, hmm, more time for birthday cookies!! 😀

ROW80 check-in #9

Posted on February 26, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

Small shifts have been appearing in my daily grind for the last couple of weeks, but not until this week did I feel some relief. I’ve been driving myself crazy trying to soak in all the information I can find. Writing is a marathon, not a sprint. Hmm…I’ve been trying to sprint the length of a marathon. If I don’t change something quick the cramps are going to force me out of the race…

Do you have rituals that keep you productive? I did, back in my days of working in an office I had ways of getting an amazing amount of work done everyday. My first rule was always removing distractions. Well, I’m a mother of two youngins, distraction is now my life. There is still certain times, not always the same time, that I have fewer distractions. In the dainty pearls of non-distraction I’m finding a groove. My shiny new trick is to be flexible.

I have now realized I had become the ugly step sister trying to cram my writing into the wrong shoe. Well no more. My Aha! moment came while reading Marc and Angel this week. The very first item on the list is to create a TO-DON’T list of all the things that pull you away from productivity and waste time. I may not have a lot of dainty pearls of non-distraction, but when they appear I need to make the most of them. It takes time to get a grove moving and once I’m IN my productivity soars. I’ve been a bit manic trying to race to get my fingers on everything, constantly distracted by all the things I want to get done, in the mean time I’m not getting anything done. The fifth item on their list talks about breaking down your goals into realistic, high impact tasks. Love it!! Lots to do to get my books done and it can only happen one step at a time. I think I actually heard that this time around. Number nine is to work in 90-minute intervals. My dainty pearls my not be 90-minutes, but still, breaks are good, breaks are fuel. Number ten is to reply to emails, v-mail and texts at a set time. I’ll be adding twitter, craft study and blog reading to that list. I could and have filled my whole day of dainty pearls with these items and then I do not get anything done on my books…all play and no writing makes me an ugly step sister.

Marc and Angels post came out on Monday…click…click…click. Love starting out the week with my shoulders relaxed and a fresh perspective.

Last week I started to feel the nudge to create a weekly word goal, which is something I’ve been hiding from. I’ve wanted a word goal, but feared it would just become one more thing to make me feel like I was failing. In all the things I’ve been reading one thing was abundantly clear: writers write. In the dainty pearls I will write! It’s now official, my word goal is 2,000 a week.

Monday morning during my dainty pearl I added 615 words to my novella, nice! Then the in-laws came into town, no more dainty pearls. The in-laws went home and the next day (Wednesday) I was out of town for a Nia White Belt Intensive refresher. I had a lovely day, but no dainty pearls. Thursday and Friday it was back to my dainty pearl plan and I got down 923 and 693 words respectively for a grand total of 2,231 for the week! I’ve added 4,300 words in the last two weeks. OMG, I’m writing!!

And that’s not all. Yesterday’s words were for the opening scene of my first book that I’ve been thinking about for a month! I feel so much better now that I can see her life (written down) before the wrench I just had to throw at her. My original goal of spending an hour a day with my characters paid off here. I kept thinking and tweaking the images in my head. Finally it was actually a shiny new shoe (no glass slipper) that actually paved the way.

I’m not quite Cinderella in her beautiful dress, but I’ve dusty off my rags.

Writers write.

ROW80 check-in #8

Posted on February 19, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

I’ve had a couple of struggle weeks and I’m desperately trying to keep my chin above the keyboard. What did I find going on in my head this week? Was it: More of the same, a new face to the madness, or was it something altogether different…

Thanks to some tremendous comments last week my mind has actually calmed and ACCEPTED the task ahead. I no longer have that hopeless feeling. It’s going to take one step at a time and all steps WILL be moving in a forward direction.

I’m working on some new goals. I’m not a nail biter, but I suddenly had the urge.

I’m going to try a few on for size and see what fits. My current goal is to spend an hour a week with my characters, which I will continue as it has been working well. I would also like to add some goals for reading my craft books/blogs, which is something I have been doing. I have not been tracking my time and I think I’ll be shocked by how much time this task is soaking up. I would really like to add a word count goal…I’m going to start with 2,000 a week. OH BOY!! I did make that goal this week, yeah!! Lastly, I need to add an editing goal. My first book needs a lot more work and unless I’m working on it weekly it is not going to get finished, EEK! That will NOT do.

My to-do list is weighty, but it can only get done one step at a time. I can feel the pressure sliding off my chest. There is still so much to be done, but the course is getting built. It is up to me whether or not I stay on track.

The ROW80 check-ins have been extremely helpful. I’m happier than ever that I signed up!!

Have a great week everyone.

ROW80 check-in #7

Posted on February 12, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

It has have been a full week now with my new balanced structure and I can firmly say my plan still needs tweaking. I don’t need another full overhaul, but just some tweaking and some acceptance. Spending an hour a day with my characters has served me well this week, but that needs some tweaking too. My mind just can’t seem to let go of learning. I find so much good information (via twitter, blogs, and in the Plot & Structure book I’m reading) that I can’t seem to let it go and just be creative. There-in lies my problem.

Wanting to learn and respecting the craft makes perfect sense, but in itself is not the real problem.

It has taken me a long time and a lot of effort on my part to accept my need to be a writer. Making up for lost time is always a vicious circle. Now I find myself in the infamous catch-22: I need to write, but I want to learn before I write

uuuurrrrrgh

Balance

yes, my balance needs some tweaking, some acceptance, and a firm step forward.

The week began with three days of glorious writing, plotting, and editing. I added 1,622 words and charted 14 chapters. Now all I can see is problems that I need to fix and I’m having a problem moving forward. I can’t seem to fix the problems or write new scenes.

big girl breath, balance, acceptance

In the last few months I have learned and accepted a great deal about my writing. I guess you can say I’ve moved from the pretty in pink stage to the all is dull and grey stage. Well, forget grey. I’m changing my colors to blue. I am working woman blue.

I’m pushing up my sleeves and getting down to the business at hand. I will Seize the day and what ever it can provide me. Now it is time to work hard and just move forward.

Each week I will continue to spend an hour a day with my characters. I will read and learn about my craft. In time my writing abilities will improve, but it will take time. Heck most things, that are really worth the investment, take a life time of study anyways. In the mean time…I. will. write!

ROW80 check-in #6

Posted on February 5, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

Balance and new direction was my theme this week

Last week’s check-in was full of what is not working for me, it was ugly. A few days into the new week and a couple of solutions presented itself. First, I need to re-organize my day and fit writing/editing time in the morning. Can you say priorities people!! Second, education! I’m learning so much from the blogs I follow and articles I find via twitter (you can find what I’ve really found helpful in my Saturday posts- “Links of the week”). I also need to spend more structured time each week on my craft. “Plot & Structure” by James Scott Bell, oh yeah, each week we are going to spending some time together. I already started reading and I’m having a hard time putting it down, interesting.

I’m re-committing.

1 hour everyday with my characters is my goal for this round. This week I spent more time plotting in my head than time writing/editing, my re-balancing should help with that problem, but in my head I had some break-throughs. I’ve discovered the need for a new opening scene in WIP: I’m All Yours. The WIP now has three scenes left to be written and I’m excited about each. The novella is missing some major plots points still and I’ve been thinking about them all week. I have that feeling of a little feather poking out of a pillow. Just a little tug and I’ll have it out & in my fingers.

I’m excited about my re-balancing. I’m focusing on what is important. My boss from over 10 years ago, we had a love/hate relationship. In somethings he was simply brilliant. He liked to remind me: it doesn’t all have to get done today. you can come back tomorrow and work on it some more. It’s called job security.

No one can fire me from my writing, but me. Well, I’ve fired the old me and the new me has got the job.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!!

ROW80 check-in #5

Posted on January 29, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

Oh it has been a rough week. The pattern that I put in place during the first three weeks of the year fell apart on me this week.

My only goal for this round of ROW80 was to spend an hour a day with my characters. Well my only goal that I have written as a part of ROW80. Two other personal goals have been in full swing for a long time now.

Since last July I have been on a weight loss journey. I’ve lost over 30 pounds and I’ve taken my BMI from just over obese to just into the normal weight category. I’ve been blogging about this journey at SimplySidney. I have 4.2 more pounds to lose before hitting my goal weight. Totally doable, right?

In my evil day job I am a self-employed certified project manager. I have just a few clients (I’m also a mom of two little ones) and I’ve known for sometime that I will be losing a client later this year, since they have sold their company. I’ve been working on getting a new client and I finally have one, yeah. Unfortunately this client will be paying much less and hour, bummer, although they are providing me with a lot more work. Yeah for the finances…total bummer for the writing time.

Mix in some personal and family issues and you get my rough week. A week that made finding time to write impossible and it even worked against me in my weight loss journey.

I met my ROW80 goal one day this week, well I guess one day is better than nothing.

For my weight loss journey I need to pull on my “can do” attitude from the last 30-weeks. For writing I’m going to take what I have learned in the previous three weeks and try to find a new way. The only way to go is to push my story forward. No wandering around, just push forward.

Here’s to a week that is better than this past week!

ROW80 check-in #4

Posted on January 22, 2012 by S.J. Maylee

3-weeks into the new year and things seem to be moving and shifting for me. I’ve been in edit land for months now and since it’s my first book I still have a lot of work to do. It seems like I will be in edit land forever. NO! Not forever, I will finish the book!

In the months since I’ve started writing I have read advice about putting the 1st book aside and starting your second. I’ve also seen a lot of authors release novellas first before longer works. Then this week Kait Nolan published her post called The Juggle.

hmmm…

My plotting mind took off and didn’t come down for several hours, but when it did I had an idea for 3 novellas. The shorter stories will take place just before or around the time of my first longer book (the one stuck in editsville) and I’m findings small ways to intersect the characters. Yesterday I spent some time charting out my scene ideas for the first novella and then I started to write. 1025 words and gosh it felt real good!!! I have not written that many words in one day since late October.

My goal this round is to spend an hour a day with my characters and this week again I have met my goal. I also edited over 100 pages. I’ve already accepted the fact that my editing process is about to start all over again, as I have several new things I need to be looking for.

Editsville doesn’t seem so terrible now that I will be juggling it with my 1st novella. If that wasn’t enough to make me smile, the new path has brought me newly written sentences…so I hope to join the Six Sentence Sunday group once again next week!! Yeah!!