Hi Six Sunday Friends. Thanks for checking on me, but I really didn’t join in the fun this week. I’m actually out of town. I’ll be checking on your posts tomorrow though and I’ll hop back in the fun next Sunday.

On to my check-in for ROW80. What’s Row80? A round of words in 80 days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life.

Second week into the new round and goal list could have very easily been a disaster. I’ve been out of town since early Friday afternoon. So disaster could have been an understatement, because inevitably in shortened weeks a slew of tiny things pop up. So how did I do? See the list below or I’m putting my motivation jar tallies right up top from now on.

Motivation Jars (14-goals in all & $7.50 is up for grabs each week): 12-goals had real good progress or they’re in line for progress, but in 2 (Sanjana bars and PMP continuing education) I just didn’t get it done. Wardrobe Jar gets $6.43 (total so far: $12.86) and NOT my political party of choice jar gets $1.07 (total so far: $2.14<–I really don’t like this)

The Goals – week-2 results

• Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters– done
• Pick a title for Voyage Novu #1 & #2- I’m still liking the series name (The Love Projects) but I want to come at the titles from a new angle, i.e. looking at the series as a whole. I’m going to put my driving time to good use this weekend and pick this one apart.
• Write 3,000 words each week or 33,000 for the round- done, I added 3,062 this week!!
• Spend time editing at least 3 times each week- 3-days and another 24-pages done. Wahoo!!
• Send Voyage Novu #1 to 2nd beta- If that editing goals stays on track this will happen, eek 🙂
• Finish Editing Voyage Novu #1- to be done after feedback is received from 2nd beta
• Voyage Novu#1 Query/Synopsis: finish, polish, get 2nd opinions, finalize AND send out 1st round- My pattern of tweaking at the end of my edit sessions is still working well here, yeah
• Finish first draft of Voyage Novu#2 and begin to edit- at 3k per week this goal should beginning in Mid-August
• Finish reading current craft book and start another- another chapter in 🙂
• Workout a minimum of 200-minutes a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit- I’m getting back on track here, yahoo. Just 0.2 pounds more and I can start working on losing my final 5-pounds.
• Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week- Hip Bumps: practice rocking your hips while keeping your upper body agile and connected to your lower body. Benefits: toning your core, defining your waist and increase mobility along your spine.
• Finish the Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)- the first victim, no one should be surprised here. I’m having a hard time getting to this task when I have a full week. WEEK 3 PRIORITY
• Finish needed continuing education, enter all credits on PMI site and save my PMP certification for another 3-years- victim  number two, I need to pull out a big win her next week or I’ll get way off track. WEEK 3 PRIORITY
• Stay on top of my co-op preschool Treasurer responsibilities- I’m on top of this one, I was well prepared for the board and parent meetings this week, but I’ve got a big week coming up with the first tuition payments coming in. Joy.

Back to work for me, well as soon as I get home. Hope you have a fabulous week.

First week working my new grand list. Am I ready to throw in the towel? 😉 No, I’m actually pretty pleased at how hard I pushed it this week. That’s not to say I could not have done better, but it’s a start.

The Goals – week-1 results

• Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters– done
• Pick a title for Voyage Novu #1 & #2- I’ve picked a series title: The Love Projects and I’m tossing around the idea of She’s Mine for the title of the first book. I’m not sure.
• Write 3,000 words each week or 33,000 for the round- done, I added 3,020 this week!!
• Spend time editing at least 3 times each week- 24-pages done, I got a great idea from Julie Glover’s goal post and I’ve added a page goal to my edit sessions. This will help to keep me on schedule for the next goal in the list.
• Send Voyage Novu #1 to 2nd beta- I’ve had a brief discussion with my 2nd beta and we have a rough idea when I can send her the WIP, very exciting.
• Finish Editing Voyage Novu #1- to be done after feedback is received from 2nd beta
• Voyage Novu#1 Query/Synopsis: finish, polish, get 2nd opinions, finalize AND send out 1st round- lots going on in this goal and first up is finishing the Query/Synopsis. This week I’ve gathered all my ideas into the two documents and reviewed some of the tips I’ve gathered along the way. I’m tweaking each as I go on the edits and the pattern seems to be working so far.
• Finish first draft of Voyage Novu#2 and begin to edit- at 3k per week this goal should beginning in Mid-August
• Finish reading current craft book and start another- confession time, I did not finish Plot & Structure during the break, but I did read a whole chapter this week. Amazing how much more interesting a book is if you can read more than a couple pages at a time.
• Workout a minimum of 200-minutes a week and round it out with plenty of water, sleep and my calorie limit- my workouts slipped during break too, goodness. I didn’t get all 200-minutes this week, but I was close. Everything else was good, so close on this one. WEEK 2 PRIORITY
• Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week- Pelvic Circles: stand in “A” stance, move your hips in a fluid motion, as if you were playing with a hula hoop. Sense the motion of the ball of your hip joints rotating in their sockets. Keep your knees soft. Play with the speed and direction of your hips.
• Finish the Sanjana bars and start the Opal bars (i.e. studying the song/movement structure)- no new work on the bars, but I practiced teaching the 3-songs I know real well and feel much more comfortable there. I need to see progress on the bars next week WEEK 2 PRIORITY
• Finish needed continuing education, enter all credits on PMI site and save my PMP certification for another 3-years- I’m almost finished with my first 12-hour course, score. I did work on this during break and almost finished the first course this week, but the last goal on the list took way to much time on Friday.
• Stay on top of my co-op preschool Treasurer responsibilities- I’m on top of this one. As long as I keep plugging away I should be golden. I have a reasonable list to take care of this week before the first tuition checks are due, so it will be important to stay on top of this goal.

Motivation Jars (14-goals in all & $7.50 is up for grabs each week): 12-goals had real good progress or they’re in line for progress, but in 2 (workout minutes and Sanjana bars) I just didn’t get it done. Wardrobe Jar gets $6.43 and NOT my political party of choice jar gets $1.07

One novella WIP in edits, a second novella WIP is started (actually two WIPs are started, more about that in the next round), craft education continues and PMP continuing education in progress. Happy dance, lots done. BUT, Nia Sanjana still needs work, I need to get back to consistent workouts and I’m not in query mode yet…I’m not published yet

Back to work for me. Hope you have a fabulous week.

Our last full week in round 2 is done. Almost half the year has gone. Do I have much to show for it? Yes and no. More about that later.

Happy Father’s Day!

My hubs is working in Chicago today and I wont be seeing my father either. Total bummer town. Both men know I love and appreciate them and I’ll have plenty of time to hug them in the days ahead. Still it is a bummer not to see them today. Are you going to get to see a father type person in your life today?

My next ROW-80 post will be my round 3 goals. Will they be different from round 2? Yes. I’m going to take my time thinking about what I want out of round 3. Hacking away at a to-do list is great, but in round 3 I want to keep an eye on my end game. More on that in a couple of weeks.

The Goals – week-11 results

• Spend at least 1-hour a day with my characters- done
• Write 2,000 words each week– Done! Feels good too. This week I got 2,116 words in my brand new WIP.
• Spend time editing at least 2-times each week– done. I got a couple chapters back from my CP and started editing again.
• Finish reading current craft book and start another– 1/2 done. I spent more time on the current craft book and I hope to finish it long before round 3 begins, but I also have two new craft books already purchases and ready to go. Well, one is actually a lecture packet, I’ll tell you more about that in my round-3 goals. I’ll simply say Margie Lawson rocks.
• 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–  Not done. I have a very good excuse. A big ugly sinus cold hung out with me all week and most of the time I felt like doggy poppy. I’m surprised I got anything done this week. I did keep to my calorie limit, water, and sleep goals, but only got 80 minutes of exercise. I am, as of this week, 0.3 pounds away from my weight goal though, so that’s pretty cool.
• Study one of the Nia 52-moves each week (the 52-moves is like the ballet bar for Nia lovers): Side 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 side, with the side of your thigh facing toward the ceiling. 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)– This item was my one total fail this round. Although I’ve found a way that works better for me to practice delivering the class, I’m still not any closer to knowing this routine inside and out. End goal for round 3 will be important here. I need to keep my eye on the big picture. Getting this routine inside me leads to applying for jobs, which leads to more income. I want to publish a book, but it is not my only goal in life.
• 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– Done! I paid for and started my first course. I have 5 short courses to take this summer, or a total of 40-hours. Oh, yeah, I’m so excited about spending time getting continuing education credits for a career I hope to never have to work in again. The future is full of unknowns however. I did work my tookus off getting this certification, so I’m not about to let it go.

One novella WIP in edits, a second novella WIP is started (actually two WIPs are started, more about that in the next round), craft education continues and PMP continuing education in progress. Happy dance, lots done. BUT, Nia Sanjana still needs work and I’m not in query mode yet…I’m not published yet

Plenty of more work to be done. See you in round 3.

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.