Wednesday, August 15, 2012

A Round of Words in 80 Days

As an aspiring novelist, you may be looking for the proper motivation to do what many state to be the hardest part of writing - applying the butt to the chair.  Life has many devious ways of pulling us from those things we enjoy the most, and instead dragging us through the dredgery of routines, schedules and the mundane.

I have searched far and wide for unique groups or programs that help writers to cut through the sludge and get back to focusing on our craft, at least as time allows.  Last November, I successfully completed my first NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month.  This event helped me to plunge deeper into my first novel's rough draft than I had ever previously been able to go, writing just over the required 50,000 words.

Unfortunately, as December rolled in, life took back over and my grandiose desires to finish my book in the next two or three months fell by the wayside.  I've fought hard with every desire to get back to writing this book, but have had zero success until this point.

Now I've found "A Round of Words in 80 Days."

For those of you unfamiliar with A Round of Words in 80 Days, or ROW80, at it's commonly abbreviated, this initiative is designed to help writers find ways to accomplish writing goals without sacrificing the requirements of life, as NaNoWriMo almost forces you to do.  You set your own goals, and change them as needed as life intervenes.

I have found, in my own life, just setting goals helps me to achieve them.  I'm more aware of what challenges lay before me, and can better manage my time to accomplish them.  I am excited to add myself to ROW80, and begin to refocus my goals toward actual completion.

Without further ado, here are my list of goals for the remainder of the 2012 Round 3 of ROW80:

ROW80 2012R3 - Daily Goals

Writing - I will write something toward finishing my as yet untitled book from NaNo last year, even if only 50 words, every day.

Blogging - I will write at least three blog posts each week, one of which must not be ROW80-related.

Exercise - I will get "real" exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times a week.

Housework - I will, in some small way, make my house look better each night than it did the previous night.

ROW80 2012R3 - End-of-Round Goals

Writing - I will push toward having completed the first draft of my 2011 NaNo novel.  This will be exceptionally difficult, as I believe I still have at least 50-70,000 words left to reach completion, but I feel this is necessary, as my desire is to start the second book in the series for the 2012 NaNo.

Blogging - I don't really have an end-of-round goal for blogging, but I would like to get to the point where I feel comfortable writing blog posts on a regular basis.  Having a few followers would also be nice!

Exercise - While not excessively overweight, I weigh more than I am comfortable with, and my goal is to lose 5 pounds by the end of this round.

Housework - Talk about running a treadmill, housework will never cease, but I want to get to a point at my house that the house is at least free of clutter every night before I go to bed, and my wife is happy with the assistance I give the household.


I firmly believe that ROW80 will be a strong asset in my life, allowing me to prioritize those things that are most important to me as a novelist in training.  Thanks for all your support in this new endeavor, and feel free to comment with your own experiences as you started ROW80.

14 comments:

  1. I like how you've balanced your life through your goals...which reminds me: I need to get back into my exercise routine. Getting up and down from the computer chair doesn't count! lol

    Thanks for visiting my blog.

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement on balancing my life. Balance is really what I need the most, and I'm really hoping that ROW80 will help with this.

      Good luck on the exercise, and... you could count getting up and down from the computer chair, if you really do it a lot!

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  2. Thanks for visiting my blog today! It sounds like you have some clear cut goals for yourself. I commend you on the housework thing. If only my husband and sons were so conscientious! And congrats on "winning" NaNo in November! I hope you will join me for the write-a-thon. There's no pressure at all. Just a little something we cooked up during one of my read-a-thons in July (I host four a year). I'm also working on losing weight, but I have a ton more to lose than five pounds. I'm trying to work exercise in which is the main area I'm lacking. I've pretty much cut sweets from my diet.

    Anyway, good luck on all of your goals!

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    1. I'm really excited about the write-a-thon, so I definitely will join you. Already signed up on your blog, as a matter of fact!

      Believe me when I say that I have more than five pounds to lose, but I'm trying to set a realistic goal for this round. See you on the 20th!

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  4. Welcome to ROW80, I hope you find it as inspiring as I do.

    You've got good, realistic goals, I'm sure you'll fly through them.

    Now stop reading, get on with the writing for this One Thousand Thursday (#OneThouThur if you're on twitter). Thanks for joiing me in it!

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement. I hope you're right!

      Oh, and... Yay! I've written 1398 words so far today. I hope you make it too!

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  5. WELL DONE! That's brilliant. I'll be expecting you to do the same next week (I'm going to make it a weekly thing)!

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  6. Welcome to the ROW80 family! Setting goals - for all to see! - and the support of fellow writers is imperative for us to reach our goals. You've set a great goal, Mike. I wish you all the best as you put pen to paper - or finger to keyboard, as the case may be - and get that novel finished! I look forward to following along as you get some butt-in-chair work accomplished. Finish the week strong, and see you Sunday at check-in.

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement. I'm all in on finishing my novel, so I will see you on Sunday!

      Thanks for visiting my blog.

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  7. Ah, Mike, I have to love the housework goal! Housework is the ultimate treadmill.

    I have found ROW80 to be surprisingly motivational. Who knew publishing and reporting on your goals would create real pressure to meet the goals? I never guessed the process would be this effective.

    Remind yourself that you can do almost anything for 15 minutes. I use a silly program called "Write or Die" on the days when I don't want to write. I'm avoiding it. I don't want to start. You know what? As soon as I've done 15 minutes, I want to do more--almost every time. The program is free.

    Have fun writing this week! BTW - You have one more follower.

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    1. Thanks for the follow! I'm already seeing good progress on my goals, even after just one day, so I agree with you completely. I'm excited about getting to Sunday and posting my progress.

      As for Write or Die, I did actually try that out last November during NaNoWriMo. I used the setting that made a horrible noise if you stopped typing, which worked wonders because I was right next to my girls' bedroom where they were typically sleeping while I was writing! Thanks for the info, and see you Sunday!

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  8. Hi Mike. Thanks so much for visiting my blog. Welcome to ROW80! I'm really impressed with all your goals - sounds like a very well-rounded list to me. Also, congratulations on completing Nanowrimo!

    I was happy to discover ROW80, "the writing challenge that knows you have a life". But at first, I wasn't sure how I felt about blogging, but I've found that it's really helped me, having to check in twice a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays for ROW80. I want to show up having made at least some progress towards my goals. And now I see a lot of potential in blogging itself. Posting twice a week has also helped me develop more self-discipline.

    I look forward to following your progress!

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    1. I've always wanted to keep a blog, but I couldn't really see the point if no one would read it. Now, meeting everyone through ROW80 has opened my eyes to its potential, and I'm excited about keeping up with it. Now I just have to balance blogging with my other writing. :)

      Thanks for visiting my blog.

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