RoW Update 8/26 - Loving Every Minute

I've now completed what was my first full week of RoW80, and I can say that my success was mixed, but overall, quite positive.

I started out setting goals that were ambitious, especially for my writing.  I asked myself to go from zero writing on my novel in 6 months to writing every day.  I asked myself to go from not having written any blog posts in 18 months, and only 2 posts ever, to writing at least 3 posts a week.  I asked myself to go from getting the occasional incidental exercise to getting deliberate exercise 3 times a week.  I asked myself to go from not really helping around the house to doing something to help every single day.

Have I made all of these goals this week?  Absolutely not!  Have I done more than I would have prior to RoW80?  You're darn right I have!

I just love the ability to say that I've written over 3000 words on my novel this week.  I can say I've been reading a philosophical book that I wouldn't normally force myself to pick up.  I've been trying to make my wife's life just a little bit easier by doing small things around the house.  I feel as good about myself as I have in a long time.

I just want to say thank you to Kait who has put together this challenge for all of us.  You've done me a great service by putting this idea forward of working toward continual achievement of goals in writing, and of life in general.

I don't know what the new week will hold, but I'm certainly excited to get into it, and find out!  Good luck to all of my fellow RoW80 participants this week!

RoW80 Detailed Goal Progress

Writing - I will write something toward finishing my as yet untitled book from NaNo last year, even if only 50 words, every day.
8/19/12 - None.
8/20/12 - While I did not get any actual words written in my novel, I was able to create a detailed outline of an additional 5 scenes, enough to keep me writing for a couple weeks, I think.
8/21/12 - None.
8/22/12 - None.
8/23/12 - Wrote 1893 words.
8/24/12 - None.
8/25/12 - Wrote 1255 words.

Reading - I will read at least 10 pages of a book each day.
8/19/12 - No books read, but I spent much time reading blog posts... that counts for something, right? :)
8/20/12 - I read 10 pages of "The Power of Paradox".
8/21/12 - I read 12 pages of "The Power of Paradox".
8/22/12 - I read 15 pages of "The Power of Paradox".
8/23/12 - I read 10 pages of "The Power of Paradox".
8/24/12 - None.
8/25/12 - None.

Blogging - I will write at least three blog posts each week, one of which must not be ROW80-related.
8/19/12 - Wrote Weekly Check-In for RoW80
8/20/12 - None.
8/21/12 - None.
8/22/12 - Wrote Mid-Week Check-In for RoW80
8/23/12 - Wrote Post on Learning about Creating and Improving a Blog
8/24/12 - None.
8/25/12 - Wrote Brief Post on NaNoWriMo looking for beta testers for 2012 website.

Exercise - I will get "real" exercise for at least 30 minutes, three times a week.
8/19/12 - My older daughter got to try riding her bike without training wheels for the first time, so I spent quite a bit of energy running alongside her. Not 30 minutes in total, but some aerobic exercise nonetheless.
8/20/12 - No exercise.
8/21/12 - I spent two hours of the afternoon playing laser tag with our high school youth group. If that doesn't count as exercise, I don't know what does!
8/22/12 - Between walking the mall for over half an hour, and carrying all our attic storage down to our basement over about 20 minutes, I definitely got my exercise today.
8/23/12 - No exercise.
8/24/12 - No exercise.
8/25/12 - No exercise.

Housework - I will, in some small way, make my house look better each night than it did the previous night.
8/19/12 - Picked up most of the disaster in our living room from the kids' playtime. They are like a tornado! Cleaned up some "debris" in our basement's finished area, and helped move some furniture for my wife.
8/20/12 - Cleaned up a little bit in the basement.
8/21/12 - Put some dirty clothes in the laundry room.
8/22/12 - Finished picking up all items in our upstairs bedroom and moving our bins in our attic to the basement to facilitate some construction/repair.
8/23/12 - None.
8/24/12 - None.
8/25/12 - None.