She Shoots...She Scores! Goooooaaaaaallll!

Wishin' and hopin' and dreamin'...are all good things, but I need something concrete and apparently with an end date attached, and schedules maintained and some kind of measurable GOAL.

Yes, it's that time again, the start of a new round of words in 80 days -- ROW80! Click on the pretty ROW80 pic at top of page and you can find out all you want to know about this fabulous group.

It always feels so good to start fresh, cleansed of all my writerly sins, like: sloth and...sloth.
So this round I'm setting my goals a little differently. Stop your snickering, I am.

Working on two (2, count 'em) manuscripts. The first one is a complete -- ahem -- YA paranormal, BETWIXT, that needs a complete re-write. The other, my YA paranormal historical steampunkish...thing, GODDESS IN THE MECHANICA -- this one still needs some brainstorming and outlining and, you know, the writing of the frakish thing. Parts are written, I just need to understand more of it.

Okay.
Sundays   Anything goes -- if I get stuff done, it's a bonus.
Mondays 8 a.m. edit BETWIXT for 1 hour.
Mondays 9 a.m. brainstorm/outline GODDESS for 1 hour
Tuesdays Lunch break toss-up: either edit or write
Wednesdays Lunch break catch-up on other ROW80ers
Thursdays 8 a.m. edit BETWIXT for 1 hour
Fridays (every other) 9 a.m. brainstorm/outline GODDESS for 1 hour
Saturdays  Anything goes...

Also, weekly:
Ride stationary bike 3x
Write one blog post beside ROW80 posts
Write one blog post for new venture w/ mom and sister: Those Kennedy Women!

I have never been this specific before...let's hope it works for me!
What's gonna work for you this go a round?

FIN.

Not really, just for this ROW80!

How did I do?
Not really sure, had lots of poofy dogs, lots of life and lots of doubts.

However, I have a new understanding of my WIP and what I need to do, and, more importantly, how to do it.
I also realized how to fix a finished manuscript. Figured out what was missing, like, a plot, motvation and mythology.

I was going to take next round off and then I thought, why? Where would I get my motivation, my pats on the back, or my kick in the arse? Right here dummy. At ROW80.

So, I'll see you next round!

Slackerdom...

1. Sung to Silverbells:
   
   Slackerdom….slackerdom, it’s ROW80s push to the last week…bumbumbum. You’re a bum…Such a bum, can’t even write a damn page.
   I was going to go on, but I’m slacking and just don’t feel like it…
   
   I just posted this as a comment over at Jenny Hansen's blog More Cowbell and I realized it summed up my feelings, plus I thought it clever...for a slacker.
   
   I have done some things.
   I wrote 2 pages of new material for my WIP.
   AND started a haphazard outline -- pure slackering.
   
   Yet, I've continued to hold down my full time job and decorate and part-ay. AND Christmas shop. Whoo!
   
   So...how's everyone else doing?

Yikes! A Late Check-in

Life! Lots of life and hardly any writing -- that's about it for my check-in!

I did get 2 hours of brainstorming
I did not get 2 hours of outlining

I did put on a Holiday party
I did get an interview for a higher position
I have gone to several wrestling meets
And a band concert
And a Holiday get-together

My goals for this next week (and I do mean week, now through next Wed.):

Set in Bite Size Pieces, or Fun Size!

Write one page of outline, just one -- a start
Add one page of new writing to ANYthing
Floss every day.

That's it. That. Is. It.
Sheesh!

Okay, now to check on some ROW80 friends...

CONTEST -- GUESS MY AGE!

Not my age...my main character's age.
Here's where all the details are and a list of contestants -- check it out.
Brenda Drake's blog
We post the first 250 words of our manuscript -- no title or genre -- get feedback from other contestants and anyone else who'd like to comment. Then make changes and send it back to Brenda's blog by the 10th.

I sort of forgot, okay okay, I completely forgot I was doing this, so, per usual by the seat of my pants I fly in.

So, can you guess -- does it seem right? Etc, etc, etc.

            I was almost alone in the attic bedroom, only the sound of Aurora’s eight copper legs skittering in the eaves to keep me company. My foster sisters were performing in the production tonight, so they would not be along for another few hours.

I shifted my feet on the battered and wobbly sewing stool and fitted my distance goggles over my eyes. I didn’t care for the theatre, I only cared for the corner of the Mississippi River I could spy from my bedroom window.

A fluttering in my stomach wanted to make its way up to my chest, it wanted to coil there and burst into something new. Movement on the river caught my attention, but it was only a paddled steam ship. Besides, my sight belonged above the river, where an AirPirate ship would fly. One day soon, I would see the Airship captained by the pirate who was responsible for my parents’ deaths.

If only I knew what I would do after I spied the ship. I could blow him up, I could tinker a bomb and blow he and his ship apart. No, I wanted to see his face, and he mine.

Except, I wanted to pull away from the window, why? Wasn’t that where I’d see something exciting? I looked away from the window anyway, and the room was all wrong. I had a vision, or…maybe I had left my distance goggles on. Idiot! I pushed them up my forehead, still feeling the tug to leave the attic. 

BACK IN THE SADDLE FOR A ROW80 CHECK-IN, PARDNER

Pretty darn dismal last check-in. Dismal, like Dismal Swamp  -- there is such a place, I kid you not!
Serious dismal-nes here folks. Here's the weird thing: it was on fire for about three months. Still not kidding. If only I were on fire for three months...sorry. Still -- I'm very excited about this next week, I'm revitalized and raring to go. NOW, go now. Okay.

I need to narrow my focus on my WIP, figure out some key elements, so I'll do that by:
Brainstorm for 2 hours
Outline for 2 hours

Anything else is gravy...mmmmmh, gravy.

BTW, I started a YA yeeeeeeaaaaarrrrrssss ago about Dismal Swamp, honestly, how could you not?

How are the goals? Are you gearing up for round 5?