#ROW80 Round 4 2016 Goals

Happy Round 4 ROWers! Dang, what happened to the year? It’s almost over!

Here are my goals. I am trying to keep things simple and relaxed, as I have a revision due to my editor on 12/1 and I suspect I might end up wanting to take a break. But I would like to do something, so I may choose a project and go slow with it for the rest of the round.

I am still feeling exhausted, and I seem to be in another fibro flare, so I need to concentrate on taking care of myself. Meditation, trying not to stress, and earlier bed times will hopefully help. 🙂

Here are my goals:

~Finish the Ever Touched revision.  I can do this. 🙂
~Stay on top of FYFB class. Taking a class through Monica Leonelle. It happens to be going on at the same time as my revision, but might as well go all in. It’s three months. Should be fun. 🙂
~Make a ruling on my next project and start prepping (contenders are Fireborn, which needs a revision, Survivor, which needs a rewrite, and Death Dancer, which needs some tweaking — and may be my next Turtleduck Press release.)
~Drink 1 glass of water 5x a week
~Exercise 2x a week
~Do All the Things related to anthology release (TBD — release is Nov 15th)
~Keep up on reviews (I’m on 4 ARC teams)
~Lose 5 pounds.
~Take more pictures: infrared and normal.
~Post-process infrared pics from camping trip
~Chocolate consumption report, as always!

Annnd that’s it. Good luck everyone!

 

#ROW80 Round 3 2016 Final Check-in

And here we are at the end, sniff! I think I did pretty well, considering the challenges that sprang up. I’ve been fighting exhaustion, and I sprained my knee, which slowed down my exercise. But apart from that, I’m pretty happy with what I got done.

Here is the final rundown:

~Finish and submit TDP short story by July 15th deadline (I’m in the home stretch now on the rough draft, so I *should* be able to do this.) <–DONE! Actually, the deadline was extended several times, but we are on track now. Everything that could be done by now has been done.
~Do All the Things related to anthology release (TDB later) <–DONE, to the extent that I could do it.
~Restart Ever Touched and finish by end of round (32k left to go) <–NOT DONE, but so close! I’m at 22k of 32k today.
~Read-through of Fireborn <–DONE!
~Reinstate Covenant/8 minutes a day writing 2 days per week <–NOT DONE! I don’t think I have it in me to do this right now. Maybe next round.
~Drink one glass of water 5x per week <–DONE!
~Exercise 3x per week <–DONE, then knee sprain, then I never quite got back into the swing.
~Experiment more with digital infrared <–DONE!
~Take more pictures! <–DONE!
~Keep up with review books (I’m on 4 ARC review teams) <–KINDA SORTA. Not perfectly, but I’m managing.
~Complete 2 author interviews <–DONE!

Chocolate consumption: I think we all know how I did there. Lots of chocolate-y goodness the entire round.

#ROW80 Check-in Sept. 18th

So close to end of the round! Holy crap!

I’ve still been fighting exhaustion. I’ve been getting enough sleep, I think, but the fibro makes it hard. Really hard. And I’ve been stressed out about finishing Ever Touched. I haven’t been able to get the amount of work done on it that I’d hoped, and it’s too late to catch up.So I’ll have to start the revision early, and hope I can make it up later. Not the ideal situation. 😦

I was also in a minor fibro flare earlier this week, so I was forced to rest and get to bed early. I’m feeling a bit better now.

Sooooo, here’s the rundown:

Ever Touched – up to 106k now. Wrote 5k since the last check-in. Gonna hit it hard this week.

Short story – Got comments back from one approver. She made some valid points and catches, and I will need to give this some thought. It’s due back Oct. 1st, so I have a bit of time (still need the second approver’s comments, however). Also need to make comments on the 1st approver’s story. That’s tomorrow’s task. (We revised our publication date to Nov. 15th, so our deadlines got shifted again).

Covenant – Nada. But seriously, I need to work on this.

Exercise – I believe I housewalked twice this week.

Reviews – Started new deadlined ARC. Still working through the others.

Water – Mostly every day.

Secret project – Nada.

Chocolate consumption: Chocolate birthday cake, gluten-free brownies, WW chocolate caramels, WW sundaes, chocolate marshmallow cookies.

 

 

#ROW80 Check-in Sept. 11th

A moment of silence to remember 9/11.

Okay, let’s get right to it. I’ve been dealing with exhaustion again. And migraines. So I haven’t made as much progress as I’d like.

Here’s the rundown:

Short story – Done and ready to submit.

Ever Touched – Had to rip 3k out b/c the twist was not working. Wrote 1,432 words since last check-in — just over the minimum to finish by the end of the month. Would like to start having 1k days again. Hit 101k again last night.

Covenant – Nada, but thought about it. No energy. 😦

Water – Mostly every day.

Exercise – Yes, twice this week.

Secret project – Nada.

Reviews – Still working on getting the one book read. Need to focus.

Office organization – Got the filing cabinet! Forgot about the folder frames, which my wonderful hubby picked up for me this morning and installed. Now, all I need to do is transfer some files from the packed-to-the-gills one and figure out what else to throw away. It’s coming along.

Darkroom – Would have loved to get in there yesterday, but it just wasn’t in the cards. Too tired. Had a migraine.

Chocolate consumption: Gluten-free brownies, WW chocolate caramels, French Silk pie, WW Ultimate chocolate sandwiches, chocolate-marshmallow cookies. I think that’s it. We’re having Boston creme donuts today for dessert.

#ROW80 Check-in August 21st

I almost typed “July 21st.” What the heck. Apparently, my brain is back in July somewhere! And August is almost over! Yikes!

First things first. My knee is almost 100% better. I’m still getting twinges, like when the hubby and I went shopping at Menard’s today, but overall it is almost perfect. I’m not wrapping it, icing it, or taking any pain pills anymore. I’ve been sleeping through the night. I call this a big win! Obviously, I still need to be careful, and I won’t be using the exercise bike anymore. So I’ve decided to do walking/housewalking instead!

Here’s the rundown:

Ever Touched – Hit 100k a few days ago. 😉 Wrote just under 1000 words since the last check-in. Been working on the short story, but have also been trying to sneak in my quota of 400 words as much as I can. According to Pacemaker, I’m almost halfway to my goal!

Office organization – Not an official Round 3 goal, but I’m putting it here anyway. Hubby and I are getting a second file cabinet b/c my old one is stuffed to the gills and I literally have files lying around that need a home (this is even after paring them down). W had to special order it. I also got two big storage tubs so I can put all the stuff that’s just everywhere on my floor into them so it looks better. We may need a third. I need to go through one final pile and see if I can get rid of anything there.

Pirouette/Death Dancer – This was recently rejected by the publisher I submitted to back in January. It was a bit of a long shot, so I’m okay with it. However, after some tweaks, it might be a good indie project maybe. I’m not sure I want to pursue traditional publishing for it now. Haven’t completely decided, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about.

Covenant – Nope. Too tired.

Exercise – Started housewalking yesterday! I combined it with my Pomodoro breaks, so I walked for 5 minutes 3x. I’m hoping to make this a daily thing.

Short story – Which is now called Enslaved. Making good progress on the revision. I’m over 1/3 done.

Secret project – Nothing.

Author interviews – Finishing #2 today

Reviews – I’m reading a boxed set that I started quite awhile ago but never finished.

Water – Every day!

I’m planning on reading over my first finished novel ever, The Sacrifice, which got twisted a bit and turned into Fey Touched. But I did not use the core story, and have had plans to do something with it in the future. So I put the original file on my Kindle Fire and when I have some free time, I’ll read it over so I can make notes on the plot. I’m thinking it might be a good standalone and if I got the plot down, I could probably write it pretty quickly (she says hopefully). Of course, this is for when I have less projects competing for my attention.

Chocolate consumption: WW sundaes, ultimate chocolate ice cream sandwiches, pastry crisps, mini brownies, and these chocolate-covered marshmallow cookies from Aldi we bought on Friday. OMG they are sooooooo good! Also my usual chocolate-caramel thingies.

 

#ROW80 Check-in August 14th

Oh, boy. Another week down! Where are they going? I swear it was just August 1st!

Okay, so progress has still been pretty slow due to the knee issue. I’ve been to ER who said it was a sprain (no kidding!) and gave me painkillers. Saw my doctor who said it was a sprain of the medial collateral ligament (that would be the ligament that is on the right side of your knee looking down at it) and he suggested we wait a few weeks to see if it heals on its own before doing anything. I agree, b/c I do not want to get an MRI or incur any more bills if it’s just going to heal but take awhile to do it. If things aren’t even a little bit improved, then it’s MRI and orthopedic time. He says there could be a tear. :cries:

So, been doing the icing/anti-inflammatory/painkiller/wrapping regimen and…no improvement. Been having trouble sleeping, so I’m taking the one painkiller before bed. I’m also trying to elevate it when I’m home and when I’m sleeping. I am hoping it’s just taking its time. I do to need this right now.

The thing I’m most focused on is my short story. I got my crits back, and there are a lot of changes that need to be made. All valid points, and I agree with them. What’s funny is that another writer and I wrote our stories very close to each other, but never talked about our stories, so we had no way of knowing what the other was writing! We’re working toward making them different enough so the collection is more well-rounded.

So that’s happening. Tomorrow I’ll be working on that.

Here’s the rundown on the rest:

Ever Touched – 1,528 words written since last check-in (I had no idea it was that many!), and I’m less than 500 words away from 100k. 🙂

Covenant – Nada

Exercise – Nada, until this knee thing is resolved

Water – Every day but one.

Reviews – Will be posting a review for one book on Monday. Need to start another book asap.

Secret project – Nada

Chocolate consumption: WW Sundaes, WW pastry thingies, WW chocolate caramels, Ultimate chocolate sandwiches, cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream. and WW chocolate brownies.

 

 

#ROW80 Check-in August 7th

It’s been a very rough week. My knee is no better, despite icing and anti-inflammatory meds and all that. I will most likely need to see the doctor. 😦

And I’ve been exhausted.

So progress was very minimal.

Here’s the rundown:

Ever Touched – 2,310 words written since last check-in, 98k in draft. Would love to hit 100k in the next few days. Implemented my new twist, and it’s going well so far.

Covenant – Nope, but thinking a lot.

Exercise – Nooooooooo.

Water – 4x this week.

Reviews – Finished a book and posted review today. Three more to go!

Secret project – Ideas are simmering.

Chocolate consumption: Chocolate birthday cake from my mom’s birthday party yesterday, WW sundae, WW ultimate chocolate sandwiches, WW caramel-chocolate thingies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate zucchini bread, and these new chocolate pastry crisps from Aldi. Yummy!

#ROW80 Check-in July 31st – oh, injury

This week’s been a bit rough because that knee pain I mentioned on Wednesday got worse in a BIG way. My hubby took me to Urgent Care yesterday and thankfully there are no ligament tears. There’s some kind of strain, the doctor said. He has me on a regimen of icing (4x per day) and motrin (2x per day). I’m also wearing a support sleeve during the day. He says it’s okay to walk on it, which is great because not being able to walk would suck.

(Don’t think I ever mentioned this, but I was in a car accident when I was 22 and hurt both my knees. Severe tendonitis. They gave me trouble for a long time, but eventually got better. During the worst of it, I used to wear a brace on the worse knee — my right. I was told that I’d end up with problems down the road. Ye Gods.)

So yeah, I’m doing okay, managing. It’s a bit tough to be productive when you’re in pain. So this weekend I got very little done. Hopefully next week is better!

Ever Touched – wrote 3,318 words, up to 95k.

Covenant – Thought about it Friday afternoon after everyone went home for work, but succumbed to my sleepiness instead (shh, don’t tell my bosses!)
294 words written today!

Water – Every day but two.

Exercise – Suspended till my knee is better. And it probably won’t be the bike anymore. 😦 Maybe walking instead.

Reviews – Finished one book. About to start another. (Getting more caught up!)

Secret project – Gave it some thought. Nothing on paper though.

Chocolate consumption: chocolate zucchini bread, chocolate chip cookies, WW Sundaes, WW ultimate chocolate ice cream bars, WW chocolate-caramel thingies.

 

#ROW80 Check-in July 27th

Here we are again. I’ve had a slow start. Still recovering from vacation, and going back to work. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, actually. So I got some things done, but others I am still working on.

Here’s the rundown:

Ever Touched – 1,401 words written since last check-in, up to 92k.

Short story (Princess Sun) – Final edit done and submitted for approvals.

Water – 3x this week so far.

Exercise – 1 time, on the bike. Had some knee pain last night, so I opted to skip today. Will start back up again tomorrow, maybe for less time.

Covenant – Nada.

Reviews – Started another book for review, the one with the deadline. About 60% done. Received another ARC today, also with a deadline. I will be starting that one very soon.

Secret project – Nothing done on this yet. Still simmering.

Chocolate consumption: Chocolate-chocolate chip zucchini bread (homemade!), WW sundaes, WW chocolate ice cream sandwiches, WW chocolate-caramel thingies.

#ROW80 Check-in July 24th

I am back from vacation! It was fun, and hot, and relaxing. 🙂 I return to work tomorrow and I am really not looking forward to it. The first day/week back is always the hardest.

So, how did I do? While on vacation I edited my short story. On Friday, I typed in the changes and did a few tweaks. It is due today. I will probably do another quick edit pass before I send it in.

I read Fury Rising by Yasmine Galenorn which is awesome so far. I’m not quite done, but I am excited to see how it ends.

Here is the rundown on the rest:

Ever Touched – 731 words, broke 90k in draft.

Covenant/8 mins a day – Nada.

Exercise – Quite a lot while camping. Lots of walking and picture taking.

Water – Two times while camping (it was SO HOT) and once yesterday. Need to pick up the pace.

Fireborn – Did the read through while on vacation. Made some decisions for the revision, which is the next project. The first half is solid. The second half needs major work.

(I also started another read through — a novella I wrote 10 years ago and never finished. I was originally under the delusion that I had finished it, but hadn’t. But it is very close to being done. This is the novella that my short story is based on, so if I want to do something with it, a lot would need to be changed. Still, very interesting. Things are simmering.)

Pictures – Lots taken while on vacation, regular ones and digital infrared.

Reviews – I am getting ready to start another one of the books in the hopper. Most likely the one with the deadline.

So, I’m beginning to get back into the swing of things. I imagine this week I’ll be closer to getting into a rhythm.

I also have a secret project I may be working on too in between all of this. 😉

Chocolate consumption: Loads! S’mores, chocolate chip/white chocolate chip cookies, WW chocolate caramel things, cookie dough ice cream cone (bought by the beloved!), chocolate pudding, chocolate/chocolate chip zucchini bread (my mom’s! Yummy), WW sundaes, WW ultimate chocolate ice cream sandwiches…is that it? I think so!