Sunday 24 February 2013

ROW80 Check-in Sunday 24th February 2013

Well, what a week. I was full of plans to have NO plans and keep things calm but that never really happens. I think I am one of those people who is more productive the less time they have. Some days I have had hours to do things but waited till last minute to squeeze in half an hour. But I have been somewhat successful!

Here are my goals!
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!

2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.


3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1 - Definitely achieved this this week. I have finished one book and read three. I have just started reading book number 13 so I am a few behind where I should be but have made up some ground here.

Goal 2 - I have done two and a half hours of short story things. Two half hour slots and one long hour and a half slot yesterday. I can't seem to get into a daily habit but when life calms down (ha!) I hope to do this. Here is what I did:
Monday - 30 minutes spent working on short story notes, jotting down ideas, crossing out bad ideas!

Thursday - 30 minutes writing out brief outline and brief character notes. Writing a short story is a completely different beast and I know I don't need to get bogged down in the details at this stage.

Saturday - An hour and a half of writing, yes WRITING! I tend to put this off and distract myself with such activities as nail painting so my nails look nice as I write but today I managed to sit and write. It will need a lot of editing as as usual I am unsure if I should be writing in first person or whether third would be better. I think I'll try both.

Goal 3 - done!

So there you have it, I have done well this week although not being at work I should have achieved a lot more than I have but I achieved my goals and that is the main thing!!! I hope everyone has had wonderful weeks. Time is flying so I hope you are really finding your stride!

Sunday 17 February 2013

ROW80 Check-in 17th February 2013

I am pleased and relieved to say I have had a much better week this week. In fact I have actually achieved some of my goals!

Here they are:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!

2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.


3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
Goal 1 - I have finished book number 8 and read number 9 this week so guess I achieved this one! Book number 9 was a great collection of short stories put together for a book raising money for Breast Cancer Care and includes stories by writers such as Sophie Kinsella and Jojo Moyes. I wasn't sure if a book of short stories should count in my book count but since it contains 34 stories I decided it would!

Goal 2 - I had a busy week this week what with a good friend's wedding and a weekend long hen party but I still have achieved this goal! One Monday I spent an hour reading five short stories and I emailed my lovely friend and fellow ROW80er Lauren with my short story idea as I was worried it wasn't a good enough idea but she assures me it is! She has even agreed to read it for me before I enter it into the competition. So now I need to write it! On Friday I read seven short stories in an hour on the train and today I read 20 in just over two hours. Although I was reading because I was reading short stories I am counting this as working on my short story. I have learnt so much from reading a lot of different stories by different writers so I am counting this as research. So really I spent over three hours on this goal which is wonderful and a big tick!

Goal 3 - As you are reading this, it is done!

So a successful week even though I haven't put pen to paper. But I will! I am off work for half term this week and considering how cray cray my life has been lately I am looking forward to a calm week! I am going to try and keep things clam and not make too many plans so I have time to sleep, read and write. I am hoping to properly plot my story, work on the characters and maybe even hammer out a first draft (or at least part of one) so I can start to shape it. I know the first draft will be far from perfect and knowing me I will write too much so have to edit it down but that is fine.

I hope everyone has had wonderful weeks and you are smashing your goals whatever they will be. See you next week, hopefully with good news of the writing I have done!

Sunday 10 February 2013

ROW80 Check-in 10th February 2013

I know I wanted 2013 to be an eventful year but some of the things that are going on are not quite what I ordered. I can't think what I have done towards my goals in the last fortnight so I am not going to look back but instead I am going to look forward.

Here are my goals:
1) Read two books a week in order to read 100 books this year!

2) Spend 30 minutes a day, five times on short story for competition. Prep, reading notes, research and writing all count.


3) Write a ROW80 check-in every Sunday.
So my goals are simple. 1 and 2 are especially simple and I am currently reading book number 8 of the year. By tuesday I should have read book number 12 but I am closing the gap! I have a couple of train journeys next weekend which means quality reading time and I determined not to buy any more books on my kindle until I clear some ofF the 'to be read' pile on my bookshelf.

My last check in was Sunday 27th January and in that check-in I talked about how I felt like I was lacking direction. I have unfinished and finished but unedited WIP's that need editing but nothing was grabbing my interest and therefore motivation was lacking.

So I have taken a different direction altogether and decided to enter a short story competition! I heard from a friend about a short story competition run by Belinda Jones and the winning entry will be published alongside 30 brilliant writers in an anthology. The story needs to be set outside the Uk and have a holiday theme and the genre is romance. The deadline is the 31st March so there is plenty of time *eye twitch* and whilst I am excited I am a bit scared. I have never written a short story so it is a whole new skill to learn but I am going to give it a go. I found a book of short stories on my shelf I have never read which contains lots of my favourite writers so I am going to read that as research and I have been scribbling ideas down for the plot.

So here is to a productive week although I have a wedding on Thursday and a hen weekend all weekend so it could be a struggle at times! I hope everyone is doing well and smashing their goals!