Christmas is coming and its ROW80 check in time
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I’ve been a bad girl. I mean a really bad girl. I haven’t been writing or keeping up with my other ROW80 goals, which includes reading one fiction book and one writing craft book.
With 11 days left of ROW80 (and 13 days until Christmas, because Christmas Eve counts to me) this is what I got:
Goal #1: Write 50,000 words towards my WIP in this round. So far I’ve written 32,800. I think last round I was closer to 42,000 mark at this point, which just goes to show I’m way behind.
Goal #2: Write 3 blog posts per week. Hmmm. I’ve been doing about 2 posts per week, but during the summer and in October I was rockin 4 blog posts per week. The problem I have is that my main blog topics are (a) travel and (b) book reviews, which I have to say take up a lot of time. You gotta travel, then think about what you saw, write about it creatively and then upload all the photos into WordPress. With book reviews, you have to read the whole book, make some notes and write a cohesive review with a short summary of the plot. These take a lot of time. I need to think of a weekly topic that I can blog about that takes less time to write about. (I still have posts coming about Ireland and Paris).
Goal #3: My goal was to read one writing craft book, and I’ve read two in this round, which makes me feel a bit better. I have two more on the shelf waiting to be read and I just purchased four more writing-related books. (Oppsie – a little pre-christmas present to myself….told you I was bad).
I hope my fellow ROWers and Santa will forgive me for being a bad girl and slacking big time. I will hitting up with #row80, #NaNoSlackMo and #wordmongering hashtags to sprint as much as I can this week. It might be a little busy with Christmas parties, some final christmas shopping and packing to go home for the holidays, BUT I will try my hardest to get some writing in.
On a positive note, I’ve gotten past the never ending “hump” in my WIP and I’ve made it to the point I’ve wanted to be writing about for a long time. I’m also going to have the house to myself for the majority of the week leading up to Christmas, so if I’m not distracted by my the HUGE list of movies I want to watch, my adorable dog that I miss so much and frolicking in the snow, I just might get some writing done during that time.
And no, I won’t be writing during the 13 hours I will be in the airplane. I fully plan on sleeping, eating the airplane food and watching the latest movie releases. Nor will I be writing during my time in the airports during the stopovers. So I won’t be surprised if I find coal in my stocking this year.
In light of a news article I saw this week:
“Things are not looking good for Santa’s workshop at the North Pole. Arctic ice loss this year was the second largest on record, with more open sea and thinner ice cover overall.
The melt this year opened up a viable “Northwest Passage”, a long-sought ice-free navigable route across the north of Canada, according to the latest data delivered by Nasa (the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the National Snow and Ice Data Centre, based at the University of Colorado.” (source)
Maybe if I offer Santa a residence in my parents’ snowy backyard he’ll scratch my name off his naughty list?
How’s everyone else doing on the writing front? Anyone else going to be on Twitter trying to get the word counts up between Christmas shopping?
Nicole, I encourage you to read my blog post from yesterday on “What I learned From NaNoWriMo” this year. I was woefully behind (as in, at 15K the day after Thanksgiving!) and still “won” NaNo. I wrote 35,000 words in six days, one of which I worked 9 hours at my day job and still wrote the last 5K before midnight.
Forgot to give you a link! http://wp.me/p1rRdc-o
Thanks so much. I did read it and was amazed. I’ll have to read it again to glean some tips.
Enjoy Christmas at home and your adorable dog, who is already waiting at the door for you , and there’s always next year to get caught up. Happy holidays!
Can’t wait to play with the dog. Maybe I can write while he naps?
I’ve been naughty, too. I’m so caught up in the season, and am more easily distracted than ever. I need to find focus and quickly. I want to get back to the writing groove and go into 2012 with goals and energy. I’ll definitely be signing up for the first round of ROW80 in 2012. Hope to see you there!
I know its like cookies, lights, movies, cheer all around. Soooo distracting. I need to figure out how to force myself to get into “the writing zone” because once I’m there its no problem. Its just getting there that’s the problem.
I love that picture of Santa! He doesn’t look happy does he. It is really hard to not be exactly where you want to be but you have achieved alot and there are still what 11? 13? days left? Just see what you can achieve and try not to be too hard on yourself. I don’t blame you for not planning to write on teh plane…I love seeing the new films! You never know though, you may be inspired to write simply because you aren’t planning on it!!!
Santa is not happy with my progress. I like your thinking, maybe I will want to write because I don’t plan on it.
I think that after NaNo everyone kinda turned bad or, like me, slackers LOL
But there are still 11 days left … you can write some more still! Perhaps you won’t get to the point you wanted, but at least you’re pushing through. Any words added is progress 😉
Good luck!
Thanks Juliana. I didn’t participate in NaNo, but perhaps next year I will have a new story idea to work on that I can do during November.
tut tut such a bad girl – achieving so much! you are as bad as me for berating yourself when in fact you have been doing great! lol
I like the idea of finding something you can do as a regular ‘simple’ blog topic to fill in between the ‘big guns’ lots of bloggers use theme days to help them achieve this, from 10×10’s to wordless Wednesday’s, my own ‘regular’ slot is mental health Mondays. Flash Fiction Friday’s are another good one! I had great fun creating my first one of those, I might do some more!
Anyway, keep up the good work – because you are in fact a very good girl! 😀
Yeah I really should make it a ROW80 goal to come up with a quick weekly topic to blog about. I kind of like Wordless Wednesday…no writing. Hmmm.
yeah, although it involves then a new challenge – something interesting to post, a photograph or drawing?! and even though it’s called ‘wordless’ usually a brief summary of no more than 100 words should support the ‘object’ 🙂 but still not as much work as some topics I guess 🙂
Don’t be so hard on yourself, Nicole. Christmas only comes once a year. I find January through April and then July-August my most prolific writing months. Maybe you will, too. Happy holidays, and hope to sprint with you on #NaNoSlackMo this week and next. 🙂
Yes, I sure do hope that the New Year and spring will bring higher word counts. Never had a new year’s resolution before, maybe I should make one this year.
Of course your ROW80 compatriots will forgive you! Santa, um, I can’t speak for, LOL 😉
I totally hear you on the amount of time it takes to write book reviews, and travel posts. I’ve done both and it is unbelievable how much time both take.
Good job getting over the hump in the WIP–that’s great. Have a greta break, let the well replenish, and enjoy the writing in peace!
Hopefully Santa will see me trying extra hard these next few days. I will try even harder when I get home. Yeah, we should brainstorm on some ideas for shorter/easier posts. 🙂
I’ve been a terribly naughty girl myself Nicole so you’ve definitely got company. I’ve been caught in a spinning cirlce of brainstorming and I am hoping that between now and January’s ROW80 it stops spinning. LOL!
You did GREAT and like everyone says, you got 11 days left and who knows WHAT amazement you’ll accomplish. You’ll blow us all to bits…I just know it! 🙂 Ok, that sounded a bit weird but you get the jist. LOL!
I hope you have a FAHHHB holiday season – safe travels and ENJOY your family, friends, and DOG!!!
Haha Natalie we would definitely be on the naughty list together because both our names start with “N”. We should make new goals for Round 1 2012. Have a Fab holiday too!
hey nicole – the best thing about row80 is, another round will be here soon! good luck in the last 10 days.
cheers,
gina
Thanks Gina. I think I really will have to make strict goals next Round.
Well-behaved women rarely become successful. I think a little time for being naughty is exactly what we all need. Besides, I think you did awfully well for being such a slacker, Nicole! I’ve not felt like writing the past week either. I have ideas that I jot down to incorporate into my WIP, but they sit there on the page waiting for me to type them in. I had planned to take the whole month of December off from blogging (I blogged ahead) so I could just focus on writing, but life has been getting in the way of my progress every few days. I’ll have try another tactic to get it done. So enjoy the holidays and don’t worry about not meeting every goal…it’ll get done.
Thanks for the kind words Marcia. I know my problem is not setting a specific writing schedule. If I told myself that I would write for one hour each evening from 8:00pm-9:00pm I would probably do it, but because I just tell myself that I get to it eventually in the evenings it doesn’t happen. So my plan is to set more specific goals for ROW80 Round 1 in 2012.
Maybe I will take your tip and try to blog in advance for January so I could focus on the WIP…
But I will enjoy the holidays thats for sure.