Welcome to Round 2

If you follow me as part of ROW80, you realize this is the first post of the second round for 2018. If you don’t know what ROW80 is, it stands for Round of Words in 80 days and is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. Each round begins on the first Monday of January, April, July and October and runs for 80 days. I usually don’t keep track of those days, because – well – one of the first rules of ROW80 is that we can kind of make up the rules as we go along.

This round, however, I am going to try to count those 80 days. Up until now, I have been posting and tracking only weekly goals here. I’ve found, previously, that if that deadline is 80 days out, I will procrastinate and not do much until day 75 or so. I did better with only weekly goals. I have a lot coming up in the next three months, however, so decided to go back to the 80-day deadline. Let’s see how it works.

So, without further ado, here are the goals I wish to accomplish in the next 80 days.

A. WRITING

1. Finish a final edit on my novel, “The Truth Beyond the River.”  

2. Continue tweaking my book proposal / query, as needed for each literary agent I intend to contact next.

3. Write eight chapters on my next novel, which I am giving the working title of “New Old Spies.”

4. Write a piece to submit to the Guidepost Magazine Writers Contest (deadline June 10).

5. Write three posts per week for my other blog, “The Dino Chronicles”.

 

B. REACHING

1. Continue sending that proposal / query to each next agent on my list.

2. Submit the polished piece to Guidepost’s Contest.

3. Submit a poem I wrote a while back to the next issue of Voices on the Wind Poetry Journal (deadline April 20).  

3. Promote myself or a piece of my writing (whether it be one of my books, submitting a piece somewhere, saying something brilliant about my writing on my social media, etc.) once a week.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible.

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. 

3. Finish reading three other books.  

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake.

b. Cut way back on my sweets intake.  

c. Do whatever my specialist says to do that is going to heal my heel.

2. Home fires

a. Clean out my mom’s papers.

b. Do a major cleaning out of one of my closets.

c. Plant my garden (thinking 80 days out here, perhaps our snow will actually have melted by then. We got 9 inches the other morning and another 6 to 10 is forecast for tomorrow.).  

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Write the Policy and Procedure manual.

b. Host two merchandise sales.

c. Return to Kenya this Spring! Yes! This is the big news – my son and I booked our flights! Going back the end of this month! Just for a week, will be a quick exhausting trip. Watch my other blog or our Facebook page for updates.

And that’s it, folks. Best wishes to all my fellow ROW’ers as we dive into Round 2.  Oops, and I almost forgot, I will also continue to support you by following your blogs and commenting on them.