Between Rounds

If you follow me as part of ROW80, we are between Rounds right now. 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. So this first round of 2018 ended on March 21 and round two doesn’t start until April 2. But because this is a writing challenge which is all about breaking the rules, I continue to post my goals, successes and failures here every Sunday, mostly because I don’t usually keep track of where the round is at.

Here is what I meant to accomplish last week. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is goal at least worked on, red lettering is goal not even attempted. all.   

A. WRITING

1. Finish going through “The Truth Beyond the River,” fixing typos and other glaring mistakes. Only did nine chapters. And still have 18 left. Yikes.

2. Do a thorough edit on my book proposal. I don’t know how thorough it was, but I did peruse it again.

3. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”. Yes.

 

B. REACHING

1. Read five other blogs and comment on three of them. Read three and commented on two. What happened there? I always meet this goal.

2. Send the proposal to the next agent on my list (assuming I haven’t heard from the first one). Nope.

3. Promote “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”

a. Contact the business my friend mentioned to me for a book signing. Nope.

b. Contact two more friends asking for a review. Just one.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. No, I’ve gotten way behind on this.

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

3. Last week I started reading a novel, “The Hideaway”, so I want to get ¾ of the way through that. Yes, at 80% finished.

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Seriously work out five days. This goal totally got nixed after seeing the podiatrist on Monday, who put me in a boot and told me to not put any unnecessary stress or strain on that foot. Nuts.

b. Increase my water intake. Some days yes, some days not so much.

c. Cut way back on my sweets intake. Pretty good, most days.   

2. Home fires

a. I gotta clean up my mom’s papers. It’s been 13 months; I think some of it can go. No.  

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Promote the craft sale we have coming up April 7 and 8. Yes.

I have another week until the next round of ROW80 begins, and it is Holy Week this week. Maybe I should focus on things other than myself. Like getting to church for a change.

A. WRITING

1. Finish going through “The Truth Beyond the River,” fixing typos and other glaring mistakes.

2. Do a thorough edit on my book proposal.

3. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”.

 

B. REACHING

1. Send the proposal to the next agent on my list.

2. Promote the book signing I am doing in conjunction with the craft sale on April 7 and 8.

C. READING

1. Try to catch up on the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible.

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

3. Finish reading “The Hideaway”. 

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Increase my water intake.

b. Cut way back on my sweets intake.  

2. Home fires

a. Clean out my mom’s papers. There’s some stuff in there I need to take care of and I gotta stop putting it off.   

b. Give the dog his spring bath. He’s a smelly, hairy beast.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Work on getting organized for the craft sale on April 7 and 8.

After this week, I am going to really start getting it together and accomplish some stuff. 

Stupid ankle. You can read all about it here. 

Rockin' it on vacation

Here’s why I really appeared to be a sluggard the last couple weeks. The family and I were on vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri last week, and I had spent the week before getting stuff ready for it. I know a lot of people broadcast it all over the internet when they are out of town on vacation, but isn’t that like saying, “we aren’t home, feel free to break in our house and take the flat screen off the wall”?

We had a good time and I did manage to spend some time every day on the computer, writing and reaching.

Here are those puny goals from last week. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is goal at least worked on, red lettering is goal not even attempted. all.   

A. WRITING

1. Go through 15 more chapters of “The Truth Beyond the River,” fixing typos and other glaring mistakes. Yeah! Got 16 chapters done.

2. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”. Done. Thanks, in part to a co-worker practically writing Wednesday’s post for me.

 

B. REACHING

1. Read five other blogs and comment on three of them. Read six,  commented on three. .

2. Promote “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” in one tiny painless way, coz I can’t just dump it by the side of the road completely. Hmm? I always feel like if I can’t remember, I probably didn’t do it. I did mention it on my Friday blog post, but it was truly a tiny mention. Oh, hold it, I also did ask two friends for a review of it, which one friend did. And I also talked to another friend who is going to help me get a book signing in her town. I started out yellow here but think I can give myself a green.    

3. The publisher of my three other books is offering them for free as an electronic download for five days next week, so I will promote that on all my social media. I posted it like a trooper every day except yesterday when I totally forgot!

4. BONUS. Submitted a poem to Wilda Morris’s Monthly Poetry Challenge.

           

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. I got a little behind while on vacation.

2. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”.  Yes, every morning, before I get out of bed.

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Give it a break and veg out all week. I pretty much rocked that un-goal!

b. But on behalf of my kidneys, I still need to be aware of my water intake.  No, not really, well, yes, I was aware of my water intake, just mostly aware of how much I was not drinking.

2. Home fires

a. Maybe we can let them go out this week, I’m feeling Spring in the air, after all. Yea, I pretty much let them go out completely.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Come up with a new and different way to promote the nonprofit. I had thought, that since I was with both my kids this week, that we could spend some time together working on this, but it didn’t really happen. My son did help me make a few updates to the website, so that was something.  

Actually, though I didn’t give myself much to do last week, I’d have to say I’m happy that I got all of that done, sitting in a condo in Missouri. I’m home now and it’s time to buckle down and make impressive strides. 

A. WRITING

1. Finish going through “The Truth Beyond the River,” fixing typos and other glaring mistakes.

2. Do a thorough edit on my book proposal.

3. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”.

 

B. REACHING

1. Read five other blogs and comment on three of them.

2. Send the proposal to the next agent on my list (assuming I haven’t heard from the first one).  

3. Promote “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”

a. Contact the business my friend mentioned to me for a book signing.

b. Contact two more friends asking for a review.   

C. READING

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

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

3. Last week I started reading a novel, “The Hideaway”, so I want to get ¾ of the way through that.

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Seriously work out five days.

b. Increase my water intake.

c. Cut way back on my sweets intake.   

2. Home fires

a. I gotta clean up my mom’s papers. It’s been 13 months; I think some of it can go.  

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Promote the craft sale we have coming up April 7 and 8. 

That should do it. Have you got plans for a spring vacation? Do you agree it might not be safe sharing those plans in detail on the internet? Are we almost done with this ROW of 80 days? And is it time to start with fresh goals for the next Round? 

Lakewood Resort where we stayed in the Lake of the Ozarks. Our condo is circled. 

Nose to the Grindstone? Not hardly.

I didn’t quite keep my nose to the grindstone this week. I knew I was going to be busy with other stuff, but I truly thought I would get more done. Oh, well, there’s always next week or the week after.

Here are those sorry goals from last week. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is goal at least worked on, red lettering is goal not even attempted. And this week, I can’t even give some items any color at all.   

            A. WRITING 

1. Review the proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”, tweaking it as needed. Nope, didn’t look at it.     

2. Continue going through “The Truth” fixing typos and other glaring mistakes, addressing 15 chapters. Only got through four chapters.

3. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”. Yup.

4. Decide definitely for sure on the next project. Hmm? So many projects still talking to me. Argh!

B. REACHING

1. Read five other blogs and comment on three of them.  Read six other blogs and commented on three.  

            2. Continue researching agents.  Hmm? I don’t think so.  

3. Promote “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”.

a. Message each new LinkedIn contact about the book. I sent a private message to my 16 most recent contacts.

            b. Ask three followers to write a review. Hmm? Nope.

            c. Share a blurb about it on Twitter. Well, see point d.

d. On my other blog, on Friday, I did share an excerpt from “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”, and shared that post on all my social media, so I think that should count.

4. I almost forgot. The publisher of my three other books is offering them for free as an electronic download for four days next week, so I will promote that on all my social media. Duh. This isn’t until this coming week.

C. READING

1. Read the daily assignment in “Today’s Light” Study Bible. Na, I think I am a couple days behind.

2. Finish reading “Paw Enforcement”. Yup.   

3. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. Yup.   

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Do something physical twice every day. No, not so much.

b. Cut back on sweets. I did good the first couple days 
c. Increase water intake. I did good the first couple days.

2. Home fires

a. Clean my office. It is positively abysmal. I didn’t do a thorough cleaning, but I at least got through the first layer and can now find my desk.   

b. Get caught up on organizing all those old pictures I have dumped into my laptop. Wow, I don’t think I even did this.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Work on the procedure manual. Nope.  

b. Post a blurb on all our social media. Nope, but I added another point.

c. Edited the website.

I’m thinking I’m gonna change it up this week. Just to, I don’t know, like jump start on Spring renewal or just plain take a break and regroup.  

A. WRITING

1. Go through 15 more chapters of “The Truth Beyond the River,” fixing typos and other glaring mistakes.

2. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”.

 

B. REACHING

1. Read five other blogs and comment on three of them.  

2. Promote “Where the Sky Meets the Sand” in one tiny painless way, coz I can’t just dump it by the side of the road completely. 

3. The publisher of my three other books is offering them for free as an electronic download for four days next week, so I will promote that on all my social media.

           

C. READING

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

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

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Give it a break and veg out all week.

b. But on behalf of my kidneys, I still need to be aware of my water intake. 

2. Home fires

a. Maybe we can let them go out this week. Though the forecast isn't in agreement, I’m feeling Spring in the air, after all.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Come up with a new and different way to promote the nonprofit. 

How’s that for planning a lazy week? Cut way back on those goals, but, hey, I can’t be a total slug.  

A Shiny Week

Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.

Some weeks are tarnished, some shine like gold.

Not quite how the song goes, is it? But those words came to me this morning as I thought about writing this post. It hasn’t been the best week, I’ve had more green other times, but somehow, waking up this morning, I feel like the week has been shiny. See if you agree.

Here are last week’s goals. Green highlight is goal accomplished, yellow highlight is goal at least worked on, red lettering is goal not even attempted.  

A. WRITING

1. Finish polishing the proposal for “The Truth Beyond the River”. Yes.     

2. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”. Yes.

3. Go through “The Truth” again, as I am sure there are still typos. Done through chapter 16.

3. Work on the next project, whether it is the one I started to outline last week or one of the four others I have started previously. Nope.

4. BONUS. Wrote a piece for the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. The topic was the best advice I’ve ever received.

B. REACHING

1. Read five other blogs and comment on three of them.  Read six and commented on four.  

2. Send that polished proposal to that chosen literary agent. Yes. I emailed it off on Thursday morning. Now the waiting begins, as I continue researching other agents and further polishing that proposal, making it shine.   

3. Promote “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”. Let’s work on this some more.  

            a. Message each new LinkedIn contact about it. Nope.

b. Ask three followers to write a review. I asked one person, who got back to me (at least) and said they were too busy right now, but one day.

4. BONUS. Submitted that piece to Chicken Soup for the Soul. The deadline was February 28, and I had just found out about it. 

C. READING

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

2. Daily read “Paw Enforcement”. Get ¾ of the way through it. Am currently about half.  Easily over ¾ done.

3. Read the daily devotion in “Jesus Calling”. Yup.   

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Do something physical twice every day. I skipped a couple days. The ache in my ankle (going on for five years!) is getting worse. I finally made an appointment with a foot doctor. I’d seen an orthopedic surgeon for it a year or two ago who told me there was nothing that could be done about it. We had thought it was Achilles tendonitis, but xrays showed a bone spur hitting that Achilles. I’ve tried all conservative treatment and the surgeon didn’t recommend surgery.

b. Cut back on sweets. Yes. We had a potluck at work on Monday and I gained two pounds in one day! So I really cut back the entire rest of the week and got those pounds off.

c. Increase water intake.  Yes, I think so.

2. Home fires

a. Snap pictures of two dozen old photos.  Yes, but half of them were from when I was in college. See the one below.

b. Finish yet another small sewing project I started yesterday.  The project was sewing potholders. A pretty small project indeed.

                                                                                                 

                                                               

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Work on the procedure manual. Nope.

b. Post a blurb on all our social media. Nope.

And here’s what’s up for the coming week.  

A. WRITING

1. Review the proposal for “The Truth”, tweaking it as needed.    

2. Continue going through “The Truth” fixing typos and other glaring mistakes, addressing 15 chapters.

3. Write three posts for the “Dino Chronicles”.

4. Decide definitely for sure on the next project.  

B. REACHING

1. Read five other blogs and comment on three of them.  

            2. Continue researching other literary agents.  

3. Promote “Where the Sky Meets the Sand”.

            a. Message each new LinkedIn contact about it. 

            b. Ask three followers to write a review.

            c. Share a blurb about it on Twitter.

4. I almost forgot. The publisher of my three other books is offering them for free as an electronic download for four days next week, so I will promote that on all my social media.

C. READING

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

2. Finish reading “Paw Enforcement”.   

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

D. REMAINING

1. Physical

a. Do something physical twice every day.

b. Cut back on sweets.

c. Increase water intake. 

2. Home fires

a. Clean my office. It is positively abysmal.   

b. Get caught up on organizing all those old pictures I have dumped into my laptop.

3. Tumaini Volunteers

a. Work on the procedure manual.

b. Post a blurb on all our social media.

How about you? Was your week shiny like gold? Or tarnished? Don’t despair! Look at the picture below if you think your life is a mess. 

Speaking of an abysmal mess! No, this is not my office. This is my dorm room from back in the day, one of those old pictures I scanned. Don't you love the pizza in the window. During a Wisconsin winter, that was how we kept things frozen, as clearly the frig wouldn't do it.