ROW80 Round 3 Summary

(other ROW80 participants)

I spent most of last week walking, and a little bit of time on Mary-Sue data collection. I also finished a couple of poems in preparation for a writing-group meeting, but the meeting itself ended up being cancelled.

So much for the week. How has this round turned out?

My main goal was the Mary-Sue research project, which proved a bit bigger than expected. I’m about half-way through this: data collection is nearly 60% done, but I still have to analyse it and write up the result.

Actual writing wasn’t a huge focus, but I did draft one full story, which I’ll have to get back to at some point. I’m also slowly building up a queue of poems again.

And I’ve walked an awful lot of steps this month — apparently, the length of the Suez Canal. My legs are certainly feeling that!

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 11: Reverse Psychology

(other ROW80 participants)

I said last week that I was going to do less walking. That lasted until about Friday, then I decided I was going to do much more than my goal (in order to average out at 10,000 steps/day for the month).

Fortunately, walking is very conducive to writing poetry, so I met my writing goal by writing three sonnets.

The only goal that really lost out is the Mary Sue stuff, which has slowed almost to a crawl. But with the end of this round coming up, and my walking goal ending on the 30th, I should be able to focus on it again soon.

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 10: Precarious

(other ROW80 participants)

I wrote around a thousand words this week: a sonnet, a few pages of a new story, and a piece of roleplaying background.

I also went to the local writing group — but since most of us hadn’t written much, things were slow. Rather than let it peter out again, I’m making it a goal to write at least 500 words (or another sonnet) before the end of this ROW80 round.

That may mean sacrificing walking. I’ve been getting about 5 or 6 thousand steps a day so far (out of 10,000), and this flu is neither going away nor getting worse. I could push harder, but I don’t want to risk shifting that balance.

Fortunately, cosy evenings inside are a good opportunity for writing. :-)

Progress on my other two goals was slow, but steady: French (6 of 7 days) and Mary-Sue scoring (one short comic scored, and another started).

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 9: Busier

(other ROW80 participants)

This week, things have only become busier.

I was aiming to do Mary-Sue work (about two hours a day), studying French online (maybe 15 minutes daily), and about 500 words of writing. Then something broke at work (costing a few hours, but a lot of stress), and I joined a charity walking thing (aiming for 10,000 steps per day, or equivalent exercise).

Then I got sick. This ‘flu hasn’t hit me hard, yet, but I know a fair few people were abed for a couple of days.

On the other hand, I did pretty much finish my part of the writers’-group story, and I did score one comic for Mary Sues: The Glass Scientists, a Jekyll and Hyde story with a good balance between dark and cosy — and a bit too much author commentary to read all at once (which is why it took me so long to score).

For this week, my first goal is to recover from this ‘flu — one way or or the other. After that, the goals above still stand, although I suspect I’ll only get one of walking and Mary-Sue work done each day.

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 8: Pressure

(Other ROW80 participants)

The Mary Sue project has been eating up most of my time for the past two weeks. Reading webcomics isn’t exactly hard work — but filling out a Mary Sue test for every character just takes time.

Which is to say, I haven’t done much writing.

I did steal a bit of time to work on a roleplaying project, though, and I wrote a few world-building notes as part of that — maybe a couple of hundred words in all.

This week, I’m aiming to fit five or six hundred words in between the Mary-Sue stuff. My local writers’ group has a round-robin story I need to add to and pass on to the next person.

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 6: Waypoint

(Other ROW80 participants)

I knuckled down and focussed on my story last week, and finished the draft a day early, on Thursday. That left me time to get started on the Mary Sue project on Friday.

However, the weekend was a write-off. I abruptly decided to go to a fencing competition, and what should have been a quiet weekend ended up as two days away.

I’ve come back relaxed and ready to focus, but with a sizable backlog of Mary Sue work which I thought I’d do over the weekend. As a result, I don’t think I’ll get much writing done this week — I’ll be happy if I manage one evening’s worth.

Good luck and happy writing!

ROW80 Week 5: With Lumps

(other ROW80 participants)

I’m still making progress on my story, but in fits and starts. I wrote 24 (A5) pages on Monday night, but then only three more pages and a couple of poems in the rest of the week.

So far, so good. But I have to get my act together this week.

I thought my Mary-Sue project would restart on the 18th, but it’s actually the 12th — this Friday.

My goal now is to write the next five days, and have a finished draft on Friday (plus working on Mary Sues on the weekend).

Will I make it? We’ll see…