This is my (very late) check-in for the end of ROW80 Round 1 2014 (linky list). The lateness is about half procrastination, half running out of Internet bandwidth.
My goal last week was just “write every day”, and I did manage that. Most of that was keeping a journal — a bit of a change from my usual writing, and interesting, but it only lasted about a week.
I did also write a scene entirely in conversation, but that’s about all I’ve done towards editing.
Round Summary
Except for re-writing a chapter (and reflection, as always), I actually did meet most of my goals this round. I did at least five days of writing or editing every day, read six books in twelve weeks, and finished re-reading Conkers.
However, I’m loathe to call it a success. My short-term aims (re-reading 40 pages in a week, etc.) were overambitious, and switching my goals around so much makes my progress feel rather faked.
I am still happy to have a complete draft, though.
Where Now?
While I’ve enjoyed the past 15 months of ROW80, and got a lot of writing done, I was having second thoughts about joining up next round:
Firstly, a few short-term things are stressing me out right now (notably the Europe trip). This stuff will probably clear up by March, but I’m reluctant to commit too much in the meantime.
Secondly, I’ve also been sharing goals with the local writing group, and I’ve once or twice committed myself to different things here and with them, and ended up trying to do both.
I could probably get the goals to match if I had a proper plan; but to do that, I’ll need to read up on editing, and I haven’t even got a book on it yet.
Thirdly, I’m getting a bit sick of Conkers. Quite a few non-writing-related ideas and plans have piled up while I was focussing on it, and I’d like to devote some time to them instead.
I don’t think any of these are enough to keep me out of ROW80 altogether, but I suspect I will be starting the next round with a much simpler set of goals.
Good luck and happy writing!
P.S. Ritardando is musical notation for ‘slowing down’; I think it comes from Italian.
Jenkins Rising 