ROW80 Week 2: Up to Speed

(other ROW80 participants)

I spent four evenings this week on my roleplaying preparation.

Half of that was writing, half planning monsters and treasure. So far there’s more treasure than there should be, which I’ll aim to correct this week.

I also finished two poems this week, and wrote some notes on another idea. It’s great to be writing regularly again!

Other Goals

House-hunting had its share of time. I’ve looked at two houses, and I’m seeing a third tomorrow.

So did holiday planning: I’m now heading to a roleplaying convention next weekend. Not quite the holiday I anticipated, but still good.

Good luck and happy writing!

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ROW80 Week 1: Piece by Piece

(other ROW80 participants)

My main goal this month is to finish a Pathfinder adventure. So far I’ve drawn up an outline, and drafted about nine of 32 scenes (1,700 words).

That’s taken three of my planned ten evenings, so I should have a first draft ready by deadline — and that may be all I need.
(Like a speech, an adventure has to adapt its details for its audience.)

Some details, though, do need to be filled in at the start: for instance, I need to know the dangers of a quest to set the reward.

Previously, I’ve done these once I had all the creative parts finished. But it looks like that may delay things too much, so this time I’m going to try writing a budget for the danger in advance.

As for my other goals: it’s been a quiet week.

I did spend a bit of time looking into holiday options, but I haven’t collected enough information yet to make final decisions. I’m also now planning a weekend trip in January, which may push other plans further back.

Good luck and happy writing!

Goals for 2016, and for ROW80 Round 1

For the last few months, I’ve been the only one in a job that previously had a three-person team. This has had a couple of consequences:

Firstly, I’ve had to think more seriously about becoming a better programmer, so I can keep up with what work needs of me.

Secondly, I’ve been finding reasons to stress out, and allowing this blog (and other bits of my life) to fall apart.

Goals for 2016

I’d like to do a few things differently this year:

• Make programming a proper part of my goals. ROW80 being a round of words, I’ve tended to exclude (and hence ignore) my programming projects.
• Communicate more with my fellow writers (and programmers). Living in a small town, it’s easy to neglect this.

I’ve also made a few commitments for the year already:

• Prepare for Pathfinder (roleplaying) starting again in February; it’s my turn to run this again. I’ve got some preparation done already, but it will need adjusting for where the game ended up.
• Participate in my family’s impromptu writing competition (write a love story). This might not produce a good story, but it’s a good chance to write as part of a group.

• Lastly, I’ve been considering taking a holiday in February or March, if the situation at work is stable enough to allow it.

  January/ROW80 Goals

  In light of all that, here are my ROW80 goals for January:
  (other ROW80 participants)

  • Finish writing up an adventure for the roleplaying group, by working on it for at least ten evenings. This will be my main focus this month.
  • Find some programming events I could go to. There are two organisations that run events within driving distance; I expect it will take an evening to research each.
  • Re-read Pride and Prejudice and start on a story for the writing challenge. I’d like to get 2,000 words done on this by February, which should take four or five evenings.
  • Get started on holiday plans, by spending a (weekend) day or so finding possible destinations.

  Programming is notably missing from this list. It’s possible a programming project will grow out of the roleplaying prep; if not, I’ll add it to my goals once I have some of the other things under control.

  I am also still looking for a house (indeed, I should be inspecting one this week), but I’m reluctant to make this a goal, since it depends so much on what is there to buy.

  Good luck and happy writing!