Staying Strong in Writing Goals #ROW80

With 14 days completed, A Round of Words in 80 Days is going well for me. For those who don't know, ROW80 is a writing challenge where writers set their own goals to be completed in 80 days. I did better this week than last. I met or surpassed all three of my goals.

Goal 1: Write
My total time spent writing this week was 4.5 hours, which was lower than last week. But I still reach my minimum goal of 5 days a week. I'm not giving myself a specific number of hours a week; I just like tracking them. Ideally, I'd write 30 to 60 minutes 7 days a week, but other things can get in the way. One of the things that I did rather than write two days this week was goal 2.

Goal 2: Read
I may have to adjust this goal higher. I finished the Hunger Games trilogy this week. Now I am 50 percent of my way to my goal of reading 6 books in 80 days, and it's only week two. To be fair, I think my reading rate will diminish. I just can't put those books down. I'm trying to decide what I want to read next: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green or Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.  Leave me a suggestion in the comments.

Goal 3: Post
Yay! I updated my blog this week outside of this ROW80 check-in. That's three for three goals met or exceeded during week two of this round.


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#ROW80 -- Breaking Even on Writing Goals

This first week for this Round of Words in 80 Days has flown by. For those who want to know, #ROW80 is a writing challenge where the write sets her own goal which she has 80 days to complete. Of the three goals I set for my self last Monday: I precisely met one, over achieved on another, and completely miss the third. So, let's say I broke even.

Goal 1: Write

My goal was to write 5 days a week with bonus points for writing 7 days. Counting the blog post I made on Monday, I barely squeaked by with 5 solid nights. Starting this round on 4th of July week slowed me down a bit. I went out of town for the over the weekend and didn't get much writing done. Changing location and breaking my routine makes it hard for me to stick with my habits. Still, I've totaled 7 hours and 25 minutes and counting of writing from Monday to now.

Goal 2: Read

Vacation time is good for reading and apparently not so much for writing. I re-read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (book one) this week. Seeing as I set my goal as reading 6 books in 80 days, I'm already 16 percent of the way to that goal. Not to shabby for the first week, eh? I doesn't hurt that I cannot put that book down. 

Goal 3: Post

This, of course, is the only goal I can't lie to you about. I could be fabricating my success on the other goals. (I'm not, but I could be.) My goal to update this blog once a week beyond ROW 80 content has failed miserably so far. I shall cite the above two success stories as reason for my lack of blog posts. One, I was out of town and barley had time to do my regularly scheduled writing. Two, The Hunger Games.

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Setting Writing Goals. #ROW80

A Round of Words in 80 Days (#ROW80) is the writing challenge that knows you have a life. Set your own writing goals to be complete in 80 days.  Post updates twice a week so fellow ROWers can see progress and give encouragement.

I started strong the first round of this year, but quickly fell flat. I may not have meet my goals on my first try, but I'm ready to start afresh with new (albeit similar) goals and a whole new attitude. I have some vacation time at the end weeks in July. For one of those weeks, We're having a mother / daughter stay-cation. I'll be taking my toddler to see local attractions. For the second week, I'm planning to do my own writer's daytime retreat. While baby and daddy are and day care and work respectively, I'll be getting writing done.

Goal 1: Write
Like before, I'll make it my goal to write at least 5 days a week. Bonus points for writing all 7 days. I'm already doing this. The baby goes to sleep around 8:00 and I write for an hour or two before bed. I've picked up some freelance work on elance.com. Getting paid to write is excellent motivation. Deadlines are also a big kick in the pants. So, my first goal for this ROW80 round is to keep doing what I'm doing: write daily.

Goal 2: Read
I'd like to try to read 4 - 6 book in the next three months. Once upon a time, I read constantly, but I haven't pick up a book in a months. And if there is one piece of wring advice I hear frequently it is to read! I think this goal will be a big challenge to be because I'll be spending my evening free time writing. When am I going to have time to read? Of course as soon as I pick up a book and start reading, I'll make the time. Also, there is my vacation time. The next books on my to-read list are:
The Hunger Games trilogy by Susan Collins (again)
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Eli the Good by Silas House

Goal 3: Post
If you look back on the past few months of this blog, you'll see very little actively. My third goal is to post weekly content beyond my ROW80 updates. Often I get stuck on what to write about. Please feel free to leave comments with suggested blog topics.



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Row80 check in

This will be a quick update on my goal for writing 30 minutes or more, 5 days a week. So far, so good!  Monday from 9:30 to 10:45 pm, I went over notes from my critique group and revised a key chapter.  I even caught part of the #ROW80 sprint. That was fun. Tuesday, I edited for about an hour in the evening.  Today we didn't have school because of the weather. I got in my half hour of writing, but I didn't do as much as I would have liked for a snow day.  I did, however, clean the bathroom and do the laundry.

I hadn't been doing so well on my healthy eating goals, so I decided to do a "reboot" this week. Monday and Tuesday were both perfect. John easily swayed me into ordering pizza for dinner tonight by saying "hey, do you want to order pizza for dinner tonight?" I have only one response to that question.  But, that was dinner--breakfast, snack and lunch were better. Total so far this week: 92%.  That's an "A," baby! Yeah!

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Extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation.

In my original ROW80 goals post, I made a joke about points being redeemable nowhere. I received a couple comments about reward systems being helpful to staying on goal. I agree this is a good idea. However, I want to maintain a balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. If I ever find myself not wanting to write rather than not ever having enough time to write, I'll consider rewards. For now, writing is my reward, and I'm sticking with "pointless" points.

I coordinate an after-school reading club.  One part of the program includes Accelerated Reader time in the library. AR is the gamification of reading. Kids read a book, take a quiz and are rewarded points (based on the book's length and the student's score on the quiz). I have some students who are only there because they "have to" earn points for their classroom teacher. And I have others who blow their point goals out of the water because they read ALL the books!  The first type of student is working based on extrinsic motivation. This isn't bad because at least those kids are reading, but it's a chore and doesn't foster a love of reading. Example two students have an intrinsic motivation to read and don't really care about the points. These examples are the extremes. There are others who enjoy earning points and it makes reading more fun. Still, like on "who's line is it anyway," the points don't matter.

I might consider extrinsic rewards for my healthy eating goals. Like: eat clean 5 days a week, pizza and wine on the weekend! I notice some other ROW80ers post various goals aside from writing related ones.  I may do the same.  I have new years healthy eating goals this year.  And for the first two weeks, I'd give my self a "C+."  This is unacceptable.  I admit that I'm a nerd--I want that "A" average.

Round 1, Week 1

I set a ROW80 goal for myself of working on my writing at least 30 minutes a day and at least 5 days a week.  I wrote five days last week, an hour or more each day. Props to me! I would also like to thank some contributing factors to my first week's success.  One, my supportive husband who reads my work and watches the baby. Two, the grad class I thought started the 7th of January really starts the 19th.

Here's the break-down for week one, round 1: Monday, I wrote for an hour or so while baby napped.  Tuesday, I spied this blog's flash fiction contest on twitter, and I wrote about 250 words on my phone during my break at work then worked on it at home that night. (When the writing bug bites...) Wednesday, I edited and revised that short story; it ended up being around 480 words.  Thursday night I read and critiqued pieces for our writers group.  Friday is my big writing day: John took care of the baby for the morning while I went to a cafe for 3 solid hours of critiquing, editing and revising and then another two hours in the afternoon at our critique group.  Huzzah for me.  This could be my full time job if I didn't have to, you know, make money.

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First mid-week check-in

Many things can get in the way of meeting my personal writing goals. I certainly don't lack intrinsic motivation. I enjoy writing. My problem is distractions. I can write casually with some distractions. For example, I can compose a blog with the baby playing on the floor beside me. I can write a facebook post in the store on my phone. If I'm writing casually, and something breaks my train of thought it's not a big deal for me to go back to the writing later. 

Other types of writing, however, requires of me a certain focus level. And I find it difficult to achieve distraction free work time at home. I can't write a paper for grad school or work seriously on my novel when the other things are going on in the house. Which is why I set my goal for 30 minutes / 5 days a week of serious writing. Ideally, I'd like to spend an hour ever day, but we don't live in an ideal world.

Two full days in, and my ROW80 goals are off to a good start!  On Monday the baby took a nice, long nap in the afternoon and I got in a solid hour of revising.

Tuesday I worked on a short story for two hours.
Today is Wednesday, and it's still early. I'll update this post if I do any writing this evening.

See how other ROW80 friends are doing:

A Round of Words in 80 Days: Goals

Recently, I saw a tweet about #ROW80.  A round of words in 80 is the "writing challenge that knows you have a life."  I like this because 80 days is a decent amount of time, and with 4 rounds it lasts all year. I get to set my own goal, but there is a community to check-in. It will be like a new year's resolution that I keep! I even found a goal tracking app that I can check off each day. 

Starting Jan 7th, I will write a minimum of 30 minutes, 5 days a week.  Since I'm working on editing/revising my first novel, I don't want to give myself a daily word count.  As long as I'm doing something related to my novels--researching, brainstorming, drafting, editing, or revising,--it counts toward my goal.  Facebook posts and tweets don't count. 

I'm choosing to set my goal at 5 days a week rather than everyday because I want the goal to be attainable, and I know once in a while something might prevent me from writing. If I can get writing time every day, I get bonus points! (disclaimer: points are redeemable no where.)

During my work week, this endeavor will have to take place after the baby has gone to bed, and so I am keeping the time limit low. My supportive husband has already agreed to babysit for a few hours on fridays so I can have some in-depth writing time.  The sad new is, my favorite cafe has closed, so I'll need to find a new writing place. Saturdays I'll have time while the baby is napping.  Sundays are hectic for me, but I might be able to squeeze in a half hour.  

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