Short and Sweet ROW80 Check In

Zoom!

That was the sound of me flying by. I've been eradicating square brackets all day, which involves, at times, Googling such random things as "ledger vs journal vs ship's log", "Spanish medieval units of length", "canonical hours", "indolent vs impudent", "mithridate" and so on.

Please to say I only got distracted twice, once to join the latest thread on the Compuserve Books and Writers Community about possible titles for Diana Gabaldon's next book in the Outlander series (octopi, anyone?), and now to distill what I did today into a check in for A Round of Words in 80 Days.

It occurs to me that I've been assuming in the last few check ins that everyone coming by knows what ROW80 is, but there may be many of you that don't, so here's a brief recap:

"A challenge that happens 4 times a year with a break between sessions. [Round 2 started April 4 and Round 3 starts in two weeks.]

You have 80 days for your Round of Words.

Your goal can be anything you like as long as it is MEASURABLE.

If you're already in the middle of a WIP, that's fine. Tailor your goal to suit that. You may even want to set mini goals (I want to finish the last 40k of this novel. Then I want to spend the last 20 days revising it at x pages a day). There are a lot of elements to writing a book other than the writing itself. Plotting. Outlining. Character Interviews. Whatever. Set your goal to match wherever you are right now on your WIP. If you want to use your Round for editing a novel, that's fine too. Just know that this is, at heart, a writing challenge, so all the weekly inspirational posts will be geared in that direction."

There you have it! So, as part of my goal to finish editing Out of the Water, I've spent all of today (and a couple of hours each day last week) moving scenes around, making the story tighter (I hope), removing square brackets and rewriting the ending.

Hope everyone else is doing well!

Comments

Al said…
goals are things I always seem to miss.
Zan Marie said…
Deniz,
I'll have to think about this ROW80 thing. But I find if I set too concrete a goal, I get frustrated too easily with I don't reach it.
Robin M said…
Good job only getting distracted twice while doing google research. I have a tendency to start out doing one thing and before I know it, totally forget what I was doing in the first place.
Jill W. said…
Ohh, I might do this one -- I'm free for the next, er, 6 weeks. What else am I gonna do but write? [g]
Trisha said…
Can't bring myself to sign up for anything more...I'm already feeling swamped. And I'm slacking on my goals, so gotta whip myself back into shape. Hehe
Nas said…
Hi Deniz,

Thanks for breaking it down for us like this. It sounds interesting!
Naina Gupta said…
Unfortunately, I'm rubbish at sticking to plans like that =(
Susan Fields said…
Thanks for that explanation of ROW80 - I was one of those that had no idea what it was, though I figured it had something to do with setting writing goals. Good luck with yours!
Beth said…
I'm glad you explained it, as I didn't know what it meant. I have semi-vague goals on my current WIP, but maybe I should tighten them up.
Anonymous said…
I have an 80 days goal already: finish two wips this summer. I'm also moving scenes around and tightening my prose.
Deniz Bevan said…
Al and Zan Marie, it's why I like ROW80 - you can even change your goals as you go along!

Thanks Robin, I'm getting better at it, I hope. Distraction comes easily!

Yay, Jill - can't wait to see more of Juna.

Good luck on the whipping, Trisha. I really really want to finish all this editing by the end of summer...

Thanks Nas!

You can change the goals as you go along if you like, Naina!

Thank you Susan!

I'm hoping if I keep telling everyone my goals, Beth, then I'll actually stick to them!

Two wips! Can't wait to hear more, Medeia!
Nadja Notariani said…
Good luck tightening up the story as you work through the summer. I'm going to join ROW80's next round. Setting goals and having to check in was, for me, a blessing. Accountability. I need it.
Plus, I met so many writers, learned about their projects, watched (or read) as they reached their goals....it was satisfying. I'm hoping for another terrific round. ~ Nadja
Deniz Bevan said…
Thank you Nadja! Good luck to you in the next round as well!