Goals for ROW80 and the Year Ahead and Snowstorm Photos
irst week of the new year gone by already!
See, that's what it feels like if you don't make goals and plans, and stick to them. (If your goal is to Do Nothing and take each day as it comes, that's okay too.)
As we do every month and year on the Forum, we all shared our goals for 2013 at the start of January.
I re-started editing Druid's Moon a few days ago, and was thinking about how long it's going to take me, and so on; so these are the goals I came up with:
Finish editing Druid's Moon. I'd love to finish in a month or so but that's not going to happen. It took me an hour the other day to change (among others) this ridiculously passive telling sentence:
"Lyne hurried home with her shopping, pulling her head as far down as she could into her collar"
to something more like showing, in deep pov:
"Lyne drew her head as far down as she could into the collar of her raincoat, and shifted her grocery bag to her other hand, wrestling with her umbrella."
Anyhow, because of that, I probably won't be finished by the time March rolls around, so I'll use NaNoEdMo to help me complete the edits. Until then, working on the edits will be my goal for this round of A Round of Words in 80 Days. I'll need to do some more research in that time, too (archaeology, Druids, Cornwall, caves, Celtic legends, hereditary titles in England, etc.).
I'll still be querying Out of the Water (sigh).
Then I can share Druid's Moon with betas, and start typing up Captive of the Sea (Santiago's story; the one from the last NaNoWriMo).
Then I should really finish editing Rome, Rhymes and Risk.
And in between I'd really like to get some of my short stories fixed up.
As for other goals, I like my two-days-per-week blogging schedule, but I'd really like to introduce some new tabs on the blog, linking to snips that I've posted and events I've hosted.
I've cut down on Facebook, but I'd like to scale back even more - right now I'm still getting about 20 people's updates in my email and what with that and the hundreds of anonymous spam blog comments that roll through, and all the ridiculous coupons and things, I feel like I'm hauling armfuls to the trash every time I open my Yahoo mail. Luckily I have Gmail, but still...
And oh yes, knitting. I've got two very ambitious Fair Isle projects, one started and one to come, and then Helene Boudreau tweeted a link to some mermaid gloves that I'd love to knit! I made two blankets as Christmas gifts that cut down my stash in a beautiful way - I've only got a box of wool left now. So no guilt over buying new skeins!
Hmm, what else? Scrapbooking has really fallen by the wayside. Baking had, but I've picked that up again in the last couple of weeks. I'd really like to read some of the books I already own instead of buying more (ahem, especially the ones off the list of 180 books down the left-hand side of this blog). I've gotten so many of Andrew Lang's rainbow fairy books from the Folio Society, and so far I've only read two! Not to mention the poetry (a collection of WWI poetry, Auden, Hopkins, etc.), the John Buchan and Josephine Tey books, the... Well, there're a lot.
And tidy up the garage (full of boxes of books) and the library.
I want a sabbatical!
We didn't even get a proper snow day at work, because no one quite predicted that we would get 45cm in one afternoon last week - a new one-day record for Montreal, beating the previous record snowfall from 1971! I tweeted lots of photos:
See, that's what it feels like if you don't make goals and plans, and stick to them. (If your goal is to Do Nothing and take each day as it comes, that's okay too.)
As we do every month and year on the Forum, we all shared our goals for 2013 at the start of January.
I re-started editing Druid's Moon a few days ago, and was thinking about how long it's going to take me, and so on; so these are the goals I came up with:
Finish editing Druid's Moon. I'd love to finish in a month or so but that's not going to happen. It took me an hour the other day to change (among others) this ridiculously passive telling sentence:
"Lyne hurried home with her shopping, pulling her head as far down as she could into her collar"
to something more like showing, in deep pov:
"Lyne drew her head as far down as she could into the collar of her raincoat, and shifted her grocery bag to her other hand, wrestling with her umbrella."
Anyhow, because of that, I probably won't be finished by the time March rolls around, so I'll use NaNoEdMo to help me complete the edits. Until then, working on the edits will be my goal for this round of A Round of Words in 80 Days. I'll need to do some more research in that time, too (archaeology, Druids, Cornwall, caves, Celtic legends, hereditary titles in England, etc.).
I'll still be querying Out of the Water (sigh).
Then I can share Druid's Moon with betas, and start typing up Captive of the Sea (Santiago's story; the one from the last NaNoWriMo).
Then I should really finish editing Rome, Rhymes and Risk.
And in between I'd really like to get some of my short stories fixed up.
As for other goals, I like my two-days-per-week blogging schedule, but I'd really like to introduce some new tabs on the blog, linking to snips that I've posted and events I've hosted.
I've cut down on Facebook, but I'd like to scale back even more - right now I'm still getting about 20 people's updates in my email and what with that and the hundreds of anonymous spam blog comments that roll through, and all the ridiculous coupons and things, I feel like I'm hauling armfuls to the trash every time I open my Yahoo mail. Luckily I have Gmail, but still...
And oh yes, knitting. I've got two very ambitious Fair Isle projects, one started and one to come, and then Helene Boudreau tweeted a link to some mermaid gloves that I'd love to knit! I made two blankets as Christmas gifts that cut down my stash in a beautiful way - I've only got a box of wool left now. So no guilt over buying new skeins!
Hmm, what else? Scrapbooking has really fallen by the wayside. Baking had, but I've picked that up again in the last couple of weeks. I'd really like to read some of the books I already own instead of buying more (ahem, especially the ones off the list of 180 books down the left-hand side of this blog). I've gotten so many of Andrew Lang's rainbow fairy books from the Folio Society, and so far I've only read two! Not to mention the poetry (a collection of WWI poetry, Auden, Hopkins, etc.), the John Buchan and Josephine Tey books, the... Well, there're a lot.
And tidy up the garage (full of boxes of books) and the library.
I want a sabbatical!
We didn't even get a proper snow day at work, because no one quite predicted that we would get 45cm in one afternoon last week - a new one-day record for Montreal, beating the previous record snowfall from 1971! I tweeted lots of photos:
Lone plough in blizzard... That's not a shadow on the bottom edge but snow starting to pile up on the window #windytoo twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
You want snow? @maureenjohnson #montreal #newyearblizzard twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
See that little shape in the centre by the tree? That's my car, tabernac! #snowstorm twitter.com/wtriders/statu…
— Whisky Trench Riders (@wtriders) December 27, 2012
. @shirewisdom We have snow and to spare, if you'd like! twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
My two-four is in there, somewhere. #MTL #Montreal #Snowstorm twitter.com/wtriders/statu…
— Whisky Trench Riders (@wtriders) December 27, 2012
Won't be leaving the house again this afternoon, I guess #Montreal #blizzard #nottheDQkind #NDG twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
. @darlenemarshall Um, what? Warmth? What's that? twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
Previous tweet was meant to have this photo attached twitter.com/denizbevan/sta… twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…The 'previous tweet': Just heard that visibility is less than 1/8 of a mile... that's IF you can get your car out
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
A lone shoveller surveys the landscape... can I make it to the car? #Montreal #blizzard #recordsnowfall twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
#Montreal #snowstorm leads to #baking : citrus crinkle cookies tinyurl.com/d7fjr2tHere's the recipe for the lemon crinkle cookies
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 27, 2012
Forgot photos before wrapping 'em for a party, but kept a few to sample; one left! #cookies twitter.com/denizbevan/sta… twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 28, 2012
It's not just the day of the storm but the morning after, when the snowbanks are taller than you #Montreal #NDG twitter.com/DenizBevan/sta…And here's a lovely sketch of the snow by Shari Blaukopf, to save you from clicking on all the above links (I thought embedding tweets would include the photo; they're saved on the iPod I access Twitter on and not on this computer, unfortunately):
— Deniz Bevan (@DenizBevan) December 28, 2012
Have you had snow or are you expecting snow? Wouldn't you just love a snow day?
Comments
Yes, I have a long list of writing 'to be completed' hope we both make it. x
Awww have a brilliant and bright 2013!! Love your fabulous plans for this year!! And knitting too! Yay!! Take care
x
Good luck with all that snow--I'm so glad I live in Texas [g]
Sorry it's taking so long to do your edits, but at least your new sentence looks good!
Good luck on the querying, I hear it's a tough road! (Freely admitting that I took the easy one in a lot of ways.)
I got shivers from your photos. And to think I changed my cover on FB today to my little bit of snow in 2010 that coated the cherry tree in the side yard. LOL! It was a lot for us. ; )
Good luck with your goals. I know you can do it--one day at a time. =)
Now that I'm back in the states, YOU get the historic snowstorm... what's up with that?! =( No freaking fair.
Georgina, I know what you mean - we haven't had a "proper" Montreal winter for a long time now. Oh, the blizzards I remember from when I was a kid...