Hello, fellow ROWers!
As my title suggests, this will be my last ROW80 update…for now.
I need to grab every moment available and shut the door on every possible distraction in order to get my writing done. I have a few short stories and the first book in a series to finish.
I’ve been feeling, lately, that I might be incapable of finishing anything. I have to prove myself wrong.
My plan to complete the first drafts of 3 short stories and a novella:
- A deadline of May 31st
- no interruptions on the 21 available writing days
- minimum word daily word count of 2,500
- dedicated writing time begins after breakfast and ends when I’ve reached my goal word count for the day
- 2nd drafts to be completed by June 15th, then sent to beta readers
This is aggressive for undisciplined me. Maybe I will have developed a more serious attitude and diminished the procrastinator in me when I see my four books published in July and August.
As to my progress in ROW80 this month:
- Write on short stories in progress 3 days/week with a weekly goal of 2000 words. Wrote 7,000 words on short stories and book 1 of the trilogy. It’s mostly crap, so I’ll be rewriting some of it.
- Plot outlines of a novella idea. A little plotting done, theme figured out and 1 scene written.
- Begin the publishing process of at least one short story. This should definitely happen in late June.
- Exercise 5 days a week – at least 30 minutes each time. Exercise was almost nil due to foot injury. I expect to get back to regular treadmill walking and DVD exercise within 2 weeks. Still doing upper body weights.
It was a pretty good month with new ideas, working at older ones and reading Stephen King’s, ON WRITING.
King’s plan of dedicated time for writing sang to me. In fact, most of his ideas would work for me. I’ll be putting many of them in practice this coming month.
Social media has bogged me down for too long and it’s time to get it completely under control. This is the plan:
- Visit at least 8 ROWer blogs on Sundays.
- Visit 25-30 other friends’ blogs once a week.
- Visit LLC writers’ posts on Wednesdays and Fridays
- Triberr – 15 minutes every morning
- Twitter – 30 minutes, 3 x a week
- My blog automatically posts on Facebook and Twitter 2 x a week
And for those of you who are a step or so ahead of me in writing:
“When your story is ready for rewrite, cut it to the bone. Get rid of every ounce of excess fat. This is going to hurt; revising a story down to the bare essentials is always a little like murdering children, but it must be done.”
—Stephen King, November 1973
So, fill me in, people! How was your week?
Marcia Richards 
Sounds like a great plan! What’s Triberr? Not that I need another procrastination tool…
HI Deniz! Triberr is a place where you belong to a ‘tribe’ or a group. Everyone in the group can go to group page to read and tweet posts. It’s like one-stop shopping. For example, I’m in 2 tribes–one is my Life List Club writers and the other is a group of friends I took a class with. Every morning I go to Triberr and all my tribe members who posted that day show up in a list. I run down the list reading their posts right from there and then click on an ‘approve’ button to have them automatically tweeted. It saves time because all those people that I would promote anyway are all in one place. So, it’s not like Pinterest where you would get lost among the images for hours. 🙂
Thanks Marcia! Sounds like a good idea.
You go Marcia!!! I should do the same thing in June. Looking forward to hearing your next update whenever it may be. Happy writing! Looking forward to reading your stories.
Thanks, Nicole! I hope to have one to send to you mid-June! Good luck to you with yours!
Can’t wait!! 🙂
Ugh! Hope your foot gets better soon. Discipline is hard for me too. It seems like the only way I can really get my words and for the day is to write first thing in the morning. This is where the discipline difficulty comes in for me. I always want to do a dozen other things before I start writing and not totally kills my flow. Working on making myself write first thing and then get on to the other stuff.
I’m right there with you, Sonia. It’s so hard not to open my email first. I actually have to fight with myself to stay focused on JUST writing. Good luck to you. And, thanks, my foot is lots better.
Marcia, You’re the most orgainzed blogger I know and I have no doubt you’ll meet every one of your goals. I covet your organizational skills. Seriously.
I spent the last week on vacation, visiting family and meeting our new great granddaughter. I’m now hunting down my muse. She tends to wander when I’m not around to rein her in.
Aw, thanks, Diana! Congratulations, Grandma! Wait–you’re a GREAT grandma? Holy cow! you’re the youngest one I’ve ever seen! How fun that must be!
Find your muse–quick! That’s Stephen King’s big thing–write everyday no matter what or the muse gets lost, or at least dries up. He’s so dedicated. I just can’t write every single day, but I can most days.
Organization is a real struggle for me, well it’s the discipline part, sticking with the organizational plan I dream up. You can do it, Diana! You’ve already got more writing done than me!
Go for it love! We have to plan our lives accordingly. It’s easy to get distracted or side-tracked and let writing fall to the wayside, especially when we don’t FEEL inspired. And thank you for the next writing book recommendation! I’m working on two now, but will definitely get my hands on Mr. King’s. I absolutely adore him as a writer! ❤
Thanks, Cathy, for the support, for following me and for the tweet luv! Oh, I think you’ll absolutely love King’s book! He’ll make you want to drop the others!
No problem! And I just ordered it! Can’t WAIT to dig in!!!
Great, Cathy! Let me know how you like it!
I love the quote from Stephen King. I’m in the middle of editing and it sometimes feels like I’m changing every single word. But if it makes it better, then as he says, it must be done.
Good luck on reaching your goals this month, Marcia! I’ve been trying to stay off the internet until I finish these edits, but here I am. LOL! Looking forward to your updates as you progress!
That you chose to come here when you were supposed to be editing is super flattering and I so appreciate you dropping in! I’ll be thinking about you and silently cheering you on during your editing phase! Thanks for your support, Sheila!
Hi Marcia, I got here earlier than expected. Great post, I like how you laid it all out on the line and I see a lot here that would be a good fit for me. I really, really like knowing that you and I are journeying down the same path. I see Gene and several other familiar names walking down the road too. I read all the comments and didn’t realize that Don had commented on Jane’s post, I’m going back to read it. We had some great discussions with him at Breakout Novel Intensive and I think his guidance from that experience has been instrumental in helping me determine many of my priorities concerning S.M. and writing a great book. He’s going to have a new book out soon, The 21st Century Novelist. I can’t wait to read it. Love Stephen Kings book too, it’s a must read for all writers as Don’s books are as well.
You know I’ll be cheering you on Marcia. Please shoot me an e-mail anytime. Please keep us posted here too!
I’m excited about us traveling the same road, too, Kate! I’ll be reciprocating the cheers! Please stay in touch with your progress, too! This is our year, my fiend!!
Oh boy, you’ve got that right. This is OUR year.
I kind of feel like skipping! 🙂
Kudos to you for becoming so disciplined, Marcia. I’ve come to similar decisions, focusing mostly on writing and my Thriller Thursday posts, with the occasional ROW80 Check in. A platform is no good without books to put on it, and it takes at least 2 or 3 to really build a name. I loved what Friedman and Maas had to say – they just echoed the thoughts I’ve been having for a while.
BTW, to jump into to your convo with Gene, I would love to know more about Goodreads. I can’t figure out how to use it effectively. It’s so clunky and frustrating.
Good luck!
Thanks, Stacy. I’m hoping my plan works..so far it has. I sent you an email about Goodreads. Hope it helps!
Sounds like a plan, Marcia. King’s book is one of my favourites – he cuts to the chase. Write on, my friend. We are waiting to read!
Good for you, Marcia! Sounds like you’re gonna “bust some a$$” in May! 🙂
Love King’s book ‘On Writing’! Your goals sound great and you can totally do it. 21 days? That is pure bliss! Go forth, write, enjoy. I can’t wait to see what you accomplish in that time.
Wow, you are super organized! Good luck and happy writing!
It is very easy to get overwhelmed by social media- reading WANA really helped me focus and make things fun and easy!
@Alica–good for you! Glad you found something that helped.
@Bette Thanks and same to you!
@Tameri Thanks, Sweets! I’m off to a great start! May 31st will bring success!
@Jenny thanks! I definitely will bust something! 🙂
@Patricia I appreciate the support! I’ll be sending this SS out for reading by May 31st!
Right with you Marcia. Actually, I may use your social media plan as a template for my own – we’ve had the same issues. Hey, there was a post by Jane Friedman that really spoke to me on this subject earlier in the week. It’s a fast read and well worth it. Linkage: http://janefriedman.com/2012/04/27/how-do-you-balance-writing-with-platform-building/
Have a great week, Marcia 🙂
I love Jane and her posts! Thx for the link! She had some great ideas there, but did you see Donald Maas’ comment? According to him, in-store promotion and word of mouth created more recognition and sales than anything else. Reviews and best-seller lists also topped social media (blogs, twitter, FB, readings, etc) for influence on book purchases. I agree with Jane that we should not give our platforms or stop trying to connect with future readers, but I’ll be spending maybe 20% of my time on SM and 80% on writing. I need to get books in the market so people can see what I do. I’m also switching from a WP blog to a WP website with a more polished look.
When i go to Amazon for an ebook, I don’t know most indie authors by their platform. I read the story description and buy it based on that and the reviews. Their platform never came into to play for me.
I wish you well, Gene. I hope you get some balance, too. If you ever want to discuss it further, you know how to find me. Btw, I’ve made more progress on one short story today than I have in the past month. Thanks for recommending ON WRITING. It’s made all the difference!
Maass was who originally inspired me to write again (The Breakout Novel), not personally of course, but his writings. He is correct as usual. I’m working on the same general split and upgraded to a new smart phone this week that will let me handle SM and writing from anywhere (at least that is the goal) but the bulk of time has to be for writing – nothing on the market equals no real need for a platform.
I have read your email on GoodReads, just had a massively busy week and wanted to wait to respond properly. Soon – and yes, we will definitely be talking my friend. Seems we are very much on the same path of motion (as is Carrie Mumford, by the way).
Balance requires constant adjustment, a necessary irony of life. ‘On Writing’ kicked me in as well, along with Vogler’s ‘Writer’s Journey’.
Will email you soon. Be well 🙂
I look forward to seeing how your experiment works for you. Wishing you all the best, my friend!
Thanks, Raelyn! I’ll keep you posted!
I’m excited for you and can’t wait to hear the outcome of the next 21 days!!!
Thanks, Jill! I want to be just like you when I grow up!