ROW80 – R3C4 – One Month Down

July isn’t out yet, but the next time we talk it’ll be August. This is the fourth check-in and I’ve been able to keep my “perfect round” goal on track for a whole month.

MAIN GOALS

These are the daily goals that won’t change throughout the round.

1. Exercise for half an hour each day, five days a week. 5/5 I’ve taken advice from some of you guys from last week. Instead of running in five minute increments, I’ve tried stepping it up a few minutes here and there. Instead of running for a total of 15 minutes, I’ve been fluctuating between 18 and 19 minutes. It doesn’t seem like much, but that extra amount has proven to be challenging, which is what I need at this point. Weight loss is on track and I’m happy with my results.
2. Edit or write every day. 7/7 I’ve been editing all this week. It’s going slowly, but it’s been extremely helpful. I’ve been writing a lot in the last few months, so it’s nice to be editing again.
3. Read one chapter every day. 7/7 I’ve been reading far more than just a single chapter each day, and it’s been nice to finally get back into reading seriously again.

FLUCTUATING GOALS

These are the goals that will change from week to week.

1. Edit story #1 in my collection. Done. The overhaul was definitely needed for this and I’m happy with the results. The next goal is to edit story #2 in my collection.
2. Pick one contest or one magazine I’d like to participate in for this month. Done. I chose an e-magazine to submit one of my better horror stories. I’m going to wait until I get to editing this story before I do anything more with this goal.

ROUND GOALS

I like knowing what I want to accomplish over the course of this round, as that will help determine what my weekly goals will be.

1. Finish The End, my horror collection. Get some beta readers. This is 100% complete and now just needs to be edited again (and again, and again, and again…).
2. Begin editing Lifetimes, the novel I’m focusing on right now. 0% I’m waiting until my beta readers get back to me, then I’m jumping into this one head first!
3. Enter at least one competition or submit at least one article to a magazine. 0% Getting closer to achieving this goal! I have my magazine picked out. Now I need to edit, edit, edit!
4. Read at least four books this month. 100% I’ve read Marty Boggs and the Curse of Kutkara, as well as all three Noble Intentions book (more about them below).

Extras

These are things that don’t warrant a full post, but are definitely items I’d like you to check out if you’re interested.

1. My friend just published his third novella in his Noble Intentions series. The books are about an assassin/spy named Jack Noble. I’ve read all three of these books (and I’m named editor on the third one!) and they’re fantastic. They’re fast paced, action-packed novellas. Quick reads and definitely enjoyable. The author likens it to Jack Reacher, John Rain, and Jason Bourne. They’re on sale now at Amazon for only $0.99! He’s even got a Facebook page here.
2. Remember that surprise I was teasing for a while? I am officially a columnist for Hypable! I wrote my first article about Percy Jackson. My column is bi-monthly, so look for the next one in a couple of weeks – it’s going to be about Teen Wolf.
3. I have another surprise in the works. If all goes to plan today, then I’ll be able to announce it next week! I’m sure a few of you will really enjoy it.

ROW80 – R2C3

This week was nuts!!  Between just being super busy and trying to get ready for a weekend away, I didn’t have a whole lot of time to get things done. Hence getting this up a lot later than usual. But here’s what I managed to accomplish:

1. Exercise for half an hour each day, five days a week. Incomplete. I did it Monday and Tuesday and didn’t find a second of time after that to do anything else. I’m going on a beach vacation in exactly two months, so there’s my motivation to make sure I get going on this goal from now till then.
2. Each Sunday, visit Writer’s Market for at least half an hour. Complete. Whoo hoo! That’s two weeks in a row that I’ve gotten this done. And I’m definitely going to sit down tonight and go through some more e-mails. I really like some of the contests I’m finding. I’ve never entered a writing contest before, so this is something I’m really looking forward to.
3. Write every day. Incomplete.  I fell waaay off the bandwagon with this one, but I just didn’t have time to do it this week. The good news is that on the trip down and back I had two hours to work on my writing. I ended up reading a few of my stories out loud to my BFF, which allowed me to fix up some minor mistakes. It really helped though, and I’ve decided which ones I want to enter in the contest! She had already read these before, so I also read her a new story and part of the one that I’m writing specifically for her. And she liked them!
4. Read every day. Incomplete. GUESS WHAT GUYS!? I finished Tiger’s Voyage finally, and I’ve started on a new book. Whoo hoo! It’s really good so far and she’s a new author, so I might end up doing a review of it. I only missed one day this week and that was because I just had zero time. Not bad at all, in my book.
5. Finish my Cinderella story. Incomplete. I didn’t get a chance to work on this at all this week, but I’m hoping this coming week will give me enough time to finish it up. I’m going to be putting the final touches on the stories I want to enter into the contests, though, so that will be my main focus. As long as I stay organized, I think I’ll be able to finish this one up pretty well.

So, not a wonderful week because life definitely got in the way, but I didn’t mind so much. I feel like I know what I want to accomplish for this following week, and that’s the important thing. That and I got to see one of my other best friends for the first time since last year!

Oh, and this past week I also got VIP tickets to see Starkid on their Apocalyptour. I AM SO EXCITED. I have to travel to Maryland (five hours away), but it is TOTALLY worth it. Here’s the promo video for the tour. If you’ve never heard of Starkid before, make sure you look up some of their videos!

 
Have a happy ROW.