Oops: Monday morning Sunday check-in . . .

Did I say my mother-in-law is visiting for two weeks?

Here's my late, late, late update. OK, it's Monday morning catch-up. But overall, so far, so good for this week's goals (my weekly goals are usually set on Sunday for the coming week, but not this week).

1. Finish revising Section 2 of Years of Stone (edit 6 out of 7 days). Done. Actually about half way through Section 3, the last section. Yippee! Also sent section 1 to my BFF who's going to design the book cover. She said she couldn't put the story down. Always encouraging to hear that, even if she is my BFF.

2. Work on Africa Presentation (draft 4 out of 7 days, find music/picture books at Library, review journals). Some progress in selecting pictures. Expect this to go into high gear in the coming week as the presentation is July 23.

3. Prepare Mermaids for Smashwords (revise 3 out of 7 days). No progress at all.

4. Remove clutter from office and e-mail. Organize and let go. Not too much is stacked on the floor, so that's progress of a sort. 

5. Read craft/research (3 out of 7 days). Made 2 days. Some progress here.

6. Read, learn from and encourage other ROW80 folks (4 out of 7 days). Again, some progress. Read 10 posts by others.

7. Blog at least one post to writing and one to travel blogs. Drafted half a blog. Does that count?

8. Other: Relax and let others take the lead as family arrives. Quilt a little. Clean house a little. Cherish quiet time. Really? Did I really say relax? My goal for the coming week is to gain no more than 3 pounds from stress eating!

Last week I tried WIPpet Wednesday and was so warmly welcomed. I didn't read around as much as I wanted, but I have today and tomorrow to do a bit more reading of others' posts.

Flaubert's rough draft
for A Simple Heart (Wikipedia)

A note re marketing as I continue my journey of trying to learn as much as I can: I read somewhere that it's a good idea to start requesting 'blurbs' for that all-important book cover well before the launch date. That you may get as many as 70 rejections before you get a single yes! So I sent out two requests to historical writers I respect. 

I'm amazed at the generosity of people I've met on the internet. One responded immediately, told me her current agent, and said when she returns from vacation, she'll happily consider reading Years of Stone. Hey, that's not a no!

Any stories about how you gained blurbs for your books?

Remember when we used to revise by hand???