One Step Forward . . .

Sunday: The day for planning the coming week (and recovering from last week). I'm feeling that bone weariness that comes from keeping my world propped together. You may have noticed I didn't post an update on last Wednesday. Rachel (no weight-bearing until October), bumped upstairs on her butt, and with walker and wheelchair, traveled off to the airport to visit family out of town. And now begins 4 days of respite. So last night, I'm up rather late, putting files in order, and getting ready to make each day count.

Real achievement this week: Poured the titles of my three historical novels in stone (oh, what a play on words) and worked on concept and artwork (can't show yet) for covers for all three. The titles are: 

• Standing Stones, Book 1: Foulksay Island
• Years of Stone, Book 2: Van Diemen's Land 
• Rivers of Stone: Book 3: The Great Nor-West. 

Natalie, truly my best friend forever and graphics design expert, drove 440 miles each way to work with me for two days, and voila, we are both very happy.

The big goal around which all else revolves is e-pubbing Books 1 and 2 by my birthday, December 6.

So my writing time is fragmented between final read through on Book 1, beginning research on Book 3, and revamping a 'real' marketing plan which leads me to think about virtual book tours, blurbs, copyright issues, promotion, and platform. As my mother would say, "Ooofta!" 

ROW80 Goals for the coming week:

1. Cherish each day.
2. Continue final read/edit for Standing Stones.
3. Work on marketing plan.
4. Write 5 sentences a day for Rivers of Stone.
5. Continue supporting ROW80 as sponsor to read 10x this week.
6. Continue the battle to reduce electronic clutter. Deleted 600 e-mails so far.
7. Exercise x3 this week. Yoga x3. Might as well be optimistic.
8. Catch up ALL of pending WSQ (quilting assn) public relations projects (program, psa, article, promo).

Update on ROW 30 from last week:
Not sure I can write with all that's going on -- not even those 5 sentences, but I will try. I've read through 4 of 5 sections of Standing Stones and making progress on the final edit.  Not sure I can finish these edits by the end of Round 3. 

The blogging is interestingly nurturing this week. I posted a reaction to Rick Hanson's four kinds of peace -- which actually helped me feel a bit more at peace with what is. You can read it on my writing blog. This week's book review of Death Pans Out is on my writing blog as well. I did experiment with myguestblog this week and found the results a little impersonal, so I'll continue recruiting guest blogs -- but only from those I know.

Found several interesting articles this week online: 

Joel Friedlander talks about how to strengthen your "About You" on your blog. What's neat about this post is his link to 5 bloggers so you can see how content and format engage YOUR readers. Since our profiles appear in several places now (our blogs, GoodReads, amazon, and elsewhere), I'm going to revise.

Steven Woodfin at Venture Galleries reviews Book Blast and Kindle Books and Tips, services that for a fee promote your book. Interesting. Never would have considered this before I found Steven's article. Thinking about it now.

Road Sign near Inverness, Scotland (Camp 2009)

Question of the Day: The end of Round 3 approaches with the fall, September 18. My biggest challenge will be to persevere with the writing in spite of new 'day care' responsibilities for my dear daughter and granddaughter (14 months). Much of the time, I'm feeling scattered, as if time were precious (and it is), and I want to use it wisely. And so I shall try. 

How about you? What strategies do you follow to stay calm AND productive? I guess I'll be reading about this on your ROW80 updates!

And if you like my writing blog or travel blog, would you like to guest blog? Let's talk!