ROW80 and Weds WIPpet: Reality Check

Between jet lag and a switch to Daylight Savings, I'm still climbing back into a daily routine that leads to balance, a sense of order, and that wild card, writing.

ROW80 check-in today will be short as we move to the end of Round 1 (March 26). This round's goals and progress.

1. Writing: Finish first revision of Section 01, Rivers of Stone, and begin revising Section 02. First section done (14 chapters), but I will return again, second section well begun (on Chapter 8). Read one book on writing craft? How about half of two writing craft books? Still have 2-1/2 weeks left, right? 

2. Community. Social media daily x1. Blog 3x each week. Yes to both of these goals. Meet commitments as ROW80 sponsor and participate in WIPpet Weds. Not able to read all posts but met goals of 6x/week. Critique or write reviews for 4 other indie writers. Done x9. Also attended a quite useful writing conference, the first in several years.

3. Marketing. Draft 2015 marketing plan. Schedule one more workshop. Done. 

What have I learned from Round 1 of ROW80 so far? That of these three categories, marketing remains the  most challenging. Participating in BookBub led to many new readers, and I'm still amazed and so appreciative of every reader, especially those who review, comment, and write me! My progress is still slow, with at least another year before Rivers of Stone is ready for publication. 

Participating in online writing communities has been so helpful. I highly recommend A Round of Words in 80 Days (to set goals and measure progress), NOVELS-L of The Internet Writing Workshop (to exchange critiques at the chapter level), and WIPpet Wednesday (to simply share work in progress).

Now for that snippet of Rivers of Stone for K. L. Schwengel's Wednesday WIPpet. Inspired by the date of March 11, that's 5 paragraphs, plus 1 for luck. Cat, still disguised as a boy, works as a clerk at York Factory in 1842. November temperatures average 4 F in Upper Manitoba. A Swampy Cree named Muchk has befriended her.

“You fall asleep out here, you die.” Muchk tapped her on the shoulder. “You don’t know who come up behind you.”

Cat shook herself and laughed. “All I do is fall asleep.”

“Not good to sleep inside or outside. Help me get some shot and powder.”

As Cat measured out Muchk’s order, a wave of smells from bodies pressed close to the counter made her dizzy, and the powder spilled out on the counter.

“There’s a mess,” said Murray. “Did ye have no breakfast? Better get over to the cook’s and see if he needs any help. For sure you aren’t worth much today.”

Cat hunched over to walk across the parade grounds, her feet crunching through the snow, her hands pulled inside her jacket. Damn cold, she thought and then laughed at herself. Mam would never approve my swearing, but it's cold, bloody cold enough to freeze my nose. The dizziness had cleared once she was outside. Cat glanced at the Hayes River covered with ice and remembered what Muchk had told her about the polar bears, how they hid their black noses so they would be invisible when they hunted seal on the ice pack. The story didn’t seem so funny this morning.  

Alex Burger, Polar Bear at Churchill (Flickr)

Cheer on other ROW80 writers as they work hard to achieve their goals -- or visit WIPpet Wednesday to read other snippets from works in progress.