Sunday check-in: Oh, the inbox!

Those red chokeberries outside my window have popped from early summer heat, so this morning a cheeky robin had breakfast -- just right there, a fingertip away. 

"American Robin," by Steve Shelasky on Flickr

But already, it's Sunday evening, and I'm looking at three stacks of paperwork to sort through, reflect on, organize, and complete. All related to writing in some way, while my 'real' writing languishes. To report on goals for this week:

WRITING: Drafted 500 words for Granny Vampire. Sent first draft Rivers of Stone to 1 pre-beta reader. Sent quilting article on 'comfort quilts' to The Country Register. Sent monthly writing tip to SASP Newsletter. Blogged Mon, Weds & Sunday. Did read 5x for ROW80 this week.

EDITING for JUNE: Read through Mothers Don’t Die (Chapters 1-10). Have not started -- yet. Planned to read through Rivers of Stone (Chapters 1-20). Just decided to give ROS a rest until comments from beta reader about June 30. Read Chapters 1-3 of Justice (beta read), when the writer requested I stop reading and wait for her next revisions. She has a terrific story. 

MARKETING. My marketing presentation to senior center directors on last Thursday went reasonably well. What I'm most excited about are new opportunities to support marketing by writers in our local writers group, which include book club readings and a group table at an artisans' fair (so far). But my two main projects (newsletter and audiobook marketing) languish.

READING: Most useful writing craft article I've read so far this week? Rachel Carrington's A Call to Action in The Writer (July 2016) which in two pages makes it very clear how to cut superfluous action (you know, Margo brushed her teeth, tidied up the bathroom, and wondered if she would ever meet Mr. Right). Head to the library or a book store, as this article's not online.

And I'm loving Orson Scott Card's Characters & Viewpoint (a classic). His comments make me want to dig even deeper into my characters. He says physical description is nice . . . but what connects with the reader most intensely: ". . . what the character does in the story, what his motives are, and what he has done in the past" (13). That last phrase gets me every time. "What he has done in the past."

That other goal, DECLUTTERING. I think my e-mail inbox is stuck at just over 300 to-read. So I shall measure progress by the number of e-mails I delete. So far this week, only 53 gone.

Again, thank you, Fallon Brown, for showing me how to organize my goals by the month. At least the list in my Daily Work file looks manageable! It's my desk that's a wreck.

Check out what other writers in A Round of Words for 80 Days are up to this week HERE. And make it a good week.