ROW80: Spring has sprung!

Each morning begins with writing. Now it's Sunday night after a sunny, warmish day. For those intrepid followers of ROW80, the online writing community that knows we writers have a life, we're on to Round 2. 

First, set goals that are measurable, then report in twice weekly. 

My ROUND 02 goals (so far):

• WRITING: Write 6x/week on current project, Rivers of Stone (1840s historical fiction set in Canada). Send beta out x2 by April 30. Meet weekly w/writers' group. Work on ROS book blurb and cover. Begin to draft wrap around materials (afterword, notes, bibliography?, and links). Overall goal: Publish Rivers of Stone by the end of summer.
• MARKETING: Jump start that marketing plan and media kit. Complete 2-3 action steps each week. Send newsletter by April 15. 
• BLOGGING: Post ROW80/weekly on Sunday, Writing blog weekly, and IWSG on Weds, April 5. 

PROGRESS March 27-April 2:

• WRITING: Actually finished revisions of Rivers of Stone. Now reworking those crucial last three chapters. Just once more. Key question: Does the ending tie together all those loose threads? Will it satisfy the readers?
• MARKETING: Listened to Joanna Penn's weekly podcast on Amazon marketing. Took LOTS of notes. Began researching key words in my genre. Working my way through Shelley Hitz and Heather Hart's Building a Book Marketing Plan for Authors (www.trainingauthors.com)
• BLOGGING: So far, so good. Some notes for IWSG already. I decided not to participate in the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year . . . because I want to focus on my primary writing goals.

Now here's the real deal: Being a part of A Round of Words in 80 Days keeps me focused and motivated. Schedules help. Positive self-talk helps. Digging into my work critically and figuring out what needs to be done next is woven throughout ROW80. Thank you for reading, writing, participating, and for those words of encouragement. Sometimes my best lessons come from your own honest assessment of what's going on with your writing!

May Round 2 be good to you all!

OK, just maybe I'm past editing, revising, and
editing and editing that first draft . . .