ROW80: Say Farewell to 2018!

A light snow fell last night, giving this morning a feeling of impermanence and impending change. Probably quite appropriate in these last days of 2018, but I begin with a sense of joy and enthusiasm because . . . I'm not sick anymore!

GOALS have already been readjusted. Unwieldy goals have been dropped and a new goal added. Here are my goals for 2019, as measurable as I can make them, with progress from last week.

1. Finish drafting The Seventh Tapestry by July, 2019. Min 1K week. PROGRESS: +984 words. 😇
2. Family history, convert papers and photos to story form (1K week). No progress. 😞
3. NEW GOAL: Study Spanish daily. This week x4. 😇
4. NEW GOAL: Recruit ACX voice actor for Years of Stone, Rivers of Stone (Mar 2019).
5. Participate in online writing communities: ROW80: Post weekly on Sunday 😇. Minimum read x4/week. x2 😞 NOVELS_L: Sub 1x/month. 😇 Minimum 1 crit/week. This week: x1 😇
6. BLOG x4 monthly. 😇 Send newsletter quarterly, starting in JANUARY. 
7. Set goals for marketing. Not yet . . . 😞
8. Type Allen’s St. Remy. 1 chapter/week. More measurable 3-5 pages week. This week? One page. 😞
9. Quilting: Complete x1 comfort quilt/month. This month: x3 😇

For the first time in nearly two months, I have both energy and focus! What an amazing feeling. So cheers to the start of a new year. My goals are set, my office is organized. Anything pending? Yes! 

I'm about 40K into The Seventh Tapestry and just decided the story would be better told from first person. I've begun rewriting scenes and am feeling closer to the protag, but plan to read more about point of view as I move ahead. Have you ever waffled about point of view? Changed it mid-story? 

Car Is Enjoying the Snow (MemeGuy)

And that's it for this week. I hope to see you online, busy with writing projects, and happily ready for the start of a new year. May 2019 be very good to you.

Click to visit ROW80 HERE on our blog or over on Facebook to catch up on what others are doing. May you have a very productive week!

ROW80 Sunday check-in on a snowy morning

Sunday is that time of week we ROW80 writers check in and report on our progress for the week. I'd like to say this has been an outstanding week, but, in reality, bumps and lumps have come my way. But I will persevere. This week's report on progress (organized by goal). Progress pretty good. No progress. 

• Finish drafting The Seventh Tapestry by July, 2019. Work on characters. Structure for series and draft scaffolding for prequel, Books 2 and 3. (Minimum 1K week). UPDATE: Worked on revision and wrote 737 words.
• Work on family history, converting papers and photos to story form (1K week). UPDATE: No progress.
• Revise Mothers Don’t Die (34 chapters, 62,500 words). (1 chapter/week). UPDATE: This goal deleted as just too much to do.
• Study Spanish for February trip (3 hours/week). No progress.
• Participate in writing associations: Meet with writing buddy weekly. Join Sisters in Crime (January). PNWA. Historical Novel Society. Maybe attend Las Vegas writing conference, November, 2019 (20 Books to 50K). No progress.
• Participate in online writing communities: NOVELS_L (Minimum 1 crit/week). Track weekly progress for ROW80 (check-in 1x/week). UPDATE: Critiqued two submissions. Read 1 post.
• BLOG x4 monthly. Send newsletter quarterly, starting January. UPDATE: Blogged 3x this month, so far.
• Type Allen’s St. Remy (1 chapter/week). No progress this week.
• Complete 1 comfort quilt/month. Binding done on 2 quilts. 3rd quilt 85% done. Oops! Almost forgot. Exercised 3x this week, for the first time since that nasty cold.

Do I have excuses? Yep. Will next week be better? I certainly hope so! Meanwhile, it's the time for family gatherings, celebrations, and that awareness as one year ends, another begins. May you cherish each day!

Click to visit ROW80 HERE on our blog or over on Facebook to catch up on what others are doing. May you have a very productive week!

ROW80: 2019, Here I come!

On November 2, we moved into our new apartment. First floor. Similar layout. Maybe a little more storage. I'm still getting used to 'where things are.' As we slide into the end of the year, though, I'm ready to hop back on goal settings and reporting progress -- at least once each week for the Round that begins January, 2019. I've tried harder to make the goals achievable and measurable.

My Goals for 2019:

• Finish drafting  The Seventh Tapestry by July, 2019. Work on characters. Structure for series and draft scaffolding for prequel, Books 2 and 3. (Minimum 1K week).
• Work on family history, converting papers and photos to story form (1K week).
• Revise Mothers Don’t Die (34 chapters, 62,500 words). (1 chapter/week). 
• Study Spanish for February trip (3 hours/week).
• Participate in writing associations:  Meet with writing buddy weekly. Join Sisters in Crime (January). PNWA. Historical Novel Society. Maybe attend Las Vegas writing conference, November, 2019 (20 Books to 50K).
• Participate in online writing communities: NOVELS_L (Minimum 1 crit/week). Track weekly progress for ROW80 (check-in 1x/week). 
• BLOG x4 monthly. Send newsletter quarterly, starting January. 
• Type Allen’s St. Remy (1 chapter/week).
• Complete 1 comfort quilt/month.

So, 2018 is nearly behind us. Thank you, all you writing friends and readers who encourage, write, revise, tell jokes, hug, and make each day possible. May we all have the very best of all possible worlds ahead in 2019.

ROW80 Sunday and a quilty check-in

I'm looking at another intense week ahead. Beautiful sunny fall days. Temperatures in the 60's during the day, down to the 30's at night. No rain until Thursday (useful as we're packing). Not as much time for writing as I would like. I keep getting distracted by those rooms that yet need to be put into a box before we move on November 1. 

Today I worked our annual quilt show here in Spokane (over 400 quilts) and was inspired by some amazing quilts (see below). I also have a few new ideas for comfort quilts. 

Have you ever eaten an 'island burger'? Just add a thick slice of pineapple to your favorite hamburger. Because this coming week will be full of packing, I'm thinking crock pot.

Here's my progress for last week: 
Completed! 
Making progress. 
No progress . . . yet!

WRITING for this week: Seventh Tapestry. 993/1,000 words. Family History 0/500 words. OctPoWriMo: 0/5 poems. Blogging: 2/3 posts. Subbed first chapter to NOVELS-L. Completed  2 crits. 

COMMUNITY. Read & comment on blogs ROW80, IWSG, WIPpet: 5/8 posts. 

MARKETING: Organize marketing binder. Schedule 1 Book Club/reading. Develop wrap around for Book Bub promotion. 

OTHER: TOP PRIORITY: Move to first floor apartment from third floor apartment approved effective Nov 1, so PACK!!!  Making steady progress. Finished packing books, some 40 boxes.

OTHER: Keep e-mails <100. Read BELL x2 chapters this week. Other reading: 3/3 books (romantic suspense). Wrote 1 review. Finished quilt for family. Made backing. Continue work on next comfort quilt.

Two quilts from the Washington State Quilters annual quilt show that inspired me by their sheer artistry:

This exquisite art quilt by Charlene Lord is called "It's Not the Destination in Life That's Important."

David McLaughlin designed this second quilt. He is colorblind and used the shades to guide him. He calls the pattern a French Braid and used batiks to build his 'braid'. 

May your writing bring beauty and inspiration to yourself and to your readers!

Click over to ROW80 HERE on our blog or on Facebook to catch up on what others are doing.

ROW80: Weds on the Move . . .

Still working on ways to simplify reporting in on Weds and Sundays. I think it's going to be a great week. The sun is shining. The house is quiet, and I put cinnamon in my coffee.

Here's the color grid: Completed! Making progress. No progress . . . yet!

WRITING for this week: Seventh Tapestry. 500/1,000 words. Family History 0/500 words. OctPoWriMo: 0/5 poems. Blogging: 2/3 posts. Subbed first chapter to NOVELS-L. Completed 1 crit. Need to crit 2x each week.

COMMUNITY. Read & comment on blogs ROW80, IWSG, WIPpet: 5/8 posts.

MARKETING: Organize marketing binder. Schedule 1 Book Club/reading. Develop wrap around for Book Bub promotion.

OTHER: TOP PRIORITY: Move to first floor apartment from third floor apartment approved effective Nov 1, so PACK!!!  

OTHER: Keep e-mails <100. Read BELL x2 chapters this week. Other reading: 2/3 books (romantic suspense). Wrote 1 review. Finished quilt for family. Make backing. Continue work on next comfort quilt.

OK, here's the top that measures about 80x85. A friend gave me machine applique blocks she had started. I improved my machine applique skills, and then there were all these colorful 2" squares.Very bright. Just right for a family to snuggle under on TV Night! 

Note: Quilting is GREAT for limiting stress!

May your week go well. Why not join in -- or click right over to ROW80 HERE on our blog or on Facebook to catch up on what others are doing.

ROW80 The morning after the night before . . .

Very early this morning, about 3:30 am, a young man tried to beat his way into the apartment next door to ours. Shouting obscenities and throwing rocks, he came back three times over the next four hours. The last time, he tried to batter the door down with a large rock. Luckily, the door held, and the young woman who lives in the apartment was visiting her parents. No one was home.

I'm left wondering why I didn't call the police. If he had broken in, I would have. If I heard screams, I would have. Could I have talked to him? Absolutely not. His anger was scary. DH slept through the ruckus, thinking it was not happening next to our apartment. He said I should have called the police. If there is a next time, I will.

Otherwise, here's my ROW80 progress report on writing and the rest of real life. I'm trying to keep very simple goals for the coming 80-day-round.

WRITING: Start on Section 02 of The Seventh Tapestry. Yes! Scaffolding the section in more detail and writing/expanding scenes. Met F2F with critique partner x1. Rejoined NOVELS-L of the Internet Writer's Workshop and critiqued x1 (need 2x before I can sub). GOAL for coming week:  Continue work on Section 2. Sub first chapter to NOVELS-L and crit x1 more this week.

COMMUNITY: Mostly active with my quilting friends. Finished another comfort quilt and now working on a complicated machine applique quilt (will post pictures when the top is finished). GOAL for coming week: Confirm date for visit with book club. Draft newsletter and wrap-around for upcoming promo w/BookBub.

Other news: We're moving! From a three-floor walk-up to a first-floor apartment. I won't have to cling to the railing all the way down any more. Talk about 'fear of falling'! We're working on downsizing. Took about 20 bags of books to a local library for their book sale. I'm working my way past the political turmoil and focusing on what I can let go of.  Donate! Recycle! Celebrate each day. May your own progress on writing goals go well.

Yes, it was hard to let go of those books!

Thank YOU, all ROW80 writers, who persevere with goals and progress.

Go to ROW80 HERE on our blog or on Facebook to find out what others are doing.

ROW80 Looking back, looking forward

I'm looking forward to this ten-day break between the end of Round 3 and the beginning of the last round for 2018. Fall has truly begun here. Earlier this week, we walked in Manito Park's formal rose garden to appreciate the last roses of summer.

And I'm glad we went, for these roses and dahlias, in their blaze of colors, change with the seasons -- as we do. This week, a memorial service will help me say goodbye to a dear friend. As I remember our times quilting together, we'll share stories, hugs, and a few tears, for her life was well lived.

Now thinking about goals for the coming round, yes, I've looked back. The list remains daunting, so I shall, like other ROW80 writers, strive to keep my week's goals simple, measurable, with focus on those steps that will clarify what needs to be done next. 

1. Continue work on The Seventh Tapestry. My goal?

2. Connect with other writers through ROW80, WIPpet Wednesday, IWSG, and the Internet Writer's Workshop.

3. Organize and carry out 1 marketing event each month.

4. Persevere with decluttering, exercise, and mindful living.

May these next ten days bring good writing your way. Go to ROW80  HERE on our blog or on Facebook.