RoW 80 Check-in and a rant about stationary.

Ok, it’s my...second check-in for RoW. My initial thoughts are that I’m doing ok with my goals but looking deeper it seems that I’m not doing as well as it first seemed. After a really productive start to the week my drive just seemed to go poof and I barely got anything done.

1. Plan/Write NaNo2012: That’s coming on quite well actually. I’ve gotten a rough outline developed and I’m pleased with how it’s looking so far. I’m planning on doing detailed outlines come next week, probably starting tomorrow. I didn’t plan as much as I intended to this week, only a couple of pages but I’m still happy with it.

2. Edit one chapter of Darkling Watch 1 a day: yeah... that one not so much. It seems I’ve lost steam again. I’m looking at the wordcount, looking at how far through I am and it’s just daunting. The original manuscript ended up about 110,000 words long, roughly 53 pages. I’m trying to read through, mark out what needs to be done and separate it all up into chapters. Essentially I think I’m making progress, look at where I am and it all feels slightly hopeless. I don’t know if this is just me being me and slightly depressive or if it’s a usual thing for authors to feel.

3. Finish and edit The Feral Diaries; Book 1: This one has actually been coming along quite well. I’ve been figuring out things about my characters, making rough timelines for when people appear and die and still writing. I’m not writing for this one everyday as I hoped but that’s going to change starting tomorrow. I’ve decided.

4. Plan The Feral Diaries; Book 2: I got some of this done this week. Not a lot but enough to keep me happy. Right now I’m focusing on the struggles that my characters will face, and the themes it’ll cover as opposed to any actual events. Oh I’ve got some events written down but I’ve just not gone indepth on planning them at the moment. Mostly because I don’t know the exact mental state that my characters will be in by the time these events happen. It’s a pretty dark series.

5. Outline and plan o.S.a.M: This one... yeah I sorta skipped on this one this week. With all my other stuff going on as well as trying to find a job I’ve been too busy to really think about it. I’ve got ideas in my mind about things I want to happen, I’ve just not put pen to paper and gotten them down yet. These ideas have stuff though, not disappeared as they are sometimes want to do.

6. Blog twice a week: I had a blog all planned out to write. I even started it. And then my internet went screwy on Wednesday night and I didn’t get it back until yesterday. This isn’t a my family thing either, it’s happened to other people. So I decided not to write the blog or put it up last night. Instead I’m going to do two posts next week. One on The Feral Diaries and one on Darkling Watch. Hopefully this will ease my guilt and make me feel much better.

Other goals

I decided to add two goals to my RoW80 after looking at the goals and blogs of some of my other companions on this challenge. They are not really devoted to writing but focus on my personal life which I realise I don’t talk about much on here.

1. Spend 30 minutes each day looking for a job: I’ve been unemployed since the beginning of February. I’m getting a bit sick of spending each day at home and not having any money to do what I want and buy what I want (mostly stationary). Don’t get me wrong, I have been looking each week for a job, I kind of have to in order to keep claiming my JSA but I feel like I’m not doing enough. So I’m putting this out there to encourage me to look harder and apply for anything and everything. Don’t get me wrong though, I spend most of my day doing productive writerly stuff but it may be the over-abundance of free time that’s making me less productive. Maybe if I get a job that’ll change. Plus it means I could buy a new laptop or a ton of stationary supplies (which I love, so if you know any cool sites for that pop a link in the comments).

2. Get more exercise: I’m a couch potato, a lounger. I smoke too much, I eat too much and I have a pretty serious tea addiction. I’m not as large as I used to be, particularly at this time last year, but I’m pretty tubby and I don’t like it. Especially when my sister swans around the house in very little clothing with the body of a dancer (incidentally she does dance). So I’m challenging myself to do a little bit of exercise each day, even if it’s a 30 minute walk around the village. Every little bit counts after all.