That can not be right. Only two weeks left in Round 3 of Row80.  #Row80 is an awesome writing challenge that knows you have a life. Be sure to check out other participants and leave a word of encouragement. Round 3 ends on September 22. I don’t have a fun story to share so I’m going straight to the goals today.

Red highlights were a total failure.

Blue highlights with constant progress strike-through means completed.

Pink highlights are goals I’m dropping. Really, no surprise there. I hate them.

Green highlights new goals added.

• Promotion.
  Goal- 3 emails a week &/or participate in 3 twitter memes. I’ve barely looked at Twitter this week.
• Write two posts a week, not related to Row80.  Yes. 1/2. No clue what the next one will be.
  
• Stay on top of Critique group.  I really need to read 3 this week. 1/3. I had to take little bit to swim practice. They switched pools for this week because of maintenance. The new pool is 30 minutes away, so I went to the local Whataburger and worked on critiques. Just me a drink, fries, and a stack of paper 🙂
• Edit/revise “Stella” for possible submission to a contest.
• Sort through critique remarks on Dead in the Water.  Goal: 5,000 edited words a week. I’m not on track for the week but I have made progress. It’s taken longer than a week to edit 5,000 words. I may need to expand the time allowed.  Set1 (chapters 1-3) completed   Set 2 (chapters 4-5) completed  Before I move on to set 3 (chapters 6-7) I want to reread the chapters and move a few things around. Still need to do this. I want the first 10 chapters finished by October 5.
• Teach them how to make one meal from start to finish without help. Dropped until sports season is over. We are never home now.
  
• Contact a body at the hardware store to discuss cabinet options and prices.
• Make a wishlist for the kitchen.
  
• Plot out a story that popped in my head.  Goal – have a full plot before the end of this round. This has stalled. I did decide to combine two story ideas into one.
• Free writing at least 3 times a week Nope!
• Read 4 books a month.
  1/4- I am reading Escape Route by GA VanDruff. I love it. Plenty of humor. This will finish off my Summer Reading Challenge for GoodReads. I am also reading It’s A Wonderful Knife by Christine Wenger. I like it, but I keep tripping over the names.
• Write a new ending for Monster, edit, and revise by September 7. This should be blue. I worked most of yesterday on my ending. Finished it up and sent it to two critique partners. They did a quick turn around and sent it back. I’m marking this complete. At this point, like right after I publish this, I will make the necessary adjustments and send Monster on its merry way. Then I wait. Again.

Below are the goals completed so far for round 3.

Completed Goals:

• Empty cabinet under stove for stove installation. 
• Teach my girls how to make a dress
• Edit/revise “Monster” 
• Edit/revise “Mermaid”
• Organize my writer’s calendar and mark upcoming due dates and expectations.
  
• Buy school supplies and organize all the school stuff.
• Teach them to properly wash clothes
• Draw the current kitchen footprint.
• Create a list of tweets for each story I have out to make promotion easier! –

There are times when it feels like I am treading water. That’s what this week feels like. I have made progress on the “bigger” project. Meaning the one with a deadline attached. The smaller ones have fallen to the side. I’m okay with that. I am moving forward. I knew when I made my goal list that there was a lot of revision listed. I am a slow editor. It takes time. I’m happy with my progress. I’ll be even happier if Monster makes it into the anthology 🙂 If not, I will find another home for it.

How is your week going?

-CK