Tag: ROW80

Writing

Giving In

Kellie

Sometimes in life, you just have to give in. Cave. Tuck tail. Throw in the towel. Surrender. Raise the white flag. The last part of the week was a bit like this for me. I don’t mean this to sound negative, on the contrary. I learned a great deal about my motivation and my writing habits this week, all thanks to KonMari, ROW80, and good ole procrastination…productive procrastination.

NOTE: If you aren’t familiar with the KonMari Method, or Marie Kondo – the creator of KonMari, it is a tidying and decluttering journey where you are encouraged to keep only what sparks joy.

Introspection:

  • Giving in to my desire to declutter and organize helps me focus on my writing – even just one little thing like a drawer or a bookshelf.
  • Procrastination isn’t always bad. If something is on my mind I am better off setting a timer and doing it rather than trying to write distracted.
  • ROW80 encourages me to be accountable for my writing, without it I wouldn’t have made the connection between writing, decluttering, and productive procrastination. Not in a million years!
  • If I don’t read or listen to a book for at least an hour a day my writing suffers. Writers should be the biggest readers. Period.
  • I am happier and more content when I write, even when I have to dictate it – nothing beats the feeling of new words on the page, no matter how they get there!
  • Everyone is happier when I’m not yelling about how messy the house is…

Accomplished:

  • Dictated 1 full chapter
  • Typed half of another chapter (still getting hung up with my inner editor when typing)
  • Words this week: 6,987 (just for the manuscript)
  • Worked on the aesthetic graphic for the new chapter
  • Signed up for a webinar on editing
  • Plotted a new twist…it struck when I was decluttering and gave me chills!
  • Decluttered my dresser, entire bathroom, two linen closets, bedroom bookshelf, Evie’s dressers, guest bedroom and bathroom, kitchen towels, and entire pantry
  • Spent a whole day with friends – it had been too long!
  • Canceled subscriptions that had forgotten about
  • Set the household budget for the next month
  • Got through all the laundry…not that it ever REALLY ends
  • Cleaned out my email (thanks to the app Chuck!)
  • Consolidated ALL my calenders – all 7 of them
  • Got a headstart on correspondence for the upcoming week
  • Planned all our meals
  • Accomplished all homeschool goals with the kids
  • Cleaned the house top to bottom
  • Read/listened to 3 books
  • No television or podcasts
  • Hosted a family dinner for 10 of us

Overall, I’m happy with what I accomplished this week. With so many meetings/appointments, family coming into town, and my sudden urge to declutter on top of our normal craziness, I was worried, but it all got done. I’m excited to see what the new week has in store and what I can accomplish with a few curveballs thrown my way. Here’s to “giving in” and accomplishing more than planned!

Writing

Writing Here, There, & Everywhere

Kellie

The week has gone nothing like I imagined, I knew it would be busy, but I didn’t expect outright insanity to reign. According to my planner, there was time enough for everything. According to real life, not so much. Monday was meetings and appointments from 8am until 10pm…BUT I still wrote!!! The writing wasn’t pretty and consisted of me dictating as I drove from one place to another, but I did it. At the end of a 14 hour day, I had a rough new chapter. VERY ROUGH. But words are on the page and I have the beginnings of a chapter that didn’t exist before.

Tuesday and today were much of the same, rushing from one thing to the next, except this time crazy cleaning lady (me) made her appearance as we get ready to welcome guests. I made the mistake of watching a few episodes of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo on Netflix and now have this intense desire to tidy all. the. things. It seems improbable, but cleaning has made me want to write more. Go figure. Sitting in bed last night, I knew my dresser, bathroom, sitting room, pantry, and bookshelves were as clean and organized as possible. For the first time in a while I was able to focus entirely on writing. No more nagging feeling that something else needed to be done. Amazing!

Maybe, by the end of the year, my house will be a shining example of organization and my manuscript will be done. *wink* A girl has to have goals and this feels like a solid one to add to my list. And if one goal feeds off the other, even better!

I mentioned my planner at the beginning of the post and it is life-changing! Let me explain. It took me a while to build up the courage to change planners, however, in my continuing effort to do it scared, I ordered the Living Well Planner. It is everything I hoped for and more! Even better than my Erin Condren *gasp* and ranks right up there with my Passion Planner and Panda Planner…maybe even a little higher because of the spiral design, corner protectors, goal sheets, weekly goals, etc. Yeah, I’m gushing! The brilliant design makes me focus on my goals and keeps my writing, lists, to-dos, and projects right in front of me each day. If you are still looking for a planner for 2019, do yourself a favor and take a look at this one!

Last thing… Despite not being completely thrilled with my word count, I’m over the moon with joy that I persisted and “wrote scared.” I embraced a new way to get my story on the page and wrote/dictated when I didn’t think I could. It feels good to prove this to myself with the goals I have set. A small victory that feels HUGE in the face of my schedule for the next 3 months.

Do you have a favorite planner you use? And how do you handle getting your writing time in when your day is crazy from beginning to end?

Happy writing!

Writing

The Epiphany…

Kellie

Happy Epiphany! Today, we are celebrating the journey that the Three Wise Men made to see the infant Jesus and the precious gifts they brought Him. This important, but often overlooked, holiday reminds me what precious gifts I should bring to my faith…and by extension, what I should bring to my writing.

Some of my Epiphany relfections for writing :

  • Am I setting aside the proper amount of time each day to further my goals?
  • Am I nurturing my passion for writing?
  • Am I being intentional?
  • Do I bring my finest gifts? Those things in life that are precious and rare? My time/commitment, love/passion, and care/intent.
20 + C + M + B + 19

Aside from everything above, I’ve spent a significant amount of time planning, plotting, and organizing this week. Not as much actual writing as I would have liked (only about 750 new words), but Scrivener is rearranged how I need it and the plot/order of my story has been overhauled top to bottom. It’s daunting to scrap entire chapters, even if they aren’t really in the trash, but it’s almost done and I finally feel at peace with the new direction the story is heading. This was my first real challenge in my “writing scared” commitment for 2019.

It’s going to be a crazy week ahead as we go back to school, dance, and all of our other activities, but by Tuesday I will be ready to simply write; other than homeschooling, I cleared my schedule on Tuesday and Thursday. It will make for a jam-packed Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but I need a solid chunk of time to focus uninterrupted – or as uninterrupted as I can get with 3 kids at home, one being a 5-year-old with no off switch.

All in all, it was a productive and insightful first week of 2019!

Happy Epiphany & Happy Writing!


Writing

Writing Scared Since 2019

Kellie

row80logocopyIt’s official, 2019 is my year of writing scared!!! This may seem an odd thing to be excited about, but there it is. I’m ecstatic! So, why write scared? It’s more of a promise to myself than actual fright, even if there IS some level of hesitation rolling through me. It’s about pushing limits, trying new things, and owning what my mind creates.

To be a little more specific, writing scared means getting out of my comfort zones, taking my writing from a “hidden pursuit” to one that demands accountability, and confronting topics and styles I’ve avoided at all costs…even when the story demanded such a turn. Writing scared is writing with no regrets. If last year taught me anything it’s that we always think we have more time than we do. It’s time to embrace what scares me and do it anyway!

Writing Goals of 2019

  • Post writing updates Wednesday and Sundays for accountability with A Round of Words in 80 Days
  • Write daily no matter what life throws at me…even if it’s a voice dictation to Penman or a brain dump in Bear (wonderful apps by the way!) 
    • This is an absolute minimum of 30 minutes or 250 new words written.
  • Monthly Breakdowns for ROW 80:
    • January: 45k words (Counting some, but not all of what I have from NaNoWriMo since most will be rewritten.)
    • February: 75k words
    • March: Hit my goal of 90k for the first complete draft
  • Finish my first revised draft of Chasing Daylight by March 21st – end of ROW Round 1
  • No fewer than two rounds of edits on Chasing Daylight in 2019
    • 1st round edits done by June 30th
    • 2nd round edits done by Sept 30th
  • Write scared each and every day!