Category Archives: Blog

Where is your Stress Coming From?

I finally got those Christmas cards out last week.

As in yesterday. Saturday.

I suspect some of my recipients won’t get theirs until after the holiday. At first, this bothered me, but then I remembered that I always get a few after Christmas each year, and I really don’t think much about it, so no big deal.

2009’s Christmas Card – my favorite!

Christmas cards are one of those things that it turned out I stressed about more than I needed to. I used to design mine myself, did up some really cool ones in years past. But this year, none of us had any cool pictures taken (my family is not a big photo-taking bunch) so I couldn’t think of anything cool to do with them, nor did I have any special photos to use on a Shutterfly card (which I’ve also done in the past). So I kept putting it off, hoping something would come to me.

Nothing did. Finally, early this week I threw something together with a picture of our dogs that we’d used before. I wasn’t thrilled with it, so I printed one out and set it aside.

By Wednesday, I knew I had to do something. I’d also realized that I wasn’t quite done with shopping, and I mentioned to DH that I was feeling really stressed. Awesome guy that he is, he asked what he could do. I told him to make moonshine (not real moonshine, just store-bought stuff with flavoring added, but very good), which I’d promised to some of my coworkers. He then took a big load off. He said the Christmas card I’d printed out was fine, so why not send them out.

You see, he was the one who’d always made a big deal of the designed cards, and had been disappointed the year I used Shutterfly. So that was a lot.

I printed them out. Then realized I only had eight envelopes for 8-1/2 x 11 paper folded in quarters. Not a size I can just run down to the corner drugstore to buy. ::headdesk::

So I took off work a couple hours early on Friday, bought a box of cards, and sent those out, along with eight of the homemade cards.

But it all makes me wonder, how much of our stress comes from our own expectations of ourselves? How many of us put a ridiculous effort into extensive decorating, fixing the perfect holiday dinner, buying the perfect gifts–when those they’re supposed to be for don’t expect it, and are just happy we’ve done whatever it is for them?

Which brings me around to the rest of my ROW80 goals. I certainly expected too much of myself, thinking I’d get any writing done with everything else that needed to be done. Here’s the details:

2,500 words on combined WIPs – No
Keep up with writing workshop assignments – Done (and the workshop is done)!
Website: figure out custom programming needed on product page – No
Fitness 4 times – Done!
Get Christmas cards out, complete rest of shopping – Done!

I figure I did well to get done what I did. This week will be better. I still have to wrap gifts, am hosting dinner, and my house is a disaster, but I have help if I need it, i.e. DD is home from college. I need to put in a few hours at work tomorrow, but am otherwise taking off until after New Year’s–my yearly present to myself. 😀 I think this Round officially ends on Christmas, but my goals are weekly, and I plan to work on the non-holiday goals Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, so here goes:

Wrap Christmas presents, and finish everything else needed for the holiday
2,500 words on combined WIPs
Website: figure out custom programming needed on product page

What about you–do you expect more of yourself than others, once you think about it (or ask)? If you celebrate Christmas, are you ready for it? And if you’re doing ROW80, did/are you hitting your goals? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.

When a Plan Comes Together

Awakening-ebook600 A few weeks ago, I blogged about designing a book cover for a writer friend. It’s out now, and I’m about 2/3 through reading it, and WOW! Winterjacked: Rude Awakening by Athena Grayson about what happens when the Winter King–who doesn’t quite know who he is–is going through a mid-life crisis. There’s romance, mischievous fey folk, seasonal mayhem, and yes, holiday magic. So if you think you might enjoy an urban fantasy that’s definitely different, pick this one up NOW! The ebook is on introductory sale for a limited time for just $2.99. It will be out in print soon too, for those who prefer paper.

I am really pleased with how this cover came out, too–even more so as I read the book, because wow, does it go with it perfectly! I can’t take credit for that–the author gave me excellent direction, and also helped find some of the stock photos. She also listened to me when I explained why some of the photos she found wouldn’t work, and together we came up with a winner IMNSHO!

But enough about me. Here’s what Rude Awakening is all about:

Sometimes you reinvent yourself…Sometimes you redefine reality.
Jack Winters lost his perfect, upwardly-mobile life (along with the perfect, upwardly-mobile wife) when it intersected with a pack of fantastical creatures. He’s spent three years determined to ignore the Things that want to call him Master, and kept his failures frozen under a thick layer of isolation from even his closest friends. But when a holiday reunion presents him with the woman who Might Have Been, suddenly the impossible doesn’t seem so improbable anymore…

Lin Sanada thought she was long over her college crush and the missed connections that kept her and Jack Winters “just friends” for nearly twenty years. She’s moved on, and left wishful thinking behind. But when a winter night, a full moon, and a little magic lead her into a very real relationship with the man of her dreams, she finds a reality far more fantastical than her wildest imaginings…

To the young, impossible dreams are magic. At forty, they’re a mid-life crisis.

If Jack wants to earn a new chance at a future, he’ll have to confront all the raw wounds failure left on his expectations. And he’ll have to choose: keep clinging to the shreds of his old life…or make a whole new reality.

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble (other retailers coming soon)

That was in my ROW80 goals a few weeks ago. As for this past week’s goals:

2,500 words on combined WIPs – Done!
Keep up with writing workshop assignments – Done!
Test and refine shipping calculations and Paypal integration for website – Done!
Fitness 4 times – Partial (3x)
Pick out Christmas cards, figure out rest of gift list, complete online shopping – Partial – online shopping complete, but still no cards

For this week, we’re going to keep down the same path:

2,500 words on combined WIPs
Keep up with writing workshop assignments
Website: figure out custom programming needed on product page
Fitness 4 times
Get Christmas cards out, complete rest of shopping

What about you–have you had a plan come together lately? If you celebrate Christmas, how are your plans coming together? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Doing All the Things

Time's Holiday I feel like I did a lot this week, yet I didn’t quite manage to hit all my goals. In addition to my ROW80 goals, I reworked the cover for “Time’s Holiday,” my Christmas short story. My publisher is also redoing the formatting on the ebook and preparing a print version, so I reviewed proofs for those as well. So yes, “Time’s Holiday” will soon be available in print as a standalone book (more like a booklet). (More info and links to where you can get it on my Saturn Society Books page)

It all started with the cover, which I’ve never been completely happy with. On my other Saturn Society books, the scene at the bottom is an actual setting from the book, but for this one, I couldn’t find a good photo, so I settled for the generic Christmas tree close-up the publisher suggested. Last week, I decided it was time to do something about it, so I went downtown (Dayton) and took some photos of Courthouse Square, where the story opens. (I also took my daughter to dinner at Thai 9, to celebrate my NaNoWriMo win–because hey, we need to celebrate our accomplishments, right?) The photos turned out well–better than I expected–and the folks at Mythical Press agreed, so “Time’s Holiday” has a new look. I like the new cover much better!

They also did a little reworking of the covers to my other books, with the exception of Hangar 18. Nothing major, but on the covers I’ve done for friends, I’ve given them top billing, so I figured I get the same. And again, the folks at Mythical Press agreed. 😀

As for my ROW80 goals, here’s how they went:

2,500 words on combined WIPs – Done!
Keep up with new writing workshop & assignments – Done!
Finish Checkout pages for website – Done!
Fitness 4 times, even if short – partial. Did 2 or 3.
Figure out what I’m doing for Christmas cards and gift list – partial. I did start shopping, but I need ideas for some of the people on my list, and still need to do the card design, as I’m still not sure what we’re doing here.

Here’s what’s up for this week:

2,500 words on combined WIPs
Keep up with writing workshop assignments
Test and refine shipping calculations and Paypal integration for website
Fitness 4 times
Design Christmas cards, figure out rest of gift list, complete online shopping as much as possible (and I do as much of it online as possible–the older I get, the more I hate crowds)

Thanks to everyone who’s offered good wishes for my mom and my dog! My mom’s been pretty much laid up this week. Her doctor said she could walk, but doing much of that is painful. Wolfgang is still hobbling a bit, too, though he seems to do better once he gets a bit of walking in, yet it doesn’t seem to be getting better overall, as it did the last time he did this, so DH is taking him back to the vet.

What about you–do you ever have days or weeks where you feel like you’ve done a lot, but it’s still not what you planned? If you do gift-giving and/or send cards for the holidays, is your shopping done and are your cards sent? If you’re doing ROW80, or just have other specific goals, how are those going? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Are You a Winner? And ROW80

Yesterday, I pasted the text of my novel (with a bit of the secondary novella tossed in) into the NaNoWriMo word count verifier. It told me I was a WINNER! I also got to see a funny video of the NaNoWriMo office staff cheering. It was a great feeling. So yes, one big goal accomplished.

But what about all those who signed up for NaNoWriMo but didn’t write 50,000 words last month? That’s where I take issue with the whole “winner” thing. IMO, if someone stated a challenging goal, whatever that might be, and achieved it, that person’s a winner. Same if someone’s not a writer–that goes for other goals, too! And for those NaNoWriMo participants who may not have hit 50,000, but got a lot more written than they might otherwise have done, that’s a great accomplishment.

I will admit, it was nice to see that, and good to hit that goal! Here’s how the rest went:

Finish out NaNoWriMo by writing 11,000 words on either story or both: DONE!
Review remaining lessons for Promotions workshop: DONE!
Finish Shopping Cart and Checkout pages for website: Partial–not done, but made progress. Top priority this week.
Fitness 4 times, even if short: Partial–got 3x in.
Survive Thanksgiving: DONE! And it went very nice, until my dog jumped on a friend and twisted his leg (the dog, not the friend), and later, my mom slipped on ice at the edge of our porch and wound up with a fractured kneecap. She was just thankful it wasn’t worse, and it happened after the meal.

So what’s up for this month? Survive Christmas, obviously. Again, small family makes that easier, though some are tricky to buy gifts for as they have everything. I also plan to keep working on my WIPs, though at a much slower pace: 300-500 words/day, and get that website done! I also have another one to do, but this is just porting an existing design into WordPress, and won’t be difficult. Oh, and I’m taking another online workshop–normally not something I’d take on in December, but this is the last time they’re offering it, so I really wanted to get in on it. With the reduced word count, it should be OK to fit in, especially as I was able to keep up with the other one during NaNoWriMo. We’ll see! Here’s the plan for this week:

2,500 words on combined WIPs
Keep up with new writing workshop & assignments
Finish Checkout pages for website
Fitness 4 times, even if short
Figure out what I’m doing for Christmas cards and gift list

What about you–have you WON any big goals lately? Or maybe even some not-so-big ones? If you participated in NaNoWriMo, how did you do? And if you’re in the U.S., how was your Thanksgiving? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

When the Going Gets Tough, Walk Away, And ROW80

Sometimes, you get stuck on a project. You’ve tried powering through, you’ve tried researching possible solutions, you’ve tried banging your head on the keyboard (or whatever), and you get to a point where the only thing left to do is walk away.

And this can be the best thing to do. I don’t mean permanently, but just take a break and go do something else. Later, I’ll usually come back to the first project with an a-ha solution to whatever was blocking me!

This is something I’ve internalized years ago at the day job (I am a web developer), and it works for other things, too–graphic design projects, sewing, even restoring a car (my husband’s current hobby project). This week, I was reminded that it’s great for the writing, too.

The “something else” we walk away to doesn’t even need to be something entirely different–it can be a different project of the same type. A different web development project, a different part of the garment I’m constructing, a different part of the car in restoration–or a different story.

I didn’t think I could work on two stories at once, but I tried it yesterday, and my wordcount added up fabulously fast!

It might be because the project I switched to is related to the primary project–a short story in the same world, and almost functions as a subplot, so while it was different, it wasn’t too different.

So I met the writing portion of my ROW80 goals by doing something seemingly counterproductive–by walking away.

Here’s how the rest went:

12,000 words on WIP: split between 2 WIPs, but I’m calling this one Done!
Review video lessons for Promotions workshop first three weeks and take notes: partial–got through 2-1/2 weeks.
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page for family member’s web site: Partial–worked on it, but it’s not quite finished.
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short: Done!

Here’s what’s up for this week:

Finish out NaNoWriMo by writing 11,000 words on either story or both
Review remaining lessons for Promotions workshop
Finish Shopping Cart and Checkout pages for website
Fitness 4 times, even if short
Survive Thanksgiving–yes, it’s that time! And yes, I’m hosting, but this won’t be difficult, as my family is small and others contribute.

What about you–have you had to “walk away” from a project lately? Did you come back to it with renewed vigor and ideas? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo, are you on track to hit 50,000 words by Saturday? If you’re in the U.S., what are your plans for Thanksgiving? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

The Best Way to Manage the To-do List, Fun Fact, and ROW80

This week served as a reminder of something I’ve blogged about before, but tend to forget on occasion: the best way to manage my to-do list is to not put too much on it in the first place!

This was one of those “took on too much” weeks. Not horrendously so, but there were things I simply did not get to. There are only so many hours in a day, and when a fixed amount of them must be spent on the paycheck job, and a necessary amount spent doing things like sleeping, and eating, that’s an even more limited time for the “other stuff,” which in my case includes writing, book cover designs, promotion of my writing (which I do next to none of anyway), projects and gifts for family and friends, spending time with those family and friends…

I read a business/productivity book not too long ago that suggested dividing the to-do list into an A-list, B-list, and C-list. The A-list are things that must be done that day, and should contain no more than three or four things. The B and C lists are nice-to-haves, with the B being the higher priority of the two, and both of these should ideally only contain one thing.

I have my three lists, but they’d grown longer than they should have. So this week, it’s back to basics.

One of those basics for me, of course, is writing, and my writing often necessitates research. I ran across an interesting tidbit a while back that I considered using, but decided wouldn’t fit. Still, it’s interesting enough to share here:

My Town Monday Fun Fact: Dayton’s First Murder and First Unsolved Death

Dayton was settled in 1796, but the frontier town managed to avoid the most heinous of crimes for its first ten years. That changed on November 20, 1806, settler/farmer John Aiken beat his wife to death. No one had seen it coming–the Aikens had been good, upstanding citizens who paid their bills and got along with everyone, including, at least to all outward appearances, each other.

Aiken went to trial only five days later, speedy even for those days. He was a blubbering mess and couldn’t even speak for himself, so an associate (who’d also been charged with helping to cover up the crime) helped him hire an attorney. The men posted bail, and the trial was rescheduled.

John Aiken never made it out of the courthouse–he literally collapsed and died on the spot. There are no records to indicate why or how. The case against his associate was later dropped due to lack of evidence.

For more on this and other tales of historical bad-assery in Dayton, check out Spilt Blood by Curt Dalton, who operates Dayton History Books Online, one of my Best. Research. Sources. Ever. Mr. Dalton has published Spilt Blood, and several of his other wonderful books in their entirety on the site.

ROW80 Update:

Here’s how last week shook out. Not bad considering how much I’d loaded on:

12,000 words on WIP – I actually only got 10,700, but I’m still on track for NaNoWriMo since I banked some words early in the month, so I’m going to count this as Done!
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page for family member’s web site – This was the one I just. Didn’t. Get to.
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – Done!
Book cover design – still have to make a few tweaks, but I’ll consider this one Done!

This week’s goals are a little different, since the workshop wrapped up. Also, I’m spending the day Saturday with some out of town friends, so I really need to bank the words for that, as I don’t have any more banked for NaNoWriMo. We’ll see how it goes!

12,000 words on WIP
Review video lessons for Promotions workshop first three weeks and take notes
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page for family member’s web site
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short

What about you–have you found yourself taking on too much lately? Are you afraid you will next month, with the holidays on the way? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo and/or ROW80, how are you doing? Or if you’re not, how are you doing on whatever goals you might have? Do you know anything about the first murder to have happened where you live? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Is it NaNoBrain, or Something Else? And ROW80

I have had one of those weeks where I’ve forgotten everything, it seems. I forgot two people’s birthdays–one of my best friends’ from college, and a relative who’s also a writing friend. (Still need to contact the relative… 😳 ) I forgot about Election Day, until Mr. Goodwrench reminded me of it the night before. Luckily, there wasn’t much on our ballot, so I read up on the items at work and stopped by the thankfully-deserted polls on the way home. I would have forgotten a get-together with former and current coworkers if one of them hadn’t texted me earlier that day. I would have forgotten to pick up my Market Day food order, if the coworker who runs it hadn’t mentioned it, and I hadn’t entered a reminder in my smartphone (thank you, Cozi!).

But one thing I haven’t forgotten is my writing. NaNoWriMo has gone well so far, though it’s been a push at times (and isn’t it supposed to be?). Maybe my brain’s so full of fictional people and events that they’re taking over the real world stuff? Or is it just the fact that I’m getting close to “a certain age?” Enquiring minds, you know…

Luckily, I did not forget my ROW80 check-in either, so here it is:

12,000 words on WIP – Done!
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page for family member’s web site – Partial–this ended up being more extensive than I thought, but I made good progress.
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – Partial (I got 3x in)

Since those are working for me, but still challenging, I”ll stick with the same goals this week. Oh, and add one more: A book cover design. This is for someone who’s not only a good friend, but also my Ideal Reader, so it’s a must. It’s also going to be a fun project, and she’s given me some excellent direction, so I’m looking forward to working on it.

What about you–do you find yourself forgetting things when one becomes more dominant in your life, or do you think it’s just age? If you’re doing ROW80 and/or NaNoWriMo, how are you doing? If you’re not, do you have other goals you’re working on, and how are those going? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Baby Steps Get the Job Done, and NaNoWriMo/ROW80

My mom has been working on some massive decluttering for the past few years. Some of it is her stuff, but most came from her mother, who passed away a few years ago and had the classic depression-era “collector” mentality. Mom has some health issues, so it’s been slow going at times, but when she’s able, she works on one pile of stuff at a time. Eventually, a pile gets cleared, then a stack, then a whole corner of a room.

She’s still working on it, and it may take a while, but baby steps really do get the job done.

The same goes for our writing, as many of us embark on NaNoWriMo starting this week. For the uninitiated, that’s National Novel Writing Month, a challenge in which the goal is to write 50,000 words–the equivalent of a short novel–in one month. I’ve done it–and won–twice. But it sounds daunting if you’re not a writer, or if you’ve never done it. And indeed, it’s a lot, and it takes dedication. But so does decluttering something like what my mom’s working on, and the same approach can work to getting through a big goal like NaNoWriMo.

Just write a sentence. Then the next. And the next. And the next thing you know, you’ll have a paragraph. A page. A scene. A chapter.

Baby steps really do get the job done.

To that end, I break my NaNoWriMo goal down into weekly goals, as part of my ROW80 goals. This week’s goals were:

4500 words on WIP – close! I got 4,000. I’m happy with that.
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – I got the lessons done, will do the homework today (it’s due tonight).
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site – No
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – No

Looks like I need to get back into that baby step mentality for the website and fitness. We’ll work on that this week:

12,000 words on WIP
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short

What about you? If you’re doing NaNoWriMo and/or ROW80, how are you doing? If not, are you working on some other goal? Have you tried the baby step approach? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

Scale Back for a Win! and Down in a Hole in Dayton, plus ROW80

Scaling down my fitness goals this week totally worked for me! I’m still dealing with some lingering health issues–again, nothing major, just enough that I don’t feel up to much of a workout. But telling myself “just five or ten minutes” did the trick, and I was able to do just that! It’s true, you really can do anything for five or ten minutes.

I also did well in getting the middle of my book mapped out, and feel good about the direction it’s going. I did a lot of research reading, which leads me to this week’s My Town Monday Fun Fact:

My Town Monday Fun Fact: Dayton’s First Jail

Newcom’s Tavern today, in Carillon Historical Park

The first substantial building constructed in early Dayton was Newcom’s Tavern, built in 1798-99. The two-story log cabin was unique at the time, the first in the budding town to use mortar as log chinking. In addition to being the general gathering place for the small community, Newcom’s was also the sheriffs’s office, courthouse, church, school, and general store. Its proprietor, George Newcom, served as the county Sheriff until 1809.

But the town didn’t have a real jail until December of 1804, when a sturdy log structure featuring iron-barred windows was completed. And while there were only a couple dozen families living in Dayton (if that), there were enough people there that disagreements happened, and someone occasionally decided to solve a dispute with his fists, or by taking it upon himself to collect payment in the form of livestock, etc. Natives also lived in the area, and while they adhered to the 1795 Treaty of Greenville and no longer attacked settlers, they occasionally helped themselves to someone’s chickens.

Native American offenders were locked up in the corncrib behind Newcom’s until they were brought to trial (which was a much speedier process back then than today). But white offenders were lowered into Newcom’s well! (It was dry; Newcom must’ve dug another one). Today, “the hole” refers to being in solitary confinement, a practice decried by some prisoners’ rights advocates. Imagine what they would have thought of Dayton’s first jail!

So now back to my ROW80 Goals. Last week’s were:

Finish sketching out/outlining middle of WIP – Done!
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site – No
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short – Done!

I didn’t get to the web site, so that stays on the list for this week. Things are going to change a little bit too, because I’m participating in NaNoWriMo, and that starts November 1! Yes, I’m planning to get that 50,000 words written this month. I’ve done it twice before, so I know I can, even though it’s ambitious. I’m not even shoving other stuff off to do it–it really doesn’t take that long to get the words written, once you sit down and do it. I am, however, going to stick to the shorter workouts, though I’ll spend longer times on the treadmill if/when I feel up to it. So here are this week’s goals:

4500 words on WIP
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop
Refine layout of Shopping Cart page and individual product page for family member’s web site
Fitness 4 times, no matter how short

What about you–if you’re a writer, are you, or have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo? (If you are, I’d love to be your buddy – I’m jennettemariepowell over there.) If you’re not a writer, or not doing NaNo, have you taken on any super-ambitious goals lately with something else? Can you imagine being jailed by being tossed into a well? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

When is it Time to Push Back on our Goals? and the Man who Saved Dayton, plus ROW80

The best thing about ROW80, the writing challenge that knows you have a life, is the fact that we’re encouraged to be flexible. That’s good, because a couple of my goals are already presenting challenges for me.

One of those is fitness. I try to do a good half-hour interval workout on my treadmill three times a week, plus a shorter workout of weight-bearing exercises a couple times between them. It doesn’t sound like much, but it works for me and I can tell a difference when I keep up with it. But lately, I’ve had some health issues – nothing major, just enough that I don’t feel up to doing that half-hour on the treadmill, or doing push-ups, etc. So it’s time to cut back. Lately, I’ve read that three ten-minute sessions is just as good or better than one half-hour long one anyway. Even five minutes is better than nothing, so I’m going to try doing something–anything–for those four workout sessions this week.

I’ve also had some challenges with the writing, as in I’ve been doing more procrastinating than writing (or even outlining). I know that procrastination is usually a symptom of something else. Sometimes it can happen because we don’t physically feel well, but it often happens when we don’t have the proper tools, information, or preparation to do a job. In my case, I need to do some more research. So I’m going to leave my goal the same there, but focus more on the research, which I already started on last week. Which leads me to something interesting I learned:

Daniel C. Cooper (1773-1818) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Town Monday Fun Fact: The Man Who Saved Dayton

In 1787, John Cleves Symmes claimed the land between the Great and Little Miami rivers without waiting for approval from Congress. The first settlers moved into the area in 1796, only to learn two years later they might have no legal right to the land they’d paid for and worked to clear and build on. In 1799, congress set a price of $2.00 an acre–$1.17 more than they’d paid. Many didn’t have the cash, and left. Most of the rest would have, until Daniel C. Cooper, one of the original surveyors, bought the land that included the town–around 3,000 acres–for the government’s asking price, then sold it to the settlers for whatever they could afford, offering payment plans to many. He also gave the town land for churches, the courthouse, jail and other civic buildings, a park, marketplaces, and a graveyard. The park is still called Cooper Park today, and is includes the main branch of the Dayton Metro Library.

So now back to my ROW80 Goals. Last week’s were:

Finish sketching out/outlining first quarter of WIP – No
Keep up with lessons and homework for Promotions workshop – Done!
Refine layout of product listing page and individual product page for web site – Done!
Fitness 4 times – No

This week, I’m going to keep the same list, but with “fitness” referring to smaller workouts if necessary and the outlining focusing on research. For the website, it’s time to develop the Shopping Cart page.

What about you–whether or not you’re doing ROW80, have you needed to adjust your goals or expectations lately? Do you have trouble with procrastination–and if so, do you know why? Have you learned anything interesting about your hometown lately? Please share–I’d love to hear from you!