Tag Archives: ROW80

ROW80 Recap

by Jennette,

Quick ROW80 update, since I don’t normally do mid-week updates, but today ends the round.

My primary goal was to release Time’s Fugitive.

That didn’t happen. But it’s close! Here’s the breakdown:

  • Finish revision of Time’s Fugitive – Done
  • Send to beta readers – Done
  • Make changes based on beta reads – Done
  • Send to editor – Done
  • Prepare front matter, back matter, product description, and everything else needed before release – Done
  • Format book – nope
  • Develop marketing plan (preferably before release, but probably after) – Mostly done
  • Release Time’s Fugitive – no, but soon!

So what hit the wall? Well, some of those goals were dependent on other people: my beta readers and copy editor. My revisions also took a little longer than I expected, so that set me behind by about three weeks. Then the beta readers also needed more time than I expected – this is a looooong book. So it’s now with my editor. The good news is, she says she’s not finding much! So look for Time’s Fugitive soon!

The next round of ROW80 starts April 2. I’m definitely in! How about you? How did you do this ROW? Will you be joining us for Round 2?

ROW80: Slight Change in Plans

by Jennette,

Another good week! And that was with adding a task I hadn’t planned for – but it’s all good!

A few weeks ago, my friend Michele Stegman put out a call for guest posts on her blog. She wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day by spending the month of February featuring the real-life stories of how romance writers met their real-life heroes.

So I wrote up my story, sent it to her, and pretty much forgot about it until the day she’d scheduled my story to post. Oh, I went to her blog and commented some of the others stories – there are some good ones! – and tweeted a few, but that’s about it.

A couple weeks ago, she asked me if I’d like to be in an anthology – not a new story (thank goodness, since short stories are something I haven’t really mastered!) but my real-life story, “Looking for Mr. Goodwrench.” It turns out her husband had read some of the stories, and suggested she collect them into an ebook.

Thus was born How I Met My Husband: The Real-life Love Stories of 25 Romance Authors. I designed a cover and helped Michele with some of the formatting, and guess what – I have a new release on my virtual bookshelf! It’s free on Smashwords, and $0.99 on Amazon (although you can download the Kindle format on Smashwords). We expect it to be available on Barnesandnoble.com, iTunes, Sony, Diesel, and Kobo ebookstores soon. These are fun stories that you can read in a few minutes – great while you’re waiting in line somewhere! And there’s an excerpt of each author’s latest release. Did I mention it’s free? So if this sounds like something you like, go to Smashwords, download your free copy, and read how I met my own, personal Mr. Goodwrench.

With my graphic design background, I’m super picky about formatting and of course, the cover art, so this did take me some time. But I still managed to get my ROW80 goals accomplished, because I’d left them flexible, and allowed room for surprises!

Last week’s results:

  1. Review HTTS Lessons 1-5
  2. Send Hangar 18: Legacy to beta readers
  3. Finish budget for RWA chapter (I’m the treasurer)
  4. Set up reader newsletter
  5. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  6. Track food intake every day (Still missed a meal or two on this one)

I marked my first goal, review Lessons 1-5 in How to Think Sideways, green, even though I technically didn’t do all of them. I actually reviewed Lesson 1 the week before, and didn’t get to Lesson 5. But I marked it green because I decided I wanted to do her How to Write a Series course before going further with the plans for a single book, because the book I want to work on next is indeed the start to a new series, and I want to do this right. I completed Lesson 1 yesterday, so I count that as being equivalent to a lesson on HTTS. What’s awesome about HTWAS? The work I do for the exercises and worksheets will be the start of planning out my book.

Next week’s plans (I can’t believe this round is over after this week!):

  1. View videos 1-3 for Lesson 2 of How to Write a Series (yep, this is the one that has videos. They’re worth it.)
  2. Complete worksheets for part 1 and 2 of HTWAS Lesson 2 (These are very in-depth and will take a while!)
  3. Request two more beta readers for Hangar 18: Legacy
  4. Write content for reader newsletter and start promoting it
  5. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  6. Track food and exercise each day

OR, if my copy editor finishes with Time’s Fugitive, put off items 1 through 4 to get that formatted and uploaded, since that was my primary objective for this ROWnd.

How did you do this week? Have you had to change plans lately regarding your goals? Are you still on target to meet your goals for this ROWnd? I’d love to hear from you!

ROW80: To-do List Balancing Act, and the Weekly Status Report

by Jennette,

This round of ROW80 has brought more learning – never a bad thing!

I learned that I do better if I schedule tasks throughout the week, particularly big tasks that need to be broken up into smaller chunks, like read-aloud editing and type-in.

I also learned that too much scheduled stuff is an invitation to get even less done.

It’s a balancing act – schedule what needs to be, without being overwhelming.

It's a balancing act!

I think I pulled it off this week. I scheduled my workouts (which I always do), and some of my writing tasks, since I’m still in a weird, in-between place there. I didn’t get quite everything done. But overall, I’m happy with what I did.

Last week’s results:

  1. Finish Time’s Fugitive beta reader changes and send to copy editor
  2. Format Hangar 18: Legacy for Kindle and send to beta readers (emailed them, waiting to hear what format they want)
  3. Collect remaining tax stuff for accountant
  4. Read nonfiction book for research
  5. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  6. Track food intake every day (missed one day, but getting better!)

So, I am pretty much in limbo for the two current projects, writing-wise. One is with my copy editor. The other is ready for beta readers. So it’s time to – yikes! – work on something… new! To that end, I’m going to jump back into a writing course I bought a year ago, and only got through five lessons before I decided to focus on getting other work out. This is Holly Lisle’s How to Think Sideways.

This week’s plans:

  1. Review HTTS Lessons 1-5
  2. Send Hangar 18: Legacy to beta readers
  3. Finish budget for RWA chapter (I’m the treasurer)
  4. Set up reader newsletter
  5. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  6. Track food intake every day (keeping this one on the list, because I’m still going back and entering this stuff the following day, which means I’m probably forgetting a few things)

Last week, a few folks asked about my Weekly Status Report. I totally stole this from my day job a few years ago. It’s pretty simple. I list each active project, with a total of how many hours I spent on it the past week, what my accomplishments were, and my plans for the upcoming week. My time estimates are rough, but this still gives me a good idea of time spent – and will further my case that my writing is a serious business, should the IRS ever come calling. I’ve put an example of it here, in case you’re interested.

How did you do this week? Do you keep track of your weekly progress somewhere besides your blog?

ROW80: Shuffling Along, but A-MAZEballs

by Jennette,

This has been another less-than-stellar week, goal-wise, in which I’m not unlike a zombie.

But mostly, it’s felt like shuffling cards. Last week, my attempt to bring my burgeoning to-do list under control involved simply culling a bunch of stuff, sort of like pulling the twos through eights out of a standard deck of cards before playing Euchre.

I put the deck away each night, and each night, it seemed that gremlins were intent on finding those extraneous cards and shoving them back into the deck. So each day, the deck grew until it was back to being a standard 52-card deck.

No royal flush here!

The other thing I tried doing was shuffling. But shuffling doesn’t remove any cards. Likewise, moving a task that didn’t get done on Monday to Tuesday only increases the Tuesday list. The only solution I can see is to give up the to-do list for lent cut down the list even more, to the bare essentials. I even had a little reprieve last week, when I found my daughter had a band concert I’d forgotten about (i.e., not looked far ahead enough on the calendar). I rescheduled the meeting with the accountant, so I didn’t need to have the taxes done until this week. I was hoping to get them done anyway, but that didn’t happen. So now they’re definitely on the “bare essentials” list.

Last week’s results:

  1. Review Time’s Fugitive beta reader feedback (yes, it came back from the third beta)
  2. Collect remaining tax stuff for accountant
  3. Complete interview questions for guest blog
  4. Read nonfiction book for research
  5. Pick one task from marketing list, and implement it
  6. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts (Did two interval workouts and two short workouts)
  7. Track food intake every day (wow, I ate out too much last week!)

The good news is, that this beta read confirmed for me that I’ve found my Ideal Reader (as described by Stephen King in On Writing). This is the person who totally gets my work and loves it, but is also critical enough to see where I’ve screwed up something, left out something that needs to be put in, or left in something that isn’t needed. And she’s a good enough friend and writer to point all of this stuff out (or, when there isn’t much, to note that fact too, so I wouldn’t think she just fell asleep reading the long passage with no comments). And she didn’t have many comments, something I attribute to having put this book through the Holly Lisle “How to Revise Your Novel” wringer. And she said Time’s Fugitive is “EPIC” (yes, in all caps!) and “totally aMAZEballs!” And that she hated me because she stayed up until 5 AM reading, which is what we all want to be hated for. 😀

The other good thing is that I went through her comments and the other two beta readers’ (they are wonderful, too!) and made most of the changes they suggested, or at least considered them. I have just a couple more to address, then Time’s Fugitive is off to my awesome copy editor.

This week’s plans:

  1. Finish Time’s Fugitive beta reader changes and send to copy editor
  2. Format Hangar 18: Legacy for Kindle and send to beta readers
  3. Collect remaining tax stuff for accountant
  4. Read nonfiction book for research (it’s due back at the library this week)
  5. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  6. Track food intake every day (keeping this one on the list, because I’m still going back and entering this stuff the following day, which means I’m probably forgetting a few things)

How did you do this week? Do you find yourself still putting too much on your list to accomplish without burning out? Or have you mastered the shuffle that keeps the unneeded cards out? Or are you shuffling like a zombie? And for the authors here, on the good side of things, have you found your Ideal Reader?

ROW80: Giving up The To-Do List for Lent

by Jennette,

No, not me. I’m not even Catholic. It’s my friend Jim Winter who’s giving something unusual up for Lent: his To-Do list.

Just the thought strikes terror into me. Without my To-Do list, I’d forget half the appointments I make – and I don’t have that many. I’d forget how much I’d planned to write – that evening, or that week. I’d forget to do the business paperwork, until my husband demanded it get done now (which doesn’t work very well). But Jim’s blog post made me think about how lately, I’ve again fallen into the tendency to overload my to-do list. Jim made the radical-sounding choice he did because he ended up serving his to-do list, rather than it serving him. It was removing flexibility from his evenings, to the point where he felt he couldn’t even go for a walk – because he’d planned other things instead. It’s easy to fall into the same trap by overloading the list, which is why I think I didn’t get anything on mine done last week, except the writing (which didn’t even take that long).

Last week’s results:

  1. Review Hangar 18: Legacy for beta reader edits and research details
  2. Collect tax stuff for accountant
  3. Complete interview questions for guest blog
  4. Read nonfiction book for research
  5. Make list of review sites to submit to
  6. Pick one task off of marketing list developed last week, and implement it
  7. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  8. Track food intake every day (I’ve been doing this for a while, but really slacked off last week, so it needs to be on this list)

So I made a half-ass attempt at some of these items: I started collecting the tax stuff. I have a deadline on that, as I’m meeting with the accountant this week. I did all three interval workouts, but only one short workout, and only tracked my food a couple days, probably because I know it’s not good (darn Girl Scout cookies!).

So something has to give, but it’s not the to-do list – at least, not the whole thing. Instead, I’m going to limit it: no more than two tasks, besides my workout and writing. I think the reason so little else got done was because it was just too overwhelming. We’ll see how that goes!

Here’s the plan:

  • Review Time’s Fugitive beta reader feedback (hopefully I’ll get it back from the third beta)
  • Collect tax stuff for accountant
  • Complete interview questions for guest blog
  • Read nonfiction book for research
  • Pick one task from marketing list, and implement it
  • Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  • Track food intake every day

How did you do this week? What do you think of my friend Jim’s radical plan?

ROW80: Slacker

by Jennette,

 

I’ve been a slacker this week. My green items makes it look like I did a lot, but the main thing – the writing! – I Didn’t. Even. Touch. My husband has even been out of town, so I should have had plenty of time!

So what happened?

Not gonna lie; I’ve been spending too much time playing Farm Frenzy Pizza Party. The other thing is that time is like closet space or hard drive capacity. Whatever stuff (things to do) you have, will expand to fill it.

Thirdly, I didn’t do a good job allocating my tasks for each day. Some days, I simply put too much, so tasks got shoved off to the next day, which made that one even more overloaded. So next week, I’m making a more concerted effort to do better in this area. Planning out our work ahead of time can help in other areas, too; I’m convinced it’s one way I’ve managed to stick to my workout schedule. I use Jonathan Roche’s No Excuses Workout, and every Sunday he sends out an email reminding us to schedule in our workouts.

Last week’s results:

  1. Critique a chapter for a writing friend
  2. Book review
  3. Additional work requested for side job website
  4. Break down marketing task list into Yeses, Nos, and Maybes
  5. Brainstorm some articles I can write for my newsletter
  6. Review my last draft of my next book and get it ready for beta readers
  7. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts

The next book is shorter than my Saturn Society novels, thank goodness. And the edits hopefully won’t be too bad, since it’s already been through the How to Revise Your Novel wringer. This time, I’m going over the comments from my first beta reader (also my copy editor), plus adding in a few more research details I’ve learned about since writing this story. The book is 263 pages, so if I split them evenly across eight work sessions, that comes out to be 33 pages a session. For me, a “work session” is roughly an hour, maybe two. My goal is to do one four weeknights (there’s always one night where I just have too much going on), two on Saturday, and two on Sunday. Actually, two on Sunday may be a little ambitious, as lately, it seems my blog posts have taken me nearly all day to write. They don’t really, but feel that way, the way I procrastinate and take too much time researching (then playing some Farm Frenzy). But I’m going to shoot for it anyway. It should be doable, because most pages don’t have any marks, and the research details affect only limited portions of the story. I also have Monday off of work, so that will help.

Here’s the plan:

  1. Review Hangar 18: Legacy for beta reader edits and research details
  2. Collect tax stuff for accountant
  3. Complete interview questions for guest blog
  4. Read nonfiction book for research
  5. Make list of review sites to submit to
  6. Pick one task off of marketing list developed last week, and implement it
  7. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  8. Track food intake every day (I’ve been doing this for a while, but really slacked off last week, so it needs to be on this list)

How did you do this week? Do you divvy up your work over the week? Got any other tips for getting it all done?

New ROW80 seal design by “The Daring Novelist,” Camille LaGuire

ROW80: Moving Right Along

by Jennette,

Not much to report this week. Had a good one as far as goals went, with most accomplished. The booksigning at Barnes & Noble was fun, if not very profitable (we’re having a very cold weekend here in Ohio, and attendance was not high. Even the big-name authors didn’t draw many readers).

Last week’s results:

  1. Design and print bookplates, stand-up placard, and excerpt brochures to hand out at book signing, plus signup sheet for reader newsletter
  1. Collect and write front/back matter for Time’s Fugitive – Author’s Note, Acknowledgements, etc.
  2. Investigate starting reader newsletter
  3. Write product description and determine tags for Time’s Fugitive; put together Book Info cheat sheet
  4. Review one marketing book (I have four to either read or re-read)
  5. Read last Golden Heart entry (#5 out of 5)
  6. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  7. Write one book review
  8. Bonus: any additional blogs

I only got in two interval workouts plus one short. I’d planned to do the last short workout today, but ended up being gone all day. Not a good excuse, just a reason. And I wasn’t feeling well earlier this week, hence why it and the interval workout didn’t get done then. But the Golden Heart judging is done, and my scores turned in to RWA – yay! I also got all of my front and back matter collected for my upcoming release, so that’s a big plus too.

For this week:

  1. Critique a chapter for a writing friend
  2. Book review
  3. Additional work requested for side job website
  4. Break down marketing task list into Yeses, Nos, and Maybes
  5. Brainstorm some articles I can write for my newsletter
  6. Review my last draft of my next book and get it ready for beta readers
  7. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts

How did you do this week? If you’re consistently not meeting all your goals, maybe you need to cut yourself some slack. Take an easy week, and jump back in next week. Or it may be that the goals you’re choosing just aren’t reasonable, given the other demands on your time. What do you think?

ROW80:Just Right

by Jennette,

Sometimes you just need to take it easy and give yourself a break. I gave myself an easier list this week, and it shows: I got everything done!

After completing that brutal revision, I needed that easy week. This coming week may be easy or not-so-much. The list looks long, but most of the items aren’t difficult or time-consuming – it’s a lot of little stuff.  I’m participating in my first book signing at a local Barnes & Noble, and want to have a few things to give away or encourage readers to go download my Nook book. As always, I’d like to collect some more blogs so I’m not always spending my Sundays writing them, but that never seems to happen. Maybe this week!

Last week’s results:

  1. Launch plan and list marketing tasks for Time’s Fugitive
  2. Read one Golden Heart entry (#4 out of 5)
  3. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  4. Finish reading and review the ARC I got last week
  5. Finish web design side job I took on to pay off my publishing company start up costs
  6. Rework Time’s Fugitive cover – I’m not 100% satisfied with it – YES! It’s in my sidebar now.
  7. Bonus: Stockpile some blogs, so that I’m not writing them at the last minute
For this week:
  1. Design and print bookplates, stand-up placard, and excerpt brochures to hand out at book signing, plus signup sheet for reader newsletter
  2. Collect and write front/back matter for Time’s Fugitive – Author’s Note, Acknowledgements, etc.
  3. Investigate starting reader newsletter
  4. Write product description and determine tags for Time’s Fugitive; put together Book Info cheat sheet
  5. Review one marketing book (I have four to either read or re-read)
  6. Read last Golden Heart entry (#5 out of 5)
  7. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  8. Write one book review
  9. Bonus: any additional blogs

How did you do this week? If you’re consistently not meeting all your goals, maybe you need to cut yourself some slack. Take an easy week, and jump back in next week. Or it may be that the goals you’re choosing just aren’t reasonable, given the other demands on your time. What do you think?

ROW80:Too Much

by Jennette,

Once again, I took on too much last week. I hadn’t done a test mile on how long it took me to type in second draft revisions, which are quite different than first draft revisions. As one might expect, they’re much less extensive, but not so much that I could go through a 140,000-word book in one day – which deluded me had thought I could do. Instead, I got halfway through it in one day – not bad, but it threw off what would have otherwise been an easy week. Live and learn! The good news is that it DID get done. And really, I got more done today than I expected. So I’m pleased. I came close to getting the web site done, but the form was tricky, the layout wasn’t working as it should have, and I finally had to walk away (and read the Golden Heart entry, so I got to mark that one green).

Here’s how the rest of the week went:

  1. Type in changes resulting from read-aloud of Time’s Fugitive and send to beta readers (finally!)
  2. Read one Golden Heart entry (#3 out of 5)
  3. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  4. Write and post review on Amazon & B&N of book I offered to blurb
  5. Finish web design side job
  6. Guest blog post (in addition to my own blogs)
  7. Go over two chapters for critique partner
  8. Cover design tweak promised to friend
  9. Tweak & validate epub file of Time’s Enemy and upload it to Lightning Source for distribution
  10. Launch plan and list of marketing tasks for Time’s Fugitive
  11. Bonus: do anything that’s on the launch plan list
  12. Bonus: dog walk or other activity in addition to #3

More green than red – we like that!

This week, I’ll focus on what I didn’t get to last week.

  1. Launch plan and list marketing tasks for Time’s Fugitive
  2. Read one Golden Heart entry (#4 out of 5)
  3. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  4. Finish reading and review the ARC I got last week
  5. Finish web design side job I took on to pay off my publishing company start up costs
  6. Rework Time’s Fugitive cover – I’m not 100% satisfied with it
  7. Bonus: Stockpile some blogs, so that I’m not writing them at the last minute

How did you do this week? Do you find yourself consistently taking on more than you can do, even when you know you do that?

ROW80 Update: Eat Lunch In

by Jennette,

One thing that’s helped me achieve my fitness goals on the intake side is that I stopped going out to lunch. It helped a lot that my coworker who was the main instigator of lunch out, also wanted to lose a few pounds and stopped, well, instigating.

Also, I can leave early = more writing time. I don’t usually eat at my desk, as part of the purpose of having a lunch break is for workers to get away from the work for a short time, and hopefully come back a little energized. But instead of going out, I usually go to the kitchenette area and eat with coworkers. Side benefit? I eat with some really cool people, and two of them are now my readers!

Granted, this is not a very useful tip for those who work at home (including stay-home parents) but for us paycheck peeps, it’s a great way to save a half hour or more. And every half hour counts, right?

ROW80 goals this week:

  1. Finish read-aloud of Time’s Fugitive (about 10 hours)
  2. Read one Golden Heart entry
  3. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  4. Write and post review on Amazon & B&N of a friend’s book I just finished re-reading
  5. Bonus: type-in changes from read-aloud and send Time’s Fugitive to beta readers
  6. Bonus: dog walk or other activity in addition to #3

I did not get to either of the bonus items, but didn’t really expect to; hence why they’re bonuses.

I got in all three interval workouts, but missed one of the short ones due to the fact that I was gone all day one day, and wasn’t feeling well a couple of other days. But the writing got done!

This week, I’m going to spend getting caught up on related stuff. Here’s what’s on tap:

  1. Type in changes resulting from read-aloud of Time’s Fugitive and send to beta readers (finally!)
  2. Read one Golden Heart entry (#3 out of 5)
  3. Three interval workouts plus two short workouts
  4. Write and post review on Amazon & B&N of book I offered to blurb
  5. Finish web design side job I took on to pay off my publishing company start up costs
  6. Guest blog post I offered to do for my friend Michele Stegman (in addition to my own blogs)
  7. Go over two chapters for critique partner
  8. Cover design tweak promised to friend
  9. Tweak & validate epub file of Time’s Enemy and upload it to Lightning Source for distribution
  10. Go over stuff I learned with the release of Time’s Enemy plus stuff I’ve gathered from email lists, blogs, etc. and put together a launch plan for Time’s Fugitive
  11. Bonus: do anything that’s on the launch plan list
  12. Bonus: dog walk or other activity in addition to #3

It looks like a lot, but it’s mostly little stuff. How about you? Got any time saving tips for lunch, whether you’re a paycheck peep or a stay-homer?

Out to Lunch sign via Microsoft Office Images