Round 3 Sunday Check-in 3

Hi, and welcome to a bit of a retro-ROW Sunday.

If y’all will come with me as I meander throw some of the delight archives of inspirational posts we have here at the Round of Words in 80 Days, savor with me as well, these lovely pieces of advice…

First, from Belinda Kroll in her lovely piece Live the Life You Imagined:
A Round of Words in 80 Days is meant to remind us writers that we have lives outside of writing. Not only that, but the life outside of writing is often what inspires us to write in the first place! My inspirational post will be short today because I want to practice what I preach. I want to get out there and live.

The image of a writer (and the wardrobe, given the sheer number of hats we have to wear) has gone through several shifts in the past decade.  The good thing about this…  we get to set what that image will be for ourselves.  The bad news is, of course, we get to set what that image will be for ourselves.   Since it’s the same cup, half-empty or half-full, why not focus on the positive.  Claim your status as a writer and how you want the world to see you.

Make that who you are.

Secondly, Alice McElwee reminds us of the most important part of being a writer in her post It’s Not About Quality OR Quantity:

Ignore the word count. Ignore the grammar. JUST WRITE.

It doesn’t matter if you write 50 words and they are all misspelled, as long as you write. And while you’re writing, write every day. Five minutes, twenty minutes or an hour – doesn’t matter how long, how much or how bad – just write.

Writing is the only way our stories will get finished. Worrying about our word counts and grammatical problems isn’t going to finish our story. Click-clacking at our keyboards, however…

Writers write.  It’s a phrase we toss about in the ROW80 so often it’s become almost a joke, but it’s what we do.  And if that isn’t you yet… make that who you are too.

Lastly, it’s check-in time once more.  How’s that writing (and all those other things that make your writing life the wonder that it is) going for you?  Let us know at the linky:

1st Sunday Check-in Round 3

Really… but you’ve got to ‘do’, not just ‘try’

We’re now into it, ROWers. And that’s a good thing (really!), because now is a perfect time to consider our goals and our progress for the rest of the round.

It’s also a good time to think about how we made our goals.  We all know about making our goals S.M.A.R.T., but sometimes even that isn’t enough.  Life gets crazy on us.  It’s like water in some ways, always able to find those empty spaces where we thought we could catch a breather….  Does this mean we should have to schedule every moment we want some freedom to write, or even to relax?

No.

But we should schedule some.  That way, even when Life gets a little punchy, there are moments set aside solely for ourselves and for our craft…  for the job we’ve chosen (or, if you’re like most people I know who write, the job that chose us).  Because it matters, and because we matter.  It’s how we ‘work’.

And speaking of how we work…  how are things working for you?  Tell all at the linky:

1st Wednesday Check-in Round 3

Let’s start this Round with a BANG!

Wow!  This year just seems to fly by faster and faster every time I look at a calendar.  …which is why I probably should have kept slightly closer track of how fast the days were passing when I wrote that mini-notice on Sunday, to remind you all of today’s check-in.

Instead…  I got distracted with lots of family gatherings this (for the US) holiday weekend.  Oh!  And house-cleaning…  There was a lot of house cleaning.

But here it is, better late than ever…  your very first linky of Round 3!  Tell us how you did since Monday and what you’ve got planned for the rest of the week if you want to.  We’d love to hear from you!