End of Round 3 Post

Yes, I know that officially Round 3 ends on Thursday, but since we always do out check-in posts on Sundays and Wednesdays, here’s your Heads Up! post.  And while I’m here to update you, let me add a thought for Round 4 and life in general.

As I posted last Wednesday, I’ve been reading Ungifted by Scott Kaufman.  I borrowed it from the library after seeing it quoted in a classroom discussion in a theory of modern education systems MOOC.  The discussion revolved around labels, those given to us and those we give ourselves.  Which matters most?  According to the book so far *, both really, but the labels we accept for ourselves have the greatest power.  They are what inspire and motivate us into creating that reality.  How we do that is pretty interesting to…  it’s not so much a positive affirmation thing (though those can help) as our willingness to think through and act on our expectations of ourselves.

As I asked you last week…  are you inspired?  What does your inspiration tell you about yourself?  And what are you going to do about it?

Think about these questions as you close out your goals for this last day of Round 3.  Round 4 starts October 2nd, and our goal post goes up this Sunday, where you can share all at our linky (or our friendly FB page):

• it’s a very information-rich book, and with my crazy schedule, I’m moving through it slower than I’d like

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Round 3 Sunday Check-in 11

Can you believe there are only a few more days in this round left?  Time left still to make your walk-of-shame into a stroll beneath the triumphal arch…  progress is what you make of it.  Even failures and set-backs are just tools in creating future success.

So tell us, your ROW80 community, how you’ve done and start making plans for Round 4…  here or on our FB page:

Round 3 Wednesday Check-in 11

Are you inspired?

Today, I was reading about two topics that all artists (even writers) hold dear.  I wasn’t reading about them in a book about writing or creativity.  The book, which is filled with a lot of scientific data on how we work, is called Ungifted, Intelligence Redefined, and it inspired this post, particularly Chapter 6, which deals with inspiration and passion. 😀

Did you know that inspiration does a spiraling dance with goal progress?  I do now.  And you can dance upward toward the stars almost as easily as you slowly sink into the earth…  almost!  Of course, there are more variables at play here.  But inspiration the way it’s described in Ungifted is not merely the act of being inspired by something but also the acting on that inspiration.  Inspiration is active, it is doing…  it is creating.

So…  are you inspired?  Tell all at the linky or our FB page (or both, if you’d like):

Round 3 Sunday Check-in 10

Have you heard?

Sponsoring for the ROW80 is going to be a thing again!  For those of you who have been ROWing with us for a while now, I’m sure you have noticed how our Round of Words has changed in the past few years (especially this one).  Change is inevitable…  change is good!  But sometimes changes can alter the way something feels so much that the good thing that was there becomes… well, not as good as it could be.

One of these changes seems to have been eliminating ROW80 sponsors.  While sponsoring could be challenging, ask anyone who did—it was a wonderful experience.  🙂  Sponsoring brought our community closer together, and even pushed a few of us to try new things.  I certainly would have never considered myself “social” or at all inspirational, but writing the (as originally) assigned sponsor posts teased out skills and interests (including taking over this blog full-time) that had been completely hidden from me.

Still, the old sponsor format wasn’t working as well as it could have.  As our membership changed, so did our needs.  Those of you who follow our Facebook group may have seen a survey I posted…  the verdict?  There is still a place for sponsors in this new format, but it’s a different one than before.  There will be some changes.

If you’re interested in finding out more, feel free to contact me at mousefir (at) gmail (you-know-the-rest) for all the juicy details delivered to your inbox by this Wednesday (or later, if you contact me later).

For now though…

…here’s a linky 😉 :

Round 3 Wednesday Check-in 10

Wow…  16 more days to go before this Round of Words is over.  Doesn’t feel like it, does it?

16 days seems to me to be a perfect amount of time to start looking over your progress for this past ROWnd and planning what changes (if any) you intend to make for the next one.  It’s also time to end on a high note. Cs and Ds are pretty good here. 😉

For all of us, those going back-to-school and not, here’s the linky to share our progress and support each other.

Round 3 Sunday Check-in 9

Today, instead of making the long drive to Syracuse for daytrip to the NY State Fair, we decided to check out downtown Troy for a bit of time in their Makerspace, the Tech Valley Center of Gravity, and the Troy Farmers Market.  A great choice!  While it lacked some of the attractions (no Midway or animal shows), the atmosphere was festive, the smells delightful, and there were plenty of quiet spots to relax and watch performers, crowd and even the fountains by the Hudson River.   It was pretty much the ideal end-of-season outing…  especially for me, as I was fighting a migraine most of the day.

It was also a perfect case where “Less is more,” which is how this relates to writing (beyond the obvious, everything is fodder for our stories).  We all have a set of memories that can be evoked by the right smell, the right flash of an image or even the right combination of words.  You don’t need to wear yourself out to find a scene that works.  A weekly streetfair might just do the trick…  and you can bring home some fresh produce and gourmet cheese too.  😉

Wherever you’ve traveled, whatever news you have to share, here’s our linky for you to share it at:

Or, if you’d prefer, we also have a great crew at our Facebook page and you can connect with us there too.

Round 3 Wednesday Check-in

Hey all, nothing much to say (I know!  What a horrid thing to say on a writing challenge, but…  well, that’s how life is sometimes), but hope you’re all safe and…  mostly dry.  Thinking of all of you in Texas!

For all of you who have internet and news to share, let us know at the linky: