Round 4 Check-in 12/18/18

Well, technically, I should wait until tomorrow to say that, but…  what’s a day or two between friends here?

Not only have you made it through 80 day of words, whimsy…  and a fair share of mayhem, but you’ve also made it through a whole year.

Aren’t you just the greatest? (say “Yes”—you deserve it)

So why not take some time to let us know how you’ve done since your last check-in and then, once you’re done with that, pop back to Monday’s Goals Post and start planning for Round 1 of 2019.  As we’ve done all round, you can leave your check-ins as comments below or on our FB page.

And ENJOY the rest of the year.

Advertisements

Round 4 Check-in 12/16/18

We’re almost there, folks!  The end of Round 4…  the end of 2018(!) is in sight.

Now, what that means to you with regards to your Round 4 goals and progress…  it may mean “End in Sight”; it may mean “Time to get working”….

It might mean relaxation, because you’ve met your goals.

Here, at the ROW80, it means we’re thinking about changes and how to best implement them for next year.  Wednesday I suggested a possible change we could try: accountability partners.  I’m glad our Mythic Writer, Kim came up with such a cool idea; the response has been enthusiastic.

Since Wednesday though, I’ve fielded a few questions about how this system would work.  I will make a page with the rules and the pairs (if they wish to be listed), as well as contact info if you’d like to get an accountability partner mid-round (or in case you feel you need to change partners…  hopefully you won’t).  Until then…  here’s the general groundwork I’ve envisioned:

• partners will be paired on a semi-random arrangement
• partners are responsible for arranging and agreeing to the level of contact they have between them; we can suggest, but we can’t demand you check-in at least every other day or that you choose to focus on your word count and edit totals over social media engagement
• you can request a different partner if you are having problems, but I’d like it if you try to work things out between yourselves first.

That’s it.  No more rules unless you set them yourselves.

The intention is for you to feel more inspired by the direct support.  Just remember your partner will your support as well.  Knowing that someone has your back might get you poking at those Works In Progress more often, editing and even submitting and selling (if that’s your dream).  We can all use a little extra support here and there.  Hopefully this addition to our regular check-ins and sponsor visits will give you that.

Have a great few days, folks.

As always, leave your check-in in the comments section or on our Facebook page, where Shan does great things with them.

---

If you would like an accountability partner for Round 1 2019, you can msg me at mousefir (at) gmail (dot) com. Or directly on Facebook. 

Round 4 Check-in 12/12/18

As we close in on the end of this final round of words for 2018, do any of you have any thoughts on what we (your hosts, Shan, Denise and I) could do better to help make the ROW80 better for your needs.  Can’t promise we’ll be able to enact any of the suggestions, but who knows…  maybe you’ve got the perfect idea for our group.

I had an idea I’d like to toss to you all…  Since we have a smaller membership and we haven’t been using the linky, we’ve not needed sponsors for visits the way we used to.  We still need to keep supporting each other….  some of us more frequently, some of us a bit less.

So, what about one-on-one accountability partners?  People who’d like to be involved in this option would let me know, and I’d randomly pair you with another person who has signed up.  You’d set a schedule for checking in with each other (maybe you’d like to send your partner a text with your wordcount and pages of edits each day, maybe you’ll chat in Skype or Twitter about story problems you are dealing with….).  The point is, you’ll be boosting each other directly.

I know some of you already do something like this already in various forms.  But as our Mythic Writer, Kim noted in her end of NaNo check-in, we may not even know we could be getting this level of support in our group.  I’m just saying…  let’s do it.

And…  as always, we’re here for your regular weekly updates and check-ins too, here or on FB.

Have a great Wednesday

Round 4 Check-in 12/9/18

Hi!

Have to say…  I don’t know what to write to you all today.  The mind wobbles…

If your week has been anything like mine (and it probably has given all I read in your check-ins from last Sunday and Wednesday), your heads are full or goals and plans, and holidays, preparations, discussions, ideas…

So very many things, and here I am asking you to tell us all about them again.  😉

The comment section, Facebook, or your blog… or all three, as usual.

And a quite FYI, the Round 1 2019 Goals Post will go live on Monday the 17th.

Round 4 Check-in 12/5/08

Apologies for not getting over to visit your blogs, ROWers.  It’s been a challenging couple of days.  I’ll be making my rounds a bit late, but I’m already buoyed by all the progress I’ve seen mentioned in the comments.  Yes!  Rowers Rule!

Short check-in, here…  as I said, a challenging (not bad, just challenging) couple of days.  Hope you all are having a great half-week.  Let us know in the comments or at our FB page.

Oh, and a small PS here: Will be announcing plans for the next Round of Words (officially starts on the 31st, but we’ll be doing our first check-in on Jan 2), this Sunday.  If you have any ideas or suggestions for things you’d like to have us do, let me know.  And have a great week of creativity.

Round 4 Check-in 12/1/18

I confess…  I added this picture because it reminds me more of my cat, Fluffle than any other reason, but…I do have to wonder at how fast we seem to have passed through this past November.  Even this Round of Words…  heck, even this year has flown by with wild abandon.

I feel like I’ve only just started!

How about you?  Is the nearing end of year feel unnatural to you?  Are you ready to start anew in 2019?

Or are you more like me, seeing this upcoming “end” as really more of a soft bend with angles?  Like a spiral…  I won’t presume what direction your spiral takes, but it’s always moving, always circulating with so many similar points to be hit on its way around.  And yet…  you are never in exactly the same place as you were the last time you passed by this point.

It’s kind of magical actually.

But with only a few more weeks in this Round of Words, and with the upcoming new year, it’s time to start evaluating our progress and start plotting our goals for next year.  And for those of us who just finished NaNoWriMo, it’s time to start editing (or maybe simply finishing) our recent WIPs.

Thankfully some of the best blogs for writers out there have some great advice for us.  Here’s just a small sampling of what I came across today:

• How to Be a Better Hooker (in Writing)  (jamigold.com)
• What We Can Learn From Teen Writers (writersinthestormblog.com)

And villainous twosome of:

• Eighteen Ways to Write an Emotionally Abusive Villain (10minutenovelists.com)
• Psychopaths, Sociopaths and other Bad Guys and Gals (misteriopress.com

Just a small sampling of my browser tabs (beyond the myriad house links from Realtor.com and Zillow) these days…

Hope you find them helpful in working toward your goals.  Tell us how you’ve been doing on those in the comments or on our FB page.

Round 4 Check-in 11/28/18

The usual short Wednesday check-in post….  with a question for you all.  Anyone interested in starting up sponsor posts and visits for next year?  I think the ROW80 works best when we’re checking in with each other and offering mutual support.  I know we all have busy lives, but sometimes taking that bit of extra time out to visit a fellow ROWer adds to your energy and your ability to get things done.  Knowing you were able to offer support to a friend is a strong personal boost as well.

Let me know what you think.

And as usual for this ROWnd, leave your updates in the comments or on our FB page.