ROW 80 - Update on 10/17/11 for 10/16/11

Ok, here I am again, late for my update.  I hope this doesn't become a constant.  Wait until you hear the worse news:  I didn't make my goals for this past week.  Instead of 1000 words, I only got in 564 words and not even a half hour of editing.  Looks like its time to re-evaluate my goals.

Using my Daily Planner Pad, I have filled out my weekly goals, then tried to put them into the days I intend to fulfill those goals, so it looks a bit like this:

Girls
Bath
School
Reading
Wed (Bring "P" item)
Tues Pink/Purple Day
Donut money

WIP
1000 words
1 hour edit
1 hour edit
1 hour edit

Household
Dinner/Dishes
Kitchen
Bathrooms
Laundry
Garbage
Vaccuming/Dusting
Girls Room (org.)
Shopping

Exercise
30 minutes (3x)

Reading
Sookie #5

Then for each day:

Monday
Update ROW 80
WIP
Dishes/dinner
Laundry (towels)

Tuesday
Girls Pink/Purple Day
WIP
Girls Room (org.)
Read w/Girls
Donut Monday due
Laundry (whites)

Wednesday
Girl's "P" Item Day
King's Kids

Thursday
Read w/girls

Friday
Girls Room (org.)
30 minutes exercise
Read w/girls
WIP

Saturday
30 minutes exercise
Gull Meadow Farms
Read w/girls

Sunday
30 minutes exercise
Shopping
WIP

There's a lot to squeeze into your schedule when you already are working for 8-10 hours each day from Monday through Friday.  Some nights I come home and barely have any time to read with the girls and get to know how their day was before its time to get them into bed.  Often I am going to bed at midnight and waking up at 5:30am through the week as well.

I get gun-ho about my intentions with this project, but I am glad that I have the flexibility depending on how much I can put in or want to put in.  I have a Meijer recycle bag full of books to be read, hence the addition of reading the Sookie Stackhouse series in my weekly goals.  I get little else done when I get too involved in a book and this is an amazing series.

And, I have to admit, I was invited to a friend's house where there was a small group of people gathering for a Hunter's Party, which I wasn't figuring into my plans and goals.  Essentially, this is when Native American's get together to cook up stores packed away from last year (from the freezer) and have friends and family consume it so there is room in the freezer again for this year's kill.  This reminded me of all my stuff left in the freezer being forgotten and passed over again and again, so I did a lot more cooking this weekend that I originally intended.

Now, excuse me while I try to add more scenes and words to my WIP.  Thanks for stopping by and....

Happy Reading!

First Official ROW 80 Round 4 of 2011 Post

Ok, I'm going to do it.  Here is my first set of goals:


Put the following three projects in my yWriter5 program to assist in outlining and editing:


Project 1:  Paranormal Investigator novel (Liz Lochran, main character)
Project 2:  From Night Into Dawn (working title of historical, Christian romance)
Project 3:  Before Atlantis (working title of Atlantean series, Book 1)


I'm giving myself two weeks to have this done.  Then I will focus on my next set of goals:


Project 1:  Add 1000 new words a week
Project 2:  Add 1000 new words a week
Project 3:  Add 500 new words a week


When I feel like I have finally finished a project, then I will change the goals to reflect edits and rewrites.  Since Project 3 is mainly a rewrite, that is why I decided on a smaller amount of words and this will be harder to track since I will be using previously written text along with new phrasing and scenes - or throwing out entire scenes to be replaced with others.


Maybe the goal seems unrealistic, but considering my need to work on multiple projects at once to keep my brain from getting bored, I thought this would be a good start.  I could always change these goals if I suddenly feel like it is too much.


We shall see.


On top of that, I always am setting some reading goals, just nothing too specific.  I want to finish at least one book a week, but I may have to make it one book every two weeks or more to have the time to blog, read, write, and take care of the multiple projects waiting for me at home (e.g. laundry, dishes, taking the kids to school to name a few).


If anyone has any suggestions for me, I am very willing to listen and eager to learn what has worked for him/her.  


Happy Reading!

Still in the race, just lagging behind

Yes, this was exactly how I felt yesterday.

It was the first day of school yesterday and I was up since 5am that day.  Now I am dragging like I have a huge tortoise shell on my back.  The girls had a blast and I noticed they are the tallest girls in class by a good three inches, maybe more.  Only two boys in their class were as tall as them.  Somehow they came home with someone's clothes in their backpacks, too.

So, that was yesterday, which hasn't explained my lack of blogging all week.  I've been reading diligently.  It has consumed all writing time.  I apologize.  On the up side, my newest fave author and internet acquaintance, Angela Wallace, has introduced me to A Round of Words in 80 Days.  My next post will be this weekend after I have thought out my goals.  I need to be reasonable, since I'll be getting up four days a week at 5:00 am and not getting to bed until after 10:00 pm.  

I also have a Daily Planner Pad to help with my goals, appointments, and other commitments, so I don't forget them and become over-ambitious.

Now back to my goals, writing, bloghopping, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Happy Reading!

Blood Hunt by Shannon K. Butcher - A Review

This is the most recent addition to the Sentinel Wars series by Shannon K. Butcher and it takes a different path than the previous books.

Logan is a Sanguinar, a vampiric healer, who helps the Theronai against the evil Synestryn. He finds a woman who has power. Hope has powers, but she doesn't have a past. Can Logan help her find out who she is and where she came from?

For more about this book, go here.

I love the newest addition to Shannon K. Butcher's series. Hope seems like a heroine in need of a hero, but she amazes herself and Logan when she is the one swooping in to save the day. I can't get enough of a strong woman role.

I also enjoyed the mystery that doesn't get solved until much, much later in the book. Who is she? Where is she from? Will she be in Logan's arms or a dying Theronai? Butcher keeps us guessing and reading.

The ongoing stories continue as well and keep you wondering where they will be in the next installment of the series. The Slayers are becoming more defined and you actually get a number of action scenes with the Solarc's Wardens - wow! I even feel like some foreshadowing is going on with the Slayers, the Sanguinar, and Sibyl you won't want to miss.

Not least of all the romantic scenes. Pages and pages worth of steamy details are waiting within this book's pages.

Happy reading!