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Posts Tagged ‘goals’

Scheduling My Time

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 30, 2014| 15 Comments »

I only got 2205 words written this week. But I’m soooo close to the goal I set on my Supernatural (Sam & Dean!) spreadsheet. So close. It said last night I needed to write 2561 words per day to meet my goal. I have only one day left. Today. It’s church night, so I really don’t think I can do it. But I WANT to so badly! What should I do? Could I handle an after church writing marathon???

I think one of the biggest problems I’ve had with writing is I’m not really scheduling my time. Yes, I have an idea in my head about what I want to do but…look, there’s another cool Big Fish Game. And I have a free credit, so I can download it! Um, where was I? Oh yeah. Anyway, I think schedules need to be WRITTEN DOWN. And then adhered to as best one can. It’s especially important that I get my schedule worked out because I have four proofreading jobs from now until the end of July. I’m just glad they didn’t all come in at once. LOL.

So here’s what I’m thinking for May:

Monday-Tuesday: Work on a cozy mystery I’m thinking of writing under a different pen name
Thursday-Saturday: Work on whatever my WIP is under Lauralynn Elliott
Sunday & Wednesday: No writing
Monday-Friday during lunch (and possibly Saturday): Work on my proofreading jobs

What do you think? Does this schedule make sense? Do YOU make schedules for yourself?

And don’t forget…if you need content editing, line editing (proofreading), formatting for ebooks, or all of these, check out The Forge: Affordable Book Finishing

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ROW80 Update 4/9/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on April 9, 2014| 20 Comments »

My Supernatural Spreadsheet says I’m on track to meet my goal for April. 🙂 It tracks your daily word count average and your goals based on what you have entered, and it will tell you how you’re doing. Like after I keyed in my progress for Jan-Mar, it said in each month “This month is over. Better luck next month”. Since I want my spreadsheet to be proud of me, I must meet my April goal. Hey, it’s Sam and Dean, ya know?

I’m still working on Fire Wizard, although I would like to set aside a little time for my cozy mystery. We’ll see how that goes. I’m working on a proofreading job for an author, too, and that’s always fun because I get to READ. I just have to read more carefully and slowly. And make red marks. I’m thinking of changing to purple…. 🙂

I’m also preparing for a trip to Asheville, NC for a work trip. I think I’ll enjoy that one.

Busy, busy. How about the rest of you?

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Goals for 2014 Round 2

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on April 7, 2014| 22 Comments »

Is is REALLY time for Round 2? Seriously? It seems like just yesterday….

Anyway, I’ve tried to find a doable word count goal. I’ve done those in the past, and I’ve done time goals. Daily goals, weekly goals, on and on. It’s so hard to find a good fit. Then I saw these spreadsheets. Word Count Spreadsheets. How can you not love a spreadsheet with Sam and Dean? I have my own word count spreadsheet, but these spreadsheets are full of awesome! And if you’re more into fantasy, check out THESE. It got me thinking about a MONTHLY word count. That way, if I have a bad week, I can still make up for it with a good week. I’m going to give that a shot and try for 15,000 words per month. The spreadsheets have all kinds of bells and whistles, letting you know how you’ve done, what you still need to do, percentages, etc. This website is also where I got my word count meter.

Now on to another thing. I have an idea for a…hmmm, what shall we call it? Cozy mystery? Romantic mystery? There will be a romance and a murder mystery. There will be food involved. And it will be okay, because it’s part of what the shero does, so no one can say I’m talking about food too much. I’m looking at you, Pink Hammer. Bwa ha ha. And this is where I have to decide if I’m going to use Lauralynn or my real name or another pen name. I’ve been seriously thinking about creating a publishing company so I can publish under that imprint for two different names. The only drawback to doing this is that I would need to buy my own ISBN numbers instead of letting Smashwords (for ebooks) and CreateSpace (for print books) assign the ISBN, which would show those two entities as publishers. I would like some opinions and feedback on this. If I understand the process correctly, you have to have one ISBN for print and another for ebooks. But I THINK you can use the same ISBN number for the ebooks at all retailers. You just can’t use the same one for e and for print. Is this correct?

So that’s all for now. I would love to hear your comments!

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ROW80 Round 1 Wrap UP

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on March 27, 2014| 9 Comments »

After my super “heavy” post last time, I need to keep this light. LOL

I’ve been with ROW80 since the very beginning. I’ve had good rounds and bad rounds. But I’ve been here EVERY round. The ROW80 community is awesome!

How did I do? Not so well. Not terrible, but not up to expectations. For this round, I wrote 19,534 words. I could have done much better than that. It averages out to about 227 words per day. I actually only wrote 14 days this round. So if I only use THOSE days, then my daily average is 1395 per day. See how you can look at something in different ways?

I will say, a lot of the reasons I had for not writing were legitimate. I’ve been doing some proofing, which actually makes me more money that my writing does. And then Susan, Kait, and I started The Forge: Affordable Book Finishing. So I have been a little busy. Writing is my passion, but I need to do what is going to put food on the table, right? So I plan to do both. 🙂

Here’s to a great Round Two! There’s something about spring that makes me more energetic.

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ROW Update 3/16/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on March 16, 2014| 15 Comments »

This has been a great writing week. Although I only wrote three days, I still managed to churn out 5,837 words! Yesterday, I wrote almost 2,400. Hubby was gone, so the TV in the living room was off and I was at my desk in my office, the sun shining through the windows beside me. Coffee was on the desk beside my computer. A couple of pieces of sugar-free chocolate. The conditions couldn’t have been better! 🙂

I really think it makes a big difference WHERE you write. If you have your own writing place, I think your mind says, “Okay, this is where I’m supposed to write”. I’m so glad I was able to fix up my son’s old bedroom and make it into an office.

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ROW80 Update 2/19/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on February 19, 2014| 12 Comments »

Forgive me. It’s been seven days since I’ve confessed posted.

I haven’t posted a lot because getting ready for my FB party really took a lot out of me. I had so much to do to get ready for it. I’m still trying to figure out if it was worth it. I think so, mostly because it was a lot of fun, and several people attending the party bought Hearts of Evil, which was the book that the party was all about. But I haven’t been able to sustain the sales. It got up to #50 in a category, but then it fell away after the party. It has 1 4-star review and 3 5-star reviews, and I know at least three of the reviews came from people at the party. So we’ll see how this book does. I still would like to do a FB party for my next release. I have to try at least twice, right?

Now, on to my update. I wrote 720 words on Tuesday and 1360 words today, for a total of 2080 words so far this week. I seem to be able to write more words at lunch here at work than in the evenings, and I think it has a lot to do with the fatigue factor. So I might try doing a little more of that. We’ll see how that works out.

How are YOU doing?

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ROW80 Update 2/2/13

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on February 2, 2014| 4 Comments »

Wow, is it February already? One weather model is predicting a big snow next weekend. The weather that comes toward us often passes us by, even when it’s predicted. I think it’s because we’re in the valley. I will admit, I would love to see a big snow. Well, we had one last week, but this other one is supposed to be bigger. I’m not holding my breath.

I didn’t get my 5000 words in this week. I made it to 2580. I usually write more on Saturdays than any other day, but yesterday I spent a lot of the day making key chain swag for prizes for my FB book release party. I finally have a tentative date in mind, but I want to make sure I can have everything ready for it before announcing.

There’s been someone I’ve wanted for my cover model for my WIP, Fire Wizard, for a long time, and we’ve finally come to an agreement. He’s agreed to let us do some custom shots, and I’m really excited (even though I won’t be there). Anya is doing the shots for me. This has made me even more motivated to get this book done! 🙂 More about that when the time grows closer. I must make you wait!

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ROW80 Update 1/29/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on January 29, 2014| 4 Comments »

So here I am, sitting at home, having a “snow day”. I’m supposed to be working, and I actually am. But you don’t know how hard it is to be here at home at the keyboard working instead of writing. I’m in my office, surrounded by kitties (well, two), with the sun pouring in the big windows beside me. When I look outside, I see the sun glistening off the snow that fell yesterday. Want. To. Write. But I must continue to work.

Sometimes I don’t check in on Wednesdays since the majority of my writing happens Thurs-Sat. However, I did have a nice round of writing on Fire Wizard yesterday, coming in at 1127. This gives me a total word count of 3945 so far. I think I’m going to love this story. There’s going to be such nice conflict between the hero and the shero. *rubs hands together and laughs maniacally*

I plan on getting Hearts of Evil published within the next couple of weeks. The biggest holdup right now is gathering prizes and questions for the FB book release party. More on that soon!

So how are the rest of you doing so far for January?

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ROW80 Update 1/26/14

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on January 26, 2014| 14 Comments »

Is it really almost February? I’m so looking forward to spring. It’s been colder here this year than it’s been in 20 years!

So…about my goals. I set a goal for 5,000 a week, which is pretty steep for me, but I want to get this WIP done more quickly than the last one. I was really dragging my feet last year. I didn’t hit that goal this week, only coming in at 2812. But, I’ve also been working on final edits for Hearts of Evil, planning a release party, etc. So I haven’t been idle by any means.

About Hearts of Evil. I posted earlier that my two beta readers disagree on the inserted chapter. So I let my mom read it and asked her opinion. She said, “It works either way.” Grrr. She’s no help! LOL. So I’m waiting to hear from one more, who I let read it without the inserted chapter first, then I’ll send her that chapter. She’s the only one who will have read it without the chapter before reading the chapter. Maybe that will give a different angle.

I have no idea when Hearts of Evil will be released or when the release party will be. I need to make a decision about that chapter. After all, I make the final decisions, right?. Isn’t that the great thing about being indie? 🙂

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The End of 2013

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on December 31, 2013| 8 Comments »

Several of my friends have written a blog post recapping 2013. I almost didn’t, but I think I’m going to.

This year has been a pretty bad year for me. Hubby and I have both had health problems, his much worse than mine. The health problems contributed to financial problems, which would have been much worse if not for the generosity of others. I don’t think I can blame that for my lack of writing, though. I can’t really find a good excuse for not publishing anything (except a short story for an anthology) in all of 2013. I haven’t published since December 2012. That’s the longest I’ve ever gone without having a new novel or novella out there. I think I just wasn’t motivated enough. Book sales have been down, and that’s discouraging. But I’m SURE not going to sell anything if I DON’T get it out there. If I could have gotten my last book out this month, I could have said I published a book in 2013, but alas….

Anyway, I didn’t meet too many goals this year. I lost 25 lbs, so that was good, but I wanted to lose more. I’ve kept up with my exercise, so that’s a positive. My eating habits have slipped, so I need to fix that. My writing goals were NOT met. This is going to change in 2014, but that’s a post for tomorrow.

Now I want to count my blessings in 2013.

1) Hubby is still alive.
2) I’m still alive.
3) I have two wonderful, healthy sons, and I love them and their families SO much.
4) My mom is still around, and she’s the best mom in the world
5) I have awesome friends, both in real life and online.
6) I met even MORE awesome friends online this year.
7) I got to read a lot of books.
8) My church family is awesome, and I love them.
9) I have a job that I like, and I love my co-workers.
10)I may not have everything I want, but right now I have everything I need,

I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year’s Eve, and I’ll talk to you guys next year. I’m getting ready to go to a party/singing at church in a little while. Love you all!

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