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Posts Tagged ‘ROW80’

Wednesday Update 1/10/13 & Eyeballs

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged eyeballs, ROW80, WIP, word count on January 10, 2013| 13 Comments »

I know I’m a day late, but I was traveling yesterday. My word counts were pretty good considering I’m trying to jump back into a project I haven’t worked on in a while. Monday, word count was 772. I’m not sure about Tuesday because my dropbox folder wouldn’t sync due to a connection at the hotel that wasn’t secure, and now my computer at home is turned off. But I know it was about 650. So I’m pleased.

I know this is supposed to be a post about ROW80, but I can’t resist posting something else. The picture below shows what happens when you leave your car at a friend’s house while you’re out of town. Beware of friends with strange intentions. This is just a small sample of all the eyeballs I found in my car.

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Goals for ROW80 Round 1 2013

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged goals, ROW80, row80 goals, row80 round one, soul of a vampire, time goals, WIP, word count goals, writing, writing goals] on January 7, 2013| 18 Comments »

The last round ended up during a time that was very difficult for me in many ways. I won’t go into all of that since most of you know what all happened. But it’s time to move on and get my writing mojo back. 🙂

This round starts at kind of a hard time since I’m out of town on business for the next three days. But there’s absolutely no reason I can’t write at night after all the lectures and receptions and networking. I have nights to myself here in my room, so there’s no excuse not to write.

My main goal is to write one hour per day, five days a week. Some days that might be 250 words, some days it might be 1,000. I’ve worked better with time goals rather than word count goals, although I will be keeping up with word count on a spreadsheet. I would really like to finish my WIP during this round.

My secondary goal is to get Soul of a Vampire out in print. This should have been done already. I think I already have it formatted (it’s been so long, I forgot if it’s finished), and Anya already has my cover ready. So this goal should be easy to achieve. I don’t rush the print versions because they don’t sell nearly as well as the ebooks, but I do have one reader that always waits on the print version. I would put it out in print for that person alone.

My non-writing goal is to keep my blood sugar at the proper levels through diet and exercise. My MAJOR goal would be to no longer require insulin shots, but that might possibly be out of my control. My doctor says it doesn’t happen often, but it DOES happen. We shall see.

I wish all of you a GREAT Round One and hope you all meet your goals. 🙂

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Whew, What a 2012!

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged 2012, 2013, epublishing, facebook, marketing, ROW80, writing, year in reflection on January 2, 2013| 15 Comments »

Looking back on last year, I can see so many changes, and not too many good ones. I lost my father, my brother-in-law had a heart attack, my mother-in-law found out some distressing health news, and I discovered I had diabetes, which had apparently been going on for some time. Other things have happened to friends and their families, not to mention the deaths of church members. But life happens the way it happens, and I trust God to sort things out, because I’m sure not qualified to do it. Through all the bad things, though, there are so many ways I’m blessed…way too many to list. As an optimist by nature, I believe 2013 will be a great year, full of blessings and happiness.

I hope that this year will be the year book sales will take off. There are so many strikes against us now since the market is glutted with SO many ebooks. It’s much different than it was in 2009, when e-publishing was still shiny and new, and there wasn’t as much competition. The key is to write good books, but you always have to find ways to help people find your books. This year, I need to focus a little more on marketing. I don’t believe in the kind of marketing that annoys people, but I need a plan. There’s a saying, “build it and they will come”. But you have to let people know you built it. I’m terrible at marketing. My cover artist, Anya Kelleye, has found a nice group of friends on Facebook, and she’s gotten some extra business because of it. I’ve been saying how much I DON’T like FB, but many people are finding it’s a good way to market without being pushy. Just getting yourself out there. I’m going to focus on it a little more and hope people will stop sending me requests to do this or that or play this game. LOL.

This post got a little long-winded, but it’s my first of the year. I wish so many good things to all of my online friends. And there’s a special place in my heart for my fellow ROWers. I feel so privileged to have met you all, even if it’s only a virtual meeting. Happy New Year to all of you, and best of luck for 2013.

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Sunday Update 12/16/12

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged diabetes, ROW80, writing on December 16, 2012| 21 Comments »

I’ve put my writing on hold until the next round. I’m spending this time reading my literature about diabetes and trying to come to terms with the fact that this is going to be my life from now on. Testing my blood sugar twice a day is going to be a challenge for a writer, since I’m sticking my fingers. However, they aren’t really as sore as I thought they would be. Maybe it won’t be too much of an issue. I’ve had two doses of my medicine (it’s once a day), and my blood sugar is down some, but not as much as I would like. Maybe it takes a little while. I think my medicine is the kind that actually makes the pancreas produce more insulin. I need to read up on it. I’m also on blood pressure medicine. 😦

I’m an optimist by nature, so I’m NOT going to let this get me down. I just need to take care of it. And I promise there won’t be numerous blog posts on diabetes and how it’s affecting me. No one wants to hear all that. Just maybe a mention every once in a while to let everyone know what’s going on.

So, how has YOUR writing been going? I’m still interested in hearing about you. 🙂

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Sunday Update 12/2/12

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cats, christmas tree, exercise, ROW80, willow and oz, writing on December 2, 2012| 26 Comments »

I’ve done no writing or exercising since my dad’s stroke. After the funeral last Sunday, I decided to take the rest of the week to recover from lack of sleep and lots of stress. I hope I’ll be ready to start writing and exercising again tomorrow. Life must go on.

On a brighter note…how can anyone not love this picture?

Willow and Oz

The question for the holidays is…how will I be able to keep the cats out of the Christmas tree???

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Wednesday Update 11/14/12

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged family crisis, my dad, ROW80, stroke on November 14, 2012| 26 Comments »

There’s been no progress in writing or health this week so far. As most of you saw on my previous post, I have a family situation. What happened is that my dad had a massive stroke on Sunday. As of right now, he is still unconscious. They are calling it a coma because he’s been out longer than 48 hours. He does hear us, though, because he moves his legs and his heart rate goes up every time we talk to him. He was squeezing our hands in response, but he is no longer doing that. My step-sister, my half-sister, and I may have to make some decisions soon. My half-sister is going to look at his living will to see what his wishes are.

So I’ve been working until about 2:45 or 3:00 every day, then going to the hospital (about 40-45 miles away) to go to the first visitation at 4:00 PM. There’s another one at 8:30 PM, and I stayed for that one, too, yesterday. We can only stay for 30 minutes, and only 2 at a time (although, the three of us went in and they didn’t say anything). My half-sister has been there constantly, only going home at night to sleep. When Dad first went into the hospital, she was up 38 hours with no sleep. She’s superwoman.

Keep my family in your prayers, and if you don’t pray, please send us some good thoughts.

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Late Sunday Update 11/11/12

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged beauty and the beast, eating habits, exercise, haunted lake, jay ryan, ROW80, WIP, word count, writing on November 11, 2012| 14 Comments »

A so-so week….

Writing: I only wrote 1748 words this past week. The only bright side to that is that it’s more than twice what I wrote the previous week. But I would really like to write a minimum of 2500, even though my goals are time goals, not word goals. But I do keep up with words. I just wish I could love this WIP. I’m working on that. There are many times I’l start a book, and I just can’t love it, but then after a few chapters, things start working. This one is just slower getting to that point.

Health: I’m on track with exercise. I walked on the treadmill at the gym four days. I ramped it up a little on Friday, going a little faster and a little longer. I’m having some trouble with feet, ankles, and knees, but I’m just working through the pain. If it gets bad, I might have to think about doing something different. It sucks getting older. 😦 I still need to work on my eating habits. I’m doing a little better. I had soup and salad for lunch today, and I didn’t eat it all. Of course, now I’m starving. LOL

And on a topic that has nothing to do with goals…but it’s my blog, so you can either read on or not. LOL I’ve been searching for an actor that I think would be a good fit for my character, John, in Haunted Lake. I’ve never been able to find just that right guy. But I’ve finally found him! Jay Ryan from Beauty and the Beast! Not only does he have the scar (on the show, not in real life), but he has the raspy voice my character has. John actually has more scars than Vincent from BatB, but he is a LOT like I pictured him in my story. I’m so glad to have finally found him! Here’s a link to his picture on IMDB. Jay Ryan as Vincent

What’s new with the rest of you?

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Wednesday Update 11/7/12

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged cardio, exercise, ROW80, word count, working out, writing on November 7, 2012| 13 Comments »

This week is starting off a little better. Monday, I only wrote 361 words, but last night I managed 505. I’m still not sure how to fill in the blanks on this story. It might end up being a novella instead of a novel. I’ve been trying to write novels instead of being the queen of novellas, but this one may not make it. We’ll see. It will be as long as it wants to be.

I went to the gym Monday and Tuesday, doing cardio only. As I posted earlier, I’m going to focus on cardio this week and then see how it goes with weight work. When I go at lunch, there’s a time constraint, so I might have to change the times of my workouts.

How are ya’ll doing? (Yes, I’m from the south.)

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