Launching into #ROW80 Round 4 with a deep sigh of writing

“Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”~Oprah Winfrey, American entertainer

It’s that time again: writing success or failure?

I started these A Round of Words in 80 Days challenges last year at this time. I was so out of my league back then, thinking “I got this” when that was so far from the truth. My goals for Round 4 for 2015 were broad and undefined, or perhaps they were more un-actionable than anything else. I forgot about the whole thing, posting sporadically when the mood hit or when I discovered my notes in my writing folder. It was a sloppy mess.

Snufflet and Finse tweak year-end goals, planning ways to make them achievable

I’m too stubborn to et that go. I jumped into Round 1 this January. I learned. I failed. I joined Round 2 and Round 3. I succeeded. I struggled. It’s been a painful 240 days.

Now, one year later, I like to think I have a handle on things, at least for what I am comfortable accomplishing. My goals have narrowed, timeframes shortened, breakout tasks more manageable. Let me show you.

For this last quarter of 2016, my ROW80 goals are:
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1–Complete a good, polished manuscript of my memoir.
Not necessarily a final, edited version, but something decent that I can take to an editor for feedback. Right now, my scribbled words and notes within the text resemble a branch-strewn yard after a windy rainstorm.

2–ePublish 1-2 shorter books
This is something I may focus on in November. I have rough, scratchy drafts of two pieces typed in my computer files: haiku chapbook and Zentangle thoughts and reflections. It’s the start, sometimes the hardest part.

3–Get my email Inbox below 500 emails.
Don’t gasp. That number would make me twist and shout.

4–Get my phone photos below 10,000.
Yes, that’s another number you read correctly. Decreasing to that is certainly doable, but there are multiple behind-the-scenes steps that take time to complete. In 80 days…yeah, maybe, with some focus and planning. I’ll see how the first few weeks go.

5–Pack/toss/donate a whole buncha stuff.
My husband and I are moving soon. Within 6 months, that is, which feels soon enough. After 10 years in our Michigan house, I have accumulated what I can modestly call “a ton of crap.” That has to go away, not packed in boxes for a move across the country. This is the broadest goal, but it’s more the idea of “Let it go.”

I’m pretty excited about this because it actually includes writing goals this time. There’s still the unfinished blog stuff from 2016, but all that is in a holding pattern for the moment.

If you want to see others’ goals, there’s no blogsite I can direct you to. The whole community has moved over to Facebook–the default dumping pit for groups to gather–so just do a search there to find them.

Stay here with me to follow my failures…and successes.