I know I’m not supposed to check in for ROW80 until tomorrow, but I don’t think I’ll be able to get to it then. Also, I don’t think much will change. For those just checking in for the short version of how I did:
C+. Passing grade with no distinctions.
It was a rough week. For those of you who don’t know, I write a quasi-popular web series based on the old Choose Your Own Adventure stories. They get published over on my professional site, JenKirchner.com. My first one, called THE RELIC, wrapped up and I took two weeks off to recuperate. On Friday, my new story, SITE 27, was revealed.
Juggling the stress and production of my VOA shorts and my ROW80 goals didn’t go as well as I had hoped. In the beginning, I cruised along with my goals and I was decent about not getting on the internet while writing. In fact, I was pretty excited about my output.
Then came Thursday. Thursday night was spent solely on edits for the VOA short. I was stressed to all hell about the new story. Tom’s editorial comments, while helpful, made me feel even worse. Poor Tom. I don’t know how he puts up with me. We got a late start as it was and didn’t wrap up until 11:30 — and don’t ask me how I did with the internet that night. I was so stressed, I hit Twitter and Google+ every five minutes. If the internet was a cigarette, I would have chain smoked it. By the time I shipped the story off to Mark Lidstone, my writing partner, I was a wreck. Zero word count for that day, and no work done on my novel, THE FOURTH CHANNEL.
I think it’s clear that a daily wordcount goal is just not possible with me — not when an entire night is dedicated to editing. Weekly goals are more doable. I’m going to have to play around with it a bit more and will post a revised goal next week.
Anyway, today’s supposed to be my day off from writing, but I want to make up for what I didn’t do on my novel. When I stay away from the internet, I easily do 1k words in an hour. I did it twice this week. Easy. I’m going for that again as soon as I finish this post.
Aside from the VOA stuff, the novel really is coming along. I’m almost finished rewriting chapter 9 and I expect to wrap it up and send edits off to Tom either today or tomorrow.
I hope everyone’s having a successful week.
It is my first time at ROW80 but from what I understand it is meant to have a bit of give for when ‘life’ pops up and it sounds like ‘life’ or even ‘work’ got in the way for you and that is just….life! Does that make any sense?! What I mean to say is, don’t beat yourself up, you had to work hard on your other project and you did. I have to say I laughed out loud at ‘If the internet was a cigarette I would have chain smoked it’!
Lets hope your revised weekly goals give you a bit of leeway for when other things come up. Good luck with week two!
That’s right, don’t beat yourself up! (None of us will.) You met your goals on some days, which is great! Like you, life was rolling along fine for me until Thursday. By Friday night, I was curled in a ball watching a Disney movie ’cause I just couldn’t take it anymore.
Good luck this week, and keep at it! =)
Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not as if you haven’t worked hard. Sounds like you’re juggling many, many balls
Hang in there! It’s good to adjust the goals when you realize they’re not working for you. That’s what I love about this challenge!
I also had to adjust my goals for this coming week. That’s the beauty of ROW 80 – it doesn’t penalize you when you have a life! If you’re adjusting your goals to suit your life, you’re just finding a way to maximize your productivity in the long run. So I say, good on you!
I also love love LOVE your comparison of the Internet to a cigarette. In that context, I’m a chain-smoker myself…
That’s the beauty of ROW80 is you can adjust your goals for life happenings. Editing is just as much a part of the writing process as writing so I’d say you did better than c+ in my book. I recently came across a you tube video asking ‘would you give up the internet for 1 million dollars?’ Sadly, no. I couldn’t give it up. I need it, it needs me. Yes, it is an addiction some days. I try to stay off line during the week days til 4:00 because I know once I get online, time warps. Have a great week!
Hey I checked out your online series (choose your own adventure) and I loved it!! What a wonderful idea. Sorry I don’t mean to gush it’s rare to meet someone really interesting doing something cool lol
Hi Sandy,
Thank you for your kind words. I’m blushing. LOL So glad you’re enjoying the story.
I think it sounds like you did a great job despite not doing the actual goals you had put in place for this week. It still sounds like you did more than the average person.
Good luck as you work at figuring out what will work for you. I’m looking forward to hearing more!
KP
Jen! Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing great! Your VYOA stories are fabulous and I can only imagine take a ton of time, not to mention that managing 1K/hr is a great accomplishment. You know how to find me if you ever need anything….
too soon to be beating yourself up!!! a lot of us will be readjusting gaols as the round progresses – writers live in the real world its not like we’re living in an enclosed cell with nothing to do but write (oh that sounds rather restful!) the flow can be good if you go with it
all the best for this week
Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Really helps to have such wonderful support.
Hey Jen!
I’m new to your site and I completely understand that feeling where you’re just…lagging on the challenge. I hope this next check-in period is going better for you!