ROW80 Update – 12 Days To Go!

Holy cow, there’s less than two weeks left of Round 3. On September 22nd, we’ll all be panting in a big heap at the finish line…

Or will we?

It kind of depends on what you’re going for with your ROW80 Goals.

Though I had page count goals like everyone else, my three main incentives for Round 3 were accountabiity, encouragement and the push to “write every day.”

I haven’t necessarily ROCKED THE ROW in terms of page count but I’ve found all these benefits and more.

I was on the sidelines for the first few rounds, too overwhelmed by my life and my new blog to do much more than make note that there were writing challenges out there. I decided to jump in the ROW80 pool for this round and test the water.

Here’s what has become clear to me through the course of Round 3:

• ROW80 bloggers are a superior support group! Whether it’s a week of max productivity or a week like this one, filled with stomach flu (yep, my husband and I BOTH got it), my fellow Team ROW80 members have found something positive and encouraging to say. It helps. A lot.
• Blogging gears my mind up for manuscript writing. Y’all might notice that I post several days a week. That’s because short writing is my forte and is usually the lead-in to a writing sprint on my WIP. I’ve noticed I get more done this way.
• The constant accountability has made me define my process better. I have a much better idea about my capabilities now than I did two months ago. I now understand that I will always try to find a way to write short. This has made me reorganize my writing time into several short sprints a week, rather than looking for long blocks of time. I never find them anyway and I get discouraged – with several small sprints I get more writing done.

There are other things that I’ve gotten a better handle on, but those are the big ones. I’m looking forward to Round 4! I’m excited about setting new goals and pushing forward toward them with all of you.

Kait’s ROW80 note for the day:
As we chug right along on our goals today, let’s pause for a moment of silence for the fallen.

Click here to encourage your other ROW80 participants!

GREAT IDEA:

Nicole Basaraba had the marvelous idea of having a Row80 Completion party on Twitter to mark the end of this round. I’d like to take the group pulse…are you interested? (Hint: I am!!)

What have you learned through the course of ROW80, about yourself or your writing? Enquiring minds always want to know here at More Cowbell. 🙂

Jenny