#ROW80 Update: Are You Feeling The Love?

Valentine’s week was filled with love. There were groovy links and cool stories floating all over  the blogosphere. I’ve been smiling about them all week long. I even contributed my own true, sad, funny tale with “Get Off Me!”

Amongst this plethora of funny, quirky stories, my favorite was K.B. Owen’s “Foibles.” Click the link…I guarantee you’ll say, “Awwwwwww.”

Last but not least on the LOVE front, I kicked off Round 2 of the Dirty Fighting Contest! I’ve summarized the rules below, just to make your life easier. I hope y’all decide to enter – it’s free and it’s fun.

Heck, add it to your ROW80 goals this month – you’ll learn how to Dirty Fight like a champ AND beef up the tension in your work in progress.

Dirty Fighting Contest Rules

Between now and midnight on St. Paddy’s Day, if you send me the following, I will work with my NakedEditor pal, Tiffany Lawson Inman, to pick the Top 3.

All three winning entries will be posted on More Cowbell. NakedEditor with provide suggestions for the 2nd and 3rd place winners and with do a full scene dissection for the 1st place winner. (Have you SEEN her dissections?? This is gonna ROCK!)

• Send a short scene, maximum 300 words to JennyHansensMail (AT) aol (DOT) com.
• Your scene may contain a sentence at the top telling us what the fight is about though it will be included in your wordcount. (We really just want the fight. )
• Your entry must illustrate one or more of the classic Dirty Fighting techniques. If you choose to name the technique(s) you are going for by number (list of all 23), this will not detract from your count.

Onward to the ROW80 Update…

• ROW80 Sponsor: I rocked my sponsorship duties last weekend, visiting all of the people I was supposed to and a few more just because I like ’em. Not so much on Wednesday. That day, I was pretty much in my bed, feeling like crap. I’m gonna be a busy little sponsor today… Can’t wait!
• Exercise: In the last two days, I’ve walked 7 miles, several of them up hills pushing 30 pounds of baby and stroller. (Yep, I’m sore.) I’m hoping to do a bit more today. Walking to and from meals and finding a walking buddy seems to be the way I’m going to have to go. I just don’t seem to get the exercise done when I do it on my own.
• Reading: I’ve read a few books this week and I’m enjoying keeping that momentum going. These were shorter books and a novella so I didn’t have to give us much time for them. The reading is really helping me stay excited about the world. Plus, ever since I added 2 hours of reading (minimum) a week into my goals, I actually take time for it.
• Blogging: I’ve been blogging my a$$ off. 3-4 fun posts + a post targeted toward my WIP seem to be the sweet spot for me. Plus, I had Margie Lawson here this last week for a guest post on writing visceral responses. She’s amazing!
• Work in Progress: The posts I do toward my WIP are really getting my research done for me, which is nice. Plus I’m writing a post on memoir for Nicole Basaraba’s genre series that’s really helping me fine-tune the structure of this book. It’s been extraordinarily helpful to lay it all out like this. I’ve only written one new scene this week, but I feel like I’ve moved light years ahead. (Thanks, Nicole!)

If you’d like to encourage your ROW80 Team mates, go here and click on the Linky. You can add your name and blog hop around to say hi to everybody else.

How is your week going? Are you making progress, or at least enjoying yourself? Have you participated in any of the writing sprints happening at the #ROW80 hashtag? I’d love to hear how things are going for you!

Jenny