Back in the saddle

After a successful 50/90, I am having another go at ROW80.  Very orthodox goals this time around, I plan to outline and draft a novel, with the edit being for next round.

The novel is called "Reset" (working title) and the outlining is scheduled for October after this plan: October NaNo Prep 2011 Calendar.  The first draft will be started in November.  It would be nice to get the first 50,000 words finished by the end of that month, leaving the rest of the round to complete the novel.  If I do the outlining properly, it should be easy to write - the story is a big one, if I can get into the flow of it.

I've missed being part of  the ROW80 crowd.  It will be nice to get back in the swing of daily writing.  To help with that, I've re-joined the 750words.com site.  I hope to make (and keep) the "Albatross" badge, earned for 30 consecutive days.  If I make the whole 80 days, I will be within 20 days of a "Dragon" badge!

Since I'm going to be away from home, and from an internet connection, for at least ten days in November, I'm trying out my phone as a way to enter the words on the 750words.com site.  It's a slow process, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice.  I'm not sure if I can transfer those words from phone to computer, but once I get home I can always go to the site archives and retrieve what I've written.

Wow, it's like a plan.  If you don't look too closely, I'm almost appear organised!

Yeah, right.

Getting SMART

After the end of November, the NaNo forums turn towards plans for the future: outlining next year's novel, preparing for Script Frenzy, and editing first drafts down to something readable.  While browsing these boards I found this great idea.

"Round of Words in 80 days" is all about flexibility.  It's sub-titled "The Writing Challenge That Knows You Have A Life" and the one thing you're NOT supposed to do is put that life on hold and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE! for a week, a month or whatever.  Rather, the participants are asked to choose their own goals, that they personally feel can be accomplished in eighty days (roughly 11.5 weeks).

When setting goals, I have always been told that they should be SMART, that is:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timed

(There are other versions of this acronym.)

I can easily decide on a goal that's specific, measurable and timed.  I can even sign up to groups where we all have the same specific, measurable and timed goal.  My big stumbling block has always been those two in the middle.  Achievable and Realistic.  Because, like many people, I am absurdly optimistic about my own abilities.  Despite frequent failures, I persist in setting unrealistic and unachievable goals for myself.  All very "never-say-die" and all that, but there is a point at which optimism becomes downright pig-headedness.

And so, this year, I am not going to participate in FAWM or 50/90.  Although I'll be checking in on Script Frenzy for the advice and encouragement, I won't be pushing myself to reach the standard goal of 100 pages.  And as for NaNoWriMo: again, I'm going to take the spirit of the occasion on board, but I'll be spending 80 days from early October to late December outlining and drafting a complete novel, rather than counting words and madly dashing through November.

Interested?  Why not join in?  The "Linky" thing is a bit confusing (at least, it was for me) but if you get stuck you can leave a comment on the blog.  This is the first round EVER so don't expect a flashy, polished performance.  But if RoW 80 becomes popular and famous, won't it be nice to be able to say, "I was there when it started"?

Now, my only reservation about having eighty days to play with is that somewhere in my head a sneaky little voice says, "Eighty days?  That's ages!  No need to hurry, plenty of time!"  So I have also signed up to 750.com, which encourages writing every day.  The words are counted, but kept private.  So you can choose to ramble on about bunny rabbits, or work on your doctorate thesis, and you are the only one who will know.  Of course, if you're doing a doctorate thesis about bunny rabbits, then you can do both!  Lucky you!

The purpose of 750.com is to get the creative juices flowing.  Seven hundred and fifty words is not actually that much, but once you've sat down and started writing it's so much easier to keep writing.  There's no such thing as "playing catch-up" or a "word-count goal", the idea is just to get into the habit of writing every day.

I'm putting some thought into what would make a SMART goal for my first round of RoW 80.  There's no pressure, I've got time to really think it over.  Isn't that nice?

Halfway through 50/90!

I've passed the halfway mark with 30 songs, and realised that I probably need to get myself a decent computer microphone.  My current one barely picks up recognisable speech, never mind music or singing.

Even so, I'm getting some positive feedback on what I've posted to the 50/90 site.  At the end of this run, I anticipate having between five and ten songs that are worth polishing up and getting properly recorded.  Added to the few I got from FAWM and that's pretty much an album's worth.  In less than a year!  By my standards, that's pretty good.

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo now, outlining and going through the process of naming my characters.  Still got to find names for places, and figure out exactly how the whole thing is going to end.  Back to the grindstone!