Thursday, March 24, 2011

End of Round One Check-In

Last day of ROW80's first round.  Well done to everyone who took part and I hope we all meet again in Round Two.  Say congrats and farewell to all here.



Today is my 28th birthday so it's nice to end the writing challenge in time for a minor celebration.  In the last 80 days I've edited (and rewritten the second half of) Verity, rewritten Taunt and finished the first draft of STS.  I've outlined Tempt and finished a couple of short stories and a novellette.  I've stuck to my weekly word count for the most part and tried to form a writing schedule and plan I can stick to.  I'm happy with the progress but I feel like I didn't push myself.  One of my aims for the next round will be to stretch my limits a bit more.

I'm not sure what my exact goals for the next round will be - I have five novels calling out for edits, I need to get to the first draft of Tempt before I finish editing Taunt and there are five stories waiting to be written that have been shouting a lot louder this year.  Well, they have been waiting for quite a while.  Ideal goal would be to work on a first draft and an edit simultaneously as well as preparing outlines for the stories that can't wait much longer but I keep forgetting about that other important five - my children.  All of the fives feel like a good sign.  ;)

When I was born, Bonnie Tyler was already topping the charts in Ireland and MJ's Billie Jean was number 1 in the US.  Billie Jean is one of my son's favourite songs now - strange!



24 comments:

  1. I have a couple of completed novels and a novella that is almost done, so I know where you are coming from about the editing. I plan on spending a lot of time on the next round on editing, even though I also have six or seven stories in the back of my mind that are poking my brain, trying to get told. See you next round!

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  2. I didn't write every day, as I'd planned for this first round, but I added a significant amount of words and finished a first draft. Now for the edits!

    Congrats, and happy birthday!

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  3. well done - so much acheived - see you in april

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  4. Wow, Claire, I can't believe you have that much work just waiting to be finished! You rock!

    Um...my oldest son will be turning 28 next month. The one that's going to Ireland on his honeymoon. I'm suddenly feeling so old.... LOL

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  5. You did awesome in round one! I think trying to figure out what to do for the next round can wait until after you celebrate you birthday!!! Happy 28th!! And curse you for not even being 30 yet. :)
    I do a killer interpretive dance to Total Eclipse. Thank God it's never been videoed, but if we ever meet in person I'll drink too much and bust it out for you. ;)

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  6. Happy birthday, leave the wips alone and enjoy it. Congrats on your staggering progress. I'm completely stripping my goals back for round 2.

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  7. Boy do I feel like a slacker. Your progress was amazing! Where can you go from here? Double the novels? Open a publishing house? Write and direct the Ava Delaney series? We shall see.

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  8. Happy birthday! And good luck with stretching your limits in the next round!

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  9. Thanks everyone!

    @Rscottsteele - it's hard to think about the editing when there are so many exciting new stories to write but I am determined to get to the finishing stages of things for a change. :)

    @Lauralynn - you're not old! I don't know if you saw my reply on Kait's blog that time but I hope your son has a great time over here!

    @Stacey - that's it, I'm putting a trip to the US on my list of things to do before I die. That's something I think I need to see. :P

    @Andrew - you're not a slacker. But I'm trying to do this as close to full-time as possible so that by the time I have to go back to work, this might still be an option. Probably won't be but I have to try. :)

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  10. Congrats on what you have accomplished and hope you have a wonderful birthday! See you in Round Two! :)

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  11. Hopefully you won't read my comment until tomorrow because you're celebrating! Happy Birthday!! Enjoy it!

    You've done so much, I feel like such a slacker!! And I have 0 kids!

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  12. Claudia, I'm not celebrating that much. ;) And you're not a slacker. I have young kids who go to bed early and I've nothing else to do. I should get a LOT more done with the spare time I have, trust me!

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  13. Happy Birthday and Congratulations on your goals.

    Gee, 28? Billie Jean? I wish I'd been writing before age 28, let alone so diligently. Fantastic to be goal-driven and know what you want to do before you're even 30. This Claire is jealous. I got married at 32, first kid at 36, started writing at 47 (not THAT long ago I'll hastily add).

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  14. Happy Birthday! Rocking out here - thanks for the memories. I'm going to have Billy Jean running through my head all night tonight. Congratulations. You've accomplished quite a bit in the past 80 days. Now I don't feel so bad having 4 wips that I want to work on. I'm like Claire, didn't really get started seriously writing until my late 40's. But that's the beauty about life. New discoveries no matter how old you are. Hope you have a wonderful Birthday.

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  15. Happy (belated) birthday and here's to setting, revising, and meeting goals!

    I think I will join in the next round and set editing goals. Maybe it won't be so lonely that way. :-)

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  16. Happy Birthday Claire! You have an awful lot going on - much to choose from for the next round. See ya in a couple of weeks - my single little solitary goal is so boring - rewriting.

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  17. Fantastic! Happy birthday, and snaps to you for sticking to your goals! I dropped off the face of the earth for a little while and am scrambling to catch up. My goal is to keep writing. That's it. I have to write at least one day each week.

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  18. Happy birthday! Wow, five novels in need of editing? Brave you, for working on so many projects at once!

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  19. It's probably pretty late over there and I've missed it. But -- Happy Birthday Claire!

    ...dave

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  20. @ Claire & Robin - let's just say ebooks have been a great motivator the last year or so. Before that I wrote sporadically, always waiting for the perfect time and never really having any idea of where I wanted to go with it. Querying didn't interest me at all and I kept saying some day. Now I wish I'd knuckled down properly ten years ago. :)

    @Sharon, please do! I am not a fan of the editing stages so some company would be uh-mazing. :)

    @Cathryn, rewriting was pretty much my primary goal for the first round. It was too hard to be boring. ;)

    @Belinda, that's the best goal there is, keep at it!

    @Deniz, I'm not really working on them all - one of them was written two years ago, for example. :)

    Thanks Dave! :D

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  21. I love that song!
    Congrats and Happy Happy Birthday! I know I'm late to the party, but that is the story of my life :(
    Thanks for hanging in there with me. You helped me out a lot.
    -VK

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  22. Thanks Vicki, good luck being a sponsor next round!

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