Category Archives: Row 80

Whew!  This was an action packed week!  I feel like a pest because I needed to post something almost every day.  Sorry about that.  Row80 alone creeps in 2 extra posts a week, and then the contests… Jeez.  Sorry for the email glut

Anyway… My first goal was to write a short story.  I have 1200 words written.  I want to try to make it 1500 to enter a contest, but it might have to be 2000.  I guess I’ll decide when I’m done.  I’m pretty happy so far.  It’s very different from my normal writing.  Not an alien or a space ship in sight!

Second goal:  DONE!  Yes, my novel ends! (At least now it does… Thanks so much Thor for the epiphany!)

Third Goal:  Finish my summary.  YES!  I think I’ve got it!  I have a 1800 word, 800 word, 500 word and a 50 word.  I love them all!

Goals Three and Four:  Enter 50 word synopsis, and “Gasp” writing contests.  DONE.

I also managed to visit about 20 other “rowers”

Goals for this week:

1:  Decide on the beginning on my novel (You can help me pick which one here.  Please take a look if you have a moment.  I’d love as many opinions as I can get.)

2:  Finish my short story

3:  Do at least one, maybe two “Manuscript Rejection” lessons on my blog

4:  Begin editing 19,000 words from my novel

I’m on the home stretch!

Had a great week.  I finished a 59 page beta read, gave him 199 comments and a 300 word synopsis of my thoughts.

The dream sequences are done, and I did a scan through and  loved the way they fit into the novel… Unfortunately, I now have 118,000  words (18,000 to cut rather than 17,000)

I didn’t even open my web design software this week.  I got too caught up in preparing contest  entries and blogging.

Row 80 is a bit of a stress point in my life.  I feel like I need to try to visit as many people  as I can who are participating… but that takes up a lot of my time.  Need to find balance.

Goals for this week:

1.  Write a short  story that I came up with over the weekend while I was camping

2.  Decide if my  novel actually ends or not (I though it did, but now that might be in question)

3.  Finish my  summary.

4.  Visit and comment  on two or three other Row80 participants a night.  It’s not realistic to visit you all.  Most likely, if you stop by here, I’ll return the favor.

5.  Enter the 50 word  synopsis contest

6.  Enter the  “Gasp” contest at Brenda Drake’s site on Thursday.

Wow, it’s already time for a ROW 80 check in.

Well, I’ve been overdoing it, to be honest.  I’ve gone to bed exhausted every night.  Blogging has taken a lot of my time, as well as contest
entries.

Good news:  My “Can you make us GASP” contest entry scared my kid so much that he couldn’t go to sleep.  He ended up in bed with his brother.  I guess it was good.  I hope a grown-up reader can appreciate how I just scarred my son for life.  Tee Hee.  I have to give him the next few pages so he knows what happens and can sleep again.

I’ve worked hard on my 50 word synopsis, with some great help from one of my beta partners who is way better at these than I am.  I think I have something.  I will be posting both these on my blog for everyone else to wack away at shortly.

I’ve managed to keep with my blog schedule.  Hopefully I will be able to get another “Manuscript Red-Line blog up this week with all the other stuff going on.

I’m half way through my beta read, although I have to admit I didn’t get to in today.  (Sorry, J)

Great news!  I did a scan through of my novel for flow… checking to make sure the new scene elements scattered throughout work, and I am THRILLED.  I think they bring the whole novel together…

and check this off the list— THE DREAM SEQUENCES ARE DONE!!!! Yay for me!

I’ve just jumped on board with Row 80.  It’s a site set up to help you achieve your writing goals, and it takes into account that different writers have different amounts of time to deal with.  They don’t TELL YOU that you have to write a novel in a month… which to me is just crazy.  Not with grade-school kids, a husband, and a full-time job.

So, here’s the deal.

I am going to write a one-hour per day Monday through Friday.  This week’s goal is to complete the dream sequences, and make sure the new scenes fit correctly into the novel.

I will spend 20 minutes per day Beta Reading or working on contest entries

I will spend 1 hour per night networking (blogging, etc)

I will get at least two pages of my official WEB Site uploaded (Completed my goal to buy www.jennifermeaton.com and www.jennifereaton.com last week)

I will nag my artist to start working on my artwork for my WEB Site.

Upcoming goals:

1.  Decide on which beginning to use for my novel– “Fruit throwing”, or “Stuck in the Closet”

2.  Remove eleven extraneous POV’s from my novel

3.  Cut 18,000 words (to get to 100,000 words for submission)

4.  Do complete read-through for continuity

5.  Send out for a final round of beta reads.

6.  Complete Query

7.  Complete Synopsis

8.  Start Querying

Well, I might not get all my goals complete on time, but now at least I have a game plan!