ROW80 – Page 12 – Linda Nelson

ROW80 will be starting up again this week. I have yet to post my goals for this round. Kait also asked if we would try to find things were grateful for during this round. So I will start off by stating what I’m grateful for this weekend.

I’m grateful for being able to spend the holidays with my son. This is a tremendous deal. Addiction is a big deal, and the child addict is not always able to spend a peaceful holiday with their parent(s). Peaceful is not a common word amongst addicts and their families. But it was for mine this year. Quiet and Peaceful.

While I feel as though I have cornered the market on the Peaceful Holiday season, I know of the many parents who have lost their child during this season to the illness of addiction. My heart goes out to them, and I hope that they may find the strength to carry on.

ROW80 Update:

I’m still working on that same #wip I was working on for NaNo. I was going to put it aside and work on something else, but the story kept calling out to me. With the first 19k words done on it, I couldn’t write anymore on it even though I wanted to. I was stumped.

I kept thinking and thinking about why, then it dawned on me. I needed to change up a couple of chapters. They weren’t working. So this morning, I deleted – that’s right – I deleted 2k words. I would never have considered do this had I not sat a year ago before my RWA group for a critique and they cut over 1k from Along Came Neil, and it did wonders.

So I cut, and I may have to cut more too.

I did manage to replace most of the word count afterwards, and the characters are behaving more realistic. Or as realistic as one can get in a fantasy – lol.

This leads me to another grateful mention – I’m grateful for those gals teaching me it is okay to cut a chapter here and there to make the story structure sounder.

How’s your ROW80 panning out for the week? Are you cutting and adding? Just cutting or only adding?

I’d love to hear from you.

I’m a writer. We all know that. I’ve been writing and blogging since 2008. A few years ago I came across Kait Nolan’s – Round of Words in 80 Days and discovered a vast network of fellow writers who are darned adept at cheering each other on while we all try to meet our writing goals.

Well in 2013, even though I managed to write and publish two books that brought my YA Contemporary series, Wings from Ashes to its conclusion, I slacked off.

That’s right.

I don’t honestly think that I hit an actual road block or a writers’ block, it was more like a sudden need for down time.

For the past three years, I was writing every night, almost nonstop. Either I was blogging or working on that next book.

Looking back at this past year, after publishing Along Came Neil, I lost the need to write with fervor. I no longer feel as though I need to hurry and get it done. It will get done when it is ready. Who knows, maybe my word count will be longer on this work than the past works.

Is this a sign of maturing as a writer?

I thought that the #wip I was working on for my Na No Wri Mo was going right into that slush pile of unfinished works. It didn’t after all. Instead, I have slowed my writing pace down to a hundred words or two here and there. Add a sentence there, maybe change a paragraph there.

The story is not growing at the pace I was writing at in the past. But it is growing.

I have almost hit the half-way point. Then today I thought about some additional plot points and how to work them into the story line to make it more appealing.

This new, careful way of writing brings me hope for the future of the remaining works in my slush pile. Maybe they can be saved after all. I have two other stories that remain half written and may have to be tackled next. I hate leaving anything unfinished.

Besides writing this year will continue with my Me Time. This is the time I will set aside to do other things I like doing, as in my crocheting, computer gaming, quilting, reading, and gardening.

In 2014, I will follow each completed project, whether it is a written project or a crafting project of some kind with a follow up photo to share with all of you, even if it is a book I just finished reading.

This is the sweater I made for my grandbaby two years ago. My daughter is keeping it even though she has outgrown the sweater. She says it is now an heirloom.

Sweet!

I made Jas a new sweater for Christmas this year. I will post the picture of it as soon as I get one of her wearing it, in a couple of days.

Next up is an afghan that my son has already laid claim to. I never expected that. When I’m done with that, I may need to make a quilt. I haven’t quilted since writing and publishing Friends of Choice. It is long overdue.

It feels right to find my Me Time again.

Do you set time aside for your Me Time?

What do you do with your Me Time?

Stop by and Share – I’d love to hear about your other projects.