Word by Word

There is nothing like public knowledge to keep you accountable to goals, unless you’re a politician. That’s for another blog post though. Thanks to my good friend, Nicole Evelina, I’ve discovered the “Round of Words in 80 Days” challenge.

Well, I’m joining the ROW80 team and aim to achieve a few goals.

First, I’m going to commit to working on my novel at least five hours each week. This may take the form of either researching or writing. I’m going to start out small this time and see if I can figure out how to make the writer life jive with work and family. If I can make it happen more than five hours—I will.

Second, my husband and I are committing to walking five days a week for 40 minutes. With all the “butt in chair” time that comes with working on the novel, I’ll need some feet to pavement time.

Third, I’m going to participate in National Novel Writing Month this year. This will require more than five hours of writing a week in November, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. The measurable goal for this one? That I’ll win NaNoWriMo. That’s right…50,000 words. Whew! Please remind me that I did this willingly about November 20th.

Fourth, I’m aiming to have a rough draft of my current MS finished by the end of the year. In order to make this happen, I’ll have to do well with goals one and three.

Fifth, with all of this writing and the time it will take, I’m committing to eating dinner with my family every evening and discussing our day. It is one of my favorite parts of the day and I’m not giving it up.