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“People sometimes sneer at those who run every day, claiming they’ll go to any length to live longer. But don’t think that’s the reason most people run. Most runners run not because they want to live longer, but because they want to live life to the fullest. If you’re going to while away the years, it’s far better to live them with clear goals and fully alive then in a fog, and I believe running helps you to do that. Exerting yourself to the fullest within your individual limits: that’s the essence of running, and a metaphor for life — and for me, for writing as whole. I believe many runners would agree”
― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
I thrive on sport and athletics. There is something highly addictive (for me) about getting your blood pumping, add in the competition and trusting your body to do the work and get you over the finish line.
I particularly love marathon/cross country running and sprint-hurdling.
Blame it on being an Aries baby but I thrive on competition, deadlines and work best under stress. The competition does not even need to be with anyone else, I am highly motivated at beating and exceeding my own personal bests.
So why not incorporate my need and passion for body fitness and deadlines into my writing life. Yes, there is Nanowrimo but for me I need a longer race to run to make sure life does not encroach or get in the way because of a too-short finish line.
The ultimate inspiration is the deadline. – Nolan Bushnell
So I have decided to sign up for this final 2014 round of RoW80.
What is RoW80?
The writing challenge that knows you have a life.
Perfect for rewrites/writing/editing
The key difference between Nanowrimo and RoW80 is that you are not limited to track just a word count or meet a specific word count goal.
Instead RoW80 slots beautifully into whatever goal you have in your writing life: Word Count or Time Spent Writing / a combo of the two (or any other trackable goal) if you’re in the midst of editing/rewriting (like I am currently.) It has a much more doable timeline of 80 days and if you miss one round or are late to start, you can jump in any time during the 4 rounds that take place annually.
“A deadline gets a writer’s work done done better and faster than any inspiration, if only because inspirations don’t always come, but the deadline is always there.”
― A.A. Patawaran, Write Here Write Now: Standing at Attention Before My Imaginary Style Dictator
A Daily Writing Clock-in
I have also recently signed up to Write Track: the goal setting community for writers where you finish what you start.
Write Track is a genius little social “writing” community where once you have signed up and created a profile you can log in individual writing goals. Then each day you accomplish steps towards that writing goal – you track it. It’s a great little accountability tool with the added benefit of a community if writers. If however you just want your own private accountability or private goals , you can adjust your privacy settings to Public, Private (viewable only to your friends) and to Hidden (your eyes only).
“I don’t need time, I need a deadline.”
― Duke Ellington
Look me up if you’re on/going to sign up.
I’m on there: KimKoning @ Write-Track
I’ll check in once a week here on this blog: RoW80 (You can also find a link in the site menu.)
My Goal: Finish my final rewrites on The Tattooist
Butt in Chair = 5x days/week
You can cheer on the other RoWers here…
Are you a deadline chaser?
Are you a writing tracker?
Tell me how you track your progress?
I nominated you for the One Lovely Blog Award. I love the dark nature of your thoughts and work. I too love all things dark, scary, twisted, psychological and paranormal. I look forward to reading more of your content.
Welcome, welcome, welcome! =D
I see writing as joyful play, and I can be pretty much be counted on to spend a good deal of my time engaged in it. I’m not especially competitive; I like to set goals, but I don’t use the word deadline or phrase like butt in chair, because they feel dictatorial to me, and I am a free spirit type.
I tend to have times of intense creation, ebb times when I take in lots of new to percolate, and lots of time that’s a varying blend of the two.
I arrange my writing year around ROW80 and NaNo – they weave together well, for me. I set a diverse array of goals – some have time limits; others don’t. I like a blend of complexity, focus, and time commitment, so that I can always choose something that fits my circumstances of the moment.
Maybe the best thing about ROW80 is that it’s infinitely adaptable. Each of us can make of it exactly what we want to, change it as often as we need to, and decide for ourselves what success means,
I first joined ROW80 in January of 2012. I’ve learned so much about myself during these years, and I have a growing body of work, and a better vision of my purpose as a writer and a person.
May you find the same! =D
Great goals. I am trying to be consistent with butt in chair but not totally there yet. I like the accountability here and have found it a very supportive community. All the best this round!
Good luck with your first round! I’ve done a round once before, but I think I started halfway through and got distracted before it ended! (That sounds horrible to admit!) I’ll be revising a WIP of my own, and RoW80 is great for that!
It’s my first round too 🙂 I love your enthusiasm and I look forward to learning more about you as the round progresses. Good luck!
Is this your first Round? If so, welcome! And good luck with your goals.
As far as deadlines go, I like deadlines that I set for myself. I do like to track my writing progress, but I find I do better tracking time than words. I still track words for the fun of it (especially since I have a nifty spreadsheet which features the gorgeous guys from “Supernatural”), but my real goal is the time I sit in my chair working.
Hi Lauralynn 🙂
Yes this is my first round of RoW80.
I agree that tracking time spent in the chair is more important than just clocking up words. As far as rewrites go, which is what I am currently in, sometimes the word count clocked is a negative word count. So yes I track the time spent working rather then just words. Which is why I think RoW80 works better, for me, than Nanowrimo.
Ooh those Supernatural brothers are always a good motivation. Who’s your favourite? Dean is definitely my favourite.
Thanks for the welcome!
-Kim
I’m in the minority because I’m a Sam girl. But Dean and Cas are pretty awesome, too!
Great goals!! I like to set deadlines, even more than daily goals. Although my daily goals are usually figured by my deadlines. I actually have 2 different spreadsheets that I use to track my word count. 1 I also use to keep track of hours worked. I also have an account on mywriteclub, but I never remember to update it.
Welcome to RoW80! It’s a great community.
Hi Fallon 🙂
Yes I am like that – I like sticking to my deadlines over daily goals. But then I am a bit if a binge writer. I’ll get in the glow and push through for hours…but the next day I might skip.
Thanks for the warm welcome to RoW80. It does seem to be a great community. Looking forward to it!
– Kim