“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?
Kim Koning 