RoW80 Check-In: February 22nd.

“Dropping down into the cool shadows between the wall of the third tier and a building on the second, Locke could finally breathe. He even let himself smile, which slowly worked its way into a chuckle, and the next thing he knew, the adrenaline of the escape had rendered him laughing like a lunatic. He had to lean against the tall, cool retaining wall to catch his breath again.”

It’s really amazing how much can happen in a mere two days. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about word count wise or page count wise in this instance, though it is certainly possible to blow through something in that fashion in a matter of hours, not to mention days. I’m talking about goals today, which is fitting for a RoW80 update. A little past halfway into this Round, I’m changing my goals a little bit, with the appearance of a new challenge that I’m really excited about. I realized after I shifted everything around that the thing this Round was lacking that the others had was a really challenging goal for myself. I had good goals, solid goals, but there was no real push to any of them, not really. I think I need that challenge of something really hard, filled with deadlines, to really push me, and now I’ve got one of those and I’m approaching this round with a new energy and some slight adjustments. Let’s have a look:

Serpent in a Cage: So, it turns out that I need to think I’m in at work earlier than usual more often, because it’s very good for my writing. Last Sunday, I waltz in before the shop is opened, thinking I’m the one that’s supposed to open it, only to look at the schedule and discover that someone else is opening the store and I’m not in for another two hours. Okay, then. I only live fifteen minutes away, so I could have gone home, but I decided to drift over to the Barnes & Noble (open earlier than almost everything else in the mall), treat myself to a rare latte and some books (two more for my Tea & Books challenge!), and then just sat there and wrote. Well, okay, I read a good deal of Kait Nolan‘s Red, too (feeling a little dirty for having a Kindle in a B&N), but mostly, it was writing.

So I’ve jerked forward a little on my page count, though not as much as where I should be set to be. I know Gene say I probably shouldn’t do catch-up pages since they mostly just make me feel behind, and Gene’s a smart guy, so I should probably listen to him, but I think I’m going to stick with the catch-up pages anyway. Because I’m a reckless fool, and I really do want to strive towards not only catching up, but surpassing that number. I do love a good challenge, even the ones that are ridiculously hopeless. So page count? 22/50. That’s almost half-way!

Teen Fantasy Anthology Contest: I feel it was sheer luck that I stumbled into Morgan Dragonwillow’s Teen Fantasy Anthology Contest the other day, but I’m sure glad I did. It started yesterday, and continues on until March 20th, and the idea is simple and delightfully challenging. She’s putting together an anthology on Teen Fantasy, and holding a contest every day. She provides a series of prompts, you write that story and send it in within 24 hours of the prompt being posted, and then winners will be chosen. I’m incredibly pumped for this challenge. It’s exactly the fire under my feet that I need to produce some stuff (though I should note that I’m definitely not going to beat myself up if I miss a day or two!); I haven’t written a lot of teen fantasy. I don’t even really know what the difference would be between teen fantasy and regular fantasy, but even if none of my stories are chosen for the contest, I’ll still have thirty new stories that wouldn’t have been written otherwise.

Please check out the contest! I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and hey, the more competition, the better, right?

Bowlful of Bunnies: With the introduction of the Teen Fantasy Anthology Contest, my goals for BoB are shifting dramatically. Before, the idea was to have all the stories collected by the end of February, giving the remaining days of the Round in March to edit, beta, and primp for publication at the end, or at the very beginning of April. Since Morgan’s contest runs to the end of the Round, I’m not pushing back my deadline to the end of the contest. The way I see it, this not only gives me more time to gather what I already have, but I might also get the chance to include any gems I may produce for the contest that don’t make it into Morgan’s anthology. I can just put them in my own! So we’re pushing this one back, which only makes a lot of sense.

Also, for now, the title is staying. I do really like it and my concerns focused around the fact that it’s just too damn girly. Gene, who has never struck me as girly, trumped that, and the other argument from Kate, about it being a pretty fluffy title for some pretty not-fluffy tales, is a good one, but I have to admit, that just made me think that I like the disconnect even better. Considered that the unfinished story of the same title starts out with snapped bunny necks…yeah….

The 100 Books Project: Definitely lagging way behind on my reading, but I’m okay with that if it means I’m writing instead. Hoping to finish another book before the week is out, but we shall see. Only seven days to finish my 700+ book for this month, but I think I can do it, or at least get it in right under when March starts. I can hardly believe it’s already almost March. I need to get reading! Books read: 6/100.

There you have it! I’m excited about this contest giving me so much energy and giving me a real challenging deadline to really spark me up and get me going. It feels like the good-old-days when I had too many goals going on to count! This year is intended to be about focus and results rather than just writing, writing, writing, but I think this is really going to help make a better means to my ends. ….Not dirty.

How is everyone else doing? If you get a chance, be sure to check out the handy dandy link to lead you to a whole gateway of RoWers and their blogs and their awesome accomplishments. Happy Writing!