ROW80 Update: Back on Track.

Shhh. Quiet. Do you hear that? That soft little breath of a sound, like a sigh? That’s my world coming slightly back together so that I can return to focusing on what really matters and not stressing the fuck out about everything. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m still stressing out. But at least now I can stress out and also manage to get stuff done. So here’s my RoW80 check in for this beautiful Wednesday at the start of a comfortable stretch of glorious days off (and no closing shifts!!). Here’s how my goals have managed to get back on track yesterday and this wonderful, wonderful morning:

Goal One: Soulless. The edits have been daunting, and, for a while, I was really worried that these rewrites would be as messy as the first draft, making it a pretty much moot point, but, no. I believe what I have in Soulless now is a much better book by a significant margin. Really, the key is good old KISS – Keep It Simple, Shithead. I have a clearer perspective on what will be happening in the next books, too, which is helping me understand what’s important and what’s not. I’m a little bit past half-way, that rough, murky middle I’ve complained so much about, and I finally feel it’s something worth reading. Full speed ahead to the end!

Goal Two: Short Stories. I’m still kind of itching uncomfortably about two stories that I think may actually have a chance (how is it that a month seems to be forever when it comes to this goal, and not long enough for the goal up above?), and I’ve really been putzing around on some new material, but I hope to make some head-way these next few days. I’m going to try to wrangle in and focus on my Torn Pages story, once and for all, and get it in well before the deadline. Or right at the deadline. It will be turned in, though, dammit.

Goal Three: Heartless. As excited as I am about all the pieces falling into place, Heartless is lagging a little bit, too, as I struggle to juggle my writing time between this and the previous goal. I’m making myself write a little bit before bed again, which is helping me get back in the groove, so, hopefully, this will be plugging along as usual, too.

So, I really feel I broke some ground with my main goal, and, though the other goals have been dwindling, they haven’t been fully neglected. These next few days will really help me out, I think. How’s everyone else doing? Did you get a chance to check out some of my fellow Rower’s posts here? ‘Cuz you should!

Happy writing!