January 8, 2012

Like First Grade Basketball: ROW80 Check In

Parenting is full of twists and turns and the unexpected. I'm constantly amazed by how little I know. Every time I think I'm ahead of the curve, a new challenge pops up. I'm not complaining. It's hard, but it's also taught me a lot about myself and about life. I knew I'd be expected to teach them, but I'm overwhelmed by how much they teach me.

Today, my baby girl played her first game of basketball after only two practices. She's been dribbling her ball all over the place and begging her dad to practice with her.

She gave it her all during the game, and refused to allow the much bigger boys to intimidate her. The whole ride home she was trying to convince her dad to buy the family a basketball hoop.

Her enthusiasm was contagious. I'm always planning and assessing. What's the best use of my time, what task makes most sense to do first, what path is the most effective? I forget to just take the ball and play my heart out.

Writing is full of much bigger authors and lots of players. But there's no reason to be intimidated. I need to write, pour all my creative juices into it. Because if I do, I'll be happy and excited to play again. There's a place for planning and strategizing, especially as you gain skills and ability, but you need to love the game.

In the end...

"It does not matter how many times you get knocked down, but how many times you get up." Vince Lombardi

My ROW80 Update

It's Sunday. Time for an update on my ROW80 progress.

Writing: Going really well so far. Thursday through Saturday resulted in 1,667 words, so I'm keeping with my 500 word per day goal. I'd like another 1,500+ words by Wednesday's check in.

Blogging: Posting daily here. My Thursday review of Stephen King's On Writing was featured on BlogHer. *I'm dancing* And I posted three times on Mom in Love with Fiction.

Reading: In addition to the 2012 To Be Read (TBR) Pile Challenge, I'm participating in The Stephen King Project. I'm still hoping to add at least one more 2012 reading challenge. Any suggestions?

Editing: Fell behind, but planning to catch up this week.

Exercise: Staying on track. It's helped that we've had warm, non-January weather lately and I love getting outdoors to exercise. And I'm getting a handle on sugar.

Social Media: Doing better, but it's so hard to unplug. I need to take my laptop to a building with no wireless signal.

Hope everyone else is keeping the momentum going.

Check out other ROW80 participants here.

14 comments:

Natalie Hartford said...

GREAT first week Tia - wow! You are rocking it out.
Lena Corazon is doing the 50/50 challenge - that might be of interest to you http://lenacorazon.com/5050-challenge/

Jaleh D said...

Way to go! I just got started on my goals, so now I'm off to work on them. :)

Julie Jordan Scott said...

Yay, you! So glad to find you posting both in ROW80 & the Ultimate Blog Challenge, like me... although I have some catching up to me in the Blog Challenge....

Glad to have popped in today for a moment to read your inspiring ROW80 goodness!

Nicole Cloutier said...

Remembering to love the game is really great writing advice! I actually needed to hear that, so thank you. :)

Melanie said...

Great start, Tia! Congrats on BlogHer. *I'm dancing with you.*
:-)).

I knw what you mean about parenting. Feel the same way.

Wishing you a good week!

Shan Jeniah Burton said...

I love this post. I love your enthusiasm. I love your progress. I love your story about your daughter and her ball game. She sounds a lot like Annalise, who, at 7, has never been intimidated by much bigger boys, either. =)

I keep forgetting to dance. Thanks for the reminder!

Anonymous said...

Very cool - I'd never heard of the Stephen King project. What fun!!

Keep up the good work!

Eden Mabee said...

Given what I read here, you already ARE standing up to the big players, Tia. Congrats on taking charge of The Game.

Marcia Richards said...

I love your advice on loving the game. That's something we all forget too often in trying to keep our head down and be productive. Writing is a business but it's one we should have fun at. You're doing great this 1st week and bet next week will be even better!

Anonymous said...

Great start, Tia! I just purchased On Writing last week. Have a great writing week.

Tia Bach said...

I really appreciate all your comments.

Natalie- Thanks for the info on Lena's 50/50, I'll check that out.

I'm trying to keep up the momentum, because Thurs-Tues I'm heading to CO for a girls' vacay. So excited. Never left my girls and hubby this long, though. Could be interesting!

Live, Love, Laugh, Write! said...

There are two reading challenges I'm doing - The Book Mark Break Challenge from http://whosyoureditor.blogspot.com/

And Goodreads.com has one going as well :)

Kristine said...

Great job on your goals Tia! And thanks for the heads up about the Stephen King Project--I am so jumping in too! I love his writing and have a stack of e-books waiting to be read by him. This will also make me take time to read just for fun, which is sorely lacking of late! Good luck this week!

Tia Bach said...

Live, Love, Laugh, Write: Thanks, I'll be checking into those.

Kat: I'll see you at the SK Project. Should be fun! I'm a King newbie, but excited to read more from him.

Thanks for your support and encouragement!