March 21, 2012

Report Card Time: ROW80 Round 1 Assessment

Congratulations to all my fellow A Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80) participants. We made it through Round 1! Whether you met all your goals or not, I'm sure you learned something about yourself and your writing. I hope to see all of you in Round 2!

It's time to assess how I did with my Round 1 goals. My girls get their report cards next week, so I guess we'll call this mine.

These were my goals at the start of Round 1:

Writing – I will write 500 words minimum daily. This is my “test mile” as Kait Nolan so eloquently explained here. If I get 500 words and nothing’s falling into place, I still have 500 words and I tried. I’m hoping for more, but I want to write daily and stick to it, so I’m starting small.

Goal Assessment:  B
I wrote, and most weeks I managed averaging 500 words a day, but not consistently. I need to recommit to a "test mile" number in Round 2, but be more realistic and aim for 5 days a week.

Blogging – Daily here (thanks to BlogHer’sNaBloPoMo and the Ultimate Blog Challenge) and three times a week at Mom in Love with Fiction. This writing will not count toward my 500 goal, but I do think it’s beneficial. I also owe Kait Nolan a ROW80 sponsor post this week!

Goal Assessment: A- 
For the most part, I met this goal.

Reading – I’m committed to more reading, because I know it makes me a better writer. To that end, I have joined the 2012 To BeRead (TBR) Pile Challenge, and I plan to join a couple more before the end of January. I’m still weighing my options, but I’ll be posting updates by Sunday’s check in. Plus, in addition to reviewing for Rebecca’s Reads, I’ll also be a part of the World Literary Café Review Team.

Goal Assessment: A
I've rededicated to reading, and I've been fortunate to read some great books this round. I still need to do some for the challenge above.

Editing – I will edit a minimum of one chapter a day on various projects. I am doing freelance editing, and I need to stay on top of it. I love to edit, but it sometimes hampers my own writing (editing too much instead of letting the words flow). Maybe by focusing daily on editing other people’s work, I’ll shake the need to edit my own… for now.

Goal Assessment: B
Overall, I rocked my editing commitments, but I need to work on time and energy management.

Exercise – Daily, some form. It’s New Year’s resolution time after all. And sugar, you’ve wormed your way back into my diet… good-bye!

Goal Assessment: B
Considering everything going on (and all the sickness in my house this quarter), I am happy with a B.

How did everyone else do this Round? Did you learn anything about goal-setting you care to share?

8 comments:

Eden Mabee said...

Tia, you literally Rocked the Row. Wow! Yeah, a few slip-ups here and there... but really. And I love some of the books you've been noting for your reading lists. Reading (and fiction more than non, it seems to me) really does help the writing mind.

Have an enjoyable break in the ROWing and hopefully a good book or five.

Jaleh D said...

Love how you wrote up your self assessment. You did pretty well. Good luck with next round.

Julie Glover said...

Being the slightly OCD person here, I averaged your grades. You have graduated with honors from the ROW80 round - a solid 3.4! Throw your diploma in the air and celebrate, girlfriend. That was a great round!

Kat said...

Great job this round and congratulations on everything you have accomplished!!! I love how committed you are to reading. I am adding an official reading goal next round and I can't wait to dive into the stack of books I have to read! See you in Round 2!!

Lena Corazon said...

Tia, you've done a fantastic job staying on top of all of your goals! I'm definitely jealous of the reading time that you've managed to squeeze in -- something that I'm going to try to focus on more in the next round.

See you back in a couple of weeks!

Sarah Tokeley said...

Sounds like you got a real handle on those goals. I hope you gave yourself a pat on the back!

Ruth Nestvold said...

500 words five days a week was my standard goal for a long time, so of course I thoroughly support it! :)

Good goin gon the rest of your goals, and see you the next round!

Tia Bach said...

Thanks so much everyone! I feel pretty darn good about this round considering everything going on with my family. Still, I really need to reflect and be ready for Round 2 goals.

I'm hoping to catch up on everyone's blogs this weekend. Hope Round 1 was good for all of you!