I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

Can’t tell I just watched The A-Team this week, right? :D

One of the things I’ve found most effective in achieving any of my goals is setting a plan of action. I have my long range goals, say a year. Then I break them up into smaller chunks. In this case, by month. Then I break them up again into weeks. Last, I have my daily goals.

This may seem elementary. But how many times have we seen a large, seemingly insurmountable goal and been so overwhelmed that we give up before we ever start?

For over a year now, this is exactly what I’ve been doing. I haven’t accomplished everything – yet, but I’ve gotten so much more work done that I would have without this approach.

There are many goal setting websites out there that can help you organize your priorities and keep track of your progress.

GoalForIt is one that I recently learned about. I’ve just only started playing around with it. It lets you set goals, add the steps you’re going to take to reach plus a place to add pictures for motivation. It also lets you set up a daily to-do list, assigning points to each task. We all like to “get” something when we finish our work like good boys and girls, right?

There are others. Some entail a cost. GoalForIt is free.

For the most part, I use Word and Excel to keep track of my own goals. I get a very satisfying feeling of accomplishment when I can cross out a task as completed.

However you do it, making a plan and keeping track of your progress can go a long way towards keeping you on your path.

Have you used any programs to keep track? Ever tried GoalForIt? How do you keep on track?

Remembering the Journey

Life’s a journey. Pretty simple and straightforward, right?

It’s easy to forget sometimes. I think we get so focused on achieving our goals, that we forget to enjoy getting there. We forget that the achievement of those goals aren't the end, but the beginning.

I was reminded of this yesterday. I was in my Sculpt & Burn class and we were doing baselines for the new month so we could gauge our progress at the end of the month. I knew I wouldn’t do as well as some of the other ladies there, but I expected to do better than I did.

I’ve been working steadily at becoming healthier and more active. To that end, I’ve been watching what I eat, eating more fruits and veggies, drinking more water, going to this exercise class 2x (now 3x) a week and walking 3 miles on the other days. I’ve been doing this for over two months.

Well, I sucked. Big time. The frustration, and yes, the shame, that I couldn’t do more sit-ups and push-ups than I did overcame me and I cried like a big baby in front of everyone in the class.

I have to say, here and now, that the ladies in that class and my instructor, Sarah, are the most awesome people and I’m so blessed to be sharing my journey with them. Anyway, I continued on with the class and at the end, Sarah reminded me that this is a journey.

Sure, I couldn’t do as many of the exercises as I’d have liked, but she reminded me of what I had accomplished. That I needed to be patient. That I needed to keep working at it.

As I thought about her words on the way home, I realized that it’s easy to get frustrated in the pursuit of our goals, regardless of what they may be. In our writing, we’d like to get published sooner, write more words each week, etc. In our quest for a healthier lifestyle, we’d like to lose weight faster, get stronger faster, etc.

When we are this focused on the end result, we tend to miss the little joys along the way. In our writing, it might be the story that the plot falls into place for us, our critique partner loved one of our characters, an editor may have rejected our story but they took the time to tell us why and how we could improve. In getting healthier, it might be walking up 3 flights of stairs without getting winded, going deeper into our lunges and squats, turning to a piece of fruit when you want something sweet instead of chocolate.

Starting today, I’ve got a new goal to go along with all those others I’ve got written down. To take time each week to appreciate the little things that makes the journey so special. To make a list of the things I’ve accomplished. I’m sure I’ll get frustrated again, but when I do, I’ll take out that list and remind myself to enjoy the journey.

What about you? Do you ever forget to enjoy the journey? How do remind yourself?

Motivation

It’s Wednesday so we’re talking about weightloss again.

Did any of you try out that recipe from last week yet? I’m telling you, it is so darn good. This week, I’ve got 5 more recipes picked out to try – 1 smoothie, 2 main dishes and 2 desserts. I’ll let you know next week what I thought of them.

Good news for me this week. I lost over 4 pounds last week, making a four week total of 12 pounds down. I also measured myself again. I lost a total of 3.75 inches. I’m sure the loss of pounds will slow down soon and that’s fine. It’s nice to have this much of a loss right away, though. Helps keep motivation up.

That leads me into my discussion today. Motivation. For me, that’s hands down, the hardest part of developing a healthy lifestyle. Let’s face it, changing out bad habits for good ones is difficult. When it takes a while to see the benefits physically, what makes you keep going?

I’ve mentioned SparkPeople here before. It’s the method I’ve chosen to institute these changes in my life and I think I chose a winner this time. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I was talking with an acquaintance I’ve known for a while now and just learned that she’s been doing SparkPeople and lost 75 pounds with this program.

My excitement prompted me to buy the book, The Spark, written by Chris Downie. This is the man that spent 5 million dollars of his own money to provide the free website that millions of people are using to lose weight and become healthier.

I’m about halfway through it and already I know it’s a keeper for the bookshelf. Even if you aren’t trying to lose weight, maybe you’re trying to make other changes in your life. While the book is focused on losing weight and choosing a healthy lifestyle, what he has to say can be applied, and should be, to other situations.

He talks about starting out small so that it’s easier to be consistent. There are four cornerstones that he discusses and that they are interconnected so building on one will help build the others. It’s common sense advice written in a conversational tone that makes the reading easier to digest.

If you think you might be interested, head over to Amazon. You can “look inside” the book to see if it’s something you’d like to pick up. I recommend it.

What motivates you? What do you do to keep your motivation high? What life changes are you trying to make right now?

Weightloss Wednesdays

As I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, I'm committed to a healthier lifestyle. For me, that includes more exercise, more water and healthier food choices. To that end, I'm going to devote Wednesdays here at the blog for weightloss.

My idea is that we can cheer each other on, share tips and tricks, share recipes and discuss things on mind that go hand in hand with a healthier lifestyle.

I'll also start off with an update on how I did for the previous week. So, I drank my 8 cups of water every day last week but 1. I did well following my program on SparkPeople. I only went over on calories one day. It was the day that we went in town for the festival and I indulged in a couple of beers. I still managed to lose over 2 pounds, which brings my three week total to 7.8 pounds lost.

I also joined a class at the gym on post. It's called Sculpt & Burn and it's a combination of cardio and strength training. It meets Mondays and Wednesdays and I went both days this week. It's really kicking my butt and my muscles, particularly my triceps, quads and hamstrings are letting me know how hard they've been working. I'm also keeping up with the 2.5 mile walks 5 days a week with Peanut. She's loving it and I'm feeling darn good.

I've noticed the biggest difference in my energy levels so far. I've got enough energy to get through the day without that period in the early afternoon when I usually start dragging. At the end of the night, though, I'm whooped and have started going to bed a little earlier. I pass out until I hear my alarm the next morning.

Okay, so that's an update on my three weeks with SparkPeople. Email me with your username if you decide to join up and we can partner up.

Now I have to share a recipe that I just fell in love with this week. While in the States, I picked up the cookbooks that went along with the show on Lifetime called Cook Yourself Thin. I've since purchased the season on iTunes and have watched every episode. I'm sure you can probably catch it on reruns there in the States. Great ideas.

Anyway, I made one of the recipes Monday night for dinner and Oh My God, it was so good. It was Sauteed Tequila Lime Shrimp Tacos with Mango-Pineapple Salsa and Spicy Black Beans.

To avoid copyright issues by posting the recipe, I'm posting a link to the recipe on the Lifetime website. I didn't have any tequila so I omitted that part. Some things I noticed.

Using a whole pound of shrimp, you can really get 8 tacos out of the recipe. So add 4 more tortillas and make 2 tacos a serving size. Also, I like spicy food, but 2 TB of red pepper flakes in the beans was just too much. Next time, I'm going to half it.

I wasn't too sure about the mango-pineapple salsa and no cheese (since I'm a raging cheese-aholic), but the salsa was a perfect compliment and I didn't even miss the cheese. From me, that's a bold statement.

So, try the tacos. They're great. Maybe poke around the website. If you'd like to talk about anything in particular here during Weightloss Wednesdays, drop me an email at riley@riley-quinn.com. Are you working on a lifestyle change? How's it going?

Putting it out there

I'm overweight. I have been for most of my life. Luckily for me, I've been supremely healthy save for the weight problem.

I've tried just about every diet known to man. I've had some success but then I end up putting it all back on plus some more. Chronic yo-yo dieting. Same story as most other overweight people.

The problem for me is that I think of it as temporary. Also, I'm not a big exercise fan. Put those two quirks together and you've got a recipe for failure.

In June, I started watching what I eat. I lost 5 pounds in six weeks. Then I went on vacation.

I tried to be somewhat good, though I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been. The good news is that I didn't gain the whole 5 pounds back. Just a couple.

Last week I made a decision that is a long time coming and I'm hoping that by putting it out here for everyone to see, that I will be motivated to finally make the changes that I need to in order to stay healthy. I know that if I don't make serious changes in my life, I'll end up with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and who knows what all else.

No more diets for me. I'm looking to make lifestyle changes that can carry past a time limit. So I joined SparkPeople.

Perhaps you've heard of this. They help you track your nutrition and fitness while teaching you the tools to make lifestyle changes. So far, so good. I've lost almost 3 pounds. I'm sure that most of that is water as I'm back to drinking my 8+ glasses a day. I've started walking my dog more regularly. We do a 2 mile loop around town when the weather's good. I'm checking out an exercise class on post next week that is a combination of cardio and strength training. Basically, I'm becoming more active.

That's important now that I will soon be spending the majority of my time everyday sitting at the computer. I want to be more active and healthy. If I lose some weight along the way, that's a bonus.

Have you heard of SparkPeople? Tried it? If you're on there, shoot me a note and we can be buddies.

Home Stretch

Well, I'm in the home stretch. Regarding school, that is. I know I've mentioned I was heading back to school. Before this summer, I lacked 3 classes to fulfill the requirements for my degree.

I signed up for 2 this summer and as I posted a couple of weeks ago, I'd received my final grade for the philosophy class. My computer class ends July 2 so that's almost finished.

I took my midterm a week or so ago, a couple of days before the suggested due date. So I'm in the home stretch. 7 more lessons with their quizzes and the final. Actually, I almost have the next study guide filled out. Somehow, one page didn't print so I have to go back over those questions but then I'm ready for the quiz.

I work the part time job today and tomorrow. I close the shop both days and am usually left by myself from about 3:30 or 4 on. Usually, the shop is quiet. So I make good use of the time. If I have all my work in the shop caught up, I work on my study guides. For my goals this week, I aim to finish at least 2 lessons but I'm actually going for more. I'm hoping 3.

I'm hoping the last class I need is offered in the fall. If so, I can apply for graduation for Christmas. Then to continue on.

Between my school work and getting Out of the Shadows ready for edits, that's been my main focus lately. How about you? What are you working on? Are you in the home stretch?

Accountability

I've mentioned my accountability group in the past. Today I'm going to talk more in depth about them. Why? Because we're looking to add a few people to our ranks.

A similar group had one opening in December. At the time, it was exactly what I needed to get my butt back in gear. I'd stopped writing. From August to December, I didn't write a word. So, I applied. Yes, there was an application to make sure they found the right fit.

Apparently there were several of us that the group thought would work well with them. Not sure how they made their ultimate decision, but I wasn't the one chosen. Then, one of the women that founded that group offered to spend 6 weeks helping those of us who didn't make it, form our own group if we wanted.

That's what we did. We've been working hard since January to form a group that is supportive yet firm in keeping us on track with our goals. There are 3 of us now and we're looking to add 3 more. Let me tell you a bit about how we work.

We started out making long term goals (LTGs). These are the goals we want to accomplish in the year. Based on these LTGs, we make weekly and daily goals. We post our goals to a private blog. We support and nudge each other on this blog. We also meet once a week for chat to discuss anything that we feel is important. We also got to know each other during this time and I feel as though I have two new friends.

Our goals aren't just about writing. We have writing life (WL) goals, which pertain to other parts of being a writer outside the actual writing. That may include getting a website set up, or taking a class, or reading a craft book. We also have real life (RL) goals. These are goals outside of writing all together that we want to accomplish. It's a plan to help provide balance in our life.

We commit to writing 6 days a week, a minimum of 20 minutes a day. Also, those same 6 days, we commit to some WL goals. Our real life goals are 5 days a week. It's a lot of work, a big commitment. I don't want to scare anyone, but it's important to know that this is a serious group. We're asking for a commitment to the end of the year.

Now that I've told you a bit about the group itself, let me tell you what it's done for me. In the last 5 months, I have edited my first release and got it ready. I wrote a novella, submitted it, received a contract on it, completed the edits and waiting for its release. I finished the first draft of a full-length novel that I was about 50% done. I'm almost halfway through the second pass on it and getting close to starting the editing process. In total, I've written over 75k since January. I've gotten one of my websites redesigned and one of my blogs up and running. I've researched and got a list of agents to query as soon as my novel is ready. I'm completing my goals of taking a class every month and reading a craft book every month. My RL are ongoing, but most weeks, I meet those too. Oh, and did I mention I've made two new, great friends.

I think you'll agree that I've accomplished a lot in 5 months. I owe the continued forward movement to my accountability group. There have been days that I just didn't want to do what I needed to do. The thought of not getting a smiley for that day or having to tell my group that I was lazy was great incentive to keep my nose to the grindstone.

So, if anything sounds like what you need and want right now, I'd love to hear from you. Please email me at riley@riley-quinn.com.

Mission Accomplished

So you may have noticed that I wasn't around last week. It was an unscheduled leave of absence due to me being sick as a dog and not on the computer much at all. If you will recall oh, so long ago (read a week ago Thursday) I mentioned wanting to finish the first draft of Out of the Shadows and spend some time sewing.

I'm pleased to report that after keeping my butt in the chair and my fingers on the keyboard, I did it. I wrote over 4k words that day and finished the first draft.

You'll notice that my word meter shows me 15k short for the total. I may still reach that 80k goal. I guessed on the total length. I originally thought 100k but I don't think I'm that wordy. Some of the scenes didn't come together for me as I wrote. I couldn't find the right words, etc. So I got the gist of the scene down with the dialogue. Now I have to go back and flesh those scenes out, adding description, internal dialogue, action, etc.

Plus, I've also changed the story arc since I started the book. That means that I have to add a bunch of stuff throughout for that. All in all, I'm confident that I'll reach the 80k goal or darn close to it. As you can see, I still have a lot of work to do, but now that the whole story is down on paper and I know what's going on with it, I'm hoping it will go quickly. I'm giving myself 4 weeks to go back in and add all this stuff.

I don't really know how long it will take but I'm going to be pushing myself these next two months to accomplish my goal of having it finished in time for RWA national conference so that I can pitch it to an agent. Today is the day for me to make my appointment so wish me luck that I can get in with my first choice.

By the way, I did reward myself with some time to sew and I made a couple of fabric journal covers. Here they are below. They fit over a composition notebook. They were fun and easy and I think I'm going to offer them as a class at work.

So what have you been up to? Please share your news!

Distractions

I'm a bad girl. I've gotten behind on my weekly goals because I've been distracted.

The list thing helped yesterday, but I blew off my last task to read Book 4 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. I don't remember the actual title, they're so similar. AND I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to finish it. So, no schoolwork finished.

Today is a super long day at the part time job. I work 8 hours there and then am teaching an intro to crochet class afterwards. A 10 hour day on little sleep. I guess that will teach me. Well, probably not.

So, I've made a new rule. I can't start the next book in the series until Sunday, and then only if I've completed all my weekly goals. I obviously can't tear myself away once I start.

Since today is such a long day at the part time job, it's my off day from writing. I seriously won't feel like doing anything but dropping when I get home around 9pm tonight.

I've owned up to my distraction. How about you? What distracts you from your plans? How do you deal with it? Ever had my problem where you couldn't stop thinking how an author was going to resolve an issue and kept reading to the exclusion of everything else?

Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! Today marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement so I thought I'd share a little more information about today.

In 1970 when gas was leaded, all cars were V8s, and there weren't as many environmental laws regulating industry, air pollution was a common occurrence. Gaylord Nelson, then a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, proposed the first nationwide environmental protest to force the issue onto the national agenda. So, on April 22, 1970, 20 million people came out to streets, parks and auditoriums to demonstrate. There were coast-to-coast rallies, organized protests on the campuses of thousands of colleges and universities.

Earth Day 1970 garnered support from people from all sides, regardless of political affiliation, home or job. The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.

Wow, it's amazing what can be accomplished when people work together for a common goal.

I try to do my part. I recycle. Actually, here in Germany, they make it very easy to recycle and those that don't are the exceptions to the rule. We have separate buckets for glass, paper, aluminum, plastic and biodegradable stuff. I try to conserve gas and use public transportation when possible. In my little town, it's very accessible for walking or bicycling so unless I'm going long distances, I don't take the car out of the garage. I'm sure there is more that I could be doing, so I'll be going here to pick 5 things that I can do to help save our environment.

What do you think? Will you also Pick 5?

End of the Quarter

Wow, it's April already. A quarter of the year has passed. I have to say that I'm fairly pleased with how the year has started. I made a list of long term goals that I wanted to accomplish this year. So far, I've been able to cross off three of them as accomplished.

The latest accomplishment is finishing up Blood Diamond and submitting it to The Wild Rose Press for their Jewels of the Night series. I got it in by March 31, which means if chosen, my story will go in a drawing to kick off the series. I recently received an email update regarding my submission. They are going through the entries as quickly as possible so that they can announce the winner of the drawing on June 15. Hopefully I'll know something sooner, but worst case scenario, I'll find out by then.

I'm feeling good and hoping for the best. My CPs all liked the story and had few changes to suggest. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I've moved forward in a bid to keep myself from going crazy thinking about it. I'm back into Out of the Shadows, the first book in a five book series. It's an urban fantasy set in fictional Cedar Creek, TX. I spent most of yesterday working on it, finishing up chapter 15. According to my word meter on the left, I've cracked the 60% mark on word count. I've got 5 chapters left until I finish the first draft.

The concept has changed considerably since I began, so the revisions will be major but I'm excited about it. I had to go back and read a few passages to keep continuity and I really liked what I read. Of course there are things I need to add. That's just the way I write, but there's emotion there that I could still feel even after setting it aside for over 6 months. I'm excited about that.

I've also gotten sucked into another story idea. There's a call for novellas centered around the reunion of the Class of 1985. I graduated in 1989, close enough that the concept called to me. I've got the basics on my characters and I've decided that I'm going to experiment over the next two weeks. I'm going to work on my novel during the week and my novella on the weekends. I'll give it two weeks. My novel is the main focus since I want it ready to pitch at National convention in July. If I find it's sliding, I'll put up the novella until I get the novel finished. If it works, it may be the working model I use to continue the novellas, but also complete full-length novels. Wish me luck.

Oh, I did something different for the novella too. I made a playlist yesterday. I found the top 100 pop songs of 1985 and made a playlist with about half of them. I'm going to try it and if I like it, I may include choosing a playlist part of my plotting process. It was kind of fun.

So, as I go into the second quarter of the year, my goals are to finish and polish Out of the Shadows and plot and finish this new novella. That seems like quite a bit so here's hoping my second quarter is as productive as the first.

Have you been able to cross off any of your long term goals? Have you re-evaluated your goals lately? How do you feel about what you've accomplished so far?

I've got the itch

I'm feeling that itch again. The crafting itch. I'm working on a quilt for my nephew's birthday. I'm already late with it so it's imperative that I don't work on any other sewing projects until I finish this one. But, oh, how I want to.

I've got a list in my head of things I want to make and it's already too late to make some. Well, I can still make them but they would be put away until next year. There was this cute chick in the egg wall hanging. Sigh. I'm dying to try my hand at a laptop bag. I got a new laptop at Christmas and it's bigger than my previous one, which barely fit into my laptop bag. So, of course, my new one won't fit at all. I know what I want and I'm coming up with my own pattern, using techniques from some previous purses I made. I also picked up this gorgeous Asian-inspired fabric. I can see it now. Okay, getting ahead of myself.

I'm also a crocheter. I'm currently working on a little something, okay a big something, for my friend's birthday, which has already passed. See a trend here? She reads my blog so I can't say any more than that but I'm about 2/3 done with it. Waiting in the wings is this adorable pattern I found for a baby blanket with jungle animals on the borders. My brother and sister-in-law had twins a couple months back and she decorated their nursery in baby jungle animals. It's perfect and of course, I have to make two, so…

Amid all this twitching, I'm still writing. Submitted Blood Diamond and playing the waiting game with that one. I'm back to Out of the Shadows and finished chapter 13 and almost done with 14, probably today. Plus my part time job and oh yeah, I just signed up for two college classes last week. I only need 3 to finish my degree so hopefully the third will be offered for the fall semester and I can finish it up. Then to continue on. So, I'm finding that I need to re-evaluate my time management and figure out how I can fit everything I want to do in with everything I need to do. I'm sure it's possible, I just need to be disciplined. Kinda like writing. Hmm…

What about you? Do you have enough hours in the day? Is there something you'd like to do, but have trouble fitting it into your schedule? How do you handle your time management?

A :( Monday

Yes, it's a frowny Monday for me. I had outlined in my goals last Monday that I would finish revising Blood Diamond this week. I didn't finish. So, I'm back to that with hopes of finishing by Wednesday. I'm off from the part time job today and don't go in until 2 tomorrow so cross your fingers for me and send me good vibes. I did, however, do all the blogging I wanted to so that's a big YAY!

So, blogging all around this week again. Starting to see a pattern here? Yeah, I'm really getting into it and enjoying it. Writing-wise, I'll finish revisions for Blood Diamond and send it off to my critique partners, write the first draft of the synopsis, and if the revisions go as planned, I'll even finish chapter 13 of Out of the Shadows.

Out of the Shadows is my baby. The hero and heroine lived inside my head for a long time and their insistence, combined with the workshop I took with M.R. Sellars, convinced me to take writing seriously and pursue it as a career. It's a full-length urban fantasy that is the first of a 5 book series. I've been working on it off and on for two years and while I should have finished before now, I know that my writing has come a long way since I started it so it will be a stronger book for the delay. Revisions will probably be horrendous, but I've got time. I plan to have it finished and revised BEFORE RWA National convention in July. I've got my work cut out for me.

Okay, so that's it for me today. Gotta take puppy to the groomer and then get to work. We're closing in on the end of the first quarter of the year. How are your goals coming along?

Revisions Anyone?

Well, I almost didn't make it this past week. One of my goals was to blog Monday through Friday. I had no internet for two days so that goal was a wash, but internet doesn't affect my writing, right? In addition to internet issues, I also had plotting issues. I mentioned in Friday's post that I finally got a handle on it. Lucky for me, I didn't have to work Friday through Sunday so I was able to finish the first draft of Blood Diamond.

Yep.

Now the hard part. Revisions. I outlined my revision plan to my accountability group, basically editing two chapters on my off days from the part time job and one chapter on the days I have to work, to finish by Sunday. This may seem drawn out, as one of my accountability partners challenged. It got me thinking. Could I do more? On the days I work at the part time job, the answer is no. And this week is a long one for me as I have to work more days than usual. On the days that I don't work the part time job? Hmm, I really don't think so.

I have a process. It's rather involved, but by spending extra time with each chapter, I try to get all my revisions done in as few passes as possible. I also don't revise as I write so even though I write fairly clean, I tend to leave some things out and the plot tends to change somewhat. The first thing I do is to read through my selected chapters. Today that will be chapters one and two. As I read, I will make notes of things that are no longer part of the story and where I need to add. Once I make those changes, I print out the chapters and grab my highlighters.

Now, if you've ever taken Margie Lawson's Deep EDITS class, you'll know where I'm going with the highlighters. If not, you have got to take her class. The gist is that you color code highlight your manuscript so you can see at a glance things you need based on how much of each color you have on your papers and what those colors represent. It's a five color process. Once I see what I've got and what I need to balance it out, I work on that.

Once I have added what I think I need to add, I run my pages through a writing program. This program helps me catch passive verbs, clichés, hidden verbs, etc. It's not a hundred percent since it's geared toward business writing, but it helps me catch a lot. There is another program I use to find overused words. Once I go through all this, I do another read through.

My process can be quite time intensive and I want to spend the time I need with each chapter. This is my process, as convoluted as it may sound.

What's your process?

Monday, Monday

Considering I had to go into the part time job this morning and got a late start on the writing, today has been a pretty great day for me. The sun is shining here in Bavaria, Germany and the snow is melting. I'm so close to finishing the first draft of Blood Diamond, I can't sit still. Anyway, first things first.

My goals last week were to finish chapters six and seven of Blood Diamond. Check. Blog Monday through Friday. Check. Yay!!! Two weeks into posting my weekly writing goals and I'm doing great. ;)

So, for this coming week, I plan to finish chapters eight and nine of Blood Diamond. I believe that will bring my Congo adventure to an end. Well, at least the first draft. Of course I will revise, edit, and polish. I also plan to continue my blogging. I do have an award to live up to, you know.

Okay, so it's not a real award but it's still fun. If you remember, Friday I mentioned that Delilah Devlin nominated me for a prolific blogger award. I'm a fairly new blogger so I got a big kick from it. As a winner of this prestigious award, I must link to at least seven other prolific bloggers. It's a fun way to promote traffic to sites and introduce people to new blogs that they may not have found themselves.

Each prolific blogger must link to the blog he/she received the award. So everyone listed below must link back to my blog so folks can check out the other winners.

Below are my nominees. They have fun and informative blogs and they blog fairly regular so check back often.

Bria Quinlan
Delilah Devlin
Denise Golinowski
Gale Stanley
Murder She Writes – This group blog features my chapter-mate Laura Griffin.
Terry Spear
Victoria Janssen

That's it for me today. I've got people to save in the African rain forest. What are some of your favorite blogs to visit?

Story Structure

I'm going to talk about goals a little bit and share another of mine. Craft books. I love them. I have shelves of them. Some I haven't read yet, some I have and they weren't so great, and some were worth more than I paid for them. I think that probably goes for anyone's TBR (To Be Read) pile, whether it's craft books, romance, mystery, nonfiction, etc. So as I pondered my LTGs (Long Term Goals) earlier this year and all that I wanted to accomplish, reading at least one craft book per month was on that list. This month, the book was Story Structure Demystified by Larry Brooks.

Some of you may have never heard of Larry Brooks. He has several thrillers out and a few books on the craft of writing. He also blogs fairly regularly about writing. I urge you to check him out. You can find him in my blog roll to the left under Larry Brooks – Story Fix.

So I read Story Structure Demystified this month. This was one of those books worth more than the cover price. His writing is easy to read and fun, he uses examples from The Davinci Code (you don't have to have read the book to understand though) and he makes what could easily have been a dry subject, not.

He talks about the structure of a story (imagine that, right?) for both screenwriting and novels. There are four parts of the story – the set up, the response, the attack and the resolution. Within this structure, you have milestones. These are the plot points and pinch points that make up the backbone of your story. He suggests by using this structure, putting the milestones in certain parts of your novel, that your story will flow more easily and you'll know where to go next.

I think he makes sense and his ideas can be useful for plotters and pantsters alike. To start, I can determine my first plot point, first pinch point, mid-point, second pinch point, second plot point and the final resolution. At this point, the pantster can take off, writing furiously, organically and hopefully not get caught going down the wrong path. It will save time and work. The plotter can expand on these points. Outline scene ideas that lead from to the other. In either case, you are either working toward a milestone or away from one.

Of course, he goes into more detail and gives examples, but his method resonates with me. I find myself thinking about my current WIP, Blood Diamond, and identifying the milestones and wondering if I have them in the right spot. I know that I can, and will, keep this structure in mind as I go through revisions once the first draft is done. Overall, worth the money. I'm even thinking of making his newest book, The Three Dimensions of Character, my March craft book of choice.

Have you read this book? What did you think? Do you visit Larry's blog? What are some of your favorite craft books?

Dear John

Okay, first order of business – last week's goals. I posted that I would finish chapters four and five of Blood Diamond and post every day through Friday. I'm proud to report that I did finish both chapters and I did the blog posts. I sure didn't want to have to tell you all that I'd failed. Great motivation.

This week, I plan to finish chapters six and seven and blog today through Friday. Now on to our regularly scheduled post.

The movie theater on post showed Dear John this weekend, so Saturday night, I met up with a couple of girlfriends and went. I hadn't read the book. In fact, I don't recall reading anything by Nicholas Sparks, but I generally like the movies made from his books. I have to say, though, that I did not like Dear John.

I liked Channing Tatum's character, John Tyree. I mean, besides the bare chest shots. I thought they could have done a little more development with him, though. They alluded to his past and I didn't feel like they'd resolved that enough. I sympathized and connected with his character though. Not so much with Amanda Seyfried's Savannah Curtis. I wasn't connected enough to her and found her character shallow and annoying. The ending was less than satisfactory, though I won't ruin it if you haven't seen it yet. My friend, who had read the book, mentioned the ending in the book was different and judging from her description, I think I would have liked it even less.

Again, I didn't read the book and I may have enjoyed the movie more and felt more connected the characters if I had. I have no desire to, though. My leisure time is limited and reading a book for pleasure is usually one of the first things to go when the schedule gets busy, so knowing that I won't like how the book ends kills any thought of checking it out.

How about you? Did you read the book? See the movie? What's your opinion?

Fear of Failure or ADD?

I'm currently working on a romantic suspense set in the Congo featuring a blue diamond for Wild Rose Press' Jewels of the Night call. The deadline is March 31. I'm in the middle of chapter four of a possible eight or nine chapters. About half done. I've also got a paranormal novel that I've been working on for a while. I'm in chapter thirteen of twenty and approximately half done via word count. I know I have a lot of revisions to do on that one. There is a point behind this, but of course you knew that, didn't you?

Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, my paranormal novel started haunting me again. Last summer I found out that a published author, one in my RWA chapter, no less, had a new series coming out. The name of her series? The same name I'd planned to use for my series that I'd been working on for over a year. To say that I was bummed or disappointed is an understatement. Of course, because she's published and I'm not, if I continued to use the name, others would think that I copied her. I literally felt sick to my stomach. I stopped writing for several months. This is all backstory. The long and short of it is that I stopped working on it at about the halfway point.

I've been struggling with chapter 4 of my current work in progress (WIP) for about a week. I know what I want to happen, how I want the chapter to end, but I'm having trouble getting the words down on paper (or computer screen, as the case may be). Again, at about the halfway point. When I realized this, it made me think, always a dangerous pastime.

Before, I attributed my lack of ability to finish a project as ADD, but I think it's more serious than that. I think that I am subconsciously trying to protect myself from failure. When I get to the halfway mark, I get distracted by another shiny plot idea and run off to work on that, leaving me several half finished projects. By not finishing, I can't submit and therefore can't be turned down. But by protecting myself from failure, I'm assuring myself of it. If I don't finish, I can't submit. Sure, it can't be turned down but it can't be accepted either.

So, now that I've realized how I'm sabotaging myself, I'm determined to break the cycle. I'm not starting on or working on another project until I finish my romantic suspense and I will finish it in time to submit to the March 31 deadline. You know what they say – recognizing a problem is the first step to solving it.

Do you find yourself sabotaging your own success? What do you do to work past it and accomplish your goals?

Goals, Goals, everywhere there’s Goals

Goals are important. Without goals, what do we work toward in life? What gives our lives meaning? Goals don't have to big and lofty, as long as they are important to you.

I think we've all heard that writing our goals down helps us focus on them more, makes them more real to us than an abstract idea. I think that's true. This year, I became a member of a wonderful group. An accountability group. What's that, you say? Well, this group knows what my long term goals are. In this case, what I want to accomplish for the year. I've broken these long term goals down into small chunks and these wonderful ladies make sure that I complete these tasks I set for myself or they have permission to kick me in the tookus to get me jump-started. Writing your goals down is all well and good, but if there's no accountability, what's to keep you on track?

My good friend, Rachel Lynne (http://rachellynneauthor.com/2010/02/15/success-is-just-around-the-corner.aspx), has determined this for herself and puts her goals out there every week on her blog. Then she holds herself accountable to her readers. And then she has the nerve to challenge us to do the same! Can you believe it? (Just kidding, Rach!) Denise Golinowski (http://gaiasong.livejournal.com/8142.html) has succumbed to Rachel's siren call and I'm bending under the peer pressure. LOL. Seriously, writers can be the biggest support for other writers and it's wonderful when they care enough to help you keep your course and realize your dreams. So I'm writing my goals for the rest of the week here, where everyone can see them, where I will be ridiculed and shamed if I don't succeed. Okay, not really, but I'm a writer. I need a little melodrama every now and again.

So – drum roll please!

This week, I vow to finish chapters four and five of Blood Diamond. I vow to post a blog entry everyday through Friday.

Whew! Okay, not as bad as I thought. Now, we'll see how it goes on Monday when I own up to how I did. ;)

So what about you? Do you have any goals you'd like to share? Would you like some help in staying accountable? Please share your experiences.