ROW80

RoW80 9/21 Check-in

Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

The following were my original goals for the Round.

1. Work an hour a week setting up the “author platform” of Twitter, Facebook, new blog, Goodreads. Check.  More work is needed, especially on Facebook, which refused to let me have a pen name at first, and Goodreads, which is a cool site, but for some reason has fallen to the bottom of the list for me, so it is skeletal at best.

2. Post at least 250 words at least once a week (not including ROW 80 check-in posts).  Check.  As any of you who know me will be aware, I am not a word count person, but I did work it out for this goals.  I posted 9,154 words, not counting RoW80 check in posts, which add 7,076 words.  Yay me!

3. Spend at least two hours a day on writing, research, outlining; no external distractions. Check, mostly. I actually managed to do this at least 90% of the time.  I did miss a day here and there, but not very often.

4. Plan/outline 2 new essays. Check.  In fact, I outlined 4 and ended up with 2 going to the draft stage.

5. Revise 4 essays already written. Changed midstream to 2 essays.  Not a fail, although 40% is a failing grade, and close only counts in horseshoes. I am more than halfway through 1 essay.  I hope that since the same sort of issues occur in each, what I am learning in the first one will help the second one go faster.

I also achieved one goal that I had not put on the list: I chose a pen name, and am so comfortable with it, I have to think twice to answer to my real name. It is the middle names and maiden name  of my real name—so does that make me less crazy?

So, I am pretty dang proud of myself. Even with baby sea-turtle steps, I am way farther down that beach than I was 80 days ago, and more importantly much farther than I would have been without this fantastically supportive group of people.  Thanks to all of you, I will be back for Round 4, still bearing the standard with the strange device / Exclesior (apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).

Finally, please check on all our fantastic participants here, and come celebrate with us on October 4th.

Published by Elizabeth Anne Mitchell

I am the youngest of four children, raised in the old-fashioned Irish-American way. I suspect my mother encouraged me to write from an early age to keep me out of her hair, although she may have regretted the decision when my teachers began to call about the controversial stories I was writing. Thus I began my career of butting heads with the good sisters at my Catholic elementary school, and ended it by leaving high school for college with no diploma. I wear my high-school dropout badge rebelliously and proudly. In college, I became fascinated with the Middle Ages, which was described as a “starry night” by one of my professors. So began a trek through languages and legends that informs my narrative non-fiction and historical fiction, as well as my blogs. I love feedback and enjoy discussing ideas. I have an accountability blog for the Round of Words in Eighty Days entitled Leavekeeping; I write a blog on literary history, intellectual history, and the history of words entitled Lapidary Prose. I'm on Twitter and Facebook; my email is lapidaryprose@gmail.com.

32 thoughts on “RoW80 9/21 Check-in”

    1. Isn’t it, Katy? I was almost dreading having to write the post to sum it all up, but as I wrote, I felt better and better. You did great, too! Yay, us! Looking forward to seeing you in the next round!

  2. Great round up and I too feel I have come so far in the last 80 days! Have a good time between rouds and I will see you in Round 4!

  4. Good work! Sounds like you stuck to it just fine. And good idea about the Pen Name. I might have to borrow that…. See you at the next round (and on twitter in between)

    1. Thanks for coming by and commenting, Wendy. It was only when i pulled it all together that I realized I had done okay! Feel free to borrow the pen name–well, the idea about the pen name, anyway! LOL I’m looking forward to being in the next round with you, and seeing you on twitter, of course!

  5. It sounds to me as though you have accomplished a lot. Congratulations on having done so. Also thank you for your knid words on Searching For My Wand. You made my day.

  7. Yay! Congrats on all of your achievements – seriously impressed! Woo hoo about the pen name 🙂 Mine is my mother’s name and my son’s first name pluralized.

    Looking forward to cheering you on in round 4! Keep up all the fantastic work 🙂 WOOT WOOT!!

    Marie

    1. Thank you, Marie! I like your pen name–it’s nice to include loved ones in it. I very much appreciate all your encouragement through this round, and am looking forward to being envious of your progress in Round 4 😀

  8. Congrats on making it through Round 3 and great job on the goals! See you in Round 4.

    I may have you on the raw word count, but you’ve out-itemized me; far more check marks! 😀

    And, yes, out-itemized is now a word. Now.

    1. Out-itemized? You made me laugh out loud, Matt! Great neologism. Thank you for coming by and commenting. I’ve appreciated all your encouragement during Round 3, and am looking forward to being jealous of you in Round 4! 😀

  9. Hello fellow campaigner! I will admit that I’m not really keen on Iowa becoming like Florida as it is an environment I prefer to visit than live in, misquitoes and alligators especially!

  10. Congratulations on all you acheived. You hit almost everyone of your goals (and you had heaps of them!) which is amazing. And i love the baby sea turtles concept 🙂 see you round 4

    1. Thank you, Jody–you made it around to each and every one of us, didn’t you? YAY! I stole the baby sea-turtle concept from one of Amber West’s posts, but it just hit me that it was me!! Looking forward to round 4 with you!

  11. Such fantastic work! I’m so happy to see that you’ve managed to accomplish almost everything that you wanted to tackle at the start of the round. Also, I’ve been meaning to mention that your adoption of your pen name helped me to make my decision to adopt one as well, so thanks for that! And I know what you mean about the name becoming part of you — mine feels really natural these days, and I love it. 😀

    Excited to see you for Round 4!

    1. Thank you, Lena, for all your support through this Round. I’m glad that my choosing a pen name helped with yours. If I haven’t said in these past few crazy weeks, I really like it! I’m looking forward to Round 4 with you.

  12. You go girl! Look at all the writing and prep work you’ve accomplished. I’m definitely gonna have to start getting up at 5 am! 😀

  13. Way to hit those goals, Elizabeth! I’m with you…I’ve got a TBR list – just from fellow ROW80 authors – that keeps growing, even multiplying! But I’m so excited for everyone who has published just since I joined ROW80 a couple of rounds ago. I’m finishing up ‘The Binder’s Daughter’ by Matt Hofferth..maybe this weekend, and then I think I’ll start Parallel, by Claudia Lefeve (I think that one’s next, anyway). Enjoy the break – and I look forward to seeing you again in round 4! ~ Nadja

    1. Thank you, Nadja–you knocked your goals out of the park, too! It is exciting as heck that so many ROW80 folks have published. I finished E A West’s Cancelled this morning, then started on W.J. Smith’s Where to Belong. Then of course, Matt’s and yours and Claudia’s — phew! ENjoy your break and reading–I’m looking forward to seeing you in Round 4.

  14. Congrats on accomplishing so much! Although I’m not participating in RoW80, many of my fellow LLCers are, so I’ve learned about it through their blogs and am so impressed with just how concrete and detailed the goals and accomplishments are! I have to tell you that I adore your header picture on this blog, too. Just looking at it makes me feel both serene and inspired : )!

    1. Thanks for coming by and commenting, Pam. I appreciate the kind words about my goals. I had to fight comparing myself as I went around to other participants, but on reflection, I did get a lot accomplished. There are definitely several LLC folks on ROW80, so I’ve been tempted to make a list for LLC as well. Thank you about the header–my grandparents were from SW Ireland, and it looks exactly like the area where they grew up. 🙂

  15. Yeah on all the excellent progress! Here on the cruise ship, I don’t have a very good internet connection, so I couldn’t really tally everything up and compare my original goals — but I’m having a great time. 🙂

    See you in Round 4!

    1. Ruth, I’m so glad you’re having such a lovely time on the fjords! I’m sure you did great on your goals–you were always on target or above, I think! Thank you for coming by and commenting–I’m looking forward to Round 4, too 😀

  16. Elizabeth -you have done fab-tastic on achieving your goals! You have hit them 90%-100% and that is just super! Well done! (See I’m not laughing -though I did when I realised the confusion with your other site! Cheeky woman!)

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