Thursday, March 24, 2011

If It Ain't Broke...

To be honest, I'm actually surprised I stuck around to the end of Round 1. But that's the beauty of ROW80: Being able to set your own goals, holding yourself accountable, and getting massive support from other writers. Granted, I didn't always stick to my goals (there was a week that I just didn't do anything), but when it's all said and done, I got what I needed from this challenge.

I joined ROW80 a few weeks into the challenge, but my goals were simple:

So here are my goals for the next 80 53 days:

1. Write everyday - I don't have many distractions other than work obligations, so I have to condition myself to put in writing time in the morning and at night. I get easily distracted by the t.v....

2. On weekends, spend at least 3 hours writing a day - my weekends, other than Saturday mornings, are are almost always free.

What I hope to accomplish with the first two goals will ultimately lead to my third and final goal.

3. Have the first draft of my WIP completed.

***

Last night, I finished up the final revisions on my WIP and nervously sent it off to my beta readers! Now, it wasn't the WIP I had in mind when I started this challenge, but nonetheless, I was able to accomplish one of my goals. So I am happy to say that by this time next month, I'll have my first novella published!

Round 2 kick-off is April 4th. I'll probably stick to my original goals and perhaps add a few more to include social networking and marketing.
Posted by Claudia Lefeve at 8:45 AM

14 comments:

  1. Laurel-Rain Snow CreationsMarch 24, 2011 at 9:50 AM

    I'm curious about the beta readers...are they people you know? Or are there sites where we can sign up and find "readers"? I'm curious, since when I wrote my first five novels (published), I had readers from my real life.

    But I'd like to know more about "beta readers."

    Congrats on achieving your goals.

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  2. Claudia LefeveMarch 24, 2011 at 10:14 AM

    Laurel-Rain...that's a damn good question! I'm pretty new to the process so right now I have my sister-in law reading it (she's a creative writing major from William and Mary) and my best friend who reads like a fiend. I hope their recommendations/critiques will improve my story before I sent it to final edit.

    I don't believe there is any type of website where you can sign up to get readers, but I did tweet earlier today that I was looking for one un-biased beta reader.

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  3. alberta rossMarch 24, 2011 at 11:20 AM

    I asked that question myself a while back - kept hearing about them - then discovered I already had one - my friend from forever reads, comments, suggests, disaproves, finds echos and repeated words /phrases, everything else - and she's free but not for hire!!!! she's mine all mine - best of luck in April I'll see you all then

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  4. Stacey Wallace BenefielMarch 24, 2011 at 1:27 PM

    You know what I did to get beta readers is start a Q/A group about myself on Goodreads. Then, when I need betas I just put out a post and usually get a little bunch of people who had signed up for my group that volunteer.

    Good luck with your novella! Very exciting stuff!!

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  5. Andrew MoceteMarch 24, 2011 at 1:58 PM

    I'm jealous. And very happy for you! You came in late and finished strong. Think of what you'll accomplish for the full 80 days.

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  6. AnonymousMarch 24, 2011 at 4:04 PM

    Good, steady progress! You really jumped on board. Good luck in the next round!

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  7. C.FarrellMarch 24, 2011 at 5:14 PM

    Great progress and congratulations on being so close to publication. I'm glad you saw this through, I feel like it helped me a lot to take part.

    I'm always desperate for beta readers, I tend to find them randomly and they tend to have a major life crisis that makes them unable to finish the job. I'm either a really bad writer or a bad luck magnet. :)

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  8. JennMarch 24, 2011 at 6:34 PM

    Wow, sounds like a productive time. Can't wait to see what you'll accomplish in Round Two! :)

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  9. Claudia LefeveMarch 24, 2011 at 6:41 PM

    Thanks for the words of encouragement! Although I don't know how much I actually accomplished with a 10,000 word novella, but publishing it will defintely be a learning experience!

    I did get about 30,000 done on my other novel, plus some editing. That will probably be the focus of the next round.

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  10. ShariMarch 24, 2011 at 9:11 PM

    As usual, I'm happily inspired when I check in with the other ROW-80-ers (yep, I've been gone a few weeks ;-) I think we all learned something good about balance, if nothing else. And, I agree - if it ain't broke.....

    BTW - let me know what you need from a beta reader (as I recall, different than from a crit partner), and if it's pretty doable, I'm happy to help :-) (er, remember, I may call on you for that as well!)

    Take care, see you in April, and thanks for all the encouragement and kind words! You are really on fire!

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  11. Claudia LefeveMarch 24, 2011 at 10:00 PM

    Thanks Shari! And I just left a comment on your blog!

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  12. Robin MMarch 24, 2011 at 11:53 PM

    Congrats on achieving your goals. I think we all need beta readers. Maybe we should make that part of the challenge. Or a benefit of the challenge. See you for round 2

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  13. CathrynLouisMarch 25, 2011 at 3:07 PM

    Congrats - you did great! I don't know when I'll need beta readers - I'll probably be rewriting for the next two sessions. Robin's got a great point.

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  14. Deniz BevanMarch 26, 2011 at 11:33 PM

    Congratulations on all you accomplished! Hope you get some great feedback from your betas.

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