The Mysterious Case of the Check-in that Never Was.

So it's already been, what, ten days since ROW80 started?  It's kind of terrifying to think that 1/8th of the whole thing is already over!  Even more terrifying is how little that I've completed, but hey, the good thing about that is that I've still got SEVENTY days to write!  That's still more than twice as many as NaNo and then some.  The thing is, I don't think that I'm going to actually start writing until day sixty or so, just because my planning is just...going a little bit slower than I would have hoped it would.   That's me, though, because I keep allowing myself to get distracted by television and movies and family and driving.  Yet, that isn't so bad because I'm still doing my RP-writing, and yesterday I caught up on four of the eleven threads I have going, as well as numerous journal entries.  I think that that makes up for a lot the writing I'm not doing for my chapbooks.

Excuses.  That was basically an excuse, really.  That was my mind's way of coping with my momentary failure.  That's how my brain works!  It twists bad situations until they're positive ones.  Anyways, so now it's time to copy over my old goals and cross out what I've done so far!  Also, if any of you are curious to see past goals that I've removed from the list, just go back to old posts.  I've deleted ones that have been met for last week, since that would just add to the clutter and I'm trying to keep this simple.

RP WRITING

• -2. Make sure to do at least one long tag response a day. These threads are the ones most important to my characters and I know that. Granted, being on the iPad makes that difficult, I know it can be done. The responses don’t have to be as long, but make sure to keep the threads going.
• -3. Make sure to write at least two character journals a week. Don’t repeat if possible.
• A. Keep an excel spreadsheet of this if necessary.
• As can be seen, my RP goals are being met.  These were the last two that I needed to take care of, and because of that, I've crossed them out.  These are the two goals that are going to need constant monitoring, though, so I'm going to continue copying them over.

PERSONAL GOALS

Sadly, none of my personal goals are being met right now.  I keep forgetting about them, to be completely honest.  This week, I'm going to really start working on them.  Also, with my weight goal, I'm going to have to cross it out because I don't know if I'll ever achieve it due to the scale.  I believe it's broken, as it said that in 24 hours (8 of which I was sleeping), I gained 8 pounds.  Without eating 8 pounds of food.  So, new scale will eventually be required.  For now, that goal is being put on the back burner and the number will be lowered.

• -1. Lose another 15 lbs before my cousin’s wedding. That’s at the end of October sometime. If I lose 5 lbs a week, something I’ve done before with diet and exercise, then I’ll hit my goal before the wedding. This is an easy goal because I’ve been steadily losing weight since I graduated college. This was without exercising much as well, so when I add that in, the weight should melt off!
• -2. Meditate daily. I’ve been stressed because of graduating and being in the real world for the first time in my life, so I just need some down time when I’m doing absolutely nothing. I would say a minimum of 30 minutes of meditation a day should be good. I’ll have to spread those out, though, as I’ll lose interest in doing the meditation. Ten minutes here, five there, and I should be fine 
• -3. Free write a little at least twice a week. It doesn’t have to be much, but it should help the juices flow.
• -4. Read goddammit! I’ve got a bookcase and two boxes of books to read, as well as the numerous books on my Nook. Again, this doesn’t have to be much, but I want to finish at least a book, if not two, before ROW80 is over.
• -5. Get a job!

Week 2 (formerly known as Week 1):

• -3. Make a very, VERY basic outline of the plot and story. (Started)
• -4. Develop characters in mind well enough to have a strong main cast as well as a few important minor characters.
• A. Don’t spend too much time on this. If not doable, focus on the main character and develop others through there and through interaction between other characters while writing.
• -5. Decide on setting (time, place, etc).
• A. Again, don’t spend too much time here. Places will develop as needed outside of the main setting while writing.
• -6. Once done with these steps, make a schedule for writing.
• A. Keep it flexible. Hiccups will happen.
• B. Keep it reasonable. Don’t set goals like writing an entire chapbook every two days. Work with chapters within the chapbook.
• C. Don’t fret if the schedule is broken. Set up caveats in case a goal isn’t reached.
• D. Remember that not all chapters will be the same length and keep an eye out for points that seem to be good ending points for each chapbook.
• -7. Decide how many chapters in a chapbook and plan accordingly!

So yes, that is what I've done so far for my writing goals.  It's very little, but a step is a step in the right direction.  That's really the only way to think about it, right?  I mean, if I constantly focus on the negative, I'm going to end up giving up, and after my revelation last night, I know that that is the last thing that I want to do.  In fact, now is the perfect time in my life to be doing something like this, you know?  I'm just graduated, I'm just finding myself, and I still don't have a job.  This leaves me with an incredible amount of time to do this and to achieve this dream.  There's nothing better than taking a chance when it's given to you, right?

Okay, time for my goals.

PERSONAL GOALS

I'm adding in a couple more personal goals because I feel like they'll help me with relaxing and just being calmer in general.  Though some of them may seem a little bit...I don't know, silly?  They'll work for me, though.

• 1.  Play some video games every couple of days.  There's nothing more therapeutic than killing things every now and then in a virtual reality.  It doesn't matter what game, but as long as I play it for like an hour or two, it will allow me to relax more and take my frustrations out on them.
• 2.  Maybe take a nap.  I've seen things here and there that say that a 20 minute nap every day helps to increase productivity and lower stress levels.
• 3.  Maybe learn to do something new.  An arts/craft, an exercise style, the beginning of a language.  Keep the mind working.
• 4.  Write a poem once a week.  It's a different kind of creativity and keeps the thoughts flowing.  Who knows?  Maybe a poem will spark an idea!

Week 2 (formerly known as Week 1):

• -3. Make a very, VERY basic outline of the plot and story. (Started)
• -4. Develop characters in mind well enough to have a strong main cast as well as a few important minor characters.
• A. Don’t spend too much time on this. If not doable, focus on the main character and develop others through there and through interaction between other characters while writing.
• -5. Once done with these steps, make a schedule for writing.
• A. Keep it flexible. Hiccups will happen.
• B. Don’t fret if the schedule is broken. Set up caveats in case a goal isn’t reached.
• C. Remember that not all chapters will be the same length and keep an eye out for points that seem to be good ending points for each chapbook.

One question (that's a lie, I've got a couple) for all of you reading this out there.  I've made it known that I'm doing this writing in chapbook format.  Each chapbook is going to have 5-7 chapters per book, and I think I'm going to have about 20 books in total which I plan to combine down into 10ish, maybe less.  As you can all see, I've still got the plot planning to do, and I know what's causing me problems there.  I don't know how to plan out the plot.  Should I plot out each book, or should I plot out the story as a whole?  How do you organize your plot outlines or designs?  Do you have any suggestions or ideas?  Does your type of organization change with different genres?  I ask because I've always been a pantser.  I've never plotted out a story or characters, and I think that may be part of my issue, so any advice you can give would be lovely!  Thank you!

With that, I bid all of you adieu!