Welcome!
Just a quick update this morning. Work is calling and my internet went down yesterday afternoon until just now. Love the cable companies, yep.
Added 1200 words total this week which is okay.
I feel like I’m reading Description & Setting in slow motion but I’m still pressing forward with it.
When I moved my daughters in a few weeks ago, the room they moved into was my wife’s office. While she generally worked in the living room, the kids kinda took that over to some degree as well. So, yesterday I spent the first half of the day dividing my office space with my wife so she can have a fairly quiet place to work. Getting to see the smile on her face was priceless.
Four more days to go. Not the blazing finish I wanted, but there is always next round.
How is your final week going?
Peaceful Journeys!
Gene Lempp ~ Writer 
Well done Gene. Any progress is still progress. That is what I keep telling myself anyway.
Thanks, Billie Jo. You are quite right 🙂
Nice word count. Best of luck for the last few days.
I know what you mean about not having the blazing finish you hoped for but I figure, atleast I am finishing! Lovely that you have given your wife some office space and I love that the smile on her face was priceless.
I hope you have a great last push to the finish line!
Your blog posts tend to make me feel warm and fuzzy inside (your wife’s smile). I always wondered if I was the slowest reader ever because I can’t finish a book in 12 hours as is the average for a fiction novel. A book of non-fiction for study purposes….that would take me forever! I’m just gonna say that I read slower to really soak it in. 🙂
I also don’t think I’m going to blaze out of the 80 days either, but the fire is a burning and I’m almost at blazing level. Like you said, there is always Round 4!
Katy: Thanks, same to you 🙂
Em: Was just at your site and yeah, same boat, but the point is effort, not like we are winning a prize. Right? Okay, just checking. My wife and I are together 80% of the time, we sit across from each other on our day job, so this is not a difficult transition 🙂
Nicole: I’m glad I can give you a smile, that is very sweet of you. I’m a “soaker” reader as well, especially with non-fiction. In general, I don’t have to re-read any book fully and can generally remember what part of the book a certain piece of information or scene occurred at. But it is a sloooow process.
Keep those fires burning. Round 4 is a chance for a fresh start 🙂
If it makes you feel any better, I moved from SC to CT with a 2-year-old and 11-year-old and my husband has to stay behind in SC to wrap things up with his command and get our house ready to rent. I edited the last round of changes for my debut novel that I released last week sitting on either an air mattress, the wooden floor, and eventually a metal chair. My butt actually bruised from the days of sitting in the uncushioned fold up chair, but I wasn’t going to miss my deadline. Our house hold goods were packed up on Sept 1, and the moving company didn’t deliver them until Sept. 13 (Navy move). And I still beat my deadline by 8 days. 🙂 But I still have tons of boxes un packed, so the the give comes from somewhere! Hope you and your wife can share an office. Hubby and I do not do that very well.
Let me say upfront that all of you are fantastic and just gave me a boost in a way I can’t describe. Thank you 🙂
Elizabeth: Wow! That had to be very difficult and I don’t know how you pulled it off. Raw determination seems an understatement. Kudo’s! Yes, my wife and I share space quite well. The office is divided with her bookshelves down the middle so that we can’t actually see each other or easily interact when we are both in here. At our day job, we sit across from each other and work with no issue, so this will be even easier.
Kerry: Thanks, ROWbro, you are right both about slow and steady and about MJ being grateful, she was ecstatic 🙂 Awesome on Outlander, its always a thrill to find out things aren’t as bad as we think. Go Titans (unless they play the Cowboys)!
Renee: Kristen is incredible isn’t she (adore her). I like the 7 points idea, that is what I really need to do, just sit back and take a good clean look at things and reset on a direction. In a way, I’m glad this round of ROW80 is almost over. A fresh start is in order. On pissing people off: Over this round of ROW80 I’ve had to learn to pass on some of the things I was doing in order to gain the things I need to get done. People understand we don’t have time to do everything, respond immediately (or sometimes at all). It is just a fact of the modern world. Find your peace 🙂
Nadja: Luckily, my office is pretty big (was our bedroom at one time) so slipping it in half wasn’t as bad as it may seem. We both have cozy little writing nooks now, separated (as I mentioned above) and work well together. Thanks much for the support it means the world to me 🙂
Kathy: I will admit to frustration and a small amount of disappointment over things but, I have great friends both in life and cyberspace. You are right that I am doing pretty well over all and that is what I need to concentrate on. The successes and not the minor setbacks. Thanks 🙂
Blazing finishes usually aren’t what get us there ROWbro. It is the slow steady progress that you put in every day. Nice job, and I’m sure wifey is grateful for the workspace.
BTW, I lucked out on Outlander. I bought it with my iPad, and with the font size I had, it was 1855 pages. It turned out that 300 of those pages were a sample of her next book. So I was never as behind as I thought I was. I’m off to do 750 on my iPhone now. Yea! NOT. B-/ Have a good weekend. Go Titans!
I am rather embarrassed to admit that I have been working on what was first non-fiction but what has been gutted (like the hideous fish that it was) and fashioned into a new piece of fiction that is really working. It is at 75,000 words. But after a conversation with Kristen Lamb, I see that I have some work to do.
Meanwhile, I have been working my butt off between teaching and blogging and planning a Bar Mitzvah — not to mention schlepping to after-school activities, doing the dumb laundry and trying to meet the needs of people who seem to like to have food in the refrigerator. That said, my WIP has suffered.
Last night, I wrote out my 7 points, to remind myself what the hell I’m doing again.
I plan to start writing every morning for 1 hour. It is honestly all I can muster these days, and I worry about pissing off bloggers if I don’t spent time on twitter or responding to every comment the way I used to. Am I being ridiculous?
What’s the old saying…,”Slow & steady wins the race.” That’s what I’m going for. Have a great week. I can only imagine the furniture moving/junk schlepping fiasco of moving an entire office. Once it’s all put together, hope you and yor wife get that ‘zen’ feeling and let out a long whish of breath! Ha! ~ Nadja
Gene, I totally agree with Kerry: slow and steady wins the race. Don’t be discouraged! If your blog is any indication, you are doing amazing work. Renee, don’t worry about pissing off people – you can only do so much. The people important to you will understand.
Making room to share office space with your wife is a perfectly lovely reason to lag on goals a bit. I got nothing done on Friday because my husband took the day off and we made a long date out of it. Just like logging a few words a day, a novel is written; those little things in marriage add up to a great life together. Thanks for letting me digress into a soapbox moment on love!
Anyway, keep going! I’ll be in the next round of ROW80 as well, dragging a few of last round’s goals with me too.
I love reading your ROW80 updates Gene because they show the reality of writing life paired with work and family. Maybe some days you can’t have a rock star output, but you keep going and each moment of progress gets you closer to goal.
Very true, Barbara. My evil inner perfectionist disagrees but he is the one that has held me back for too long. Progress is what is important, I say it to others all the time but we all know how hard it is to take our own advice.
My thanks to you and everyone that has helped me gain clarity and strength so I can continue to scale the writers mountain 🙂
@Genelempp Never try to keep a Navy wife down. You can try, but you probably won’t get very far. 😉 (And I did have my mother with me for some of that time to help wrangle the kids, but my 2 yo spent a bunch of time IN my lap as I edited. She’s cutting molars and loves to exclaim Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!)
Elizabeth: I’d never attempt to keep any military wife down, hardy folk 🙂 As I have four kids, all girls, I completely understand where you are coming from. Just don’t type Mommy, mommy, mommy into the manuscript.
Cricket: I’m right with you. Except for broadband we have moved away from the cable company to other services and it looks like we’ll have another broadband option soon which will free us from them altogether. Thanks for the support 🙂
Cable companies should be added to the “four letter word” list. As already covered, progress is the important part. Speed comes later. 🙂 Sending good thoughts for this last week!
Gene, it sounds like you’re kicking butt to me. Yay for you! That’s pretty cool that you and your wife can work so close to each other. I have to go in another room with my laptop because my husband likes to talk to me the whole time! After many years, I realized I don’t like sitting at a desk to work. I’m so much happier with a laptop so I can work with my feet up (that way my legs don’t swell) and be comfortable. Isn’t it funny how we’re all so different, but I say whatever works, then it’s all good.
Lynn: Everyone works a bit differently to be sure. Fortunately, my wife and I can work in proximity without distracting each other (years of practice at our day job). The bonus is we do have easy access to each other (and a combined library), so yeah its cozy 🙂 Thanks for the support, you always make me smile.
Ruth: Have a great vacation, Ruth. Looking forward to Round 4 and a fresh start 🙂
Wendy: Actually the moving wasn’t all that bad and now that she is fully set up, all the effort was well worth it. Have a great week!
Marie: Thanks, I’m looking forward to see you (and everyone else) in Round 4. Have a great week 🙂
Yup, no blazing finish here either, as you know. But thanks so much for all your support in recent weeks! I’m flying before the end of this round, and I don’t know what Internet access will be, so I don’t know if I will be posting again. But I’ll definitely be back for the next round of ROW80! Great folks here. 🙂
Congrats on the words you did manage to complete despite Life. Hope you have a great week!
Moving things around is always exhausting. But it sounds like you will have a nice arrangement. Congrats on the WC. That is a great number for being so busy. Keep up the good work and see you next time around!
Way to go on the progress and word count Gene!
Love that you set up your office so it’s workable for all 🙂 I’ll look forward to the next round with you 🙂
Marie
I cut my word goal in half – had to remember the goal of ROW80 is to still have a life while writing.
Sounds like you’ve found a balance between the two. Good job on the 1200 words.
I agree with what so many have said, progress is progress especially when Life tries to get in the way. 😉 Congrats!
This was my first round, and I’ve learned so much from everyone and have enjoyed all the support. I’m very much looking forward to Round 4 and all who join me!