ROW-80 Round 4: How I Got Here

I've never before participated in a writing challenge. I didn't even know such things existed until a couple of years ago when JR Pearse Nelson (author of Tribute, with Vessel available by the end of the year) told me about NaNoWriMo. Earlier this summer I considered participating in NaNo, but when I mentioned it to JR she said, "No, you should check out ROW-80."

Since then I've learned quite a bit about writing challenges. In general, they are analogous to running: some are sprints, others are marathons. NaNo is like a 50k writing marathon that requires you to sprint the whole time. (It's insane.) Row-80 is more like a daily jog. (Good for you, self-paced, and more easily accomplished.)

Clearly, the successful completion of NaNo is not a possibility for me. (How JR found the time is quite impressive.) I'm not even sure if I can get through ROW-80, even though I'm allowed to set my own goals. Perhaps if my goal is, Write something -- anything. Plan it or go free-form; finish it or not... just get back in the habit of writing. Perhaps then I could guarantee success. But alas, for ROW-80, I think I need to work just a little bit harder than write something, anything.

Thankfully, I have a large, unfinished project that's teeming with possibilities, plus several other, smaller goals I would like to reach. But unfortunately I just glanced at the clock, and I need to get ready for bed, so I will have to share my ROW-80 goals tomorrow.

Until then...

- b