Writing Wednesday: Row80 Check-in & Computer Issues

My week has been going fairly well so far. Seems the first half usually goes better for me than the second though, judging by previous rounds. Of course, Monday my daughter didn’t have school. I figured she would still be up early, since no one in this house seems to know the concept of sleeping in(me included). But, both kids actually slept until right around 7(and yes, that is sleeping in here). I could have written for another hour, but instead I got off the computer at six and started washing dishes. And we baked cookies later that day. Still, Monday was my best writing day so far this week. I was up and at the computer by five. Tuesday I didn’t amke it there until 5:30 because I fell back asleep after my alarm went off and this morning, I was up by 5 but not at the computer until about 5:10 and was writing by 5:20.

• Write at least 1 hour every day. Target: 5000+ new words.

I have been writing at least an hour a day this week. Monday I wrote for that long before I started the dishes and added 1211 words. I only managed half an hour Tuesday morning and was just short of 500 words. Then, worked in another 2 half hour sessions and brought my total up to 1161. This morning I managed about 45 minutes even with getting my daughter breakfast since she was up about 15 minutes early. Then, was able to peck out a few more words while both her and her brother ate and she got ready for school. And I managed 647 words. If I have time after getting everything else on today’s to-do list done, I will shoot for some more words. But, if not, I won’t worry too much about it. I have still managed to write 3019 words so far this week. So, that averages out to 1000 words a day. I have only missed one day this month(Sunday), and my monthly average is 745(about 828 on the days I’ve written). I’ve just passed 20,000 words on the WiP. I’m happy with that.

• Finish the summary for Healing the Heart.

Finished this on Monday.

• Write back stories for major characters

I finished the first of these last night. Out of the six handwritten notebook pages it took to write it, about 2 of them were her shared history with a character from Slow Revenge(the one I finished writing in August). So, I knew some of it before I started writing, but not from her point of view.

• Have 5 more areas cross off editing checklist

I crossed one off on Monday, but didn’t get to my editing yesterday since the back story took me so long to write. I’ve added it to today’s to-do list and plan on working on that before I start on the next back story.

• Comment on at least 5 blog posts

I commented on 1 this morning. Not exactly on track but I may still meet this by Sunday.

• Keep up with my posting schedule

Skipped Monday’s post, but got my knitting post up yesterday.

• Reply to all comments on my posts

I replied to all the comments on Sunday’s post. None on Tuesday’s to comment on.

• Finish Laiden’s Daughter

Finished reading this on Monday. Had a few issues with it, but overall really liked the story. Looking forward to reading the next one.

• Read Red

Started it Monday night. Didn’t get to read much yesterday, but did while walking on the treadmill this morning and am up to 21% through it. Enjoying so far.

• Walk on treadmill 3 days

I have 2 days down. Walked just over 1 1/4 miles on Monday and about 1 2/5 miles this morning. Went about 3 minutes over my half hour while I was finishing reading a scene in Red.

• Stay within calories at least 3/5 days

Yeah…fail so far this week. I went about 100 calories over on Monday. I don’t know about yesterday, because I stopped tracking in the afternoon. But considering all the smarties(my weakness) and peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies I ate, I’m pretty sure I was well over on my calories. But, just need to get back on track today.

As for my computer issues…Not really writing related, I guess, but it’s definitely going to affect my writing. I’ve been having issues with my computer for about a year now, I think. Pretty sure it started just before NaNo last year. Upon turning it on, the computer screen jumps around. That probably sounds weird but it’s the easiest way for me to explain it. It had been bad for a while then seemed to get better without me doing anything. In the last couple months, it has started doing it again though. And even worse. Of course, I can still use the computer, but it messes with my eyes as I write. Unless I type with my eyes closed, which I have a tendency to do(words seem to flow better when I don’t see them on the screen. I’m weird, I know.). It also doesn’t want to hold a charge. Even when it’s plugged in. At least 3 times in the last week, it’s completely died on me while being plugged in. Of course, I keep getting a warning that I need to replace the battery. And I looked at them one day, and it was I think $70 or $80 for a new one(might be pulling those numbers out of thin air, but I think it was something like that). And I don’t even know if that will solve the problem(pretty sure it won’t solve the screen problem). And of course, a new computer for me isn’t in the budget right now. So, I’m just hoping this one will last until I can get a new one. And until then, my mantra is “back it up. back it up.” because when my netbook died in september ’10(after only about 18 months of use), I hadn’t had anything backed up. Lost all my son’s baby pictures that weren’t on Facebook and any work I’d done on my other stories. Not letting that happen again.