It’s late as I write this, because I had a usual Sunday of stuff to do around the house, then trying to get back into the habit of cooking healthy dinners, and then–who knew?–writing! So I’m blogging late, but got my writing in, so that’s a win. And I just checked out the ROW80 Blog and saw that the Round starts tomorrow (Monday), not next week like I thought. Luckily, I’ve been thinking about goals these past few days, so I was prepared.

But first, how about an update from Tennessee? I hope these aren’t boring folks too much, but really, I’m documenting the build for myself as much as to share. We got an unexpected, additional Christmas gift this year when our neighbor sent us some new pictures–apparently, there are a bunch of carpenters in Knoxville who wanted to earn some extra Christmas money, because they totally kicked some butt on Christmas Eve!

I like the top two pictures because they’re finally starting to look more like the size the house will be (about 2000 sq. ft.), rather than ridiculously huge(for us) . Then there’s the view out the back of the house, and oh, how about a cute dog pic, because it’s been too long since I’ve had one on here?

What I’ve Been Reading: Cleon Moon, by Lindsay Buroker, the fifth in her Fallen Empire series. I’m really enjoying these, and am glad there are three more to go, plus what looks like a second, spinoff series. No link today because I’m lazy and I need to get this post done.

What I’ve Been Writing: I figured out and fixed the logistical inconsistency I found last week, plus added another fifteen hundred words. Five hundred of those were last night, as I decided it’s time to up my game and get this book done.

Which brings me to my 2019 goals.

This is pretty ambitious, and I feel crazy for even attempting this, with the move and all. Maybe I’ve been watching too many videos from Dean Wesley Smith, but hey, writing’s getting to be fun again, and now that the craziness of the holidays is over, I think I can do this: I’m going to finish this WIP, which only has 5-10,000 words to go. And I’m going to finish the next book in the series this year. Which doesn’t sound like such a big deal, except I write looooooooonnnnnng books. As in, 140,000-words long. Also, packing, moving, getting settled in a new state and all that goes along with it.

Click the emblem to visit the ROW80 blog, and find out what it’s all about – you’re welcome to join us!

So yeah, kind of crazy. But doable, maybe! Because here’s the thing. When I make it a point to do the writing regularly, I can write 1,000 words an hour without too much problem. That comes out to 5,000 words/week, allowing for two days off.

And I only have to do it thirty weeks this year to hit that. Even if I don’t hit it, I’m likely to get a lot more done than I otherwise would (what Smith calls “failing to success” – I love that!). I’ve done a good job (if I say so myself) getting back into a habit of writing through the months of November and December, so now I just have to keep it up. The catch will be to devote an hour to it a day, rather than the 15 minutes or so I’ve been doing.

There will be weeks around the move where I’ll do well to get 1,000 words in for the whole week, but I’m going to try doing just that, keeping it a habit even during the busy times.

For this Round (through March 20th), I want to finish this book, and get another 40,000-45,000 words in on the next (depending on how much it takes to finish this one), for a total of 50,000 words.

For this week: Since I’ve been going slowly for the past month due to the holidays, I’m still ramping up. This week, I want to get a total of 2,500 words, or 500 words a day for five days. I already got today’s 500 in, and did 500 yesterday too, and it wasn’t difficult. So far, so good, but we’ll have to see how that goes when I go back to work.

What about you–how was your holiday? Got any exciting plans for New Year’s Eve? (I don’t, but that’s OK.) How did your 2018 wrap up, and what plans do you have for 2019? I love to hear from you! Please share in the comments–and whatever your plans are, have a fantastic, happy, fun, safe, and prosperous New Year!

Jennette Marie Powell writes stories about ordinary people in ordinary places, who do extraordinary things and learn that those ordinary places are anything but. In her Saturn Society novels, unwilling time travelers do what they must to make things right... and change more than they expect. You can find her books at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo, iTunes, and more.