I’ve missed a few ROW80 check-ins this round, and while I don’t believe in excuses, I do have a couple of reasons.

One is “Life: the Good Stuff.” This includes my daughter’s graduation, various end-of -year programs leading up to that (and after), and a subsequent graduation party which went very well. Yesterday and the day before, we had college orientation.

In  the middle of that, I managed to get my short story revised, so my other reason was “hiding out in the revision cave.” Sometimes, writing a blog post is just one thing too many. It’s like during the holidays, when we have too many things to do, and we need to evaluate what we can drop from the list, and avoid getting stressed out.

The revisions wouldn’t have been a big deal–after all, it’s just a short story–but they turned out to be somewhat extensive. You see, after writing the first draft, I realized I’d set my story in the wrong place. And after beginning revisions, I realized I’d also set it in the wrong time.

I knew I had to make these changes, but at the same time, I asked myself, “Why do I do this to myself?”

I’d initially set the story at a fictitious beach resort in order to be able to just get something written. This is a Saturn Society story, and so far, those have all taken place primarily in real locales (barring Hollowville, Tennessee in Time’s Fugitive, which is fictitious). It was missing something, that little dose of real history that is one of the things in my books my readers have told me they love. And therein was the answer to my question: I do it for my readers. It’s also for me: once I’d made the decision to change time and place, I was a lot more excited about the story, and found some way fun history to work in, which I will share here when the story is released.

And that makes it all worthwhile.

As for this week’s ROW80 goals stated on Wednesday, I did complete the three book cover designs. One of the authors is out of town, so I haven’t heard back on that one, and another is for the anthology that “Time’s Tempest” will appear in. I haven’t sent it to anyone yet, but I’m publishing it, and I’m happy with it. 😀 I sent out, got approval, and finalized one for my friend Jim Winter, and he and I are both very happy with it! I’ll be giving all three some cover lovin’ here soon. So a successful week to be sure!

This week, I need to figure out what my next project will be, and if my other friend gets back to me on her cover, I’ll finalize that as well.

What about you–knocked out any goals lately? Have you had any change, and needed to ask yourself why? And if so, did you find the answers? 🙂 Please share–I’d love to hear from you!

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.