Tuesday, April 8, 2014

ROW Round 2 Goals - 2014

As you may or may not have noticed, I sat the last round out.  I've been dealing with a fairly severe bout of depression since December.  I had all these plans after NaNoWriMo - I learned a lot about my writing process and I had a lot of ideas for how to move forward.  But somehow I just couldn't get started.  My ideas weren't solidified into manageable goals yet at the beginning of the round, and I said "that's okay, I can start a little late".  And a week went by while I looked at my notes, and tried to form a coherent blog post, and fought with my computer.  And then two, and then three.  I tried two or three times to write a post, but I just ... couldn't.  So I decided to take the round off, and hope I could pull myself together in time for round 2.

The truth is, I'm still incredibly depressed.  I'm hoping that the spring sunshine will help - seasonal affective disorder is definitely a part of the problem, along with holiday blues in December and January and upheaval in my living situation.  But I want to start getting back to my writing.  Maybe if I can get back into it, that will help too. 

So in keeping with Kait's post on being kind to ourselves (how timely was that!), I'm setting pretty light goals this round.  I'm also really busy right now, because I'm involved with a production of Les Miserables in our local theater, so the theater kind of owns my free time for the next six weeks.  I was thinking about doing Story A Day in May this year, but the show doesn't close until May 11th, so I'm not sure that's doable.  We'll see how April goes.

Here are my goals:

1) Write something at least 3 days a week.  Could be work on a WIP, writing exercises, journaling, whatever, as long as I write something.

2) Catch up on the materials for the DIY MFA 101 course I signed up for, and keep working through that program.  (The DIY MFA 101 course is a six-month workshop with a different focus each month - I haven't even finished the January materials yet.  You can find out more about DIY MFA here: http://diymfa.com/)

3) Fitness:
     a) Work out at least 2 days a week.
     b) Try not to eat so much "comfort food"

Anyway, I wish you all a lovely round! 


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've known several writers who've suffered from SAD. They've all said that NaNo keeps it at bay but once that NaNo energy is over, things go south so I totally understand where you're coming from. I think your approach is a smart way to go. Best of luck with your goals and break a leg!

Siri Paulson said...

I'm with you on the light goals! In my case it's not because of depression this time, but I've certainly fought that battle in the past. You're being very wise by starting small. Here's wishing you a fabulous round!

gypsyharper said...

Thanks Ryan & Siri for stopping by! I hope you both have a great round also.