02 Oct

ROW80 Goals Post

Posted in Blog, ROW80, Writing Challenge

I am so excited to be participating in ROW80 this fall!  I’m new to this challenge but I have a writing friend who did it in the spring and said it was awesome so I just had to try.  Now I can’t wait to get started.  This weekend, I did a little browsing and looked at some other writers’ goals to get ideas for how I wanted to structure my own.  I decided on approaching my goals in terms of a weekly schedule.  This way, it still gives me some flexibility day-to-day (which is key considering my sometimes unpredictable schedule), but will be structured enough to keep me accountable.

In addition, I decided I would focus my writing on DIY MFA content, since this is the big project on my plate right now.  I’m going to try to sneak in a little editing for my latest fiction WIP, but really the main part of my goals will focus on cranking out and editing new content for DIY-MFA-related products and features.

Finally, I had another reason for focusing on DIY MFA.  This project is focused on platform-building and putting together an entrepreneurial business based on my author brand.  I thought that not only would ROW80 help boost my productivity, but the check-in posts would give me a concrete written record of how I’m building this business as I go along, which could come in handy down the road.

So without further ado, here are my goals.  Each week, I will…

  1. Revise one chapter of my fiction WIP.  I have six chapters in need of revision, so this will take me through the first six weeks of the challenge, which works out nicely because then I can put the WIP on the back-burner and ramp up DIY MFA work.
  2. Write and publish the 4 weekly DIY MFA blog posts.  In addition, I will try to write one or two post drafts so I can stay ahead of schedule on the editorial calendar.
  3. Write and publish a minimum of 3 posts here at iggi&gabi.  This will include the two ROW80 check-in posts and the Friday YA Cafe posts.  If additional topics of interest come up, I might add a 4th weekly post.
  4. Write one DIY MFA newsletter every week.  This will start in late October or early November (coinciding approximately with my finishing the WIP chapter revisions.)
  5. Write 5000 words of DIY MFA flagship content.  This flagship content will include any copy that needs to get written for DIY MFA products, courses or features.  I will schedule this writing so that I do approximately 1250 words per day, four days per week.

These tasks are the absolute minimum I must do each week in order to stay on schedule with all my projects.  On one hand, these goals make me nervous because they are a bit steep, but on the other hand none of this is stuff I wouldn’t be doing anyway so it’s win-win.  If I must drop one of my goals, it will be the revisions on the fiction WIP, which can always head to the back-burner for a little bit longer while I get DIY MFA set up.

What about you?  Are you doing ROW80 or do you have any particular goals for this fall?  If so, what are they?

17 Comments »

Comments on this post

  1. Barbara McDowell says:

    Hey Gabi! Great to see your goals. My first thought was “Whoa, that’s a lot of blog posts,” but it includes the check-ins so that’s cool. Also your drafting posts in advance is a great plan. My plan is to also do that during ROW80. Happy writing and ROWing!

    1. Nicole Basaraba says:

      Welcome to the #ROW80 challenge. Its lots of fun and you will be suprised at how much you can accomplish. I know I was in Round 3.

      See you at the #ROW80 Twitter Party on Oct. 5th!

      P.S. I’m on She Writes too!

      1. Gerhi Feuren says:

        I find it easier to blog regularly and more when I have no plan and no drafts at the ready. It suits my style of blogging. You might work better doing advance work, especially if it includes some research or instructions.

        Still a lot of blog posts. Good luck.

        1. Jenn says:

          Yay Gabi, I’m glad to see you doing ROW80 too! I’ve done it all year so far and it’s AWESOME! Good luck with your goals! 🙂

          1. Lauralynn Elliott says:

            Welcome to ROW80! I’ve been with it since the beginning, and it’s a great challenge.

            Wow, you’re really going to be busy! Good luck with all of the goals you’ve set. Just remember that if you aren’t perfect, no one is going to be negative about it. We’re always positive here at ROW80!

            1. Ghenet Myrthil says:

              Yay good luck with your goals! I’ll be rooting for you. 🙂

              1. L.S. Engler says:

                Oooh, welcome aboard, Gabi! I’m fairly new to RoW80 myself, but joining on the last round was one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made. You’ve got some solid goals going on there; I’m sure you’ll do great and I look forward to getting the chance to root you on and see how you do! I know I set a goal last time that had no chance of being finished, but that’s another great thing about it; there’s nothing wrong with modifying thing so they work for you and it’s a great way to really get to know what you can accomplish and how.

                So…yay! Glad to have you with us! I’m so excited to get Round 4 going!

                1. Katy Bennett says:

                  Welcome to ROW80, I’m sure you’ll love it, best of luck with your goals.

                  1. Elizabeth Mitchell says:

                    Welcome to RoW80, Gabi! One of the keys to RoW80 is the flexibility; I had to tweak my goals last round. As Lauralynn says, everyone is very supportive and positive. Good to have you on board!

                    1. Vernieda says:

                      Hi Gabi! This is my first time participating in ROW80 too. Best of luck with your goals!

                      1. Robin McCormack says:

                        Welcome to Row80! I’ve been doing it since the beginning and it’s well worth it. You have great list of goals. Looking forward to your posts and off to check out DIYMFA. Have been considering doing my own but didn’t know where to start.

                        1. Raelyn Barclay says:

                          Good luck with your goals. I look forward to getting to know you during round 4 🙂

                          1. Annalise Green says:

                            Hey, welcome to the ROW! I think you’ll find that it’s super helpful. Those are some great goals. Good luck on your goals!

                            1. gabi says:

                              Thank you all for the wonderful warm welcome! I’m so excited to be starting this project and can’t wait to meet and get to know all you fabulous and friendly writers. Write on!

                              1. Gina says:

                                yay! great goals, gabi. hope you can dig down on them during wednesday write nights some time!

                                1. Jaleh says:

                                  Welcome to the challenge! I did it for the first time last round, and even though I was a slacker through the middle of it, it did help me get more done. Have fun with your writing!

                                  1. Ali Dent says:

                                    This is my first time here. I look forward to getting to know you. Good luck with your goals.

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