ROW80 2014, Round 2, Week 1

 "A Round of Words in 80 Days is the writing challenge that knows you have a life."

Oh, lawd. What do I want to say about my writing life this week? Well I've been working on my pseudonym's WIP2 and then on Friday night I found out about the A Public Space Emerging Writers Fellowship, application due this Tuesday, so my focus has shifted til I get my application in. I wanted to start applying for fellowships and residencies this year; this one seems like a great one to start with because they offer six months of mentorship as part of the fellowship package, which is something I have not seen elsewhere. Awesome.

I also got a great question from a coaching client about what strategies I use to motivate myself to write (blog post coming soon), and I had an epiphany of sorts that one of the reasons I persist in the path I've chosen is because my belief in possibility is so strong; if I didn't believe that it were possible for what I write to make a difference to someone else and that I can make at least a partial living off writing exactly what I want to write, I'd sink into a depression born of apathy - as surely as Artax sank into the Swamp of Sadness - and stop writing. Luckily, I have been gifted with just the write brand of optimism/determination/stupidity to allow me to push on. Also, having supportive friends and family really helps. Thank you, friends and family. You are all kinds of awesomeness.

And now for this week's ROW80 check-in:

Writing

• Min. of 2 hrs/day on pseudonym's WIP2 - MOSTLY. Accomplished this Mon-Fri but shifted to fellowship app this weekend. Will continue to focus on fellowship application until I submit on Tuesday, and then back to regularly scheduled programming.

Reading

• Read something inspiring every week - DONE. Have started reading Miranda July's collection of short stories No one belongs here more than you and am totally in love. She has a strong unique voice, and the stories are quirky and slightly disturbing because they touch on parts of the human experience that we don't normally talk about. I think she's genius. Probably everybody else knows this already though and I am the last person to find out.

Community

•  Read & comment on at least 3 fellow ROW80-ers' check-ins - DONE. Yay!

Health

• Continue to exercise for at least one hour per day - DONE. No tennis this week, but am doing tai chi 5x/week now in addition to the daily walk.
• Continue to moderate my consumption of refined sugar, bread, cheese and alcohol - Umm...YES? I think I'm going to need a more specific guideline than this. Had naughty days yesterday & today, wherein I consumed one or more of the above. For the most part I stayed away from these foods, though.

This is a blog hop! Click here to see other ROW80 participants' check-ins.