Lauren Garafalo

It has been a fantastic and semi-lazy weekend! The Boy took me out for birthday dinner last night, and we went to see the Avengers. We’re in the middle of nowhere, so this was actually quite a feat! (And around here, possibly considered living it up to do both in the same night <--I kid.) I'm actually excited to have discovered a movie theater that's not an hour away. Me=stoked!

Last week, I had to get a new license because mine was about to expire. My lovely state takes your old license, issues you a paper one, and then mails you the real one several weeks later.

I guess that'd be ok if ANYONE would take a paper ID when you'd like to order a Margarita for you know...Cinco de Mayo or your 30th birthday perhaps. But they don't.

Apparently I look WAY too young to be taken seriously.I almost never order a drink, and the one time I want to, my awesome paper ID fails me. I suppose I should consider it a compliment, but this felt like an age that should be celebrated with a pretty cocktail, ya know?

Enough ranting, and on to the check -in:

1. Read a book a week

Finished INSURGENT by Veronica Roth, and LOVED it! Think I’m only 4 books behind now, so catching up!!

2. Write 2 hours each weekday

Checkity, check!! This was all messed up earlier this week, but I put in some extra time to even things out.

3. Get healthy

Tomorrow is the start of a brand new week

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and productive upcoming week!

Two of my lovely friends, Juliana & Em, tagged me with the 7 Facts Tag. Today I’ll be revealing 7 facts about my writing and tagging 7 of you to pass it on to. Here we go!

ONE. One of these days, I’ll actually write myself a bio. I don’t really know what it will say, but it will definitely start with the fact that I am a walking contradiction. In many cases, whatever I say, probably the exact opposite could also be true sometimes.

I love to listen to music while writing. I do, however, also need times of absolute silence. When I have music on, I like to listen to it with headphones because it evokes stronger emotion in me which seems to allow me to write better. Mostly I write to soundtracks because I LOVE MOVIES AND WHY NOT?! Check out my Spotify profile if you ever need suggestions!

TWO. Sometimes I outline and sometimes I don’t. My process is actually more like this:

OOOOO SHINY IDEA *runs after it*
Days or weeks or months of word vomit
Light bulb(s)
Scene List (My outlines look like beat sheets. I think this is a side effect from having worked in Hollywood.)
Write FOR REAL NOW based on said scene list

I need a long time to explore, and the exploring only happens if I write. I write down every single idea, and talk (type) to myself a lot before actually having a solid structure. I agonize over the discovery phase, but I also LURVVVE it.

THREE. I always have 10 different thoughts in my head at once, but my mouth can only get out one at a time. It’s because of this that I very rarely ever say the right thing the first time. Those of you that #teamsprinty have probably witnessed this. Things come out SOOOO wrong the first time. On the up side, it is often hilarious.

I bring this up because my writing is like this too. It’s all bare bones the first time, and then I rewrite and reword and slowly turn it from whatever I spewed on the first try into the pretty thing that was in my head.

FOUR. This is going to shock all of you. *whispers* I AM A BLOODY FANGIRL. (Yes in caps…come on…I don’t whisper!!) I love SO MANY THINGS that it is sometimes exhausting. I often put off reading what is popular if I know it’s something that I’m going to go crazy over. And then I kick myself for not having read it earlier.

The point is that loving books, movies, tv is why I want to create them in the first place. All the squealing, bouncing, laughing, flailing, and general FREAKING OUT that WE (I know there are at least 145647655314 more of you out there) do is because the things we read and watch make us happy. I just want to give that gift of uncontainable happiness to anyone that cares to read what I write.

FIVE. I’ve been developing a story about a girl stuck in Purgatory for quite awhile, like more than a year, and I FINALLY named her. I’ve called her several things along the way, but now she has a permanent name. What is it? VIOLET.

SIX. I like to write in the company of other people. Whether it’s at a library, a cafe, or my living room while the Boy and friends play video games. All I need is headphones, and the rest of the world is blocked out. I’ve been known to go running from the room in a fit of laughter, tears, and once I wrote something really intense and threw up! <---Yeah, gross, but hopefully it's a good scene!!

SEVEN. #teamsprinty is one of the happiest accidents I’ve ever had. It all started because Em and I somehow decided we were crazy enough to do NaNoWriMo last November and wanted to find an hour in the day where we could both be online writing towards our goal of 2,000 words a day at the same time.

It was hard to pick an hour as I’m in the US, and she’s in the UK, but we settled on my lunch/her just after dinner. Turns out that lots of ROW80ers were also nano nuts and hopped on twitter at the same time and wrote with us! It was amazing, and I’ve done it almost every weekday since. It’s my writing hour, and I get to share it with SO MANY lovely people.

If you’ve never witnessed the #teamsprinty insanity, you really should stop by. We’re on twitter almost every weekday at 2 PM EST for an hour. You can write, edit, plot, read, or pretty much anything you can think of. The whole goal is to show up for an hour and work at something to do with your writing goals. Most of us stay for the whole hour, but if you can’t, stay as long as you like – we’re easy like that.

We use the #ROW80 hashtag to keep up with everyone and write separately, but together. It’s a darn good time. You’ll laugh so much your sides hurt, and you’ll get something done every day with lots of support from others.

ROW80. Since today is check in day, I’ll let you all know that I haven’t read enough yet this week, I’ve made the 2 hours per day spent on writing, and I’m doing just so so on the whole being healthy goal.

Now to choose seven lovelies for the 7 Facts Tag:

Nicole Basaraba

Lena Corazon

Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Glover

Roger Redin

Eden Mabee

Kat Morrisey

They’re lovely people, and I want to know more about their writing, don’t you??!! <3

I’m checking in from the highway today. We packed up more stuff yesterday and drove it to the new place. We’re organizing a little today, and then I have to get back for work tomorrow. I think we have maybe one or two more car trips and everything should be out of the old place. Yippee!!

1. Read a book each week

I’ve read 2 books since I checked in last, one of which was DIVERGENT. I am in love with Four. That is all.

2. Write 2 hours each weekday

Doing A-okay on this one. I’ve been filling in my scene list all week, and I think it’s almost complete. Also had lots of break throughs this week. So exciting!

3. Get healthy

I’ve been eating really healthy and have decided that I’m going to start back at the gym once we’re officially done moving things. I’m actually really excited about this. It’s soooo time.

The lovely Em and New2writinggirl tagged me with the sunshine award, which I loooooove them for. You two are the sweetest I’m going to tackle that on Wednesday!

Have a WONDERFUL week everybody!!

Quick check in! I really just have a summary because I need to get to work on my Throwback post and my Lucky 7 post. And, let’s be honest, I really want to get back to the ROW80 Party!

1. Read a book a week for the whole year

After devouring the last two books in the Celestra series, I re-started GAME OF THRONES and also sidetracked myself by starting DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE. So I knew I was going to like DOSAB because I’ve been hearing about how fantastic it is for months now. LIKE was not the right word. OMG FREAKING LOVE is more like it. I have to admit, however, that I am a little scared to keep reading because there are similarities to my current project, and that makes me nervous. We’ll see how it goes, I guess.

2. Write two hours each week

CHECKITY CHECK. I’ve spent an hour each day on my project during the sprints and an hour each night at home. Adding the 2nd hour is going well so far, but you know, we’re only three days in! I’ve been working on a scene list for PTales and have about 36 so far. YIPPEE!

3. Get healthy

Doing semi-okay here. Still no plan, and apparently we’re having pizza tonight. That’s not a healthy choice, but we’re PARTYING here!!

So with that, I’ll leave you with some fun 60s tunes. ENJOY!!

1961 – Please Mr. Postman – The Marvelettes

1962 – Limbo Rock

1963 – It’s My Party – Lesley Gore

1964 – The Shoop Shoop Song – Betty Everett

1965 – Stop In The Name Of Love – The Supremes

As round 1 came to an end, I was overwhelmed and couldn’t really reflect on what had been accomplished. I’ve spent the last couple days thinking about it and have decided that I’m quite happy with where things are at. My word for the year is REVIVE and though it felt like I was spinning my wheels, it turns out I wasn’t. I kept going even though it felt impossible on most days, with only the thought that accomplishing revival meant everything had to change.

The old house is almost packed. It took so much longer than I thought it was going to. I knew that it was a HUGE project, but I actually insulated myself from how monumental, I think in effort to not paralyze myself before I started. The new house is full of boxes, but they are labeled and in the right room. (I promise you have no idea how much of a feat that is with the whirlwind that is my boyfriend!) So now, I am just about to the point that I can handle the reality of the situation!

That said, I am keeping my goals simple for this round because I don’t want to be overwhelmed. I know that if I plan to really get somewhere by the end of this year that I have to get life organized so it stops constantly getting in the way.

ROUND 2 GOALS:

1. Continue reading a book a week

I think I’m only 5 books behind now (instead of 9 lol), so I’m catching up quickly. Sometimes I wish I read faster, but then I don’t know if I’d enjoy the stories as much. I’m trying to mold out a new sleep schedule, and I read that a great way to gauge how tired you are is to go to bed reading. Apparently, you’ll naturally fall asleep when your body is ready. There’s more to it, but it is working. And I love ending the day doing something so enjoyable!

2. Write 2 hours every weekday

I am no good with word count. I will write to that number of words and quit, so it works better for me to use time spent writing as a goal. One of these hours is during the weekday sprints, and the other will be in the evening. I haven’t nailed down the hour yet, but I’m going to pick a steady time. I usually end up writing on the weekends too, but I’ll just count all of that as extra. That way, I can have them off if I want or need to and not have failed at the goal.

3. Continue baby steps towards healthy

With life all over the place during all of the last round, I did what I could regarding getting healthy. My goal this round is to continue this but also come up with an actual plan. I think now that the move is winding down, I’ll be able to put in more effort here.

That’s it for now. There are other things I want for this round like doing something new with my blog, wanting a REAL plan for both projects so I can attack focus on them, and plenty more. Rather than overloading myself, I’m going to take the first 2 weeks of the round easy with only these first few goals, then add more as the EPIC MOVING ADVENTURE comes to a close.

I wish you all the best of luck this round. See you on Wednesday!

Check in with all the ROWers HERE!

This video is just a fun little thing I did for Lena Corazon and her hilarious Hugh Jackman character throw down. The video on Lena’s site is blocked in the UK and Ireland, so we’ve figured out some sort of circumvention and posted it here.

If you’ve ended up here without reading Lena’s post, it can be found HERE!

Hope you all enjoy

Yay, we’ve made it to the end of the Round! I’m honestly glad to see the end because I’m really hoping that Round 2 will bring a host of changes my way. Most of you know that I’ve been moving, and the Day Job has been incredibly busy. I’ve held up during the round, but haven’t really accomplished what I wanted. Even so, I’m really excited about Round 2 kicking off in just a few days! Here’s the check in:

1. Read a book a week

I’ve only finished 4. Goodreads says I’m 7 behind. I’ll catch up though. There’s still months ahead of me working in one state during the week, then driving to another for the weekend. The reading is sure to pick up then. Also, I just finished THE HUNGER GAMES (just the first book so far)!!! It was so darn good. As usual, I bought the next book right away and can’t wait to start it. I don’t know if I’ll start it right away, but it’s all ready to go when I want it!

2. Pack 30 minutes before work each weekday

This has tapered off just from sheer exhaustion. There are only a few more small projects to do which I’m tackling this weekend. Thank goodness!

3. Twitter sprint each weekday

Still going strong here. Even if I can’t write, I show up. Sometimes when I think I don’t have a thought in the world, just sitting down and joining in totally does the trick. I haven’t been spending any time on my projects. Need to rectify that quickly as they are making the googly eyes at me from inside my bag.

4. Get healthy

Good choices are being made, but that’s about it. I’m not sure I’ll report on this in Round 2 unless I am ready to do something specific.

There are no giant accomplishments to celebrate, but I’m happy that even with life being in disarray, I’ve kept going. See how other ROWers fared this round HERE and see you in April!!

Hope everyone has recovered from any green madness celebrating you may have had yesterday

It’s still pretty crazy around here, so I’m just checking in on the fly. I think it’s going to be like that for a few weeks! I’m definitely sitting on the kitchen counter posting my check in from my phone because it’s the only place with enough signal. Yay for the adventure!

1. Read a book a week

Reading THE HUNGER GAMES right now. It’s so good, bit I’m sure most of you already knew that!

I actually read 75% of the first book a few months ago. Then I started reading 4 other books at the same time, one of which I really didn’t care for, and that temporarily killed all of them for me!

Now I’m making my way back through all of them. I decide to start each from the beginning since its been so long and am really glad I did. I had forgotten so much and am enjoying it all over again!!

2. Pack 30 minutes before work each morning

Still chugging at it. We’ve already done the big moving. There are just a few mini projects left to do. DVDs, my clothes, and then several boxes of random. Cleaning and repairing the door my darling Cali has ruined, and then we should be done!

3. Twitter sprint each day

I have so much on my mind that it has been hard to work on either of my writing projects. I’m still sprinting everyday, just spilling out whatever happens to be on my mind at the time. It’s had some interesting results!

While I’m happy I’m still doing something while stressed and glad that’s it’s even explorative, I really want to be working towards my projects. I guess a little good with a little bad is better than all bad though. Just hoping I’ll be able to think straight and focus soon!

4. Get healthy

I haven’t had a refrigerator for a week y’all. It’s at the new house, and I’m at the old house. It’s hard to be healthy when cooking is a completely inconvenient option. I’m still trying though! I’m almost getting good at picking things we can make for dinner that don’t require me to refrigerate ingredients or leftovers afterward.

So at the end of this week, things are just in progress. Not great, but ok, and sometimes ok is the best it can be!

I wish you all a fantastically productive week! Check in with other ROWers here!