Author Kait Nolan is an amazing and generous woman, and is the mother of the ROW80 movement. What is #ROW80? Well, if you follow the link above you will find all the information you need, but in a nutshell, #ROW80 is Kait’s answer to NaNoWriMo. Instead of setting aside one month to shove live aside and write a 50,000 work first draft of a novel, you take 80 days to write toward your goal, be it writing a first draft, revising a novel, making consistent progress on your work in progress (WIP). All without having to check out of real life in order to get the job done.

I actually did a challenge like this several years ago, one that was sponsored by Shiloh Walker, if I remember correctly. The challenge was 70 Days of Sweat, and the goal was to write 75,000 to 100,000 words over 70 days. When I did the math, this meant writing about 1000 to 1500 words a day. Totally doable! At the time I was working 50+ hours per week, was deep into renovations on the house (no kitchen, people, no kitchen!), and was trying to start up a coaching practice. We don’t talk about that start up, and the renovations – let’s just say we are much closer to being renovation free. But the 70 Days of Sweat? That was a sweet success!

So, as I start 2015, I decided to do something I had been talking about doing for the last four years and step up for the current round of ROW80.

Here are my goals:

1. Write five out of seven days.
2. Write an average of 1100 words a day. I’ve done this before using #1k1h sprints and I think I can do this while plotting. I’m a pantser trying to find a way of plotting that works for me so we’ll see if this is a realistic goal.
3. Read one craft book.
4. Blog here three days a week. With the ROW80 check-in days, that means only one other post. If I post more, bonus!

Those are my goals. I’m not working at the moment but am dealing with some intense health issues so we’ll see how this goes. I love that this is flexible and it’s about my writing goals, not anyone else’s. If I have to massage my goals, then I can. No questions asked. Thanks, Kait, for not only starting this, but sticking with it and being such an awesome influencer and inspiration along the way!