It’s been a wild and wacky few months in my life, with the shifts and changes that come along with transition periods. I’m still struggling to find a sense of balance, or at least a routine that can anchor me and give me a sense of stability. Even after two-and-a-half months at the day job, I find that I have little energy for exercise, blogging, research, or creative writing. Establishing the foundation of a routine is my goal for this final round of ROW80 for 2013.

Before I get to my ROW80 plan, a confession: One of the reasons why I’ve been so drained of time and energy is because I’ve been cramming random adventures and excursions into my day. In the last week, I saw both Stroke 9 (one of my favorite late-90s rock bands) and Sarah Brightman in concert, and  kinda-sorta met Veronica Roth, author of the DIVERGENT series, when she was in San Francisco on her book tour for ALLEGIANT. Oh, and I dressed up like a pirate, took a ride in 1953 Corvette, and started thinking about ideas for this year’s NaNoWriMo novel. Whee!

Photo highlights:

The author herself, striking a pose.

Sarah Brightman illuminated in a blaze of light, and her adoring fans.

More on all these shenanigans to come, but in the meantime, here’s what I’d like to accomplish by the end of Round 3:

Round 3 Goals:

DISSERTATION: 

• Work on the dissertation (that includes reading, note-taking, data analysis, and writing) at least 2 nights each week, and on Sundays.

CREATIVE WRITING:

• 15-30 minutes of fun writing, 3-4 nights each week.

EXERCISE:

• At least 20 minutes of physical activity, 2-3 times each week.

Compared to some of the goals I’ve had in the past, these look super simple… but given that I’ve failed on accomplishing any of these things in the last couple of months, I think it’ll be a challenge.

For fun, here’s the opening to my NaNoWriMo project, currently known as THE GILDED CAGE. It’s some sort of near-future dystopic… thing… and I’m going to be pantsing the hell out of it for the rest of the month.

It was a fiery sun that beat down on Greta’s back, or so it seemed. After a lifetime in the smog-dimmed skies of the cities, the unimpeded light of the north was more than she could handle. Here, in the only corner of the world not destroyed by machinery and war, the sun released its full wrath, all molten gold and demanding.

Where is it all going? I have NO idea, and that’s half the fun. 😀

Be sure to wave a hearty hello to the rest of the ROW80 bunch this week!