25 January 2012

January Winding Down

Hello, ROW80's!  Hope you're having a happy Wednesday...

As I relayed in my last check-in, this week is possibly the busiest week of my calendar year - excepting districts/regional/district duals/ and...(fingers crossed for junior or senior year) states...(We have big dreams in this household) 

Saturday is our annual fundraiser, Night At The Races!  We're on track so far, giving me encouragement that our boys will have a nice banquet.  We're also hoping to be able to send them to another week long wrestling camp at one of the local universities. 

Schools are short on money, and many wrestling clubs are taking over the financial burden so that programs can continue.  My son won a district title in 2010 - junior high...That's not an option anymore, as district wrestling is no longer available for junior high students in PA.  It's sad, really.  But schools cannot afford these extras when they cannot even meet a budget to purchase books for students.  Basics first.

ROW80 Goals...

*  Waiting for my cover design has me antsy!  Waiting is not my strong suit...

*  I've edited through my manuscript once.  Tomorrow (or at least by the weekend) I will begin my second read-through. 

*  The ending has yet to be written.  I've continued to be torn between two ideas, but it's time to make a decision.  Next week I will have nailed down the direction and begin writing.

*  My understanding is that anything under 50K is considered a novella.  I believe I'll end up around 40+k.  This has raised thoughts of whether to remain a novella or to add to the story, publishing a novel.  Sigh.  I'm favoring novella...

*  I've plotted out the basic storyline for my next WIP and researched a fair amount.  I've much to learn about Outremer, the knights who remained, and the consequences for those choices.  I was interested to learn that some families relocated with their  husbands to the Holy Land. 

*  The Blogger Girlz reviewed Her Dark Baron!  It was a great start to the day. 

*  Social goals have been side-lined until after Saturday.  I'm swamped with wrestling, wrestling, wrestling....food donations, horses bought, sponsorships, counting monies, following up with local businesses, and keeping my records straight.  On top of that, keeping up with meeting minutes, forms needed, and remembering all those little details...(who will pick up ice...do we have enough coolers to keep it all frozen, how many extension cords do we have, who will pick up start monies, we need envelopes, reams of paper for printing the booklets, Sterno fuel counts, ....ACK!)  Please forgive me.  Ha! 
I'll be around next week again. 



 Here's to a successful season!  ~ Nadja

9 comments:

  1. Sounds great all around!

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  2. Sounds like you are doing great. Good luck with your fundraiser!

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  3. You have a lot going on, Nadja. I sure wish you the best with the fundraiser. And is that a winning hand in the air? WOOT!!

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  4. Best of luck with the fundraisers. As a HS football coach myself, I'm well aware of the challenges facing HS sports programs.

    Our favorite fundraiser of the year? Car Wash. But before you go watching your favorite cliched High School movie and thinking we employ the cheerleaders or something... nope. Not nearly that glamorous, though infinitely more humorous.

    Coaches played the seniors for a cancer benefit, too. Flag football. Was a blast, but boy was I sore afterward. Those, um, flags hurt. :-)

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  5. You are a very busy gal, Nadja. I will keep my fingers crossed for the fundraisers. Have fun with it.

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  6. Thanks, all! I cannot wait for a return to quiet days...even though I'm a HUGE wrestling fan and love every minute of it. But by the time our fundraiser comes around each year...I'm bushed! Ha!

    It never really ends for us... My oldest wrestles all year long. Lucky day...a private full time wrestling club opened in our city. Mat Assassins will save me a trip to New Jersey every Tuesday and Thursday over the summer. I love that.

    Our little guys, 7 & 8, have determined to wrestle all year too! They will sign up for the private club once the regular season ends in March. Tiny boys in uni-tards is my favorite! Especially when they are wrestling so hard to get that win.

    Matt....I'd have loved to watch that game. Once in awhile our coaches will wrestle with the boys...it's funny to watch them try to show their high-school strength against man-strength...

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  7. Are you going to use Jimmy on this cover??? LOL

    I'm in the same boat as you with my current WIP. It was supposed to be a novel, but I'm not sure I can get past 40K. My other novellas have been short, usually about 25,000 or a little more. So 40K seems kind of like in between....

    It sounds like you're really busy with the wrestling. It's such a shame that schools have to struggle when it comes to funding. What I've found in our area is that the administrative people make all the money and it leaves little left for teachers and students. Oops, did I really say that?

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  8. Ah, what we do for our kids! Best wishes with the wrestling fundraiser. Your writing goals look great. It's so hard to choose an ending when you have two possibilities hanging over you. I hope that goes well. I like the idea of a novella. I understand those are selling well these days.

    Have a great ROW80 week!

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  9. Good luck on the fundraising - and during the season!
    Argh, endings. I really have to fix mine. Haven't raised the stakes enough, I don't think...

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