NaBloPoMo--Day 1 and ROW80 Check-In

Tell us about your mother....

No one has a better mom than me.  Of course, I'm biased.  Truly though, I only have good memories of times with my mom.  When my sister and I were growing up, Mom was always there with a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on.  I had a mom who really spent time with me and never seemed bothered or distracted. Don't get me wrong.  We had our ups and downs, especially when I hit those bitchy puberty years that all girls seem to go through.  God bless her (and, as I look back, thank God I have boys...LOL)! When I became an adult, Mom became more like my best friend.  When I moved away, I missed her so much, we talked on the phone many times during the week and we visited each other as often as we could.  When she moved here when my second son was born, it was like a dream come true.  There's nothing like having a mom and a bestie all rolled into one.  Not only is she a wonderful mother, she's a loving and thoughtful grandmother to my sons and they simply adore her.  So there you have it.  Now you know why my mom is better. ;O)

ROW80


Yes, yes...I know.  I have been missing in action with ROW80. *hangs head*  I really have no excuse.  I just seem to be in epic fail mode.  I think I took on too much at the beginning of the year.  There are always such high hopes with a new year...and a bit of 'rose-colored glasses' optimism.  Now, the reality has hit me.  I've realized that I am buried under a pile of review books for my book blogs.  I'm talking, "will I ever dig myself out?" buried.  I've also figured out that my new eating habits that I did so well developing last year (and subsequently lost 40 lbs) have fallen by the wayside since Christmas.  I mean, every single day hasn't been a total miss, but I've had many days of evil eating self.  Plus, I meant to really start exercising, but so far that has been, well....meh.  Other realizations, let's see...NaBloPoMo January, once you get behind, you may as well forget it.  And the novel, oh the novel. I'm stalled.  I can't even bring myself to take it out.  And did I mention the house guest from hell?  I need not say more.  Oh yeah, one more thing.  The swearing...oh the swearing.  It seems the more frustrated I get (see all of the above), the more I swear.  Potty mouth.  Where's the soap?  And forgot to mention that I hosted a week long read-a-thon last week.  Yeah, I know....

So, what to do, what to do?

• review books--I have changed my review policy on both my book blogs stating I am no longer accepting review requests until I get out from under this backlog
• eating/exercise--I am still participating in Change Write Now and checking in with my team daily and keeping track of points is helping me to stay a bit accountable, but I haven't done as well as I should and I hate to make my team suffer for it.
• NaBloPoMo February--yes, let me give this one more shot.
• oust the house guest
• swearing--maybe if I come up with some creative substitutes? 

What am I going to do about the writing?  Well, I'm hoping the daily journaling will loosen things up a bit.  But I really feel like I didn't do enough research for the novel.  I began during NaNoWriMo and it was so damn rushed (don't we know).  So, I'm going to do a little reading and research before I embark once again.  There's a read-a-thon this weekend and I think I'll have some research and writing books as part of my reading list.  I'm thinking Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg and What Life was Like in Medieval Times and probably some others.  I'm hoping to be ready to take the novel out again by mid to late February.  I know this isn't really a clear, tangible goal, but it's all I've got right now.  I hope my plan works.  I'll probably have to come back here every day and read this post for motivation.

I hope other ROW80-ers have been doing much better than me. =O)