ROW80 Round-Up!

Won a Bronze Medal in a Jinglebell 5K...

Dear Readers... It's been much too long since my last ROW80 update, and this one finds us practically at the end of the Round... Since my last post, I've had a Marine die under tragically idiotic circumstances and led my remaining 116 Marines through a visit by an assortment of Generals and Admirals that resulted in kudos all around.

The ROW in Review - overall I scored about a 36 percent success rate, which is pretty terrible... (You can see my nerdy scoresheet below!)

So, on the writing front, which is sort of a big thing for a writer, I didn't really do too well - was touch and go with my blogging, my novel-in-progress, and my short stories. On the plus side, I wrote and finished another totally new and unexpected short story In a Yellow Wood (which came about as a result of the social/dating goals) and also finished The Warrior Ethos: One Marine Officer's Critique and Counterpoint. I also started blogging for the professional journal of the U.S. Marine Corps, The Marine Corps Gazette, and published a serious non-fiction article there.

Published a Short Story...

I got one short story published, and am getting close to releasing my first book (The Warrior Ethos) but have so far failed to get the Parasol Publishing imprint off the ground. I got about half as much yoga done as I had planned, but again, I feel I made up for that by completing an 8-week "mind-body medicine" class, where I learned meditation skills and worked through a number of self-awareness exercises. I also got a medal for 3rd place in my age group in a Jinglebell 5K!

I didn't get any language teaching done, but I attained Level 6 in the Duolingo French curriculum, passed my Indonesian language test with good enough grades to get paid at the second-highest tier, and got a third of the way through a Russian language course in the Air War College curriculum. I also registered to volunteer developing the Indonesian-English syllabus on Duolingo, so we'll see what happens there!

Dabbling with dating has been, well, interesting - and got to race NASCARs around a short track, so that can be knocked off the bucket list.... Networking and "New Economy" goals fell a bit short, but perhaps in the next Round...

Here's the breakdown, as promised...

WRITING

- Chapters of The Perfidious Mister Wickham written and posted - 4 of 11

- ROW80 updates posted - 6 of 11

- Posts on my GypsyDangerously blog - 6 of 11

- Finish The Artillerists (short story) - Fail!

- Finish Ho B-52 (short story) - Win!

- Finish Merry Christmas, Mister Washington (short story) - Fail!

PUBLISHING

- Publish Ho B-52 (short story) - Win!

- Start the Parasol Books imprint - Fail!

FITNESS

- Run two 5K races - 1 of 2

- One yoga class per week (flexibility) - 4 of 11

LANGUAGE

- Teach French for 2 hours per week - Fail!

- Teach Indonesian for 2 hours per week - Fail!

SOCIAL

- Begin dating - a bit of a beautiful disaster / work in progress...

- Go on 5 “bucket list” adventures - 1 of 5

NETWORKING

- Spend 5 hours per week on Social Media (Twitter, FB, blogs, etc...) - Fail!

- Join Lowcountry RWA - Halfway there! Joined the national organization...

NEW ECONOMIC

- Join Air B&B - Win!

- Reduce my personal carbon footprint - Fail!


So, that's it for this week... Hope you are all reaching a successful conclusion to your Round of Words, and best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Warm regards,
Edward

New Short Fiction!

Dear Readers - I'm thrilled to announce that a new short story is finally available on Amazon... Set in the skies and streets of Hanoi, it seamlessly melds the past and future, fact and fiction into a poignant tale of ennui, terror, life and death in Vietnam.

It's currently 99 cents on Amazon, so if you'd like to support your favorite independent author, pop over and grab a copy today! (if you're wallet's been drained by the holiday shopping, don't worry, a "Free Promotion" should be coming along presently!

If some serious non-fiction writing is more your thing, check out my latest post on the Marine Corps Gazette's blog...

More short fiction is in the pipeline, as well as new chapters of The Perfidious Mister Wickham - so, stay tuned as there will be lots more to read in the New Year!

Hope you're having a wonderful day,

Edward