Another #ROW80 Check-in from the Desert!

One of the several types of
aircraft we support here...

So, my Wednesday check-ins are proving challenging, which is perhaps a good reason to make more of an effort at doing them… 

My “battle-rhythm” here has my workload heavily weighted to Monday-Friday (even though we work 7 days a week, at least 12 hours a day…) But the two classes I teach, the squadron newsletter which I edit, and most of my other recurring tasks occur earlier in the week, so this week when Wednesday came around, I found I had very little to report…

By the end of the week, though, I’d paid the flood insurance on one of my houses, and goten a little information on another investment property that I’m interested in… I also had run 13 miles, including a 5K race which I finished in exactly 24 minutes (thus setting a baseline for future improvement!) I accomplished 5 solid workouts, and have been eating very healthy and drinking 3 liters of water a day…

Will work on getting better at spreading my various tasks throughout the week… C’est la vie!

I fell a bit short on a few of my target goals – didn’t get a chapter of the Learning Indonesian book written, but did get some other non-goal writing done… Also didn’t make any forward progress on the Parasol Books imprint, or do much in the way of networking, but overall, another generally successful week in most goal-specific areas:

WRITING
- Posted a new chapter of The Perfidious Mister Wickham - in which Wickham absconds to London with Lydia in tow!
- Completed most of a professional book review for the Air Force Research Institute… Will send it off next week…

PUBLISHING
- Put out the 11th issue of our Squadron newsletter – 6 pages of print & pictures!

FITNESS
- Added 5 lbs to my Bench Press…

- Bodyfat down by 1 percent – now at 15 percent… The goal is 9 percent!

LANGUAGE
- Completed my requisite 5 hours of language study, et ecrire un petit letre pour ma niece en Francais!

NETWORKING
- Still looking for 2 people to join my “Core Group” this week – anyone who does will get free books and advance copies of new material in exchange for reviews and critique… Are you interested? If so, leave a note here, or drop me a line directly to ehcarpenter@gmail.com

So, that’s it for my goals!

Another quiet week in Afghanistan – no rockets, no bombs, just a big windstorm and some heavy rain… So, no complaints!

I hope everyone has had a great week of writing, and I will try to do better about getting out and about and commenting on other people’s blogs…

Best regards!

Edward

#ROW80 - Starting Round 2 in Afghanistan!

Hello, fellow ROW'ers...

It's been a while (8 months, to be precise!) since my last ROW80 post - back then, I was in Germany, finishing up a 2-week long course in the Bavarian mountain town of Garmisch - now I'm writing from my latest home-away-from home at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

That's life when your full-time job is as an officer of Marines, and writing is something you squeeze in where you can! Suffice to say that I've been very busy standing up a new unit and deploying with them half-way around the world - on top of that, I'm teaching a college class and a French class out here to help my fellow Marines and Soldiers advance their careers - so, why ROW80 on top of all that?

Simple! I really do need to get back to writing, and I've found that nothing is as good for maintaining accountability and progress on the literary front as weekly ROW80 check-ins!

So, here are my initial goals for this Round of Words...

WRITING
- Post one Chapter of The Perfidious Mister Wickham each week.
- Write one Chapter of my Learning Indonesian book each week.
- Finish The Artillerists (short story)
- Finish Merry Christmas, Mister Washington (short story)

- Finish Ho B-52 (short story)

PUBLISHING
- Publish a book of short stories
- Start the Parasol Books imprint

FITNESS
- Add 5 lbs per week to my Bench Press
- Drop 1/2 percent bodyfat each week

LANGUAGE
- Five hours of studying French per week

NETWORKING
- Work on establishing a better social media presence.
- Add 2 people to my "Core Group" each week.

A key difference in this round as opposed to previous iterations is that I have tried to tie the majority of my goals to weekly progress - rather than say, "I'm going to write 10 chapters" I've said "a chapter a week" - that gives me something to focus on and it's progress that can't be "put off" more than a few days. We shall see if that results in a more productive Round of Words this time.

Well, that's that! I wish you all a wonderful and productive Round Two, and look forward to popping in to your blogs to check out your progress as the Round progresses!

Best regards,
Edward

p.s. If you are a Jane Austen fan, I cordially invite you to take a peek at the prologue to The Perfidious Mister Wickham - not a continuation, nor an adaptation, this unique work looks at Mister Darcy, the Bennet family, and a wide array of late Georgian and early Regency historical and literary figures through the eyes of the eponymous scoundrel! See what wickedness Wickham was up to before he arrived in Meryton, how he seduced (or was seduced by) Lydia Bennet in Brighton, and what became of their scandalously patched-up marriage after their carriage rolled away from Longbourn.