I’m one of those guys who always has something I want to do. I have a crud-load of ideas, any number of which any or may not turn into something. My problem is not “What will I do?” but “What should I do?”

But I also have a quite busy schedule. I travel a lot. As an introvert, traveling is hell. It is so exhausting, and the possibility of productivity when I am passing through airports all day is close to nil unless I’ve got a firm deadline set by someone else.

Then I stumbled upon A Round of Words in 80 Days. The subtitle of the site says it all: “The writing challenge that knows you have a life.” Isn’t that great?

So, this is my post about joining up, setting my goals, and asking to be held accountable. I learned writing Open Source Church that the communal aspect (even for this strong introvert) was key to success. Seriously, having a regular check in from my editor or Carol and Chad was key.

So the way the ROW80 goals go, you establish measurable goals and check in on them on Wednesdays and Sundays. Here is mine:

Inspired by Kait’s “Test Mile” analogy, I’m going to commit to either:

• outlining/brainstorming for 30 minutes per day or
• writing at least 500 words a day.

I will accomplish one of these goals 5 of 7 days during a week, and will establish the times (blocking out at least an hour) to do this work during my beginning of the week planning session.

First up: My cozy-ish mystery novel, staring a pastor as amateur sleuth. I’ll be using the assignments found in “The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery” to guide my work.

And….GO!