“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.  Three, four, better lock your door.  Five, six, grab your crucifix.  Seven, eight, gonna stay up late.  Nine, ten, never sleep again..” ~ rhyme from A Nightmare on Elm Street

The original Freddy Krueger is a classic.  Nice mix of horror with humor.  If you must watch a sequel, check out part 3, but don’t bother with any others or with the remake.

Since I’ve been tagged a few times to answer the different question lists, I’m including a blend of them below.  Shout out to Vikki, Hunter Emkay and Melissa Sugar who are some of my peeps from the 4th Writer’s Platform Campaign.  I’m also going to skew the rules and not formally tag anyone.  I open the door for any of you reading to play along if you have time and share the opportunity with your blog readers.

For ROW80, I’m still working on building back up to full strength.  I’ve also realized some new goals that are the horizon for March.  So I’m adding them below in green.

Tag Questions

• What happened to your very first piece of writing you completed? Still in the bottom draw / submitted and rejected non times / publishing success / gifted to a family or friend / shredded and donated to the local hamster breeder / I have no memory of that piece’s current whereabouts / fill in your own story.
  • Ooo.  This is a fun one.  My first piece of writing would have been in elementary school.  It was either a poem or short story we were instructed to write.  I’m putting my money on a poem.  No clue where it is.  I still have the play I wrote in 6^th grade and I might have that (bad, like really bad) short story booklet.  Would need to go digging for it though.
• What’s your thoughts on pen names nowadays, and if you could have any one pen-name to signify your genre or type of writing, what would it be?
  • I have fancied the idea of having a pen name.  Since I’m still in the business world for my day gig, I’ve wondered if I should use a different name to separate the work.  But in this age of crossing social media, circles, etc., I figure the pen name and my work would somehow track back anyway.  In the future, if I find myself writing across genres that aren’t complimentary, I might consider it again if I think it would matter to readers or to the market.
• If you watch television, what’s your current favourite show, and why? If you don’t watch television, tell me why.
  • Employing my first cheat here.  I don’t have an absolute favorite show so I’ll share the ones that I make an effort to catch each week or record and watch later:  The Voice (I write recaps on it for Reality News Online), American Idol (I’m a long-term addict.), Criminal Minds, Law and Order: SVU, The Walking Dead and South Park.  These are make an effort to watch shows.  Some are seasonal so when they go off I add in another seasonal (e.g., Falling Skies or The X Factor).
• What’s your one favorite writing craft book? – the go-to book when you need inspiration, or an idea to solve a problem, or just to feel good about your writing again.
  • I’m inserting a second cheat here.  For writing books that provide inspiration and tips on process, I go to Stephen King’s On Writing and Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.  For bare-bones craft, I’m loving James Scott Bell’s Plot & Structure. 
• What’s one five-year writing goal of yours?
  •  Finish my novel, edit it brilliantly (heh) and get it published.
• If you could travel to another time period, but you must agree to remain there for a full six months would you go? If yes what time period & where would you time-travel to the future or past?
  • Yep.  I’m heading back to June 1969.  That way, I can enjoy the excitement of the months leading up to  Woodstock, attending August, then keep the party rolling a few months after that.
• If you were a superhero, what special power would you have?
  •  I’m going with invisibility.  If I can sneak two, I’d like to have Wonder Woman’s truth-telling lasso too.
• What scares you?
  • The thought of an insect or rodent being near or on me.  I saw a Fear Factor episode where a lady had to get into a glass case with rats on her for a period of time.  I shiver now just imagining it.
• Name 2 of your vices.
  •  M&Ms and Milk Duds.  Bwahahaha.
• You buy an old lamp, whilst cleaning it a genie appears…you know the rest lol. Your 3 wishes are?
  • To win the largest amounts of the Mega Millions and Powerball lotteries this year, for my mom and I (with an extended group of friends) to live forever with good health and world peace.
• Sum up your personality in 3 words?
  •  Quirky.  Straight-up.  Twisted.  🙂

ROW80 Goals Progress

Writing/Craft

• 1,500 words of new fiction a week either on novel WIP or short stories.  425  words done so far this week.  Carved out time later this week to dig in.
• Read at least one chapter a week of a craft book.  Will do Saturday.
• Read at least one chapter of a novel each week.  Done.
• Complete assignments each week for Plotting Via Motivation class (March 5-30, 2012) with Laurie Schnebly Campbell.  Pending start.
• Read Hunger Games before the movie launch.  This gives me a little under a month.  I’m going to finish the little bit of Defensive Wounds I have left and start HG this weekend.

Social Media

• Blog three times a week.  Two done so far, including this update.  Two more and an update pending.
• Read, comment and share at least 10 blogs a week.  Reading done.  Comments and sharing about half done.  I was unexpectedly offline two nights with a laptop issue.  It is much easier to type comments and share via a keyboard versus my tablet so I’ve gotten behind.
• Check Twitter and Facebook at least once daily.  Done.

Healthy Happy Living

• Exercise at least 30 minutes a day, three times a week.  Temporarily on hold as I mend.  Hope to get clearance to try something low impact next week.
• Finish my poncho project via crocheting one hour a week.  Not done yet.
• Enjoy watching one movie a week without multitasking.  Watching 12 Angry Men this weekend.

How is your week going so far?  Have you changed/added any goals recently?  Be sure to check out the ROW80 updates of others via the blog hop.