I'm up early this morning and for once I decided to put my writing goals ahead of my fitness goals. It also doesn't hurt that my iPod is out of juice so I'm charging it in anticipation of my workout once I'm finished here.
I hit a rough patch at the beginning of this week, but I'm proud to say that it didn't veer me off course with my exercising and eating. It did make me pretty sad and frustrated though. I guess we all have our moments where we let our self-doubts and the pressure from some imaginary course we're supposed to be on get to us too much. Some days I feel happy and really content with my life, but a lot of the time I'm struggling every day with feelings of not having accomplished enough in the last twenty-seven years and of severe hatred for my body. Even though I struggle with these daily I can usually overcome them, but every once in a while it breaks through and I have a rotten couple of days. Luckily, I'm always able to pull through thanks in large part to some wonderful, thoughtful friends who always seem to lift me up. I'm thankful I got through this bump in the road and hopefully it will be a while before I have another one. In the meantime, I've decided that I need to make a better effort to work on my terrible self-esteem, so I'm going to check out a book that a friend recommended to me and see how things go. Just one more thing to work toward to make a better, happier me!
This is a pretty quiet holiday weekend for Frank and I. We had planned to go away to Vermont to visit an old friend of mine for the weekend, but Frank got stuck working second shift for a couple of nights so we had to postpone. We were invited to a pot-luck picnic thrown by a family friend yesterday and we had a really great time. In anticipation of all the wonderful food that I knew would be there, I got up early yesterday and did an hour of cardio on the treadmill and an hour and a half of strength training with my balance ball. All in all, I burned 1,055 calories, so I was pleased. I'm sure I ate way more than that at the picnic, but we didn't wind up having dinner so I'm hoping it will all be okay in the end! I will say though that my eyes were much bigger than my stomach - after eating all that delicious food, all I felt was sick!
Today and tomorrow we don't really have anything planned yet. Frank has to work this evening from four until midnight, so I'm letting him sleep in a little. I'm hoping today that I'll be able to mow the lawn and maybe take the dogs for a walk in the nature preserve for some extra exercise. Tomorrow, I'd like to break out the canoe and take it out for the first time this season! It should be a beautiful day for some paddling!
Well, my to-do list is growing in the back of my head and it's heating up outside so I'd better sign off and get started with my day!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Well Rounded
Today was quite a balancing act, but I’m happy because despite the day being busy, I was able to accomplish everything that I wanted to.
This is my busy time of year anyway, and that coupled with the fact that two of my bosses are going to be out tomorrow and one will be out for all next week too made my task list expand exponentially. Because of all this, the attendees of my permit approval meeting somehow unanimously decided that I was going to move my meeting up 24 hours to that afternoon. What? Is that even allowed? But I knew that if I didn’t want applicants hounding me all week that I’d better hustle my butt and get my applications together. Of course in the mean time I had other requests – some urgent enough to sidetrack me and about 20 that are now sitting on post-it notes until tomorrow – to divert my attention, but I’m happy to say that I finished up my meeting preparations and sent the agenda to the printed moments before the meeting began. Also, we finished up the meeting just at 4 o’clock – I love it when there’s exactly the right amount of day to match the work that you need to do! I felt like I had conquered the work day. I even got a really nice compliment about how attentive I was to my permits from the regional supervisor.
Even though I probably should have worked through lunch with the mess I had going, I went for a power walk with Judy and Carmen. It was a beautiful day and we walked from Broadway up to Lark Street, through the concourse and looped back down. Even though I was huffing and puffing, I was pleased that I got my workout in. I’m pretty sure that I got a boost of whatever chemical I needed to get me through the rest of the day too.
I got home and had about 45 minutes before Frank got home and I knew we had to go grocery shopping, so I relaxed outside and read on my deck in the sunshine. I’m reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann – it’s a little slow and the prose is a bit heavy-handed for my tastes, but I’m enjoying the plot so far so I’ll stick with it and see where it goes.
Even though I was exhausted from grocery shopping and we didn’t get back home until close to 8 o’clock, instead of swinging through a fast food drive-thru or gobbling down something easy but not so healthy, I stuck to the plan for dinner. We had baked parch with broccoli and brown rice – delicious, although the next time I make perch I’ll leave it in the oven just a little bit longer.
So now that dinner is over and even though my bed has been calling me since around 9 o’clock, I’m sitting down to write to you all and now I’m off to spend some time -- at least 500 words worth of time – with At Setting. It’s been a long day, but I feel once again like I’ve conquered the day.
This is my busy time of year anyway, and that coupled with the fact that two of my bosses are going to be out tomorrow and one will be out for all next week too made my task list expand exponentially. Because of all this, the attendees of my permit approval meeting somehow unanimously decided that I was going to move my meeting up 24 hours to that afternoon. What? Is that even allowed? But I knew that if I didn’t want applicants hounding me all week that I’d better hustle my butt and get my applications together. Of course in the mean time I had other requests – some urgent enough to sidetrack me and about 20 that are now sitting on post-it notes until tomorrow – to divert my attention, but I’m happy to say that I finished up my meeting preparations and sent the agenda to the printed moments before the meeting began. Also, we finished up the meeting just at 4 o’clock – I love it when there’s exactly the right amount of day to match the work that you need to do! I felt like I had conquered the work day. I even got a really nice compliment about how attentive I was to my permits from the regional supervisor.
Even though I probably should have worked through lunch with the mess I had going, I went for a power walk with Judy and Carmen. It was a beautiful day and we walked from Broadway up to Lark Street, through the concourse and looped back down. Even though I was huffing and puffing, I was pleased that I got my workout in. I’m pretty sure that I got a boost of whatever chemical I needed to get me through the rest of the day too.
I got home and had about 45 minutes before Frank got home and I knew we had to go grocery shopping, so I relaxed outside and read on my deck in the sunshine. I’m reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann – it’s a little slow and the prose is a bit heavy-handed for my tastes, but I’m enjoying the plot so far so I’ll stick with it and see where it goes.
Even though I was exhausted from grocery shopping and we didn’t get back home until close to 8 o’clock, instead of swinging through a fast food drive-thru or gobbling down something easy but not so healthy, I stuck to the plan for dinner. We had baked parch with broccoli and brown rice – delicious, although the next time I make perch I’ll leave it in the oven just a little bit longer.
So now that dinner is over and even though my bed has been calling me since around 9 o’clock, I’m sitting down to write to you all and now I’m off to spend some time -- at least 500 words worth of time – with At Setting. It’s been a long day, but I feel once again like I’ve conquered the day.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Hard Work
Everything worth having is worth working hard for.
A cliché, it’s true, but as I like to say -- most clichés are there for a reason. And this one becomes less cliché the more that you really consider it in your own life.
Up until recently, I knew that it applied to getting in shape. After all, I’ve traveled this road before, put in all the hours of exercise and the months of counting calories. Only recently have I realized how true this is for being a successful writer too.
It’s no secret that becoming a successful writer takes a lot of hard work. And of course, that work involves writing: completing the necessary research and outlining, sitting down and making yourself write a terrible first draft, editing that into something beautiful that people want to read, being torn down, reworking parts – or the whole thing – until it finally becomes a well-crafted and whole piece. That’s all there is to writing, right? But the work doesn’t end there. There are so many more steps after the hard work of getting the words down on paper is done. Depending on your intentions for the piece, there’s finding reliable people to critique your work, locating competitions to enter it in, drafting a query letter, researching agents, marketing yourself. And don’t forget making time to keep writing every day, because the ideas don’t stop coming.
But as the saying goes – if it’s worth having, it’s worth working hard for. It’s what I have to tell myself when I struggle to find the time to balance everything in my life – this is what I want. I can’t let At Setting go by the wayside any longer. I have to work hard, first to complete the novel and then to find out what the next stages of its life will be – even if that means that it sits, unpublished but whole, on my hard drive.
Let the work begin.
A cliché, it’s true, but as I like to say -- most clichés are there for a reason. And this one becomes less cliché the more that you really consider it in your own life.
Up until recently, I knew that it applied to getting in shape. After all, I’ve traveled this road before, put in all the hours of exercise and the months of counting calories. Only recently have I realized how true this is for being a successful writer too.
It’s no secret that becoming a successful writer takes a lot of hard work. And of course, that work involves writing: completing the necessary research and outlining, sitting down and making yourself write a terrible first draft, editing that into something beautiful that people want to read, being torn down, reworking parts – or the whole thing – until it finally becomes a well-crafted and whole piece. That’s all there is to writing, right? But the work doesn’t end there. There are so many more steps after the hard work of getting the words down on paper is done. Depending on your intentions for the piece, there’s finding reliable people to critique your work, locating competitions to enter it in, drafting a query letter, researching agents, marketing yourself. And don’t forget making time to keep writing every day, because the ideas don’t stop coming.
But as the saying goes – if it’s worth having, it’s worth working hard for. It’s what I have to tell myself when I struggle to find the time to balance everything in my life – this is what I want. I can’t let At Setting go by the wayside any longer. I have to work hard, first to complete the novel and then to find out what the next stages of its life will be – even if that means that it sits, unpublished but whole, on my hard drive.
Let the work begin.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Small Achievements
Well, I'm not sure how I'm going to do for the weigh in tomorrow, but I am incredibly pleased with myself. Today marks my fifth consecutive day of writing on my novel, At Setting. Tonight alone I managed to write 1650 words! I knew all along that what I needed to do was to go back to basics. How did I manage to write 51,000 words in 30 days back in November? I had a plan - to write 2000 words per day - and I had a strategy that I knew worked - writing in 10-15 minute "sprints" with fellow writers in a chat room and then chat for 10-15 minutes in between. I'm fortunate enough to be part of an online group that runs sprints like these all year long and not just during Nanowrimo, so I finally tracked them down today and was welcomed back to the fold with open arms. Hopefully I will continue to write with them, at least a couple of times per week.
I've had writer's block in dealing with a particular scene for a while. In my novel, the heroine, Cora, has spent her entire life in a regulated and enclosed community. I was finally ready, after about two-thirds of the novel, to introduce her to the outside world for the first time -- but I was so overwhelmed in intimidated by the enormity of the scene I had set up that I had stage fright about it for months. Finally, this week I decided that I simply had to write it. No matter how horrible, cliched or awkwardly worded it may be, I had to get Cora's feet on the ground and let her see the outdoors for the first time. The biggest help in getting started on the scene was to simply take a notepad and write the scene outdoors. It was amazing how much easier the words came to me when I could close my eyes and experience the warm spring around me and then put it into words. Even though I only wrote about 2000 words total this weekend, and I think I can safely say that I have conquered the writer's block for now! I'm remembering why I fell in love with this plot and looking forward to continuing my work.
Tomorrow, I might have to focus on whether or not this back-to-basics idea might work with getting my diet and exercise under control. But for tonight, I'm off to bed.
I've had writer's block in dealing with a particular scene for a while. In my novel, the heroine, Cora, has spent her entire life in a regulated and enclosed community. I was finally ready, after about two-thirds of the novel, to introduce her to the outside world for the first time -- but I was so overwhelmed in intimidated by the enormity of the scene I had set up that I had stage fright about it for months. Finally, this week I decided that I simply had to write it. No matter how horrible, cliched or awkwardly worded it may be, I had to get Cora's feet on the ground and let her see the outdoors for the first time. The biggest help in getting started on the scene was to simply take a notepad and write the scene outdoors. It was amazing how much easier the words came to me when I could close my eyes and experience the warm spring around me and then put it into words. Even though I only wrote about 2000 words total this weekend, and I think I can safely say that I have conquered the writer's block for now! I'm remembering why I fell in love with this plot and looking forward to continuing my work.
Tomorrow, I might have to focus on whether or not this back-to-basics idea might work with getting my diet and exercise under control. But for tonight, I'm off to bed.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Week One
Well, today was weigh-in day, and although I was down a little over a half a pound -- not much, but better than being up -- I was completely embarrassed that being as heavy as I am I could only lose such a minuscule amount. This weekend was hard because there was a lot going on -- Hayle came up to visit for the day, we had my father's birthday, etc -- but there's always going to be a lot going on, so I need to buckle down and do better.
Lately I've been trying to just change my lifestyle to more active and less sitting on the couch or in front of the laptop. For example, tonight Frank and I went on a 45 minute walk, and stopped to talk to his cousin for a while and then we played frisbee with the dogs in the yard for a while, folded and put away all the laundry and then cooked dinner on the barbeque. I'm hoping now that the weather is nicer and it's staying light so late that we can have more days like today! I'm still working on tackling that 5pm -6pm disaster zone, but one thing at a time.
In writing news, I haven't been doing any ... yet. But I have decided that I was a lot happier when I was doing more writing and creative work so I signed up for May's writing contest in the group that I was participating in last fall, so I will be writing soon since there's a Sunday deadline. I think the deadlines are what I need and I'm hoping that those combined with the feedback will help me break the writer's block and finally finish the novel.
Today was a terrible day at work, but I've gotten so much better at distancing myself from the work stress and family drama that I feel great and happy after my relaxing evening. I'm ready to see what tomorrow holds.
Lately I've been trying to just change my lifestyle to more active and less sitting on the couch or in front of the laptop. For example, tonight Frank and I went on a 45 minute walk, and stopped to talk to his cousin for a while and then we played frisbee with the dogs in the yard for a while, folded and put away all the laundry and then cooked dinner on the barbeque. I'm hoping now that the weather is nicer and it's staying light so late that we can have more days like today! I'm still working on tackling that 5pm -6pm disaster zone, but one thing at a time.
In writing news, I haven't been doing any ... yet. But I have decided that I was a lot happier when I was doing more writing and creative work so I signed up for May's writing contest in the group that I was participating in last fall, so I will be writing soon since there's a Sunday deadline. I think the deadlines are what I need and I'm hoping that those combined with the feedback will help me break the writer's block and finally finish the novel.
Today was a terrible day at work, but I've gotten so much better at distancing myself from the work stress and family drama that I feel great and happy after my relaxing evening. I'm ready to see what tomorrow holds.
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