I've Got the Blahs...

Everything has fallen off-track for me. I've given in on pizza and chicken. My only triumph on the chicken was that it happened to be rotisserie, not fried. A small gain, but a good one.

Writing? Hah! I think I've managed about 250 words since last Sunday, and plotted about three scenes. And I've only figured out where to put one of them. Then again, maybe not. Hmm. Have to take a look at that again. Thank God you can reorder things easily in Scrivener. I keep one scene per chapter while I'm working and planning, to make everything easier to shift if I need to.

The only upside to this week is that I gained another private student. That's a great thing, and very much appreciated at my bank.

Well, since my creativity button doesn't seem to want to work this morning, I think I'll put on my exercise clothes (t-shirt and sweats) and go to the gym. Something good has to come out of today, right?

See you Wednesday! (If I have anything to report...)

Lost In the Fog

Morning...at least, I think it's morning. Looking out the window, all I can see is fog. That's okay, thought, because it's matching what's going on in my head. Not a lot, so far.

On the writing front, something great happened yesterday. I came across an old blog post of Gwen's (I think her last name is Hernandez - but I'm not sure) explaining how to create templates in Scrivener. She's the author of "Scrivener for Dummies." I've been wanting to do that, because as I plot out what's happening, I'd like to make sure I have some thorough scene analyses to go along. Hence, the additional templates. All I can say is, Gwen's a goddess. She's gotten me out of a heckuva jam.

My goal for the day is to get all my templates created and start another Scrivener file to make my planning more comprehensive. If I'm really lucky, I'll get some writing done, too.

Other goals:

I've not made it to the grocery store yet today, so I'm on track so far. I'm still looking to spend only on local or USA products.

The plan is to go to the gym later this afternoon. I think there's a class I want to take, but I have to check the schedule to make sure. Luckily, the schedule's online so that will only take a moment.

I've been failing miserably when it comes to taking time for myself. Writing in a personal journal has gone by the wayside. Meditation hasn't happened. I'm more focused on trying to study for my teacher certification so I can work in the K-12 school system, and finding a part-time job because my hours have been cut at work. I'm down to 24 right now. Not good. But the pendulum always swings, and there will be an upside. I know it's coming, and that stops me from fretting too much.

I keep using a mantra from Firefly, originally uttered by Kaylee: "Everything's shiny, not to fret."

So far, it works. Life is good.

An Uneven Week So Far...

I made it to the gym yesterday! I actually took a yoga class! Wow. And guess what I discovered? I'm a heck of a lot more out of shape than I thought. And I hate floor-to-ceiling mirrors. A lot. But that's okay - at least I made it there. And I lasted the entire hour. Woo hoo!

I've already missed the yoga class for today. If I'm lucky I'll get to the gym this evening for some cardio. If not, I'll just have to take a walk around the apartment complex after I make dinner.

I haven't done any grocery shopping since my last post, so that goal is unchanged.

And now, for the writing portion of our evening...

I've done some plotting, but for "Blood, Breath and Fire", not "Immortal Blood." I'm thinking about taking a side trip back to Rassa for a little while. I woke up this morning discovering a couple of other things about the history of that world, so I think I need to  hang there for a bit.

My cooking is going well, sort of. I did buy Boar's Head beef hot dogs for dinner last night, but I have managed to stay away from Publix's Fried Chicken and Papa John's pizza. It's a process. I'm going to try to get more recipes from a blog called "Poor Girl Eats Well". There's some great stuff there. Right now I'm eager to try a quinoa recipe that has butternut squash, dried cranberries, kale, apple, and a couple of other things in it. Sounds like it might be a good thing to take for lunch tomorrow. I'm working all day this semester on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, so lunch planning is something of a priority.

See you all on Sunday!

Starting Off Slowly

This challenge has started off like a deflated balloon. Yup, limp. Yesterday was Tuesday, and I was supposed to make it to the gym. Didn't happen. I had to wait for pest management to come for maintenance on my apartment. (Our complex was purchased recently, so some things have changed.) They didn't make it to my building. In the evening, I was supposed to tutor. My student rescheduled for today.

I've got gym plans for today, but it's iffy at best. I'm here waiting for the pest people, then I have to get ready for tutoring. Again. We'll see if it works today.

On the upside, I got an idea to try a short story. It's working title is "Breath and Fire" and it's about an artist pair, one an apprentice teenage girl and the other her dragon partner. I might end up adding that to my goals, but I'm not sure yet. I need to do a little planning first.

Does it sound interesting to anyone?

I haven't been shopping for anything except bread. I got sub rolls from Publix, which were made in the store. The bread that I purchased was made in the United States, but I'm not sure if it's anything close to being local. It was Arnold 100% Whole Wheat bread. I got that because it doesn't have any high fructose corn syrup in it.

I plan on spending time in the kitchen today, cooking grain salads and other things to take to work for lunch over the next couple of days.

See everyone on Sunday!

Wandering in the Fog

I'm feeling a little vague right now, and my work is reflecting it. I think I've had something of a mental breakdown after Nano, probably to look for energy.

I haven't gotten a lot accomplished on Immortal Blood. The only progress I've made, in fact, is finding out the approximate age of Akhenaten when he died. A little known piece of information that would have a negative impact on my manuscript if I didn't know it. So, I guess that's good.

On the upside, I actually walked through the doors of the gym on Saturday. Wow, I'm more out of shape than I thought! Motivation or despair - I'm not sure yet. I'm hoping for the former. I also, on the way home from a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert yesterday, got an idea for a book of short stories/novellas that all link together, with a vaguely Christmas theme. Right now, in Scrivener, I'm calling it "Three Wishes."

My food goals are so-so. I didn't have fried chicken this past week, although I was craving it and it would have been REALLY convenient. The guys begged for pizza one night, so I ordered it. I got a veggie pizza for me with light cheese, and they got their sausage pizza. Papa John's has a special going on with a 5-sausage pizza. Blech. I tasted it, but it was way too...meaty...for me. I need my veg.

Holiday shopping? Not finished. But a good deal of it is in my Amazon cart, waiting to be shipped when I get paid on Thursday at midnight. How's that for cutting it close??

I hope you and your families have a wonderful, safe, and happy holiday!

Why Negative Coffee Times Negative Coffee Equals Positive Evil

The end of the semester is winding down here at the college. I didn't have a lot of students Monday, and when afternoon rolled around, I was fading fast. I'd only slept a few hours on Sunday night, and not well. My  coffee addiction tried to send me to the coffee stand downstairs, but my logical mind prevailed, reminding me that if I had coffee in the middle of the afternoon, I'd face another sleepless night. Oh, bother.

So, Kris, who was in the lab with me and studying for a Calculus final, began sketching my babbling on the board, in the form of a graph with a cracked coffee mug. The mug was slowly dripping coffee into the negative quadrant of the graph (any value here will be negative). We all know that, in algebra, a negative multiplied with another negative will give you a positive; in physics, we'd need to determine how fast we'd have to drink the coffee. (A linear function -- f(x) = x -- was drawn through the graph, bisecting the coffee mug and giving us an arbitrary line from which to determine how much coffee we had available to drink. Once it dripped below the line, we'd be * outta luck.)

So, by extrapolation, here are the parameters of the graph:

coffee = good
-coffee = bad
(-coffee)(-coffee) = +evil.

Makes sense, right? (Yes, and I agree, we should have had more work to do that afternoon!)

Goals? Oh, right, let's talk about that.

Pages: Met, thanks to Nano.

Exercise: Nope. I've been tutoring or dealing with pre-Christmas stuff whenever I've not been working.

Planning: Yes. So much so that around 4:30 this morning I woke up, realizing that I needed to find out the age of the "death" of Akhenaten so I could reasonably determine whether he had grey hair or not. Nothing like obsessing, right?

Food: Managed to stay away from the fried chicken still. Pizza, though, I ordered some because the guys asked me to. And since there was a new pizza on the menu, I tried it. I didn't like it. Yay! I did order a vegetarian pizza with light cheese, just so I could feel a bit better about my bad behavior.

How's everyone else doing?

My Head is Spinning!

Hi everyone!

Hope all of us are recovered from Overeating Thursday and Black Friday. Here's my goal rundown:

80 Pages for this Quarter: Completed, but mostly due to Nano.

Planning: Still going. I've gotten over 60,000 words for Nano right now, so I think I'm going to use my Scrivener software and do some major rearranging of scenes and things. I think I may need to make better sense of it all before I continue any more planning of big things.

Fried Chicken: I haven't had any in the past week.

Pizza: I've managed to stay away from that, too.

Exercise: There's one that I'm failing miserably on. I have to find a way to organize my life better. It will come in time.

I hope everyone else is doing well. It's going to be short and sweet today, as I'm getting the flu that's been slamming my roommates to the ground. So, it's off to the kitchen to make a big batch of homemade soup to get me through this crap.

See you Wednesday!

Wow, What a Week!!

Happy pre-Thanksgiving, everyone! I've been running around like a crazy person buying things for Thanksgiving, and writing like a crazier one. I cracked the Nano 50,000 word goal the day before yesterday, reaching 50,088. Not that I'm quitting for the month - oh, no! In fact, I've got a meeting with writing friends tonight. But I've got to get my Thanksgiving prep done first.

Goals:

I've made my 80 pages for this round, having done over 200 just for Nano.

Planning has suffered somewhat this month, as I've been focused on output alone. I've had a weird few scenes centered around a therapist office. My heroine had a breakthrough - and a meltdown. It made me tear up and leak a bit while I was writing it. (Since I was at work at the time, that might have been not so great. Luckily, my students know what I'm like and it doesn't faze them.) I got a couple of interesting motivations, from the werewolf guardian/secret assassin, so that's going to be fun to play with. Especially since one of her phone calls is overheard by the heroine's lover. Talk about it hitting the fan!

Exercise and junk food aversion fell by the wayside for the past week or so. My words were more important than anything, and my lack of kitchen participation showed it. Oh, well.

I've got to put a plug in here. Now, before I do, I have to say I'm in no way involved in this company and have not financial or personal interest in it whatsoever. My Nano output has been phenomenal this year. I've never done anything close to this in only 19 days. And I have to say that I don't think I could have done it without using Scrivener. I downloaded their Nano trial version, and it blew me away. It's now my go-to piece of writing software. I can't say enough about it. (Getting down from soapbox now.)

Off to go make some applesauce and some cranberry/orange compote.

Have a wonderful, safe Thanksgiving. (Isn't it wonderful - the leftovers mean we won't have to cook, and we will have time to write more! One more thing to put on the list of things to be thankful for.)

Calculus and Cookies...

For all of us mathematically-inclined (or crazy) people out there, I was thinking about a new exercise today for my students. It was an exercise in junk food. Specifically -- cookies.

Now, everyone has a favorite cookie. It could be chocolate chip, Oreos, oatmeal, or those delightfully addictive mint cookies that the Girl Scouts tempt us with every year. (Mint cookies and I are very familiarly acquainted.)

What if each student, choosing their favorite cookie from a predetermined list, took the dimensions and tried to find out how many cookies could fit into a specific area. How much area was taken up by the cookies? How many cookies were used? And how much of the original area was left? Here's where the calculus bit comes in. Integrals are used to find the area under a curve. (We knew calculus had to show up eventually.)

Get the answer right for your type of cookie, and you get to eat said cookies.

How's that for incentive?

Personally, I can't try the cookie thing, because I'm still trying to lose weight. And it's going slowly, I'm afraid. So is the exercise. But some of my other goals are going well.

For instance, my planning is still going forward, as is my writing. My Nano word count is just over 20,000. I have no idea what my page count is, but I'm sure it's inching toward my 80 pages for this quarter.

Not so good on the fried chicken front. I bought some last night on my way home from work. Once I got there, I went to bed. I was utterly exhausted, and I let the guys figure out whatever they wanted for dinner.

I haven't ordered any pizza though, so that's still good.

Fighting the junk food craving is a day to day adventure. But I sure wish the cravings would go away.

See you on Sunday!

Doing It Uncaffeinated...!

Morning, all. It is morning, right? I'm not sure - it's still kinda dark outside here.

Yes, you read the name right. I haven't had coffee. Or Mountain Dew. Or tea. Or even dark chocolate. My eyes are still blurry. I apologize in advance if this comes out like stream-of-conscious drivel. That's how my brain's working (or not) this morning. Or I could just be gearing up for Nano.

Speaking of Nano...if anyone's doing it and they want to friend me, I'm over there as laramcgill.

Goals, you ask? Well...

1. Planning is going well. I dreamed I was part of a police team of some sort (in Wales, no less!) and got shot in the back. It grazed my lung, and I found out very quickly what it was like to bleed and try to breathe at the same time. Interesting from an academic standpoint. Not so good from a personal one.

2. Exercise. Not so good. I had plans to drag my roommate swimming yesterday, but that didn't happen because of other things that turned up unexpectedly. We'll see about today. Taking it one day at a time.

3. I haven't had any pizza or fried chicken since I last checked in. No, wait. There was a piece of leftover cold fried chicken in the fridge that I scarfed one morning for breakfast before work. In retrospect, that might have been the best thing I could have done - I didn't like it. And now I'm much more likely to pass it by in the grocery store. (I did yesterday - I wasn't even attracted by the usually-irresistible scent!)

4. Processed food. Doing great on that - things like boxed rice mixes and Hamburger Helper and soups and stuff just don't make it into my cart. I'm still buying things like stock though. I use too much of it to be able to make it on my own and still have enough. Not to mention that my freezer isn't big enough!

Have a great, productive day everyone! Now I just have to find a way to wake up so I can get crackin' too!

Goals and Scrivener

Morning, everyone! Here's the midweek rundown:

1. Exercise - I discovered that I procrastinate more than I should. (Actually, should anyone ever really procrastinate? I'm going to answer yes, because if I'd made it to work on time today, I might have been caught in the elevator fire we had in my building. Whew!) Ok, back to exercise. I'm finding that only walking during the commercials doesn't work for me. There's always something "more important" to do, like unload the dishwasher or throw another load of laundry in. So, it looks like it's going to have to be done all at once.

I also discovered that vanity was a better motivator for me than health. Huh. Who woulda thunk it?

2. I haven't done any "writing" yet - still doing a lot of planning. But I had this outrageous nightmare last night, which I'll probably try to get on the page today between rounds with students.

3. No fried chicken or pizza. Go me! And the fried chicken is on sale this week, too. I came home from work late on Monday, so we had Chinese instead. Veggies were better for me, and I had leftovers for lunch. I worked out great.

4. I'm doing well on the no processed food goal. It seems that less processed equals better flavor. Things are really looking up.

Could I get some feedback on something? I'm currently using WriteWay as my writing software, but I'm considering switching to Scrivener because it also does screenplays. How do all you Scrivener users like it? Why do you like it? Have you had any experience with WriteWay?

Thanks for all your feedback - I really appreciate it!

I've Made a Decision

Greetings, everyone. Here's a rundown on how I've been getting on...

1. Exercise. Not the best. I've just done some gentle walking because of my back. It's been feeling much better over the past couple of days, though, so I reactivated my gym membership yesterday and I'm hoping to go back and start swimming in the next couple of days.

2. Writing. To my disgust, it also hasn't been that great. That's because I had to make a choice to take on a couple of private tutoring assignments that turned into more than just a few hours of work. It was lucrative (over $300) but took a lot of time that I would otherwise spend on writing. That finished yesterday, so I'm back on track. I think.

3. Planning. My planning is coming along slightly, but just in my head. I decided that my heroine has to die at the climax of my book. She has to be the one to take the ultimate risk, and in order to be successful, she has to die. The plot won't be satisfied otherwise. That was a really hard decision to make, but I feel better about the direction of the story, so I guess it's worth it.

4. I've made a decision about NaNo. I find I work better if I can flip between two projects, so I'm going to be working on a contemporary suspense (nope, no paranormal elements here!) called "Broken." I'm having a great time with it so far. Lots of death, pain, and viciousness - but none undeserved. Except that foisted onto the victims. It's okay, I promise. They'll get their revenge. Le Comte du Monte Cristo would be proud.

How's everyone else doing?

Pressing On...

It's only the third day, so I don't have a lot going on.

My exercising isn't turning out so good. I hurt my back so I'm on hiatus with only gentle walking. Time isn't an issue right now, just being functional is okay for me.

My pages are going, but I'm not satisfied with the material. So dissatisfied that I can't even complete it. That means I'm walking away from that scene for a while. I'm working on a new one this morning as soon as I complete my check-in. I do have a question for all of you out there, though - I know you can have co-protagonists, but can you introduce both of them in the beginning of your story? For those who are familiar with the Story Engineering paradigm, before the First Plot Point? For the Hero's Journey, it would be before Crossing the Threshold. Thanks for all the input on that.

Woo hoo! I haven't had any fried chicken. Or pizza. According to my stomach, life is good so far. I did make some Capellini Alfredo with chicken breasts though. It was probably as bad as the fried chicken. My taste buds loved it, and I don't do it very often.

I'm sure I forgot something, but since I'm at work and my students are looking at me, I've got to run.

See you Sunday!

Sharpening My Pencils...

Actually, I don't have to sharpen my pencils, because I use mechanical ones. And a lot of lead. But that's because I use a fine point and I break it a lot.

Goals...I've done some thinking about that over the past week. They're still a bit basic. And there's not many of them.

1.  Write at least 80 pages this round. That equates to one page per day (obviously) but I want to make sure I build in some fluff time. Today I know I'm going to be going over the one page, because my protagonist is about to get into an argument. More on that down the road.

2. Continue using Story Engineering for my planning. I'll work on that every day.

3.  I have it in my Outlook schedule to walk for 30 minutes every day. Problem with that - I have lots of allergies, live in Florida, and ragweed will be the death of me. My treadmill is looking good. I plan to achieve this goal by walking only during the commercials if I'm watching TV. If I'm not, then I'll use the treadmill as something to unstick writer's block. If I haven't finished my page for the day, I have to remain on the treadmill until my fingers want to type. (That should work, either way!)

4. Here's a weird one. I'm giving up fried chicken for the duration of this challenge. Anyone who lives in Florida probably is familiar with the supermarket chain Publix - and their outstanding fried chicken - chicken they so-lovingly cook for your and have ready whenever you need a quick meal because you've worked late. It's better than the Colonel's, and much cheaper. Still bad for you, though.

5. I'm not sure about this one - I don't know if it's viable. I'd like to kick the processed food habit, but I don't know if I can put it as an actual goal, only because I'm not sure if it's realistically achievable, especially during the holiday season.

Anyway, there's my plan. I'm crossing my fingers and picking up my pencil. See everyone on Wednesday!

Round 4 Goals

Ok, here goes. I've been thinking about this for the last couple of days. I'm always so impressed by those members who have 7 or 8 goals covering so many different facets of their lives.

I'm going to try to do at least a few this time.

1.  Write at least one manuscript page per day. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but I'm taking small steps on purpose.

2. Continue to organize and plan according to Story Engineering.

3. Walk for 30 minutes per day. I'm using YouTube videos of a British television show for inspiration. It's called Supersize v. Superskinny. If anyone needs motivation, that's the way to go. One contributor called ErmmTV has season playlists already set up. It makes it convenient. I don't seem to have much energy, and I've heard that if you exercise, your energy levels increase. Here's hoping. Oh, yeah, and the weight loss. That's part of the motivation as well.

Anyone else out here planning yet?

Baby Steps...

I haven't gotten as much done this week as I wanted to. And I have to confess, I'd have gotten a lot LESS done if I hadn't responded to a blog entry on "high concept."

A couple of very nice people told me they thought I had a good concept, so it kick-started me into where I needed to be.

My other goal, the one involving the dreadmill, isn't going so well. I've only made it on there once.

Feel free to kick me in the butt...I can use all the asskicking I can get. Losing weight is such a hard thing for me.

See everyone on Wednesday!

Goal Revision Already!

As it stands, I have a middle that's as confused as a huge bowlful of pasta. I can't begin to write scenes until I see even a somewhat clear direction in which to go.

So...

This is going to be a planning period for me for the next little while. I'll still be using Story Engineering and The Writer's Journey to find my way. I'll do my reporting on what I've been able to figure out and where I am in the process. When (or if) I can start writing scenes during Round 2, I'll revise my goals again to add it.

I'm adding a health goal too. Everyone feel free to nag me about them - I need it! Here it is:

In deference to Johnny Depp's new role as the wonderfully gothic Barnabas Collins in "Dark Shadows," I've decided to stay on the dreadmill (yes, you read that right) for the length of two episodes of the original series per day. Netflix has four seasons on their live streaming section.

And now, I'm off to teach math. Have a wonderful, productive day everyone!