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A Writer’s Journey Through Insanity (plus, Week 6 Reality Check)

Filed under: Books and Writing — 16 Comments
February 16, 2012

I love being a writer. I write and write and revise and revise (and revise and revise). And just when I think I’ve revised the ever-loving-bejeeezus out of my manuscript, and can’t possibly do any more revisions, I get a brilliant idea about how to make it even better.

Then, after I implement all those wonderful ideas, it seems like, YES! Finally! My brain can take a break! Come up for air! Take a shower! Feed my kids something other than frozen pizza! Remember what my husband looks like!

NO! Brain shouts, and slaps me around a little for being so naïve. (It’s quite violent, my brain)You may not stop! You must go and write down this whole new idea I have given you! And the vicious cycle begins again. Which would explain why I’m writing this on Thursday, and not Monday as usual. The New Story Monster has taken over my brain, and no matter how hard I try, he won’t let me escape from his blood-thirsty jaws.

The craziest thing about it?

I LIKE IT!

This is my favorite part of the writing process. The part where you can’t remember whether or not you fed the dog because all you can think about are the characters in your head. The part where you wake up at four in the morning, grab the notebook off your nightstand, scribble down something completely illegible, and roll around for an hour trying to go back to sleep. It’s insane and exhausting, but I love it. It’s how I know I’ve got something worth writing about.

So…that’s where I’ve been this week. Now that you all know exactly how crazy I am, (please hold off on sending me to the asylum until AFTER I finish my rough draft, please) onto my weekly business of sharing way too much personal info with all of you.

My progress last week: -2 pounds (as of Monday)

My total progress: -11 pounds

Woohoo! I’ve passed the halfway mark! 11 pounds in 6 weeks…I am filing this under, “Hey, not bad.” I’ve also decided that I hate weighing in on Mondays, so gonna get CrAzY and switch it to Friday. That way I can eat in peace over the weekend and still have five days to work it off. ;)

And now? MORE COFFEE! The New Story Monster woke me up at 4 am (not to be confused with the other two monsters that live with me and were birthed of my loins).

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Reality Check – Week 5

Filed under: Health and Fitness — 2 Comments
February 6, 2012

My progress this week: -2

My progress so far: -9

HUZZAH! Finally, a little movement in the right direction!

The biggest difference this week was exercise. Not only did I workout five times this week, but I really focused on strength training. So many women think that they don’t need to gain muscle, or that they shouldn’t. This couldn’t be more false! Lifting weights has a ton of advantages, and we should all be doing it. It isn’t just for dudes! It increases your lean muscle mass, which in turn boosts metabolism and burns calories. The stronger you are, the more you’ll be burning calories while you’re just sitting on your ass. How awesome does that sound? It also improves your quality of sleep, can help with back pain, and protects you from horrible stuff like osteoporosis.

Don’t believe me? My favorite magazine has some enlightening articles in the subject:

Women’s Health – The Best Strength Training for Women

Women’s Health – Fitness Face Off, Cardio vs. Strength

Exhibit A: My ass. It shrunk a good inch or two this week. And I swear it feels less jiggly. NO JOKE. My pants are fitting better, and it’s because I’ve been focusing on getting stronger. I challenge you to do the same! (Even if its just squeezing your butt cheeks together at red lights. Because, hey…why not?)

 

 

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Reality Check: Week 4

Filed under: Health and Fitness — 2 Comments
January 30, 2012

My progress this week: +1

Total progress: -7

There were a couple reasons why this wasn’t the best week for me:

1. Something that can be summed up with three letters, and they don’t stand for Pardon My Sweatpants.

2. The classic excuse we all use, I didn’t have time.

I call it an excuse because that’s exactly what it is. Yes, I was busy, but was I really too busy to find 30 minutes in my day SOMEWHERE to get some exercise? No. My regular schedule got turned upside down, and I used it as an excuse. “Oh, I can’t go today…I have to be at this meeting.” Well, I couldn’t go in the morning as usual, but if I had made it a priority, I would have just gone at another time instead. So I only worked out twice this week; my goal is 4-5 times a week.

And also, we all know that keeping good food around the house keeps us from turning to convenience food. Well, I told my myself that I didn’t have time to grocery shop this week. Turns out, that’s not really a valid excuse for me anymore. I just found out that a local grocery store will let me shop for my groceries online and deliver them for a $10.00 fee. (For my Houston peeps, I’m talking about Rice Epicurean Market. They deliver to more zip codes than you think. Details here.)

So, NO MORE EXCUSES! I just have to MAKE the time instead of trying to FIND the time. Because we all know how that works. “Oh, I’ll write that novel when I find the time.” If I had done that, I would still be going around telling people, “Yeah, I want to write someday,” instead of actually doing it.

Oh, and also…this:

The "Boise" from The Burger Guys in Houston

Yeah…that’s a sausage hot dog, wrapped in potato strings, deep fried, on a bun, with onion-bacon jam. I only had three bites, and hubby devoured the rest, but still. That couldn’t have helped things much. It was really pretty, though.

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