Back on the exercise wagon?

It has been a long time since I visited the YMCA.  Time seems to slip away and to be honest it doesn't often enter my mind, though I know it would help with weight loss.

Yesterday my husband Don and I were talking.  He pointed out I have downtime between dropping the two young men who live with us off to their respective jobs.  He suggested I take 15 minutes and walk a treadmill.  Not too fast - I'm too heavy and it's been too long - but starting off slow and giving it a shot Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (commitments I have during the year make this more difficult on Tuesdays and Thursdays).

Okay, I said, I'll give it a try.

So after dropping off Young Man #1 to his job I headed for the Y.  After checking in I picked out a treadmill and after picking a lecture on my iPod to listen to, I got started.

Well, I only got up to 1.8 mph on the thing.  Because I have balance issues I hang on to the front rail of the machine, which apparently stressed out my biceps.  I plodded through 15 minutes before happily getting off the thing and heading home for a needed shower.

I am going to do my best to try out this schedule.  I am trying to have a positive attitude while I endure, hoping it will result in good numbers on the scale.  Maybe by going public with this I'll do a better job sticking with it.  We'll see.

Interesting discussion on my Facebook page...

Yesterday I posed a question on my Facebook page which came out of a discussion I was having with my best friend.  The question was, "Is a more powerful federal government a good thing?  Why or why not?"

As I type this there are over 100 responses in the thread.  Only a few from me, the rest from friends who weighed in on both sides of the issue.

I was a little nervous at first.  Would the thread blow up into some kind of flamefest, with people slinging mud all over the place?  I made it clear that I wouldn't tolerate such posts and would take the whole thing down if people couldn't behave.

I am pleased to report that overall, with a couple of exceptions, the conversation has been well-mannered.  The issues are actually being discussed rationally and calmly.  And I am learning and enjoying the back and forth between people.

If only those in power could talk to each other like this, maybe something good could be accomplished...

My First Free Fiction Sunday...

I'm planning on posting my first free short story on the blog.  My goal is to leave it up for a week and then change it for a new one each Sunday.  Let me know how you like it, and if it's something I should continue!

Test

Testing to see if I can blog from my phone.  This could be fun...

Long overdue updates...

Well, it's been a while since I updated this blog, and I really have no excuse.  One of my goals this year is to get into a regular blogging schedule so that I am keeping this active on a regular basis.

On the writing front, I have some news: my latest novel REDEMPTION is available as an ebook at all the usual sources (Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo).  The paperback version has been delayed due to production issues but I hope it will see the light of day this month.

Also, my short story "Choices" will appear in a special Kobo edition of Fiction River: Past Crime this October.  Check www.fictionriver.com for more information.

My column in the News Sun (Highlands County) is still going strong.  You can read it online at www.newssun.com.  A book with a collection of my earliest columns is supposed to come out later this year.

I am currently working on a couple of projects - a fantasy novel I'm co-authoring and a murder mystery set on a cruise ship.  I am hoping to see a YA Christian novel published this year.

I have plans for the blog.  I'd like to start posting a short story on Sundays for you to read for free for a week.  Then I'd delete it and post another one the subsequent week.  I also plan to spend a lot more time talking about things that I find interesting and letting you know what's going on in my life.

Right now my husband is in Nicaragua on a medical mission trip until Saturday.  If you are the praying kind, pray for his safety and productivity.  I'd appreciate it.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling - just letting you know I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.  I'm still here, still writing, and hopefully some of you are still reading.

Until next time,

Laura

Nano summary...

Well, my Nano project, "Murder On the High Seas," clocked in at 30,023 words by midnight on the 30th (or 30,102 words if you take the website's count).  Either way, I missed 50k by a bit.

While I would've liked to have hit the 50,000 word mark last month, I am not as disappointed as I expected to be.  30,000 words are still a lot.  It's my best one-month word count since 2011.  And I'm probably halfway through this particular novel, which is not a bad thing.

My current goals?  One is to write 20,000 new words of fiction this month.  That will give me 180,000 words for the year, which is my goal for 3013.  This doesn't count the column, or exercises I'm doing for a short online workshop I'm taking.  These are either for a novel or a short story.

Another goal I have is to get my latest novel, "Redemption," published.  I have some copyedits I need to finish going through and then it can be put out.  I hope to have it up before Christmas - I will announce it here when it comes out, and JJ Press will also be making an announcement about it.

Remember - it's better to try and fail then not to try at all.  What are your goals for December?

Nano update: Day 10

Well, here we are at day 10 of Nanowrimo.  Technically I should be at 16,670 words if I were on schedule.

However, that was not meant to be.  Due to a variety of factors I have clocked in at day 10 with a mere 10,132 words.

Is that low?  Yeah, for the pace I hoped to set, that's a few thousand short (I was hoping to be closer to 20k by now).  Am I disappointed?  Yeah, a little.  Am I discouraged?  Not really.  I have 20 days left on this thing and could still hit 50k if I push myself some.  So it's still doable.

And here's the thing.  As things stand now, my word count for November is better than my word counts were for September and October.  I have an excellent chance for this to be my best total word count month for the year, even if I miss the 50k mark (my best month so far this year was June with 18,462 words).

Do I still want to hit 50k?  Indeed.  I'm estimating the book I'm working on to clock in at around 60k so that would put it close to finished.  And 50k would help me hit my goal for 180,000 new fiction words this year (this doesn't count the column I write every week, which is non-fiction).

So I'm a third of the way through, not exactly where I want to be, but not ready to lay down and quit yet.  So if you're working on Nano and still have a ways to go, don't give up!  Just keep writing.  And I'll update you again in a few days on my progress.

Write on!