Tag Archives: running

Motivation Monday

Posted on January 22, 2018 | 1 comment

So – a goals checkin. The month is 3/4 over – how am I doing?

My goal for the month was to work on my movement. I’m happy to report that I’m doing decently well, considering the shoulder injury, etc.

My shoulder is doing so much better! So much! I’ve been keeping up with my PT (gooooo me!) and have been cleared to do any kind of exercise I want, as long as I don’t push through pain.

I’ve been walking a lot more, and have doubled my daily walking average over the last month.

I’m hiring a running coach starting next month so that I have someone to be accountable to as I make my way to my first 10K in May. I am planning my triumphant return to yoga this week. I’m not sure when I’ll be back in the pool – that’s a lot of stuff to balance with everything else.

I am not doing this. Nope.

I’ve doubled my weekly average meditation time from 5 minutes to 10 minutes!

I have started a new medication and taken it every day since. I’ve also done really well at taking my vitamins, drinking plenty of water, drinking next to zero amounts of alcohol, and have done much, much better at getting to bed earlier. I’m still not doing well at getting up earlier, but as I’ve been so sleep-deprived, I’m just trying to catch up at this point.

The beer guy & I have booked all our hotels in Europe and have tentative schedules while there. I have also – and most importantly – ordered new shoes for the trip. They will arrive today, and I will share the magic with you tomorrow.

All-in-all? This month has been leaps and bounds better than the last couple. I’m still struggling with some stuff, but I’m working on things rather than just burying them. I hope.

Have a great week! I hope you’re on track for all your goals!

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Posted in Aggressive Happiness, Made of Awesomesauce, Priorities!, Run Away!, The Beer Guy, Where's My Towel, Zen AF

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Gotta Have Goals (October 2017)

Posted on October 6, 2017 | 1 comment

At the beginning of September, I set 19 goals for myself, and I thought it’d do more towards accountability if I actually shared how that went. (Plus, then, NEW GOALS!)

September Report

  1. Pick my son up from his very last day of preschool ever. Take a picture. Don’t cry. (9/1) – SUCCESS! I didn’t even cry
  2. Finish all my last pre-editor edits on The Ruby Blade and get that sucker to my editor. (9/2) – SUCCESS! I totally cried here, though
  3. Drink champagne. (9/2) – SUCCESS! (No tears)
  4. Make an apple pie with the Bean, because he wants to make one for the beer guy’s parents who are visiting. (9/3) – SUCCESS! Kinda, we made a crisp instead
  5. Drop my boy off at his first day of Kindergarten. Take pictures. Don’t cry. (9/5) – SUCCESS! More or less. I maybe got some dust in my eyes. It was really smoky from the fires.
  6. Edit a book for a new client (early Sept) – SUCCESS! (And it is SO GOOD!)
  7. Get my skin checked to make sure there’s no suspicious activity (9/11) – SUCCESS! All is well with my soul skin
  8. Meet with new personal trainer and get new workout schedule set up (9/12) – half SUCCESS! I met with the trainer, but have not yet gotten the schedule set up. 
  9. Write 45K words on Eleanor #4 (sekrit goal is 60K – which is 15K/week and my current average, but see all busy-ness) – big ol’ fail…I’m waaaay behind on my ambitious goal, not to mention the sekrit goal, but still on track to finish by 11/30.
  10. Write 2 chapters on my Raj novella – oops. Totally did not do this. 
  11. Survive the beer guy’s 2.5 week trip to Belgium (I mean, obviously, I’ll survive, but, you know…) – SUCCESS! I ate and slept and only broke the house a tiny bit! 
  12. Keep on top of my day job stuff – SUCCESS!
  13. Write outlines for the first three books in my new series coming out about this time next year and conspire with my cover artist – SUCCESS! I have a long synopsis for the first book and shorter ones for books 2 & 3, have started conspiring with my cover artist, and am working on a marketing plan.
  14. Turn around my article edits SUPAH FAST – SUCCESS! 
  15. Write 4 chapters on SUPER SEKRIT PROJECT – oops. Totally forgot about this.
  16. Actually sleep? I guess? – SUCCESS! I averaged more than 6.5 hours/night in September. 
  17. Start meditating in the mornings again, which means – oops. nope.
  18. Start getting up at 5:30 am again, which means – hahaha. nope. (I am getting up regularly at 6 now, though)
  19. In bed & asleep by 10:45 on school nights – SUCCESS! 
  20. I really want a 20th goal, but couldn’t think of one…

Honestly not bad at all. So much successing. The places where I didn’t completely succeed, though, were all things for which I had not external motivator. Writing my own words with no editor deadline (see sekrit project, Eleanor #4, Raj’s chapters), meditation, getting up earlier, getting the workout schedule down with the new trainer (although, to be fair, I’m waiting for her to get back to me at this point).

I’m not going to set 20 goals in October, but I have five big ones. I’m not going to include things that I know I’ll get done, like finishing up the book I’m currently editing or “have a good time in Mexico.” Instead, these are actual things that I have to work at.

  1. I signed up for a thanksgiving 5K. My goal – to finish it without hating myself, whatever that means for me that day.
  2. I need to be mostly done with Eleanor book 4 by the end of the month.
  3. Stay on top of book marketing and don’t back out because of “hard” or “fear.”
  4. Find a way to forgive everyone who made me angry cry today due to the colossal fuck-up that happened with my Bean’s after-school care situation. Note: this might be the hardest. Note 2: I think everything’s figured out. It was only two hours of Wednesday panic on my part.
  5. Continue to eat 3x/day and get to bed by 11 on work nights. Work on popping out of bed a little faster in the morning. Meditate (with the bean). Moisturize. Self-care.

 

 

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Posted in Aggressive Happiness, Book-It! Please send pizza, Not Dead Yet!, Priorities!, Run Away!, Write Now!, Zen AF

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Three Things Thursday: Brain Dump Edition

Posted on July 20, 2017 | Comments Off on Three Things Thursday: Brain Dump Edition

I typed the post title as “brain dumb” on my first go, and that might be accurate.

  1. I’m deep in edits/rewrites for The Ruby Blade. My goal is to finish 95% of the big work by the end of the month so I can get it to my beta readers and back in time to get it to my editor by the end of next month.
  2. I joined the gym on the campus of my new job and my membership is now active. I am going to start swimming/lifting a couple times/week. So it is written. (I need the accountability.)
  3. I have so many books in my TBR queue that I barely know what to do with myself. It’s the best problem I’ve ever had, TBH. Currently, I’m reading Emma Hamm’s Silver Blood (bus book), A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab (road trip audiobook), Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews (bedtime book), Besieged by Kevin Hearne (walking audiobook), and The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte (my non-fiction selection OTM). Up next in the queue is Dustwalker by Tiffany Roberts and then Godkiller by Colleen Vanderlinden. So you know, just a couple books. I’m a little behind in my goal to hit 185 books this year, so I need to pick up the pace. Having a full-time job really is messing up my writing and reading schedules!

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Posted in Book-It! Please send pizza, Run Away!, Write Now!

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Three Things Thursday: Late Breaking edition

Posted on June 29, 2017 | Comments Off on Three Things Thursday: Late Breaking edition
  1. Today is my mom’s birthday! Happy birthday, mother. I hope you’re having  lovely day.
  2. Yesterday, I got to spend the morning at home due to an under-the-weather kiddo. He’s back in school today and feeling much better, and his sick yesterday meant he slept really, really late and I got a decent amount of writing done on The Ruby Blade. I’m going to need each and every one of you to buy a few hundred copies of my book (each) so that I can make a living from writing. Please?
  3. I am looking forward to reaching a point in my life where I’m not constantly exhausted and can get myself out of bed when my alarm goes off. My plan for tomorrow? 5:45 wakeup call and up & out the door for a run by 6ish. I have my intervals loaded on my phone and will lay out my exercising clothes when I get home. The main challenge is going to be forcing myself to be in bed and asleep by 11.

Happy almost Friday! Woo!

Time to retire this old thing…

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Posted in Friends & Family, Oh, Baby!, Priorities!, Run Away!, Write Now!

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Mayday! Mayday!

Posted on May 1, 2017 | Comments Off on Mayday! Mayday!

It’s the first day of May! It’s also the beginning of the second week of the jobby job! AND, I got edits back from editor extraordinaire last night, so I should have a fair amount of stuff to keep me busy.

I have some pretty big goals for this month. In a very particular order:

  1. Getting a handle on the new job. I want to end this month with a confidence level of over 50%. I think this is easily achievable. I just need to be able to dive in and do the work. (I’m replacing someone, so it’s a little awkward to dive in when she’s still here.)
  2. Finish edits on The Waning Moon and start getting it ready for publication. I’ve got a couple major areas to work on, and a month to do it, so I’m not too worried!
  3. Continue with rewrites of the (almost titled) third book in the Eleanor Morgan series. I’ve gone through once and now it’s time to add some material. Raj fans are going to enjoy this book, I think!
  4. Keep up the blogging schedule I’ve been on recently. I have book reviews scheduled for tomorrow, 5/16, and 5/30 (so if you have something you want me to review on the 9th or 23rd, now’s the time to shoot me a request!)
  5. Move more. Now that it’s more than 45 steps from my bedroom to my computer, my fitbit is looking a little less embarrassing. I’m going to hit a minimum of 8K steps/day every day this week and go running one time.
  6. Continue adjusting my sleep/wake schedule. I’d like to be back to a 4:45 am alarm on weekdays (so that I’m up, drinking coffee, and writing by 5).

All of these goals are achievable with a little bit of dedication on my part. It’s interesting: even with being tired from “getting up early” and “getting dressed” and “commuting to work,” I’m feeling more like myself than I’ve felt in…I don’t know how long. There’s just something magical about “earning money” and “color-coding my planner” and “adding quotation marks around random phrases” that makes me feel good.

My work days are still so empty! So much possibility here!

 

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Posted in Book-It! Please send pizza, Cubicle Whore, Made of Awesomesauce, Priorities!, Run Away!, Woot!, Write Now!

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