The Answer to My Aches!

Potomac Massage Training Institute | Massage Therapy education and training in Washington, DC

I am SOOOOO doing this! With my condition, massage would be a good thing! At these prices I might be able to afford to do this ONCE-A-WEEK! How decadent!

Achy!

Boy, I am achy today! It's the meds, of course. I had to take them last night. It makes exercising in the morning HARD. I was only able to 20 minutes of yoga. I was so stiff, I could do my favorite poses.

I meet with the nurse today around 11am. I think it's a waste of time, but I guess she needs to make sure that I'm not about to kill myself or something like that. I will say these meds make me very weepy. Unfortunately it happens at the WEIRDEST, MOST INCONVENIENT TIMES.

Kick Butt Kicks Crap!

I just finished doing the Kick Butt video. Although Kristoff St. John is nice to look at... that video SUCKS! No variety, no challenge. I didn't pay that much for it, and I can see why. I'm going to keep doing it this week (Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday) just to be sure. I could just be spoiled by Billy Blanks.

Hard Evening, Good Morning

I hate taking my medication. It really sucks having to give yourself injections and Interferon gives my muscles the shakes and the chills. However, when I think of the alternative (brain attacking itself and being back in the hospital), well I just grin and bear it. I've started taking Tylenol PM about 30 minutes before I give myself an injection. I only woke up three times last night from the muscle aches/chills. Believe it or not, that's an improvement.

Although I was achy, I pulled myself out of bed. I'm getting better at the Salamba Sarvangasana pose and the Halasana pose. I think I need to open up my back more to really get Halasana. I can't seem to get my feet to touch the floor.

Jumping rope is still taxing, but today I did 54 jumps before I fell. It seems still just jumping for 1 minute. What's the saying? "Slow and steady wins the race." Well, I'm not racing, but I've got to start somewhere.

The Tae-Bo Extreme almost killed me. I stayed in there for the whole 56 minutes! I'm glad Billy Blanks is so comical and makes me laugh, otherwise that tape would be unbearable.

I had some lowfat waffles, sugar-free syrup, an apple and some peppermint tea for breakfast. I'm starting to get used to the low-fat waffles, but sometimes IHOP still calls my name.

I'm off to take a bath. I really need it. It's a good thing that blogs don't have "smell-o-rama".

Life May Now Begin Again!

Whew! Work is done, (for the moment). I don't start working summer school until July 6th (prep day) and then it's July 9th thru August 6th. At least it's half a day.

My drawing class ends next Thursday, June 29th. I can't believe how HARD it was! I also can't believe how much my drawing has improved. I still have an art history research paper to write for that class (it's due next Tuesday), and I still have that Special Ed final hanging over my head! I really need to get that done.

I've decided that I'm going to start knitting some socks on July 1st. I can finally join the Six Sox Knit-A-Long for the last month. By the end of next week, I should be done with the Penelope Blouse--that's one the needles now. I really want to try those Sidewinder Socks. They look like a lot of fun. I'm seeing them every! Now I just need to find the right yarn. I really should use something I have in the stash!

On the weight front, I've joined Weight Watchers! I've lost 4.6 pounds so far! Yeah me! You'd think that was enough, but you know me. I'm going to the gold. I'm going to...

COMPETE IN FITNESS COMPETITIONS!

Yes, I am crazy. My first big goal is to go from the 151 that I weigh now, down to 125 which will be my pre-contest weight. That's definitely a year-long project. Don't worry, I'm doing this healthy--eating right, exercise, and a lot of water. A 1/2 pound a week is slow enough so that this is PERMANENT weight loss.

If that wasn't enough, I still have to do my writing, my music, and some type of art every day. What's the saying, 21 days makes a habit? Well day is more than half done and I've got to leave for class in an hour, but tomorrow... WATCH OUT!

Really, I'm doin' it this time. Don't look at me that way!

FINALS HELL!

I'm stuck in limbo for the next two weeks. I've got finals and reports that I'm cramming to finish. Once that's all done, I'll FINALLY have time to write in my blog, read cool stuff, compose psychadelic music, and create really cool crafts!

Really, I'll be back better than ever...PROMISE!

Yoga Class

I had my first yoga class today. It was awesome! I can't reccommend taking an actual class enough. A teacher can really help you with the postures, making sure that you're in correct alignment, guiding you to how you should be feeling.

It was all good, but I AM SORE! Hey, at least she warned me. It's a good sore. I'll keep you posted on the benefits as they come.

I'm On a Roll!

I got another doodle done before I fell asleep AT 7:00PM! I must have been really, REALLY tired. I obviously needed the sleep.

Create-A-Thing-A-Day!

Well, even though I'm not doing so well of the 1,000 Club, I've added yet another creative thing to my plate. The Creative Act Blog is doing a Create-A-Thing-A-Day Challenge, and of course I'm going to attempt it.

My theme this week is doodling. I'm trying to get back into drawing. Unfortunately I don't have a digital camera so I can't take a picture of my art work (By the way, the thing you create can be any medium--baking, knitting, writing, drawing, are only a few of the ways you can express yourself.)

But you know me, I'll be honest about stuff like this. (Like admitting that I haven't even written one word, let only 1,000 a day--but that's another story.)

Today I have doodled. It helped my mind wander. I think this is a good thing.

The 1000 Club!

I was just on the Speculative Romance Online site and I read an article on the 100 Club. The quick story--you write at least 100 words a day for 100 consecutive days on your current WIP. If you miss writing 100 words one day, you have to start all over again. What a cool idea! If there's something writers are good at, it's "tricking" themselves into writing.

Well I've decided to adopt and change that idea a little. I usually have more than one WIP swimming in my katra at any given moment AND I have no problem writing 100 words daily. So how do I make this a challenge to myself...

1,000 words on anything (WIP, free-writes, exercises) for the next 20 days.

I'll post my daily word count at the end of each day (or first thing the next day if I need to get to sleep.) Don't worry, I'll be honest. I'm interested to see if I can make it that far. My "reward" for writing 1,000 a day for 20 days will be to buy myself a book the next day.

Good gracious! That means I can't buy ANY BOOKS for the next 20 days. (Anyone who knows me will know that this is a TRUE sacrifice!) Aww man, if I f$^$^^k up it will be LONGER THAN 20 DAYS BEFORE I CAN BUY A BOOK! Well, I'd better stick to the plan.

I think I can do it. I'm starting to work on a short story for the Romance Divas' February Challenge (man, I'm behind schedule) and of course I've got that epic series that's seized my interest and won't let go. This is a labor of love, so I'm taking my time.

Well, I'd better get going. I've got a lot of writing to do.

Big Ideas in Conservation - Next Big Ideas in Conservation: Steve McCormick - Security

Big Ideas in Conservation - Next Big Ideas in Conservation: Steve McCormick - Security

I thought this was interesting, a little oversimplified, but still interesting. McCormick's play on words, "War on Terra", is "cute"; but I think it begins to distance the people he should be trying to appeal to.

His core audience lives and breathes these ideas. Most of his audience is probably also incredibly politically active. It's the mass majority that he needs to direct his attention to. Unfortunately as soon as many of them read that phrase, they'll begin to tune out what he has to say.

I LOVE Rhapsody

I've been using Rhapsody for about a week now. I think it's great! I've been able to start some "soundtracks" for each of my WIPs.

Rhapsody also has a "Dynamic" Playlist feature that keeps track of what you've been listening and creates a playlist based on that. Some of the songs are songs you listened to, some of the songs are songs I guess they think you'd be interested based on your listening choices. How cool is that? So here is my playlist for this week...

1. Simpatico - William Ellwood
2. Charango - Oregon
3. Tom's Diner (A Capella) - Suzanne Vega
4. The First Cut is the Deepest - Sheryl Crow
5. Run To The Sun - N.E.R.D.
6. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Alana Davis
7. Nothing Seems To Matter - Bonnie Raitt
8. Raised On Robbery - Joni Mitchell
9. I Must Be High - Wilco
10. Boogie On Reggae Woman - Stevie Wonder
11. Be Still My Beating Heart - Sting
12. Just Like Anyone - Aimee Mann
13. Crazy (Radio 1 Live Lounge Session) - Nelly Furtado
14. I Am So Ordinary - Paula Cole
15. Pieces Of The Night - Gin Blossoms
16. Brick - Ben Folds
17. Hurt - Christina Aguilera
18. Chelsea Morning - Joni Mitchell
19. Are You Happy Now? - Michelle Branch
20. Little Sister - Jewel
21. Bombastic Love - Britney Spears
22. Flux - Penguin Cafe Orchestra
23. Redwood Nocturne - Spencer Brewer
24. Cold Tea Blues - Cowboy Junkies
25. Vogue - Madonna

Interesting! I've been listening to a lot of popular stuff and 80's stuff, looking for the right combination for one of my WIPs. I guess it shows. I've never even heard of some of this stuff. Well, I'd better get to listening. I may find something cool for one of my characters!

As If It Wasn't Hard Enough For Writers to Get Published!

I first read about this on the Paperback Writer Blog, the Signed and Filtered post. Here is the NY Times blurb and link:

A Pledge for Authors

Any author who signs a contract with the Christian book publisher Thomas Nelson Publishers must also swear to two religious articles of faith, regardless of the subject of the book. The company’s chief executive, Mike Hyatt, told Publishers Weekly that under a new rule that Thomas Nelson, based in Nashville, is calling a “content filter,” authors must agree with the Nicene Creed (“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty ...”) and Philippians 4:8 (“Whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure ... dwell on these things”). The rule will apply not only to writers of books on Christianity, but also to those of secular titles, like business books. JULIE BOSMAN

I think Ms. Viehl's response is hilarious. However, after you finish laughing, you really have to begin to think. My first instinct is to just ignore this. Inspirational literature is NOT my genre. But for this publisher that doesn't matter. Even if you write a secular title you must be a "sign on the dotted line" Christian?!

My next question is how will this affect business. Was this just a "ploy" to get their name in the news? Will readers boycott this publisher for his actions OR will he receive MORE business because "Christians" now know he's a man that they can trust? Something to watch closely, no?

Cute!

I saw this on the Divas' website. Cute!



How Did I End Up On The Cover Of This Romance Novel? | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

powered by performancing firefox

I Just Love Blogger Too Much!

They just HAD to make this beta.blogger really COOL and easy to use. Screw it! I'm just switching my writing blog over here. It really is easier. It will take me a couple of days to switch over all my links so, PLEASE, be patient.

Opening the Door

Well, blogger has changed since the last time I was here. I just started my WRITING BLOG. I don't know what this is going to be. Whatever it is, I know it will be cool.

Keeping Character Journals

I first heard about character journals in Script Magic by Marisa D'Vari. In that book she sugggested writing a journal entry for each of your main characters daily. That seemed like a lot of work to me.

However, Lou Willett Stanek in So You Want to Write a Novel offered similiar advice. She suggests doing writing exercises from your character's POV. So that's two pings for the character journal/exercise route.

We all know three is the charm. PBW talked about character journals and posted a journaling excerpt. She also asked people how they get to know their characters and did her customary - comment on the post, enter a drawing thing. I was too late for the drawing, but I did look through the comments. Lots of good ideas.

I was probably hasty (read-LAZY) in my initial assessment. There's something to this Character Journal/Exercise thing, and I'm jumping into the deep end. I've started a list of websites that have writing exercises and/or journaling prompts that I can use...

• Writer's Digest has prompts for every day of the year.


• Bella-Online has a page of links to prompts.


• There's actually a website called Creative Writing Prompts.


• And there's a site called Journal Writing Prompts.

These are just a few of the hundreds of websites that have prompts. While I like the idea of prompts, I'm not going to overlook the obvious ideas

• asking what if?


• pulling one, two or three words at random out of a dictionary, thesaurus, textbook, etc.


• using a line from a poem or song


• using a first line, last line or random line of text from a book


• using a quote


• using a headline from a newspaper or magazine


• using a title


• using a question from The Book of Questions

These are just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are many other sources that I'm not thinking of right now.

Will I post my character's journals? No. I tend to do a lot of free-writing in the early part of my story writing. I know that no one else is going to see it, so I'm free to go anywhere I want to go in the writing. I might start sensoring myself if I start posting character journals. I will DEFINITELY post the prompts I've used that day. Someone else might find them useful.

Borat Says

I was just at the Generator Blog...

and I found THIS! It's a generator! How cool is that?! Geez, I'm a geek!

The Secret Lives of Books

I stopped by the Paperback Writer, who was justifying why we writers still waste our time writing books in this day and age, why we even bother because many just end up unsold and destroyed. Obviously the critics of books (not to be confused with book critics), don't read. I can't imagine having to defend books and writing. (Actually, I can; but that's a whole other story!) Luckily, we have her to do it.

She spoke about the secret lives of books, how besides the story inside the cover many books have a life and journey of their own. We never know who we are going to touch with our writing.

Hey! Stop laughing at me. I know that I write speculative fiction, I write romantic fiction, I write erotic fiction, and most times ALL of those elements are in the same "work in progress". That doesn't mean that my work can't touch someone. (Hey get your mind out of the gutter, I didn't mean touch someone that way! Geez, try and be serious for a moment...)

Anyway, she asked what books we thought might have secret lives. There are sooo many possibilities answers to that question. My answer was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

It's one of those books that made my mind start wandering and that eventually led me to writing.

AND THAT makes me wonder what books other people think have secret lives and what books have made people stop and wonder, think or ask what if?