Because Accountability is Highly Motivating

Okay, gang, we’re going to try something new. Since we’re already (!) coming up on the end of the first quarter of 2013, it’s high time I get a move on with some of these goals. So I’m going to be posting progress reports on a few different goals; namely, writing, getting in shape, and getting my house in order.

I’m trying out a new schedule (actually, it’s an old schedule, one that for some reason only seems to work for me during Daylight Savings Time, so I ought to be fine until November), and it’s one that leaves me time each day for writing and for working out. For working out, I’ll be building up to, and then attempting, Couch to 5K. But that schedule only makes you work out three days a week, so on the other days I’ll be doing an hour of UFYH (don’t click that link if you can’t handle swearing).

My aim here is to do these things and post progress reports every weekday. If I skip a weekday, I will have to make it up on the weekend, and I’m counting on you guys to not only cheer me on but also to hold me accountable.  So do feel free to give me a good talking to if I don’t hold up my end of the bargain.

So without further ado…

Project: Eucha Falls, the recurring dream / creepy pasta / Slenderman mashup that’s taking longer than any short story should ever take to write.

Starting word count: 8,363

Today’s word count: 1,022

What happened: Melanie was lured into the sideshow tent.

Non-spoilery sneak peek: 

She emerged into a long hall, dimly lit by display lights suspended over long glass cases that stretched along each heavily-curtained wall. She approached the nearest case. Inside lay a small, unidentifiable mummified creature. An engraved metal plate in front of it claimed it to be a faerie’s remains. Next to it was a taxidermied “mermaid” that looked like some poor monkey’s face had been sewn onto a fish. Taking up the rest of the case was a pile of shrunken heads, purportedly taken from a tribe of Amazonian cannibals.

C25K/UFYH: After my last stab at starting C25K, I decided I should start off a little slower this time and build up to the running part, because as it turns out, I’m not the sort of person who finds the feeling that your heart has been replaced by a xenomorph chest-burster to be much of a motivator. To that end I had planned to go for a thirty-minute walk this morning, but seeing as it was only 30 degrees out there when the time came and I’m a big wuss when it comes to cold, that wasn’t happening. So instead I did the five-minute warmup from the Cardio Kickboxing for Dummies DVD, which left me winded enough to be glad of my wisdom to take it slow this time. I followed that up with ten minutes of stretching. Eh, it’s a start.

Later: A dreaded phone call (I pretty much dread all phone calls, so there’s nothing special or especially dreadful about this one), followed by lunch, followed by wrapping up the remainder of last week’s To Dos so I can get started on my client projects tomorrow with a clean slate. To be followed by dinner, and then falling into bed with my husband to watch The Walking Dead and the 3rd season finale of Downton Abbey. And then surely to have pleasant dreams filled with hugs and puppies. Man, you guys, at this point I don’t know which of these two shows is more gut-wrenching.

Finding My Motivation

The biggest problem I always face with a niche blog is that there comes a time when you just can’t think of anything to write about in that niche, and that’s what has happened with me here lately. It’s not so much that I’ve said all I have to say on the topic of prepping as that I just got a little burned out on the subject. I needed to back off for a while from the doom and gloom of the prepper community and stop worrying about what’s going to happen. I just needed a break.

But while it’s good to take a break when you start to feel burned out on something, that also makes it really hard to get going again. I have a list of topic ideas in a notebook from a brainstorming session I did over a week ago. But it’s hard to get re-started after a hiatus, even a relatively short one, because I always feel like said hiatus is the elephant in the room and I need to mention it so we can move on.

So here, to re-break the ice and jump-start this thing, is a random list of what has been going on with me. Continue reading “Finding My Motivation”