Body Sculpt Boot Camp – Part Two

Since the first workout boot camp I did went so well, I figured I would do another one for July and August to keep me motivated. Also, with J and I spending a week in PEI near the beach (is there anywhere in PEI not near a beach?) with his son, I thought I might like to be in bathing suit shape.

I have to admit, after the first boot camp ended I grew a little slack with the workouts. I didn’t stop, but 6 days a week looked more like 4 and the strength training took the biggest hit. So when my trainer told me she was doing another Body Sculpt Boot Camp, I signed up. It was either that or get Tommy Europe from The Last 10 lbs Boot Camp to whip my butt into shape and I'm guessing I can't afford him.

My workout calendar for the next 5 weeks looks a bit brutal. I have something going on each day, although the Saturday Yoga is optional. To me, yoga is like ‘rest’ day. I don’t feel depleted after doing yoga. Usually I feel like I’m ready to do more.

So here’s a basic overview of what it’s going to take to whip my butt (and thighs and arms and abs) into shape between now and the end of July:

Sun – two softball games
Mon – Cardio / Lower Body strength training / Abs
Tues – Yoga
Wed – Body Sculpt Boot Camp Class
Thurs – Yoga
Fri – Cardio / Upper Body strength training / Abs
Sat – Yoga (optional)

I think that should do the trick. Now I just have to revamp the diet to work in tandem. That’s always the biggest challenge for me. I do like my food…

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: The writing is going great. I worked out a plan for the rest of the year and my revisions to Salvation Falls are bopping right along – I’m already halfway through. This month I’ve also been busy, rearranging furniture and coordinating what goes, what stays, etc. to make room for J’s stuff when he moves in this weekend. That’s pretty much all done.

Now I’m just counting the days until vacation. I have a little mini vacation the first few days in July to make for a 5 day weekend, but it isn’t until the first of August I get any real time off. I’m REALLY looking forward to it. I’m taking a stack of books to continue my plan of working through as much of my TBR pile as humanly possible this year.

And that is what’s been going on. What’s new with you?

I’m Not Slacking…I’m Busy

I have been a busy little beaver. Entering contests, preparing a workshop for our chapter meeting in June, getting the house ready for the BF and his boy to move in has kept me hopping. I’m looking forward to a little down time but there’s no vacation for me until the first of July.

In the meantime I decided not to waste the momentum. I sat down and made a writing plan for the next six months. By the end of the year, if I can stick with the plan, I will have 4 completed manuscripts to market in the big bad world. I will also have 2 first drafts ready for revision and I also have the outline of the remaining books in the two series I have on the go.

I have a week off the first of August to spend with the BF and his boy in a cottage on PEI. My hope is to take a stack of books with me to try and put a dent in my ever growing TBR pile. It would help if I didn’t keep adding to it, but it’s not my fault. People keep writing these great books that scream to be read! What’s a girl to do?

Speaking of great books to be read, Jennifer Haymore’s new book – A Hint of Wicked, came out on June 1st and I picked that up on Wednesday. Jennifer and I met online a few years back when we both belonged to the HisFic Critique group and we managed to meet face to face, along with another critique partner, Christine Wells, when we all converged on San Francisco for the conference. I’m so excited to see Jennifer's first book hit the shelves and it sounds like its going to be a great read! I can’t wait to dive into it.

But that will have to wait. For now, I have a To Do list the length of my arm and this afternoon I am taking off work to finish up my gardens (finally!). Then I get to start reorganizing rooms, purging and tossing and moving things to make room for the BF’s furniture.

I have a feeling the busy isn’t going to stop any time soon…

What’s Going On

Good question. What IS going on? Someone asked me that the other day and my response was, “Same ole crap, new week.” Which basically sums it up, I guess. Nothing brand spanking new to report.

I am writing, working away, trying to stay more focused on the creative side and less on the business side for the time being. Although my brain is always jumping ten steps ahead of where I’m at so to say I’ve been entirely successful on that account would be a lie. Currently I’m planning on entering two manuscripts in one contest. One completed manuscript to give it another shot at an editor I’m interested in, and a new manuscript that has a first draft completed and could use some outside feedback. The new manuscript I’m also going to put in a couple of other contests next month as well.

Once the contest entries are completed, I’ll continue plugging away to get this ready to ship out to agents and editors, which hopefully will be ready to do by September-ish. That leaves me October to brainstorm my NaNo mss (a planned revamping of Juicy Lucy and her Big Bat – my brother’s title, not mine) and fire off query letters.

I am not going to Nationals this year. I made that decision early on and I don’t really regret it, much as I enjoy the experience. I felt there wasn’t anything new to sell at this point, whereas next year I should have four finished products to sell, possibly five. And, if the writing gods smile upon me favourably, maybe I won’t have to sell anything in Nashville, maybe I’ll get to promote something that’s sold instead. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, in every day life, I am working hard to maintain my optimism and keep my stress levels down. I am successful some of the time, and a walking disaster at other times. Sometimes the battles feel epic and the war never-ending, but I feel my old optimism creeping back and slowly gaining the upper hand. My mother will be happy to hear this. She said over the past few months my eyes looked dead and I had stopped laughing, which, for anyone who has spent any time with me knows, I spend a large part of my day laughing. Or I did. And I’m starting to again. So boo-yah on that.

The weather has not been cooperating with my plans to get my yard and gardens ready for summer, but that appears to be turning. I got a little done by taking an afternoon off work on a sunny day. Hopefully tonight I will get a little more done. Bit by bit I will conquer the dandelions and get my gardens cleared and replanted…

Eating right and working out have been a struggle the past few weeks. Once boot camp ended I think I fell off the wagon hard. I’m getting back on it this week, at least workout wise. The eating…well the meals are healthy but the snacks are killing me! So today I have called a bit of a moratorium on that. I don’t want to undo all the good I’ve done to date. I’m hoping by late fall I will have saved up enough to hire a personal trainer to push me that last little bit.

And that is about all that is going on here in Crazy Town.

Ooohhh Right… Optimism…

Optimism: (noun) – a disposition or tendency to look on the more favourable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favourable outcome; the belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world.

I am an eternal optimist for the most part. I pride myself on having a glass half full kind of attitude and strongly believe that regardless of the circumstances, if you can find something in it to laugh at, you can live through it. This last one makes me a questionable invite to most funerals however, but hey, what can ya do?

Anyway, in the past six months it seems I’ve been hit with one bad thing after another between lay-offs at work, illness, stress, control freaks, the whole puppy thing, feeling like my writing had stalled out, etc. It was almost as if there was no time to come up for air when another wave came along and sucked you under again. And every time you thought, there has to be an end in sight, it was all just a ruse. I stopped even believing things would take an upswing. That’s so unlike me.

I was feeling unmotivated to do anything, include eat (which anyone who knows me knows – that is a nearly impossible feat). I kept telling myself I had to snap out of this, but I didn’t even feel motivated to do that.

But then I started seeing these little signs. That sign mainly manifested itself in the shape of Michael J. Fox’s new book popping up everywhere. Now, I’ve always been a huge Michael J. Fox fan right from the first day Alex P. Keaton showed up on the scene. I’ve followed his career, his illness, his activism and can honestly say if I had to make up a list of heroes he would land squarely in the Top Ten, probably the upper half too. After all, anyone who can get the diagnosis he did, at a time in your life when you’re just getting your life underway and still have the attitude he does…well it’s pretty impressive.

So, feeling somewhat beaten down and exhausted by life, and knowing I needed to track down my normal optimistic mojo, I decided who better to turn to then him. In keeping with that, yesterday I went out to the bookstore and picked up his book: Always Looking Up, Adventures of an Incurable Optimist. And last night I stayed up to watch the special he did on ABC.

Now I’m not going to claim that a one hour show just turned my life right around and I’m all better. But I do feel a bit better. Before yesterday I felt like life was kicking my ass and I was letting it, too tired or overcome to even bother trying to put up a fight any more. That's changed. Now I’m going to start kicking back.

I’ll manage the things I can, and just roll with the things I can’t and make the best out of them. After all, it really is all a matter of perspective. I can’t control a lot of what happens out there, but I can choose how I respond to those things. So thanks for the reminder, Mike. I needed that.

The New Look

I've finally made it around to changing the look of the blog over to something more spring-like. Actually this one is called Summer Breeze. What can I say, I'm looking ahead.

I have managed to catch my first cold in five years. Not impressed. I think the stress of late suppressed my immune system and germy boy from work coughed his illness all over my pod. I'm considering his punishment as I type this. Not sure what it will be but needless to say it will be something vile and painful and there will likely be bamboo chutes involved at some point. Thankfully, I had some Cold Fx at home and as soon as I thought the cold might be coming on, I started popping them to head it off. It didn't stop the cold completely but it kept it from being a lot worse than it could have been. I'm starting to feel better, although my nose is still on fire and the sleepless night didn't help much. I stayed home from work today to rest and medicate and get rid of the last of it.

Thanks to the cold, I didn't get out to get the gardens cleaned out as planned despite the first really nice weekend we've had in a while. Sigh... I will get it done. I am determined to restore them to their former glory this summer if it kills me. But I have to do it soon. Things are starting to pop up and grow. I need to get cracking before the ugly stuff takes over the good stuff and I forget what's there.

The writing is going good. I've finished my read through of ITS and storyboarded it. Now I have to write the synopsis (oh joy) and prep the first 30 pages for a few contests I've decided to enter.

The workout bootcamp is now over. We did our final measurements and weigh-in and I'm happy to report it turned out to be a success. I didn't make my intended goal but I did pretty good, so I'm happy about that. Shrinkage all the way around and enough knowledge on what I need to do to keep it going in a downward direction.

And that is about all the news there is for now. It's been a busy month just not an overly exciting one.