I'm Being Assessed

A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise. ~A.A. Milne

I have to go to the gym after work and get my annual fitness assessment done. This consists of 90 minutes of being weighed, measured, and told how much body fat you're carting around and how far that percentage is from where you should actually be. Then we go over my nutrition and what I'm doing workout wise. Then they will suggest I invest in personal training sessions, likely 3 times a week at the cost of a kidney in order to reach my fitness goals. That's all well and good. Quite frankly, if I could afford a personal trainer I would throw the money at them and tell them to get to work. But alas, my bank account tells me that lowering said body fat percentage is going to be all up to me.

The worst of it is, I know the assessment I get this evening is going to be worse than the one I had last year at this time. Mostly due to the fact that this time last year I was just ending my previous employment where my office was strategically located in the same building as the gym and my boss didn't care if I spent 1.5 hrs there over lunch. My work was done, he was happy. Sadly our office was shut down and with it my extended lunch hours spent at the gym.

I managed to stay on top of the workouts until May while I was training for the 10K, but once the race was run I took a little time off. When I went to go back my TI bands screeched in protest and alas my running fell by the wayside because, well I don't know if you've ever had a TI band screech at you, but it hurts and I'm not generally partial to courting pain if I can avoid it.

I kept walking and made it to the gym here and there on the weekends but things were going soft. Gelatinous really. I know people said this happens as you get older, but I have to confess I thought I would be exempt. Apparently not.

So off I go, burying my head in shame and already cringing at the knowledge the assessment will not be pretty. On the plus side, it will undoubtedly be a motivating factor. Why, just the idea of going to the assessment made me give my schedule a good hard look and determine where I can fit in my gym-time to make sure I get to a couple of BodyPump classes, at least 1 yoga class and an RPM class per week. If that doesn't help whip my butt back into shape, then I don't know what will - aside from thrice weekly personal trainer sessions that require me to give up a kidney.

By the way, the coffee consumption has been reduced. I suck back a mouthful in the morning to stave off the inevitable caffeine withdrawal headache. Except for the weekends. On the weekend I have a cup from the french press my lovely critique partner, Pam Callow, gave us as a wedding gift. And the chocolate has been reduced to one chocolate covered cereal bar per day.

The writing is an ongoing process. I got stuck on something last week but I'm over that and have moved on. I really want this manuscript out by end of December so I can jump into January writing the follow up to The Outlaw Bride.

Book Review: INDEFENSIBLE by Pamela Callow

Check over at The PopCultureDivas today where I'm reviewing Pamela Callow's upcoming release, INDEFENSIBLE.

A Mid-Summer Check-In

I can't believe it's mid-summer already! Ack!!

Vacation is soooo close I can feel it. Just 4 working days left and then one week away to (hopefully) sunny Prince Edward Island. We rent a cottage there for one week in the summer and I am taking with me a stack of book as well as WIPs. One is just an idea and needs fleshing out, the other (Fractured Sight) needs work before I can continue. So while the Boy and J build sand castles on the beach, I plan on putting a dent in my TBR pile and working out the kinks in FS and/or outlining the new idea.

I'm continuing to work away at ITS, and the more I write it, the more excited I get about book two which bumps two of my secondary characters, Spence and Caelie into the starring roles. Spence has a disturbing phobia towards marriage, so much so he has just declared he would rather be sacrificed to the lava gods (he's recently back from a brief sojourn on the islands). Of course that comment now has my brain in overdrive while his backstory begins to form in my mind. I already know Caelie's backstory, which is rather heartbreaking at best. It will be fun piecing together how these two will get together and figure things out.

But first I need to finish ITS and get that fired off to agents. My goal for completing it has been pushed back. I'm giving myself until the end of September. I'm making good headway and things are falling into place, so hopefully that will be a doable deadline.

In the meantime, tonight I am meeting my critique partner, Pam Callow, for coffee so we can do a little catch up. She's been flitting about to one conference after another promoting her latest release DAMAGED and January's upcoming release INDEFENSIBLE which picks up a few months after Damaged ended.

What are everyone else's plans for the summer?

And the Winner Is....

The winner of the book draw for Pamela Callow's debut release, Damaged is....(there's a drum roll going in my head, hang on a second)....Maxx!

Congrats Maxx - I know where to find you so I'll be sure and get the book to you asap. And you'll be happy to know it's a signed copy!

Last night was Pam's book launch and there was a huge turnout, but I'll blog about that with pictures early next week, so stay tuned!

Happy Release Day & Book Giveaway!

My very talented critique partner, Pam Callow, has her debut thriller, DAMAGED, being released today and let me tell you - it is definitely worth picking up.

One busy lady, she has just returned from BEA in time to appear on Live at Five tonight to talk about her book. This Thursday I will be attending her book launch in downtown Halifax, so hopefully I'll remember to take my camera and post some pixs of the event later this week.

In honor of the special occasion - I will be giving away a copy of Pam's book. Just leave a comment and your name will go into the draw. The winner will be announced on Friday. Here's a little preview of the book in the interim:

Upcoming New Release - DAMAGED by Pam Callow

My own writing has hit the skids a bit of late. I floundered around for the first four months of the year working on my YA and hitting a brick wall. Apparently that’s what happens when all the other elements are working with the one fatal exception of your protagonist’s motivation. After a somewhat disastrous week of trying to figure it out I finally threw in the towel and called a cease fire. Time to shelve the book for now before I blow torch it and dance on its ashes.

In the meantime, I decided I should finish Invitation to Scandal since I’m thisclose to having it completed anyway. I’ve revised the beginning, dropping the horrendous cliché of my heroine twisting her ankle and requiring the hero’s assistance. I opted to throw her into the Serpentine instead. I’m looking at a few contests as well for both ITS and Salvation Falls, which Harlequin have had in their slush pile since last October.

But none of the above has to do with the title of this blog post. The title refers to my oh-so awesome critique partner, Pam Callow’s new release, Damaged, due out the first week in June. This is Pam’s first book, and the first book in the series and already the buzz is hot. Being her CP, I know why. I’ve had the pleasure of reading this book from its early stages to the end and let me tell you, it is amazing. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Here’s the blurbage on it:

Haunted by the death of her sister and wounded by her ex-fiancé’s accusations, Kate Lange throws herself into her new career at a high-powered law firm.

When the grandmother of a lonely private school student seeks her counsel, Kate thinks it’s just another custody case. But then the teen is brutally murdered. And it isn’t only Kate who wonders if her legal advice led to the girl’s death.

Put on notice by Randall Barrett, the firm’s charismatic managing partner, Kate must fight for her career, for her reputation-and for redemption.

Unwilling to live with the damage she may have caused, Kate pursues the case on her own and unearths some chilling facts.

Facts that lead straight to the heart of a legal conspiracy.

Facts that lead Kate directly into the surgically skilled hands of the Body Butcher.

Now here’s the visual (love the music on it!):