I bid you adieu

Here we are at the end of another Round. I had been doing so well and thought I could really push myself this last week. Then this little guy slowed me down, not once but twice. 

He got fixed on Wednesday so I went with my daughter (his mommy) to pick him up and that just took a lot longer than expected. Then he came up yesterday to stay with his big brother Dino while his two-legged family went to a picnic. Between the picnic and playing with Buddy and Dino afterwards, there was no time left to work on goals.

•          Post to this blog twice, post to my other blog three times. Twice here and only twice on the Dino Chronicles.

•          Read eight blog posts, commenting on four of them. Read 8 and posted to 5!

•          Write five entries in “Early Ministry”. I wrote three. I only have two left! But I am just not finding any inspiration for them. I will have to wait for it, I guess.

•          Promote my writing on social media once a day. I only promoted three times. I started out good the first of the week and then just fell apart.

•          Promote our nonprofit on social media three times. I got this done, three things posted.

•          Submit a piece for publication somewhere. Nope.

•          Continue research on the new novel

1) finish bios for four of the main characters. Didn’t work on it, still at three.

2) finish reading and taking notes on the book from the library. Yup. Done.

Finally, my Goals for the Round:

·         Finish writing “The Early Ministry of Jesus in 40 Days” Have written 38 entries, which leaves two left. So close, but no cigar.    

·         Edit seven chapters of “Hope Through God’s Redemption” Have edited the four chapters I have from the author and since that is all I received, I have to call this goal accomplished.   

·         Submit four items for publication Have submitted three items.

·         Have worked up to running a full 5K As you know if you have been following this blog, this goal is a miserable failure. Between the bursitis in my hip and the tendinitis in my heel, I am still rather lame. Thursday night I tried running the length of my driveway, one-tenth of a mile, and could only go halfway without getting excruciating pain in my hip. And then I paid for that by having continuing pain all night. I must stick to walking I guess.

And with that I bid you adieu for this Round. The best thing about that is that I have not goals to contemplate until July 6. Hope to see you all then. 

anyone need craft stuff?

Once again, Wednesday has arrived in the blink of an eye, and I have little to show for it.

Yesterday for the first time in two weeks, my hip wasn’t hurting and for the first time in two months, my Achilles tendon wasn’t aching, so I thought I would try a run. Um, dumb idea. I could only do a light jog for a hundred feet or so before my hip started killing me.  I still walked about 4/10 of a mile, running a few yards a few times. I thought maybe, just maybe, the hip would loosen up, but it wouldn’t give in. Of course to not be outdone, my heel started up in the evening. So that by bedtime last night, I was back to square one, gimping like an old woman. I know. I need to give this a good long rest. Arggh.

How about my other goals? I’ve blogged on schedule, and am doing good on reading and commenting on other blogs. Am 2/3 done with the book I am reading for research and have promoted my writing on social media every day. 

I also just this morning got my novel back from my niece, who loved it and did make some suggestions on it. Hopefully yet this week I can read through it and make any necessary changes. It is still available to be emailed to anyone out there who wants to read it and critique it for me. 

I am off of work today, so hope to get some writing done. I may be strapped for time as I am meeting a friend for brunch at 10:00 and going to my daughter’s in the afternoon. I found out about a craft sale in the town another 30 miles past her house. My mom and I used to go to their big annual sale years ago, so I thought I would take a nostalgic trip down there again. See if I find some crafty stuff that I just have to have. Maybe I can find something my daughter can use in her wedding. That’s a thought. Makes it sound more productive, huh?

Well, that’s it for now.  

Too bad my craft corner isn't still so empty. I think there is still room for more though. 

another long story

It’s kind of a long story, but I will cut out what I can. 

I doddle at work and since I bought a set of colored pens, I have found doddling so much more fun. This week I found some graph paper, which totally put my doddling on steroids. I told some of my co-workers that the patterns I was coloring on the graph were quilt patterns. The wrong co-worker heard that. She is a quilter. So she wrote down how to turn my first pattern into a quilt, right down to how much material I would need. I love to sew, I want to sew a quilt, I do not have time, my husband will divorce me if I buy more fabric, I have to make do with the six totes of fabric I already have. Game on. 

So needless to say the entire day Friday, my precious day off from the day job, I was occupied with something other than writing. This new preoccupation of course included periodic pictures sent to a co-worker’s cell phone. Like I said, it was game on and I do not take losing lightly, as you know if you have read my laments regarding the end of my running career. 

With all this creativity in a different medium, how did my week end up?

•          Post to this blog twice, post to my other blog three times. DONE

•          Read eight blog posts, commenting on four of them. DONE. Read 8 blogs and posted to five of them! I also signed up to be a sponsor for the next round of ROW80.

•          Write four entries in “Early Ministry”. DONE!!!

•          Promote my writing on social media two times. DONE. Actually maybe more like four times.

•          Promote our nonprofit on social media two times. DONE

·         Begin work on the new novel

o   1) write bios for four of the main characters. Wrote three bios.

o   2) start researching the time period (mid-1970s), the place (northeast Wisconsin), the culture (Menominee Indians). Read three articles online and checked a book out of the public library. Pretty stoked, as it has been forever since I checked a book out of the library.

Can’t get too much more green than that, huh? So what can I possibly do next week to top all of that? Next week my work schedule is in disarray, so I might get thrown off. I will try my best though.

•          Post to this blog twice, post to my other blog three times.

•          Read eight blog posts, commenting on four of them.

•          Write five entries in “Early Ministry”. I only have five more entries to write!

•          Promote my writing on social media once a day. That’s a big jump.  

•          Promote our nonprofit on social media three times. Just a little jump.

•          Submit a piece for publication somewhere, because I only have one week left to get this goal done.

•          Continue research on the new novel 1) finish bios for four of the main characters 2) finish reading and taking notes on the book from the library.

Finally, my Goals for the Round:

·         Finish writing “The Early Ministry of Jesus in 40 Days” Have written 35 entries, which leaves five left. I am down to the wire.   

·         Edit seven chapters of “Hope Through God’s Redemption” Have edited the four chapters I have from the author.  

·         Submit four items for publication Have submitted three items.

·         Have worked up to running a full 5K Some of my co-workers are entered in the 5K and plan on walking it, so I am more than welcome to join them.  I think the bursitis in my right hip has settled down enough, but my left Achilles is still killing me, so I just don’t know yet.

I guess it all boils down to this: set your goals and make changes as you go along. Have you been doing that?  

are you able to frolic?

Sunday I told you about my latest affliction, a bum hip. My running couch (i.e. the doctor I work with) noticed me limping yesterday. I thought, oh, crap, I really wanted to give this a full week before bugging him.

He said it sounded like bursitis and maybe physical therapy would help. I don’t have time for physical therapy! He knows that. I told him I just wanted a steroid injection. He didn’t answer my question – ok, maybe it wasn’t a question – but his demeanor told me to give it some time.

ARRGGH!

So I have not started running again. It is true that sometimes I can barely walk. With that in mind, I should be writing like crazy, right? Not so much. 

I blogged on schedule and also am pretty close to goal on reading and commenting on other people’s blogs. I also signed up to be a sponsor for the next round of ROW80. I wrote one entry in my next devotional and have started research on my next novel. I also started biographies on three of the four main characters in it.

Once again, I feel pretty useless each check-in, until I write down what I got done. I haven’t done too bad again this week. Cruising into the weekend, I am sure to get all those goals checked off once again.

How have you been doing on your goals? Checking them all off, or getting sidelined? Doing so well that you are able to frolic?

Just wish I could get out and frolic.

trains, planes and shattered dreams

Two things went on this week – one which took me off one train and put me on a different one, and one which completely threw me off another train and left me in a ditch.

First the chance to switch trains. Since I recently found the inspiration for my next book, I was all set to jump into it, when Jenny, Ole, Paul and the rest of the wonderful characters in my first novel said, “um, excuse us.” So I decided to pay them their dues. I organized their 39 chapters, printed them out and gave it to a friend to read. I also found three friends who were willing to look at it if I emailed it to them. If there are any other takers reading this blog, get a hold of me.

The blurb for the novel right now is:

          “A lost boy living on the African plain doesn’t fit in.

          A woman from America with a dark secret.

          When they meet, which one of them gains the most.”

In case that piques your interest. The genre would be Christian women’s fiction. 

Ok, so what threw my off the train, off the bus, off the plane, where I rolled into a ravine, covered in mud and scratches, too far down for anyone to hear my plaintive pleas for help? I have gone lame. Even my husband said that if I was a horse, they would put me down. Thanks, honey, an appropriate analogy after they euthanized a horse at Belmont this weekend.  

Since I started running outside this spring, my left Achilles heel has been killing me, but I have been powering through it. It doesn’t hurt when I run on it, I just can’t hardly walk on it when I get up in the morning and aches throughout the day, but I could deal with it.

Then Thursday morning, my right hip went out on me. I don’t know if it was from favoring my left ankle, or if I am just an old cripple. I have been hobbling around as best I can, trying to keep moving to keep it loose, but I just don’t know how I will be able to run again. This really, really bums me out. Even with the one tragedy at Belmont Saturday, in another race, American Pharoah won the Triple Crown. It sparks my competitive spirit. Sigh. Guess I should concentrate on competing in writing contests, huh?

Oh, and since I do work in the medical field, I know what to do with this hip – rest for starters, ice and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen). I will have my doctor give me a steroid injection if it doesn’t settle down in a week or so. It might be okay in a couple weeks, but I just don’t see how I will be ready for the 5K that I wanted to run in on July 4. And one last thought, this could be Lyme’s as I have had a few tick bites this spring, have other aches and pains, and fatigue.

Enough of my whining. What else went on this week?

•          Post to this blog twice, post to my other blog three times. DONE

•          Read six blog posts, commenting on three of them.  DONE

•          Write four entries in “Early Ministry”. Wrote three, that’s pretty close.

•          Run three times, at least one time for three miles.  Ran three times, somehow or other before my body completely fell apart.

•          Promote my writing on social media two times. DONE

•          Promote our nonprofit on social media two times. DONE

•          Submit a piece somewhere. Nope

•          NEW goal – write up bios of the four people who want to be in my new novel. Nope, but that’s what happens when you get other crazy ideas as already mentioned.

An okay week. Can I do better next?

•          Post to this blog twice, post to my other blog three times.

•          Read eight blog posts, commenting on four of them. (I’m upping the ante here.)

•          Write four entries in “Early Ministry”. I did not think I could make it, but I think this goal is becoming attainable.

•          Promote my writing on social media two times.

•          Promote our nonprofit on social media two times.

     ·         Begin work on the new novel 1) write bios for four of the main characters 2) start researching the time period (mid-1970s), the place (northeast Wisconsin), the culture (Menominee Indians).

Finally, my Goals for the Round:

·         Finish writing “The Early Ministry of Jesus in 40 Days” Have written 31 entries, which leaves nine left. In the single digits! Can I make it?   

·         Edit seven chapters of “Hope Through God’s Redemption” Have edited four chapters and haven’t gotten any more from the author, but she says she is working on it.

·         Submit four items for publication Have submitted three items.

·         Have worked up to running a full 5K My heart breaks to type this, but as I already lamented, I may have to hang this one up.

Have you had any shattered goals break your heart? 

what inspires you?

Hard to believe that June is in full-swing already. I just remembered that my brother’s birthday is the 6^th, so I have got to get a card in the mail today. (That’s a huge goal for me to accomplish.) I am horrible at mailing out birthday cards, anniversary cards, etc. But my brother is so ridiculously on time with every card for every relative for every occasion that I will kill and maim to get his card in the mail on time.

Other than that, I haven’t gotten very far on this week’s goals. Because I decided to run through my first novel one more time, I have been doing nothing but that. I am up to chapter 13, but hope to finish by Thursday night and print out a copy for a friend of mine to read. I will also be scaring up others who are willing to read it and give me a thumb’s up or a thumb’s down. No one on the planet has read more than the first chapter, so I really need to start sharing it just for the feedback as to whether or not it is even worth any more effort on my part.

Looking back, I started this novel four years ago in January after having a dream about one of the main characters. It has to be time to finally have his story told. The poor kid, hanging out in my laptop all these years! He is the one in the front, second from the right. 

This picture was taken on my first trip to Kenya in 2006 and the dream I had in 2011 was about that boy right there and an American woman who travels to Africa and befriends him. I also need to write a back cover blurb for the book. And a title. Right now the working title is “Tale of an American Woman”, because the original title was “Tale of an African Boy”, but when I realized that I didn’t know enough about his culture to get inside his head, I switched perspective, and thus switched titles.

What inspires your writing? Dreams? Reality? Something else you read?