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The Magic of RT

I hope you follow me on Twitter or Facebook – that’s where I’ve been posting the bulk of my pictures from RT12 (upper right hand sidebar if you need the links).  But after tonight’s events, I had to open up the laptop for the first time so I could capture this moment.

At the Ebook Expo, I got to sit by Monica Burns and Sharon Buchbinder and we talked and talked for two hours.  I got to meet my Samhain editor, Tera Kleinfelter, and Carina Press’s Executive Editor, Angela James (and my old Samhain editor) for the first time.  At the Samhain Stampede, I met dozens of other Samhain authors that I’ve seen online on Twitter or on groups.  It’s so funny to see these names over the years but have no real face or voice to match.  Now I do!

But here’s where the REAL magic happened.  Ann and I walked into the Scottish Fling dinner party and sat down at a table of strangers.  This table must have had some kind of cosmic energy drawing us all to this table.  I swear it was a weird convergence spot.

I sat by Kate Pearce, whom I’d heard at the “What’s Hot” erotica panel earlier in the afternoon.  We started chatting and I learned she’s a new Carina author.  We’re both going to the Award Ceremony tomorrow – which is when the private Carina author dinner is scheduled.  I was worried about finding my way alone (it’s not at the hotel) after the ceremony, and so was she.  We talked the entire evening about the business, our families, etc. and agreed to meet up tomorrow night after awards and walk together.

As the evening passed, I mentioned I was from MO.  Cecily White came around shortly after and said where at in MO?  Ironically, she’s from Springfield – only 8 miles away!  She’s also involved with the Ozarks Romance Authors group, which I’ve thought about joining several times but just never did.  Now that I’ve met her, I’m definitely joining and I plan to go to their conference in June.

Then she introduced me to the person with her and we both screamed (well, Noelle’s was a silent scream – she lost her voice) and hugged each other.  I met Noelle Pierce through Romance Biggest Winner last year and we planned to meet up at RT but it just hadn’t happened yet.  We’d been sitting together at that table all night and didn’t know it.

And earlier today, I finally met Larissa Ione in person – after “knowing” her online for years.

Maybe this sounds weird, but I think these connections I made tonight could be life changing – or at least career changing.  I’ve certainly made so many wonderful connections here at RT, meeting dozens of readers and authors face-to-face that I never would have met otherwise.  It’s been absolutely incredible.

There’s nothing better than walking around as a “nobody” and just having a wonderful time, when a fan walks up to you and says, “OH, I LOVE YOUR BOOKS!”  *beams*  It’s so cool!

RT has definitely hooked me and I’m already raving about how much I want to go next year in KC!

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RT Count Down

I’m leaving for Chicago tomorrow!  So today is crazy with errands and last-minute preparations.  I dropped off the kids at school, made it to the bank, and paid the utilities.  I also did a little shopping at our local western/farm store to get something for the Samhain Stampede, but I didn’t have any luck yet.  Who knew it’d be so hard to find a plain black western shirt?!?

That Man’s taking me to our favorite Japanese place for lunch, and then I’ll hit Wal-Mart and take my PJs back.  They just won’t work (and I don’t think Ann wants to see the scary ratty old T-shirt I usually sleep in) and I need to get travel cubes and a few other things.  Then I’l hit the grocery store and stock the fridge for the family, which includes my “famous” spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight.  That way Littlest will have plenty of her favorite food in the fridge in case she doesn’t like Dad’s cooking.

Then the fun part begins… trying to cram all this stuff into my itty bitty suitcase.

It’s going to be hard leaving the monsters tomorrow.  Both the youngest ones cried last night and I’m not even leaving yet!

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Blood and Shadows Series Feature Event

This weekend (April 5-8) I’ll be at The Forbidden Bookshelf spilling everything I can about the Blood & Shadows series, specifically The Shanhasson trilogy.  There will be excerpts and lots of background/behind the scenes information about the characters and world, plus a giveaway!  Details here.

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Survive My Fire is Back!

I didn’t quite make my end of March deadline but I came very close.  I worked my way through Survive My Fire – the first book I ever contracted – and brought it up to my current writing level, formatted, and uploaded to Amazon and Smashwords.  It’ll filter through to other distribution sites shortly.  The Fire Within is returning by the end of the month, too!

I so love the cover that Silviya created for Chanda!

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Power 90 Update: After 90 Days

I made it!  I didn’t miss a single day in March (although I did miss starting April out perfectly – this was a very busy weekend and I was just too exhausted to workout last night).  The entire month of March I worked out at level 3/4.  It was tough, sometimes so tough I was afraid I wouldn’t make it, but I did.

I’ve never completed such an exercise program before.  I’ve never worked out 90 days consistently before.  Even if I didn’t have very good results on the scale or in measurements, that alone would be a victory.

However, I saw pretty awesome results!

March 1- 31 results, followed by (totals) since Jan 1st:

  • Lost 5.4 pounds (12.6 pounds)
  • Bust 0  (-3)
  • Waist  -1 inch (-4)
  • Arms  0  (-.5) each (doesn’t even come close to showing how rock-hard my arms are getting!)
  • Hips  -1  (-5)
  • Thighs -1 inch (-4) each

Amazing – I lost a total of 21 inches in 90 days!

I am so much stronger.  In one routine of sculpt/strength, I’m able to do a total of 71 pushups (from my knees).  Compare that to when I started Power 90 – I could only do 15-20 total.  I’m doing the dips now (with my legs under me to help, but I couldn’t do them at all before).  In the cardio portion, I’m able to make it all the way through level 3/4 without having to pause to catch my breath (I do bring my arms down to rest occasionally, but I keep going!).  I occasionally do more of the high impact jumping jacks and cross hops, versus absolutely none at the beginning.  I can do almost all 200 ab crunches — the last two sets of 20 are touch and go but I can almost do it.

Since starting Weight Watchers over one year ago, I’ve gone down from a 24W or 26W to 14W-16W/XL in dresses.  From that first pair of 24W jeans I bought (which were probably at least 2 sizes smaller than I would have worn — if I’d even tried to wear jeans), I’ve gone down to 18W and I have a pair of 16W that I can zip (I just can’t sit in comfortably!)  In tops I’ve gone down from 2x or even 3x to an XL.

Here’s the funniest measurement:  I’ve gone from a 10/11W (wide) shoe to a 9W.  Who thought my feet would lose weight too?  I’ve even returned a pair of 9W that were too big!

My exercise goals for April are mixed.  Since I’m going to Chicago for RT, I think I’ll take that week off except for walking.  I am going to take my exercise clothes and tennis shoes, and if I get the opportunity to do some cardio, I’ll be prepared.  I’ve never been to this kind of conference before so I’m not sure if I’ll actually have time to work out or not.  At the worst, I’ll take the week off since completing Power 90 and I’ll start up from scratch Monday, April 16 (I’m taking that day off from the Evil Day Job to recover).

I plan to do Power 90 through April 10th, the day I leave for Chicago.  That’ll get me another full 6 days of training in, even though I missed yesterday.  However, I might switch things up a bit and do some Walk It Out or other cardio routines just to keep things exciting.  Since my workouts will be interrupted (or at least not “routine”) thanks to the trip, I’m going to use the opportunity to try some new things.

Once I’m back, I plan to get right back on the Power 90 horse through the end of the month.  At this point, I’m going to stick with Power 90 through May and then see if I think I’m ready for P90X.  Who knows – I might ask for it for my birthday!

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Blonzy, Blonzy!

At least I think that’s the word…

We went to see The Foreigner last night at Stone’s Throw Dinner Theatre in Carthage, MO.  My beloved sister played the hilarious Froggie.  If you don’t know the story, Froggie brings her friend to a little country lodge in Georgia.  He’s very shy and depressed and doesn’t want to talk to anyone, so she tells everyone he’s a “foreigner” who doesn’t understand any English.  Very quickly he finds himself overhearing very embarrassing, personal information – and soon learns that something foul is going on at the lodge as the owner is about to lose her property.  Can he overcome his shyness – and the lie that he doesn’t understand English – and find a way to help them?

We had sooo much fun.  The monsters were getting a little bored at the very beginning because it started just a little slow, but very soon they were totally absorbed.  Middle couldn’t help but reenact some of Charlie’s dancing moves at Intermission.  Luckily she didn’t knock anything over.

I used the opportunity to wear my main RT dress complete with heels and jewelry.  I was a little overdressed, but Sis gave me the thumbs up (and she also brought me another dress that fits, so I have 4 now, yay!).  I’m so relieved that I was able to replace my heels that suddenly became too big!  I’m a big fan of Clark’s shoes now – I wore heels from 4:30 – midnight (first time in a decade or more) except for slipping them off in the car on the way home (1.5 hour drive) and had no foot pain.

Sadly my Spanx hose didn’t survive (the first time I wore them too, grrrrr!).  Middle snagged her shoe buckle on my shin and ripped a huge hole in them.  She’s dangerous to sit by (you get kicked at least a dozen times).

So I’m a little more prepared for RT but more shopping is in order!

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Virgin Fat Territory

First off, I apologize for the lack of posts this past week.  I’ve been fighting a bad attitude for the last few days as the hits keep coming on in.  Plus I had copyedits to get back on Vicki – but yay, that means she’s almost ready for you!

Memory is a funny thing.  I’m an avoider.  For many years we didn’t even have a scale.  I didn’t want to know how bad it was.  So for me to come up with milestones as I lose weight this time around is kind of hard.  I don’t really know because we didn’t have a scale.  I have to try and piece my memory together from events, like when I had a kid, etc.  And my memory isn’t the greatest.

I’d set my goal months ago to be what I believed to be VFT – the lowest weight I had achieved through dieting in recent memory (10-15 years) and had never been able to attain again.  This was supposed to be the weight I was after a stint of Weight Watchers at work right after Princess (the first) was born.  However, I’m pretty sure my memory is way off – by at least 10 pounds.  Because I’m wearing sizes now that I couldn’t then.

Of course Power 90 has been helping reshape my body tremendously – so that’s part of the difference.  But I’m pretty sure I hit VFT a month or more ago.  That wasn’t the “goal” weight that I’d set for this milestone, so I kept plugging away.

I hit that goal this morning, bringing my total lost to 73.6 pounds. I know for a fact I haven’t been at this weight in at least 13 years, but it’s probably closer to 15 years.

Now I’m getting to the embarassing level of weight loss.  People are like WOW!  And then they say how much more are you going to lose?  It’s hard to admit that I’m only half way there.  It becomes clearer how big I’d let myself get.

However, I’m feeling really really good now.  I’m doing things I never did before.  Whatever I lose from here will just help me feel even better.  The closer I get to my goal, the slower it’s going to go.  If I lose just 25 more, I’d be pretty darned ecstatic.  That’d put me down to a weight that I probably had in Texas between 1992-1994.  25 more from there would put me at my undergrad weight (1988-1992).  Any more than that will put me in the high school range.

Seriously, WW, is it possible to weigh what I did in high school?  At that point, I may have to get a doctor to assign me a new goal weight.  I really don’t see weighing what I did at 18 again.  I’ve had 3 kids since then and I’m just a few years older.  :mrgreen:

My next goal is mini – just to get me down inside the next decade.  From there, I’ll go in 10 pound increments.  If I can hit the 100 lb mark by Christmas, I’d be pretty darned happy!

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Hitting A Wall

This week has been tough in the exercise department.  I haven’t missed a single day in March.  I’ve been sticking to level 3/4 of Power 90, but where I felt pumped up the first week or two, this week I’ve been gutted.  Like I almost can’t get enough strength and energy to finish, even the strength days (which I normally love).

I don’t know if this is a common occurrence in exercise in general or perhaps Power 90 specifically?   I would think that several weeks at this higher level would have me feeling even better than the beginning.

Maybe I’m just in a general funk.  I’ve been stressed out and panicked trying to find enough clothes for RT next month (at this point I don’t even have enough underwear!).  I’ve had some disappointing news and of course losing Pepper put a big hole in my heart.

It’s been a hard, hard week.

My left knee (not the one Middle even kicked) is achy, where my knees haven’t hurt much at all this time around, thanks to already losing 50+ pounds before I started.  My muscles have been sorer, especially my back and obliques.  I haven’t gone up in weight on most of the exercises — although I did switch up to using the 10 lb dumbbells on the military and swimmer’s press lifts.  I don’t think two moves is enough to justify how hard this week has been.

Then it dawned on me.  I’ve been trying to do more of the high impact lately.  10-15 secs of jumping jacks (instead of the whole 30 secs).  Even the cross hops I’ve started doing a little more on the last round than my modified move I’ve been doing all along.  That definitely explains why my knee is achy.  I guess it could explain why everything in general has been harder.

I’m going to keep pushing despite this tiredness.  Today’s my last day this week before my rest day, so I’m going to dial it back down a little on the high impact stuff and take it easy on my knee.

I want to finish strong.  I only have one more week to go to hit 90 days!

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Clearing the Baffles

March hasn’t been nearly as productive as I wanted, for numerous reasons or excuses.  In the end, it comes down to distractions.  I’m bad at letting things distract me.  Anthology calls.  Dreams.  New shinies.  Of course I’ve had deep, thorough edits on two projects that I’ve worked through in the past month, too, as well as gearing up for my first conference and two releases sooner than later.

It’s time to clear the baffles (one of my favorite things from The Hunt for Red October, along with the delicious Sean Connery).

I didn’t make a deadline.  And while I hate having incomplete projects lying around, I’ve got to turn my attention to the things I most need to accomplish.  Incompletes are filed away for another day.  If they’re meant to be, I’ll be able to finish them later.  No little call for submission or shiny is more important than fulfilling my current streams, my “promises” to my readers.  So my priorities for the rest of this month and forward are:

1. Get Survive My Fire reformatted and up for sale.

2. Get The Fire Within reformatted and up for sale.  (I have the new covers for both of these so I have no excuse, other than I put off formatting because it’s boring and tedious and I just didn’t wanna.)

3. Drag Lord Regret out by his hair, tie him up in a chair right here beside my desk, and figure out what his problem is.  Because I’m pretty sure the next Lady Wyre story is actually about him and his hangups.  Naturally he’s been resistant.  It’s been a year since her release and I’ve *got* to fulfill this pipeline.  Once this novella is done, I can move on to Deathright and finally finish it.  I’ve got at least half a dozen ideas in this universe.  It’s stupid not to write them.

4. Only after Lady Wyre’s pipeline is fulfilled, I need to give Mal and Colby a call.  I’d like to have their book submitted before Vicki’s release in August, but that might be pushing it.  A more likely goal is by the end of the year.

5. Then come back to the poor neglected project that’s been staring at me for months on my wall directly above my desk…before the sticky notes fall off and I lose my plot.  Phantom is calling.

That’s it.  No new projects, no new series.  It’s time to roll up my sleeves and get to work.

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Power 90: Habit Building

Nothing to report on the Weight Watcher front this week.  I’ve been up slightly for over a week despite being fully on plan.  I haven’t missed any workout days in March yet.  However, the scale might not be cooperating, but I managed to get into a size smaller in jeans!  Still “women’s” size but another smaller size makes me very happy.  I’m still wearing several of the higher size too – especially my Old Navy drawer pair.  Which honestly are fitting me a little better since I first started wearing them.  Less junk in the trunk!

Another reason I committed to Power 90:  a concrete time frame.  I told myself I could do anything for 90 days.  At the end of the first round, I’m hoping that the habits I’ve formed will continue — which is why I’m not quitting this round exactly at 90 days but continuing until I leave for RT in April.  When I return, I’ll have to decide what my next workout goal will be and what time commitment I’ll make.  Most likely I’ll do another 30-60 days of Power 90 with increased weights, and then see if I’m ready to make the jump to P90X.

After 75 days of Power 90, I think I’ve almost got the habit of exercise engrained in my head.  My preferred time to work out is over my lunch, but I’ve worked out as late as 8 PM to fit it in.  I’ve also gotten up early on the weekend to fit in my routine before the family was up.  Yes, I gave up my only day to sleep in to work out!  Shocking I know.

But I keep waiting for it to get easier.  When there’s no question in my mind that I’m going to do it, even if I don’t feel like it.  Oh, I still do the routine, but I wish I didn’t have that moment of dread.  Especially on cardio days.  Ugh, they really wipe me out.  I keep waiting for the day when my legs don’t feel wobbly.  When I don’t have to bring my arms down and rest a little bit.  Or when I don’t lose my balance in the taebo portion (because I’m so tired) and nearly fall over.  Or when I’m not slow to roll out of bed because I’m a little sore.

Then I realize:  it’s NEVER going to get easier in that regard.  Why?  Because I’m always pushing harder.

If I can do 15 pushups now for each set, then in another 30 days I ought to be able to do 20.  (And I started doing a few from my toes this week, which are really killing me.)  If I’m using 10 lb dumbbells for most everything now and can get all 15 reps in, then I should go up slightly and make it hard again.  When the squats and lunges became easier on my knees, what did I do?  Throw some weight on my shoulders to make it harder.

And yes, on those cardio days when I’m gasping for air and dripping sweat, Tony says push harder, don’t give up, this is it, you’re almost done…  and so I push through even though I can’t see and my legs are burning.

It’s never going to get easier because I’m constantly raising the bar higher.  That’s a good thing, even if it doesn’t always feel like it as I crawl up the stairs.

I dream about being LIGHT on my feet.  Agile.  Strong.  Where I can walk/run a 5K and still have gas in the tank or hang with Middle on the basketball court.

Someday.