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Building Good Habits

Why is it soooo easy to fall back into bad habits…but so hard to establish GOOD ones?  I guess maybe I’m inherently lazy.

But so far in 2012, I’ve been working really hard on establishing some daily routines.

  • Before I go to bed, I prep the coffee pot for 5 AM.
  • The monsters got me an iPhone dock to replace my alarm clock for Christmas.  I decided to quit doing my “backup” alarm — which almost always is like a 30-min snooze instead of really there to make sure we get up.  One alarm at 5 AM.  Get up.  No questions.  It’s been really really hard.  I’ve been struggling to stay functional, but I’m hoping to settle into the regular routine and increase my productivity.
  • I’m writing by 5:30 AM.  I only have about 30 mins before I have to get Princess up, but I’ve been getting between 300-500 words.  Not NaNoWriMo pace, but steady.
  • I’m continuing to track my food per Weight Watchers.
  • I’ve completed one week of Power 90, and started the second week today.

Between Dark & Early and exercise, I’m starving!  So I’ve been eating 2 small breakfasts plus a later small lunch, shifting some of my points earlier in the day so I eat less at night.  I’ve also been eating all my points and then some – when last year I was almost always 3-7 points under.  I’m really hungry though, not just bored, tired, etc. so I’m eating within reason, tracking, and counting it toward my exercise points.

So far I’m staying steady at my low weight.  I haven’t lost, but I know it’s going to take a week or two for my body to adjust to regular exercise.  Plus Power 90 isn’t like taking a little walk.  This is hard stuff, including weights, and my muscles might retain water initially.  I need to eat enough to ensure I’m recovering and fueling for the next day.

I’m concentrating on quality protein.  Chicken, egg whites, wild salmon, lean beef.  I also bought some miso, dashi, and soba noodles so I can make my own Japanese-inspired soups for a small, low-point, hot lunch (vs. salads) for these cold winter days.  I’m still a little worried that I might not be getting enough protein, so this week I’m going to pick a day to double track my points into Spark People and see points vs. protein/carb breakdown.  I might need to start drinking a protein shake, but I’m very picky.  I want something with all-natural ingredients – especially no artificial sweeteners.  I’ve found one that looks excellent (Beach Body’s Shakeology) but holy smokes, I’m not paying $118 for a 30-day supply!  If anyone has any recs, I’d love to hear them!

Now my next most important habit to start… getting to bed at a decent time so I’m not so tired!

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The Shanhasson Books are LIVE!

Finally, the main Shanhasson trilogy and The Horse Master prequel are live at both Smashwords and Amazon. Don’t these covers look fantastic!?

If you love Gregar and company, could you pleeeeeeaaaaasssssssse give them a little love on Amazon? “Like”, tag, and/or rate/review and I’ll be eternally grateful. If you’ve never met Rhaekhar, Gregar, or Mykal, just drop me a note (joelysueburkhart AT gmail DOT com) and I’ll hook you up.

P.S. if you’re on Amazon anyway, Lady Wyre sure could use a little love too.

(each cover will take you directly to the Amazon page)
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Thank You, Weight Watchers

One year ago today I made a commitment to myself.  I decided I was done playing around.  Done feeling miserable.  Done trying every crazy restricted diet.  I signed up for Weight Watchers Online – again.

Yes, it wasn’t the first time.  My first exposure to WW was as a kid.  I remember Granny (my mom) gagging down the weekly requirement of liver and fish.  *shudders*  After Princess Monster was born (today’s her bday, by the way!  Our first teenager!), I did an At-Work stint and lost my 10%.

We moved to MO shortly after.  I had two more kids.  And yeah, this time I had to lose quite a bit more to get the 10% award.

That’s how it is with “diets.”  Any diet will work.  For awhile.  But then I get tired of eating all meat and eggs but no bread or fruit.  Or all grains and fruit and no meat and eggs.  Or no salt. No sugar.  Or no fat…  And inevitably, I fall off the plan.  No matter how much I’ve lost, it sure is easy to gain it all back again.  And then some.

No more.  I decided I was going to choose a plan I could live with.  If we go out to eat, I won’t have a panic attack that someone put salt on my veggies and I’ll be up ten pounds tomorrow.  I won’t have to eat salad only.  If I want a steak, fine.  If I want dessert, great.

Within reason, anything is possible on Weight Watchers.

I wanted to be a good role model for the monsters.  Instead of being OCD about what I can and can’t eat, I just try to make the healthiest choices I can.  We’ve talked a lot about “points” and healthy guidelines.  For fun, they’ve all taken turns figuring out how many points they’ve eaten.  It’s eye opening, and has helped us cut back on seconds and poor-choice snacks more than once.

I can live on this plan.  Really live.  I’m already doing things I never thought possible.

  • Lost 61.4 pounds and still counting.
  • Stuck with a plan for an entire year.
  • Jogged at the track – a whole quarter mile! – and didn’t die.
  • Did an exercise tape I’d never even cracked open before – and it wasn’t impossible.
  • Started wearing JEANS!  And I’ve gone down three times in sizes!
  • Bought some high-heeled boots to wear with those jeans.
  • Shopped a lot – something I used to dread.  Nothing worse than going into a store and realizing that absolutely nothing will even come close to fitting.
  • Bought my first XL – non plus size! – shirt.
  • Had my picture taken with the family for Christmas – something I’ve avoided for YEARS.  I hate to have my picture taken!  But I’m so glad we did it this year.

In 2012, I’m continuing my healthy eating habits, and I’m also working harder at exercise.  So far, I’ve made it every day this month/year.  Granted, we’re not even a week in yet but that’s an incredible start with my track record.

I’m feeling so good right now, not just physically, but about myself as a person.  I’m taking care of myself, something that can be remarkably hard to do.

Thank you, Weight Watchers, for helping me LIVE.

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RBW – Last Weekly Weigh In

Our Romance Biggest Winner challenge officially ends on 1/5 — which is also my one year anniversary on Weight Watchers — and today’s our last weekly weigh in.

So far, I’ve lost 22 pounds in 6 months.  Definitely not earth shatteringly fast, but 22 pounds are gone forever.  I lost again this week, just a small amount (.17), but considering it was a holiday and we had Christmas dinner at my mom’s this past weekend, I’m very pleased.

Even more exciting, I finally got myself on an exercise routine.  I’m doing Tony Horton’s Power 90 again and I’ve made it two days in a row.  If I get bored with the Sweat portion, I reserve the right to switch things up and do some other cardio instead, but I love the Sculpt exercise.  It’ll be a challenge to figure out how to plan the exercise during my work days, especially around writing.  It’s always tempting to write over lunch instead of work out, for instance, but I’ve *got* to increase my activity if I want to keep losing at a reasonable speed.

To make sure I still get words each day, I’m going to have to get up Dark & Early.  I made it today, although mannnnn, I’m tired.  I slept horribly (which I almost always do after a long weekend or when starting a new D&E stint).  Hopefully I can get through this week and keep to the schedule.  We’ll see.

I also recorded my measurements this weekend.  I did Power 90 about 2 years ago (in March) and made it about 45 days before quitting.  I’d only lost 3 pounds and was soooo discouraged after working out so hard.  I could feel myself tightening up and getting smaller though, but I didn’t have any evidence since I didn’t take my measurements.

At the time, I wasn’t “dieting”.  I increased my protein and calories according to Beach Body’s recommended plan, but I wasn’t following the plan exactly.  I’ve never really been able to stick to both exercise AND diet, so I’m a bit nervous.  I’m hoping that a full year on Weight Watchers (as of 1/5) will give me the diet foundation I need, and that adding exercise on top will only increase my metabolism and get me losing bigger amounts each week.  *crossing fingers*

I’m 61.4 pounds lighter than the last time I tried Power 90, so I’m hoping for great things.  Who knows, I might even be able to do that one swing-the-leg-through move after the downward dog that I never could manage before!  Okay, one can hope.  ;-)

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2012 Begins With…

I finished formatting Return to Shanhasson and loaded it to Smashwords.  I’ve also submitted the file to Amazon, so it should be up shortly.  Once everything’s up, I’ll create a post so everyone knows and I’ll beg for some new reviews or ratings.  *sheepish puppy dog eyes*

I went through Lady Wyre’s Reget and added a few hundred words to the end.  I’m still not sure that it’s *right* but I don’t know how much further to go.  I’ll let it sit awhile and see.  I’ll probably post it here so you guys can tell me what you think.  I need a satisfying ending — but it should also make you want to go buy Lady Doctor Wyre if you haven’t already read the main story.  A tough balance.

I really want this prequel to hook and entice.  I plan to create a chapbook via CreateSpace, so I’ll have something to sign…  at the RT Conference in Chicago!  Yep, I’m going, and I absolutely couldn’t be more excited!!!

So I’ve already crossed a bunch of busywork off my list.  Now I’m switching gears to a short project to decide if I have enough to whip it out in the next month or two for a submission call.  More details to come once I figure out what I’m doing.

Still not a lot of words…but definite progress!

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2011 State of the Union

As I flipped back through this year, I’m quite honestly horrified by how little NEW words I actually wrote.  Projects I finished this year were the Zombie Category Romance, The Bloodgate Warrior, Ritual Ink, and the initial version of Lady Wyre’s Regret.  Altogether, about 100K.  Ack.  That’s horrible!

However, I did have four releases this past year:  Golden, Lady Doctor Wyre, Return to Shanhasson, and the print version of Hurt Me So Good, with many rounds of edits and promo to contend with.  Not an excuse, but that makes me feel a little better.

I also lost one of my publishers this year, so the last few months have been spent getting my rights back, dealing with cover art, learning how to format, figuring out how to upload my own files, etc.  And honestly, dealing with the grief and anger at losing so much.  Emotionally, it was a tough loss to deal with, and not much better on the financial front.  Not only did I invest a significant sum of money into new covers, but I’ll probably never see my missing royalty payments.

I’ve definitely been busy….but not writing new words.

Gee, I wonder why I only have two projects currently contracted for next year.  :sad:

So the big takeaway for me personally is that I need to write more new words in 2012.  I can’t let the business and promo drag me down.  I have to find a way to keep churning out completed works, while dealing with all the other blog tours, giveaways, edits, etc.

To that end, I’m going to go back to tracking my daily word counts.  It might be pretty meager at first, but I’ve got to see those numbers going up.  I have *so many* projects I want and need to get done — I don’t have time to dally.

Preliminary 2012 goals:

  1. Finish uploading the Shanhasson series to at least Smashwords and Amazon.  I haven’t figured out how to deal with B&N yet.
  2. Finish Lady Wyre’s Regret to my satisfaction.  I’m very close but I have another few scenes I want to add.  I’m having a hard time figuring out exactly how to end it, but I intend to use this as my first Create Space endeavor (if a secret goal works out that I’m not yet ready to talk about), so it’s important that I get it right.
  3. Submit the Zombie Category Romance.  Needs one last pass, including the synopsis.

This is all work that MUST be done to keep my momentum going in the right direction.  However, notice there’s not a lot of “new words” coming here.  Sigh.  My wishlist of projects is long, but there are a few that I *must* commit to finishing in 2012.

  • Lord Regret’s Price
  • Mal’s book, Mine to Break
  • Phantom

I’d also like to work on the Keldari Fire novellas later in the year, both to re-release the two novellas that are already complete, as well as write the third I planned to do but never started.  I’ve also been dreaming a lot about Beautiful Death lately.  A sign that maybe I should work on Charon’s book?  I don’t know.  But I have a lot of flexibility with self-pubbing these titles.  We’ll see.  However, I can’t tinker with self-pub stuff if it’s going to interfere with my main publication channels, so no promises at this time (sorry Sis – she’s been dying for Charon’s book for years).

So that’s the tentative plan for my direction in 2012.  Here’s to a more productive 2012!

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My Best Achievement in 2011

Is definitely my weight loss.

I’ve never been able to sustain any weight loss efforts this long before!  I’ll hit one year with Weight Watchers Online on 1/5/2012.  So far, I’ve lost 61 pounds, and yes, I still have quite a ways to go.  It’s taken me the last 6 months to lose 20 pounds, but that’s okay.  Slow and steady gives my body time to shrink even if the scale doesn’t budge.

You might think I’m joking, but my SIL keeps calling me the Disappearing SIL — even when I swear the scale didn’t budge at all.  I need to lose quite a bit more, so even when I maintain or don’t lose that much, I tell myself that gives everything time to shrink a little into place. :lol:

I went from never wearing jeans — because I refused to buy them so large and be devastated by the size — to wearing almost all jeans all the time.  Last night, I went to Kohl’s to spend a gift certificate from my Dad (exactly what I asked for – thank you, Papa!!), and was absolutely tickled to FINALLY get into the next lower size of jeans.  It seems like I’ve been stuck for months, but I just about bawled with joy when those new smaller Lee’s fit!  I still have a pair of Gap jeans in the same size that are too small, but I know I’m very very close.

The key for me was deciding that I don’t care how long it takes.  I don’t care if I have a small gain.  I don’t care if I temporarily slip off plan.  I WILL get back on and I WILL do it.  Again and again and again, even if it takes me the rest of my life.  I will eventually get to goal.  I’ll start over every single day, every single meal, if that’s what it takes.

Of course joining Romance Biggest Winner was also a great idea.  Having a weekly accountability above and beyone WW has kept me on track.  I wanted to lose 25 pounds I think – which I won’t quite make, but I’ll be very close.  I hope we run another round in 2012!

My number one goal for 2012 is to implement a consistent exercise routine, something that I’ve dabbled with this year but haven’t successfully committed to on a regular basis.  My plan is to customize Power 90 where I can switch up the “sweat” portion when I get too bored or feel too much hatred for those downward/upward dogs.  I have several other cardio-type exercises I can swap in as needed, but I love the strength portion of Tony’s workout.

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Cleaning the Desk

As another year winds to a close, I start to look back over the year and gauge how I did on meeting my goals.  And as usual, I don’t feel like I accomplished enough, certainly nowhere near what I *hoped* to do.

However, I’m still writing, still submitting, and still selling.  I’m still loving what I’m writing.  I’m so grateful to every reader, both of the blog and my books, who enable me to keep doing what I love.

But I definitely want to work on my output in 2012.  I haven’t been keeping good records, so I can’t even for sure tell you what books I completed in 2011.  The years start to blend together, along with numerous revisions and edits, until I can’t remember when I even started a book, let alone how many actual words I wrote.

So this week I’ll be reviewing my to-do list and getting as much pushed off my desk as possible.  I’ll also be going over all of my projects, organizing my files, and making a game plan for tackling my wips.  Cleaning my desk, so to speak, and figuring out the best way to track my progress.  I’m thinking I need to go back to using a master spreadsheet.

What’s your big goal for 2012?

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Mistletoe Madness Giveaway

Main Giveaway Hub

In these days of ultra cool electronics and games, I sometimes wonder if people care about homemade gifts from the heart.

 

I always try to make a few things for people on my list, but the busier I get with real life, the more I can’t quite pull off my big plans.

I just don’t have enough time to make all the things I want.  This year, I’m hurrying to finish some simple cross-stitch Christmas ornaments.  Next week I plan to do a lot of baking to take to family dinners.  One year I made easy flannel scarves, another year crochet bookmarks.

Yet I always secretly fear that people think homemade gifts are a little tacky or cheap.  What about you – what’s your favorite memory of a handmade gift someone gave you?

Comment on this post any time Dec. 16 – 23 to be entered to win a $25 gift certificate to any online book retailer of your choice (B&N, Amazon, ARe, etc.) and any book from my backlist, including a signed print copy of either Dear Sir, I’m Yours or Hurt Me So Good.  If you choose print, I’ll mail internationally.

Happy Holidays – let the Mistletoe Madness begin!