I’ve always been active and considered myself athletic. With two older brothers looking out for me–both athletes and both several years older than me–I could throw a football in a perfect spiral and sink a layup in basketball before I was in fourth grade (i.e. before most of the boys my age), and I swam competitively from age 9 to age 13. I never believed there was anything physical I couldn’t do, and do well. Okay, except for skiing and that’s only because it hurt (my knees turn in when my feet are straight, making it painful to ski for any length of time). My fall from fitness had nothing to do with being unable to exercise and be active and everything to do with just not moving my body.
It became abundantly clear to me a few years ago that I needed to stop with the excuses and start moving. Last year, from spring to late fall, Mr. W and I decided to try to walk every day (at least, when the weather cooperated) for at least an hour. If we weren’t able to walk outside, I generally tried to do some sort of physical workout indoors, though I confess the word that best described those workouts was sporadic.
As part of my goal to lose weight and become more fit this year, I’ve committed to being active every day. In order to track our activity, I created a chart using Post-It flip-chart graph paper and taped it to the wall in a prominent place (using painter’s tape!). The chart is divided into 7 weeks, and each week is divided into days. Mr. W and I write our activities on the chart in brightly colored markers. It’s very satisfying to watch the chart fill up!
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I’m talking about the heroine of my new project today at the Mid-Willamette Valley Romance Writers blog. If you’re a writer, tell me something about one of your characters. Or, if you’re a reader, tell me something you found memorable about a favorite character. I’d love to meet them!
There’s a movie meme circling the interwebz (yes, another one) and I thought I’d give it my take. I tend not to watch sad or gross movies, so I removed those questions rather than leave them blank. I’ve also added some new questions that more closely fit my movie watching habits. And I removed the silly restriction that only one movie can be chosen per question, because…Really? I can only have one favorite? Sorry, no can do.
- What’s your favorite movie of all time?
Casablanca
This one was a no-brainer for me. Casablanca has been my favorite film since I first saw a butchered version of it on TV as a kid many (many) moons ago, and the uncut version is even better.
- What is your favorite romance movie?
The Quiet Man
Another no-brainer for me. I usually watch romantic comedies, not heavy drama-type romances, and The Quiet Man is my all-time favorite. In fact, it’s second on my list of Top 10 Favorite Movies, right below Casablanca.
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According to the frightening statistics on the website of the Center for Disease Control, there has been a “dramatic increase in obesity in the United States” in the past 20 years and “about one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese.” Prepare to be shocked as the U.S. map on that page shows the changes in percent of obese adults per state from 1985 to 2010. As of 2010, at least 20% of the population of every state is obese and in some states, that number is over 30%. We’re not talking merely overweight (people with a BMI of between 25–29.9), we’re talking at least Class I Obesity (30–34.9 BMI) and higher.
I’ll admit it: I’m one of those statistics. I spent nearly 25+ years mostly sitting at a desk in my previous profession, especially in the last 10 years. And now, well, let’s face it, writing isn’t the most active of careers (yes, I’ve seen those “treadmill/desk” combinations, but personally, I’d rather shoot myself than use one).
In January of 2010, Mr. W and I made a “get fit” pact. We modified our diet and began exercising regularly. We both lost a respectable amount of weight that year and have kept it off (I lost 28 pounds and dropped two BMI levels). While Mr. W only has a few more pounds to lose, I’ve rededicated myself to making this the year I lose the rest of the weight–50 additional pounds. I thought I’d post updates occasionally on my progress. Who knows, maybe it’ll provide inspiration to others to start moving and to make healthier choices.
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I’ve talked in a general way about creating a career plan and setting goals for success. I sometimes find it confusing when I try to turn generalities into specifics without examples, so I thought I’d create a couple of sample career plans and set a few goals based on them. Since I’m a pre-published writer, the career plans I’ve created for my examples are for a fictitious pre-published writer (I’m going with what I know :-).
First up is an example career plan and goals for a pre-published writer who wants to be published via traditional publishing.
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Yesterday I talked about creating a career plan with short, medium and long-term objectives. Today, I’m going to talk about setting goals. You might be wondering what the difference is between an objective and a goal. The terms can be used interchangeably. For my purposes, though, I prefer to think of goals as the concrete tasks I need to perform to attain the career I desire (my objectives). I find keeping the two terms separate and specific makes the process less confusing.
How, and whether, you achieve your career objectives depends on the goals you set. Creating realistic goals can make the difference between having your dream writing career and floundering around wondering why the things you want are always out of reach. So, how do you know if you’ve set the right goals?
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