Welcome to 2024, Everyone!
Guess what?! I finished my zero draft of Isto before my end-of-year, self-imposed deadline! Here’s a little animation I made of me and Derek dancing in celebration. (It’s my first animation, so please excuse the poor quality.)
Having completed the rough draft of version 6, I now move on to editing. This means rewriting Cameron’s POV. His timeline doesn’t flow well with the others, and critiquers say he needs more processing time for the emotional whammy he gets in his first scene. I’m also not keen on how certain reveals come about, so I’ve got some work ahead of me.
Goal for this year: make the book good enough to give to beta readers.
I feel my health goals are far more ambitious than my writing one. I want to:
* Complete a fitness program I bought some years back
* Limit myself to 1 Red Bull a day
If you know me, you know that latter one is going to be the most difficult. Resisting the temptation to overindulge is the hard part. I got used to cracking open a second serving of pure bliss-in-a-can sometime during last summer, and my waistline reflects that extra daily 28g of sugar. But I’m super picky about my energy drinks. I will happily try anything given to me, but nothing can substitute for my full-sugar 8.4 fl oz original. Maybe it’s a psychological thing, having consumed Red Bull almost daily for 22 years now, but I know what I want, and I’m not going to try to trick myself with a counterfeit.
Work kicked off its annual Colonel’s Fitness Challenge. In the past, I tried to tackle all the areas (resistance, aerobic, situps/pushups, weight loss). But my weight hasn’t changed in the past 5 years, and I’ve found it difficult to balance extensive weight lifting with everything else I want to do with my life. So I only aim to achieve my 30 hours of aerobic activity over the 10 week span of the challenge. This will include stair-stepping at my standing desk, walking at lunch, and doing HIIT exercises 3 days a week with my sis-in-law. On top of that, I will be doing the flexibility/mobility exercise program mentioned in my goals to hopefully prevent injury and mitigate the reality of being over 40.
Lots of things I’m hoping for this year.
IWSG Question of the Month – Do you follow back your readers on BookBub or do you only follow back other authors?
Uh… BookBub? I think I’ve heard of that. Am I supposed to actually do stuff on there? I think I might’ve logged on once and that was it, so I guess my answer is neither.
Got any lofty goals for this year? What do you hope to accomplish? Are you happy to greet 2024?
About Insecure Writer’s Support Group
You can find the sign up for the IWSG here. We owe Alex J Cavanaugh a huge thank you for thinking this blog hop up.
It’s all about the cardio and getting that heart rate up. You can do it!
Can’t do Red Bull. Too much sugar and I just don’t like the taste. I can imagine it’s hard to give up though.
It’s good to set realistic goals about exercising. There’s only so much we can squeeze into a day. Good luck with your writing goals.
Happy New Year!
My wife signed us up for this “Walk to Mordor” in which you’re supposed to walk the equivalent distance the Fellowship walked from the Shire to Mount Doom over the span of so many months . It has an app that tracks your progress and gives you little story blurbs and rewards as you go through, and they even mail you physical medals at important milestones. I don’t know if the apps and prizes are enough incentive, but I suspect the fact that we paid for it will be more of a push to finish it. 🙂
Good luck on your writing goals! You’ll get there.
Editing is my favourite part of writing. Improving, improving, improving. Happy New Year, Loni!
Congrats on the draft, Loni!
Good luck on those fitness goals! I’m trying smaller things to get fitter and healthier, hoping those things will add up to maybe dropping a few pounds, too.
Congrats on draft 6!
Have you tried XS energy drinks? No sugar.
CONGRATULATIONS ON FINISHING YOUR DRAFT!!! I’m so excited for you!!!
Your answer to the BookBub question would have been mine, too.
Best of luck with all your goals for the year!
Yay for finishing your draft! I’ve never tried energy drinks. When I start to fade, I go for a second coffee…
Good luck on your goals!
Happy New Year!
Good idea about getting fit! I need a bit of help in that department. I’m lucky to walk a mile with my bad knees. I need to get on the floor and do some stretches and simple exercises too!
Wishing you much success with your editing!
Love the fitness plan. You go girl!
And congrats on all you’ve done last year. 🙂
Anna from elements of emaginette
You have realistic expectations for 2024. Congratulations. And another be “C” on completing that draft. That’s a huge step.
My new address: https://substack.com/@cleemckenzie
You’re so ambitions regarding your fitness. I can’t imagine doing so much exercising ever. But I’m sure you can do it.
I love your little dancing GIF. So charming.
Yay on finishing the draft. That’s great. Good luck on the rest of your goals.
Congrats on finishing your draft! It’s so satisfying when we actually accomplish our goals on time lol.
I don’t drink anything carbonated so the only energy drinks I’ve tried are the non fizzy Celsius ones. They say they help burn fat, so I try to drink them before a workout. If I was dieting and working out more consistently I would actually know if it was working…
Good luck with your writing and health goals. I’m going to horrify you by telling you that I tried Red Bull once and didn’t like it. 😉
Good luck with your writing and health goals! I bet you’ll accomplish a lot. I’ve never been a drinker of energy drinks. I don’t drink coffee either. Admittedly, sometimes I think a little chemical help could keep me going when I’m dragging! Have a Happy New Year!
Congratulations on finishing early!!! I look forward to buying it.
Good job limiting the Red Bulls. You don’t need that many wings. LOL I’m also going to HAVE to add more activity to my life. I am such a sitter.
Happy New Year and congratulations! Good luck with all your goals. The 22 year habit will probably be the hardest. 😕