Guest Post - Healthy Trails to You

Today we have a nice guest post from Mike Manning from mikemanningmusings.blogspot.com. 

He has health tips for people who travel. Enjoy.

Healthy Trails To You

Traveling can be fun and exciting, and it's often tempting to throw all of your cares out the window for the duration of your trip. However, if you decide to skip the healthy habits you've worked so hard to establish, you're not doing yourself any favors. If you're able to get around the minor inconveniences and disruptions in routine presented by travel, you should make every effort to maintain physical activity. Here are some ways to facilitate that.

Pick a Healthy Hotel

You can make things a lot easier on yourself by being choosy about your accommodations. A lot of hotels available today cater extensively to the health and fitness crowd. Most hotels now boast fully-stocked gyms, indoor jogging tracks or even fitness classes. Make sure to do some research before booking a hotel. On a recent trip to San Francisco I used a travel site/app called Gogobot in order to get a list of hotels in the San Francisco area that I could scroll through and see what amenities were offered. There is sure to be something for everyone. Before you book your reservations, find out about their menu as well. While many serve a free breakfast, not all of them have healthy options. If the hotel offers a reasonably healthy menu on top of their exercise facilities, you can save a lot of time and effort.

Portable Workout

If there are no ideal health-friendly hotels in your location or price range, then consider bringing your own gear along. Some basic, portable items like resistance bands, yoga mats and small dumbbells enable you to work out at any place and time that's convenient. They're also great for when you just don't feel like leaving the hotel room. Items from around the room, such as chairs and tables, can also be useful.

En Route

If you're driving to your destination, you'll likely feel the need to get out and stretch occasionally. If you see any roadside rest stops, these can be a perfect fitness opportunity. Many of them possess hiking trails that run through appealing woodland areas. Besides getting some much-needed exercise, you'll also be able to enjoy the fresh air and beauty of nature.

Take Advantage of the Airport

With more airports recognizing the health needs of their customers, some have made impressive additions. San Francisco International's Zen room and Minneapolis International's walking paths provide those waiting for their flight with a healthful way to spend their time and pent-up energy. To get the most out of your workout, consider hauling your luggage with you.

Pack Some Good Shoes

To many people, the best piece of fitness equipment to have is a pair of dependable running or walking shoes. Even if there are no fitness facilities in your hotel and no hiking paths nearby, you can always use the sidewalk or a bike path. A twenty minute walk or a ten minute jog keeps your body and mind in good working order, plus it keeps the extra weight at bay.

Thank you Mike for the information.

How do you stay healthy when traveling?

Beta Reader Edition of IWSG

Yep, it's that time of the month: Insecure Writer's Support Group bloghop time. Make sure to check out the others over at the blog hop. Blog Hop Link

For those that have followed by other blog, Dawn Embers, I had a post recently where I discussed beta readers. And I'm getting closer to needing a few. I'm finally on chapter 18 of the novel edit with the hopes of finishing the process by the end of the month. It's a challenge because with each chapter edited the novel gets a little longer (or in chapter 17's case, 1000 words longer). After I'm done I will take a break and focus on something else for a few weeks but the trouble is now I'm almost ready for some readers and I don't have any. Not for the huge favor I need to ask.

How does one get a few readers to read an entire book within a month or two and provide overall feedback for a 60,000 word novel? The word count is a guess, might end up a tad long though last draft was 51,000. But that's aside from my general point. It's bringing on a different level of uncertainty because I'm reaching a point I've never been at before. I've been working on this novel since 2007 and while I know it's not going to be perfect and I want to hear the truth, it's nerving wondering what anyone would say to reading it because the story makes perfect sense in my head. But what will a reader say? I don't know.

The novel is essentially about a young teen boy who has a genetic mutation and has to report to a government agency when he sees anyone who might have abilities from a mutation for identification. He starts to question his role of a tattle when one of his few friends turns out to be a mutant too. Then when the new kid in school befriends him, he becomes faced with a bigger struggle. As his life starts to crumble around him and he begins to question his own identity, he has to decide whether he should tattle on a rogue mutant boy hiding from the government or end his role as a tattle tale, risking his own freedom in the process. It's supposed to be YA but borders on MG.


So, I'm nervous about how to find the right beta readers who have the time and with what they will have to say if I find them. And while I know a fair number of writers, it's hard finding the ones for the exact role of beta reader. It's a challenge and I worry if it will affect my submission goal because I want to at least send to 1 person this year because I've never done that with a novel and it's time. Yep, got some insecurities going on in here.


How about you? Insecure this month or have a confidence to share?
Let us know. 

June Goals

Summer time has arrived. It's time for some new goals but first, how did May go. Well, it was quite the distracting month. Car troubles has lead to me not having a car and instead taking the bus or catching rides with coworkers. It added walking to my schedule but also turned to candy on occasion for some stress relief. Got promoted on a writing web site to a moderator, which is really cool and unexpected along with a few other things. Quite the month overall.

May Results
Read 1 book - finished reading 3 technically cause the library books were due before the car no longer was drivable so those were May 2nd & 3rd, but also finished The Thirteenth Chime. And started reading Paranormalcy.

Edit Tattle Tell - Stalled. Only finished editing chapter 16 by the end of the month. Have 17-25 left to do.

Write 5,000 words in novella - nope. This one fell due to distractions and I haven't written anything in the novella since March.

Don't sleep all morning on days off - Had a couple of them where I slept too much but now thanks to a 3-day weekend of 8 am shifts I have been getting up between 6 and 8:30 in the morning even without an alarm clock.

Lose 5lb - Well I gained a couple but am down again those lbs. Didn't quite make it but June will be better.


Current Weight: 218


June Goals

Finish reading 2 books
Come up with eating plan.
Lose 4 lbs.
Write 10,000 words in novella.
Finish editing Tattle Tell.
Blog in all 4 blogs at least once.
Get a car.


What are your goals for the month?