Putting Fitness in My Fiction Blog

Hi there.

It has been a bit of a slow year on my blog, though I notice I post here more than any of my other blogs, so that says something at least. But since I've been more active lately, it's probably time to do an update health wise and talk a little about fitness before we get into the crazy fun of November and National Novel Writing Month (yes, I take part in it every year so this year is no different).

First: Update

September 5th was my last weight post, which included a goal to lose 10 lbs by nanowrimo. I am currently at 194.2, so have lost almost 15 lbs since that post since I had a weight of 209 when I made that post. The walking once a week, the week after I posted, ended up more like 6-7 days a week. I've only missed a few days in the last month, and a couple of them were from a cold. Using myfitnesspal, I can get a slightly generalized idea of calories consumed, which is the main reason for the current loss but the scale is just a small factor. I have many fitness goals, which is really where this blog will focus on (though I will occasionally post weight numbers and maybe some day measurements, plus hoping to one day have before/after images). It has been a slow adjustment and I think it's time I got some fitness into this blog.


Fitness

I am a fan. I always have even though liking something and doing it are not always connected. And I like many kinds. I used to be in sports (volleyball, basketball, track, softball) but I've also enjoyed walking, zumba, swimming, hiking, and weight lifting. Only thing I haven't enjoyed so far is spinning, just not for me but I wouldn't mind some day trying out cycling.

For now, I walk. I started end of August with a random 5k walk for charity event and from there just started walking 2-4 miles almost every day with a few times where I didn't walk at all. It's a start and has been fun because I've walked with a couple coworkers and might walk with one other when it's not stormy and rainy.

My next plan for winter, at least, is to go to a gym. There are several in the area but most are out of my price range at this time (even the YMCA is over 40$ a month, which I can't afford). The 24 Hour Fitness has a lot of the amenities I'd appreciate such as weights, zumba class, and swimming pool. However, it is out of my price range as well, though might get a discount through work. There is a Planet Fitness near enough and that is in my price range for the next two months. I'm going to check out a few places tomorrow, then make decision for November and December.



Fitness Goals (a few with more to come in future)

Run 5k (color run 2015)
Deadlift (learn how)
Kayak
Jump high enough to block (HS volleyball, could never do)
Take class on hand to hand combat
Lift heavy weights ;-) (will be more specific once I get to some weights)



I also have some ideas for a few things, which might include researching trademark and such. We'll see how this goes and if there is some community interest down the road. Right now it's one step at a time.


What do you do for fitness?

Novel Progress

So much progress and yet so much more to go.


Since I am still a writer and the purpose of this blog from the very beginning has been the novels, I must talk about how I'm doing from time to time, though the fitness has been a slight distraction from writing. That and I'm more tired now, so I go to bed earlier instead of writing late. I'll get it worked out by NaNoWriMo though. ;-)


For the summer, my plan was to focus on 1 novel and get it done. Well, I got distracted. (Yes, I see the pattern.) I worked on submitting a few stories over the 3 months. Most have been rejected but I'm still sending things out. I try to get at least a couple stories out a month. Other than submitting, I've also written a few new short stories. Many of them were for contests over on Writing.com but we'll see what happens. One was an expansion of a free write I posted online in a forum and a reviewer already wants there to be more to the story.

I did work on the novel though. I wrote 37,000 words during Camp NaNo and a decent amount in June as well. August, however, I got barely anything done in the novel. I'm near the end where everything goes wrong, the climax of the story, just need to actually write it. I still can get it done by the end of the year but it didn't get done in summer. However, I did write a lot, so that was good.

Novel edit stalled. I won't be submitting the novel to agents in 2014, but I've come to terms with that recently. Instead, I'm going to work on that final edit, get some things fixed up and make the query letter the best I can. My goal is to submit the YA novel in 2015.

World building is also something that was added this fall. Since I've decided for NaNoWriMo 2014 to re-attempt the epic fantasy novel from 2010, I already had my usual prep challenge done. So, instead I am taking the plunge and working on world building. I have notebooks and will spend October focused on that. Working on the different societies, types of characters, magic system and much more. I've added some elements of technology as well, so the novel should be interesting. And I'm going to make myself work on description during November, so it's going to be a super long novel but that's okay. I want to work on using the senses and getting descriptions done, so over the top is fine because I know I can develop it and cut later.


Novel wise, my plan for the rest of the year is: finish LtW, world build, write 100k+ in nanowrimo, work on edits and query letter, and blog.


Are you going to do NaNoWriMo?
What are your current writing plans?