Lazy is . . .

Lazy is when you want to know what movies Netflix sent to you, but rather than walk across the room to check, you look them up on Netflix.com.

The Black Adder (Series 1) and Terminator (the original), by the way.  Both of which I have watched, which means we are sorely overdue to walk them out the door to the mailbox.  Which is just another example of lazy.  *groan*

31 days of early morning insanity - or not

After a whopping six days, I am suspending my 31 day trial of getting up early.  Between stress at work and the physical stress of preparing for a marathon, my body just wasn't responding very well to the new schedule.  So at least for now I'm back to being a night owl.

Still, the original reason for the early morning writing is still there - I want to make sure I get writing done, and that it is a priority for me.  So I'm considering other ways to keep writing at the top of my to do list.  I've considered rewards (a Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte for every 5000 words seems like a nice a idea), and punishments (if I don't meet my word count goal, I have to go without gloves on my early morning runs).   Not sure what's going to work for me, but I'll figure it out.  

What do you do to stay motivated?

Early day #2 and an announcement

OK, today was really hard.  The getting up, that is.  The initial enthusiasm has waned, and I'm quite tired today.  You see, I've been running a lot.  And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.  In the past 2 months I've gone from barely running a mile in increments of 2 minutes of running to 3 minutes of walking, to running six miles in increments of 5-7 minutes of running to 3 minutes of walking.  

Why on earth am I doing this?  To run a half-marathon in January.  And why would I do that?  To raise money and awareness about blood cancers for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  I'm training with the group Team in Training, whose goal is to cure blood cancers and support families as people go through treatment for these diseases.  

This is by far one of the most insane things I've ever done.  But I think it's worth it.  If you'd like to support me, you can click here to donate, and you can also follow my progress on the blog I'm keeping.  Both of these sites are in my non-writing name, so don't be surprised.  

Now, back to the writing.  It was a good morning, overall, although I'm still a bit slower than I'd like - it takes longer to get in the groove in the AM, but that's OK.  It's writing, and it's progress.  

I've also managed to thoroughly screw up my cat - he doesn't understand this getting up early thing, and why when I get up I don't head off to work like I'm supposed to.  Oh well, I suppose he'll get used to it.  

Tonight I'm off to watch the VP debates, and between yesterday's run and the late night tonight, tomorrow morning will be a challenge.  We'll have to see how I do . . . 

Today's wake time:  5:30

Today's word count: 388

October word count: 462

Days up early: 2

Days to go: 29

How I feel: Sore.  But not awful, all things considered.

31 Days of October Writing

I've given myself a challenge - for 31 days in October, I will be getting up at 5 am to do yoga and to write.  This gives me about an hour and a half every morning to get some writing done before the rest of my day sets in.  I wrote a bit more about that on the Death Pixies blog - you can check it out here.  

This qualifies as one of the crazier things I've tried (seems to be a season of crazy things for me, but more on that later).  I'm really concerned that I won't make it.  I'll quit tomorrow, or barring that, quit halfway through in some fit of frustration.  And I don't want to quit.  I'm doing this because I want my writing to come first, and the most direct way to do that is by actually doing it first.  Absolutely first, with no excuses.

I'm not a morning person (I'm the kid who remembers watching Johnny Carson at the ripe old age of three),  and I'm not particularly good at keeping a schedule.  I can talk myself into or out of anything (depending on what sounds like the most fun at the time), and I'm more than a little bit lazy.  These qualities will be working against me, and that makes me nervous.

On the flip side, I know that getting up and getting something done (anything) right away really gets my day off to a good start.  I know that I feel better and more energetic over all.  When I write in the morning, even just a little bit, I want to keep writing.  I tend to build up momentum and want to keep going.  These things encourage me.  

I'm going to attempt to post progress reports here - we'll see how it goes!

Today's wake time: 5:23 (hey, I'm still getting used to this!)

Today's word count: 74 + 2 blog posts

Days up early: 1

Days to go: 30

How I feel: Optimistic, and a bit sleepy.

I'm back . . .

Bet you didn't even notice I was gone, eh?  Oh, the advantages of the very sporadic blogging . . . 

It was a busy weekend, it was.  Friday I went to a coffeeshop reading for The St. Paul Almanac, in which my friend Drew has an essay.  I learned that The St. Paul Almanac is a nifty little publication (hadn't even heard of it until Drew got into it) and everyone should really check it out, even if you don't live here.  I was also reminded of the great rules of reading in coffeeshops:

project PROJECT PROJECT!

It does you no good to read your work aloud if no one is able to hear you due to your tiny little mouse of a voice.  Will you feel a bit silly?  Maybe.  Will some of the drama be lost? Perhaps a bit.  Will people actually consider reading more of your work because they could hear it?  Most definitely. 

On Saturday I ran around Lake Calhoun with my Team in Training group (more on that later) than rushed home to shower & hop in the car for the 3.75 hour drive north to the Bemidji area for a quick weekend getaway with the hubby before the crazy begins.  We visited a winery that specializes in non-grape fruit wines like strawberry-rhubarb, plum, and chokecherry.  We spent the night on the lakeshore of Bemidji, and then when to Itasca state park to see the headwaters of the Mississippi.  More posts, and hopefully a few pictures, in the next couple of days.

Unfortunately, this means I have written very little, and it's another busy week & weekend coming up.  It's difficult to know how to get everything done.  I don't want to say no to anything, but I can't possibly say yes to everything.  What gets a no and what gets a yes are very difficult decisions, but I'm doing my best.

As a side note - I do not recommend going for a long run, then sitting in a car.  Very sore making . . . .

Zee thot ov zee day . . .

If a website has a "remember me" box, and you check it, it should remember you.  It should not randomly forget you and send you scrambling for your password in annoyance.

Unless of course the websites are produced by The Evil Empire, in which case that is exactly what they should do.  Because if you are busy worrying about your password, you won't have time to notice that the squirrels are spying on you . . . 

Thesaurus Weirdness

I looked up "umpteenth" in the online thesaurus, and not surprisingly it didn't recognize the word.  

It suggested I might be looking for some form of "impotent."

I found that to be rather an odd guess.  Perhaps it is just me. 

I'll keep playing on the interwebs, but if you happen to know of a word that has the same connotations as "umpteenth" but is a bit less modern-sounding, let me know.