Workout with Wii

Now that I've been feeling well again, I've been getting into My Fitness Coach (MFC for short). It's the best program I've tried so far for overall workouts. The problem with Wii Fit is that I  have to choose which exercises to do, and it doesn't include warm-up or cool down. And if I forget to stretch, it generally cripples me the next day. A change with My Fitness Coach from Yourself! Fitness, is the ability to log and get credit from other workouts, whether cardio, swimming, walking, etc. Wii Fit has something similar, but without the ability to choose which day to credit for. With MFC, I can choose the activity, length of time, and which day of the week I did it. I don't have to worry about turning on the game every day just to record it.

 

Wii Fit is still great for working on my balance. Nothing matches it there. But I'm keeping my workouts with it to the balance section. The strength, yoga, and aerobics work better (for me) through MFC.

 

So, the new workout schedule I'm going to do my best to stick to:

 

Monday - 30 minutes with My Fitness Coach

Tuesday - 15 minutes Wii Fit for balance

Wednesday - 30 minutes with My Fitness Coach

Thursday - 15 minutes Wii Fit for balance

Friday - min. 15 minutes Wii Sports

Saturday - 30 minutes with My Fitness Coach

Sunday - rest (though on warm days I'd like to reinstate our leisurely family walk)

Tentative Tuesday Tally

EotF Status

one chapter still out on submission (Firebrand Literary's Query Holiday)

researching agents and making a list to submit to. QueryTracket.net's Premium Membership has been awesome in all of this. Great statistics tools and searching capabilities. (I won the premium membership last week. So cool!)

 

T.C. Status

word count: 4,654

 

MiB Fly With Me Status

(will be noted in the future as FwM)

word count: 1412

 

Getting back into the writing. Did a long character sketch for Vincent, MC of FwM. As I'm writing it in first person, I really want to know his character, be able to be in his head more than I have any other character.

 

My newest poems lately are a series of color poems. List poems with different things and senses I associate with each color. So far I've written ones for Yellow, Orange, and Blue.

 

Goals for this week:

• write another color poem
• catch up on critiques I owe
• at least one revision to query letter
• submit more poems

A Few Notes

Still sick, but on the upswing.

 

Title "Magic is Believing" changed to "Fly with Me."

 

Due to last week's funeral, and then being sick, I am behind on pretty much all of my obligations and goals... and now have paperwork to do for pre-kindergarten evaluations for B.

 

Bought My Fitness Coach (it's Yourself! Fitness (best exercise program I've tried), new and improved for Wii), but haven't started it up due to achey blahness of being sick.

 

5,000 Questions... My answers so far...

540. What do your parents do that you will try never to do? I'm not sure, so peacefully backing out of this one.

541. What gets you through the night? Knowing I am loved and not alone.

542. Do you really want to live forever? I don't know. If I was in prime condition, and wasn't alone, sure. But if everyone I knew was dying, then no.

543. Do you often experience powerful emotions? Absolutely. My emotions are generally way up or way down, very rarely mild.

544. What could make you so happy right now that you would cry and laugh and sing? To get an email from Firebrand Literary Agency requesting the full of manuscript for EotF, or an acceptance from a magazine for Blazing Princess, or to find out I somehow inherited a lot of money and can go out and buy a house.

 
545. Who is your favorite visual artist? My favorite for the longest time was Vincent Van Gogh (still ranks high on my list). Now, I'd have to say Selina Fenech.

Not feeling well

All three of us got sick over the long weekend. B and my husband are mostly better now, but my sick phase just started yesterday. Lots of feeling blah. Hard to be creative when my head is stuffy and fuzzy.

Ideas, Stories, Influences

5,000 Questions... My answers so far...

 

528. If you were going to write a bedtime story for someone you loved what would it be about? Currently, it would have to include a pig named Snort, and a hippo named JoJo. They would probably take a train ride to some fantastic world, making friends in unexpected places. Until the moon tucks them in at night.

 

529. Does anyone understand you? My husband, more than anyone.

530. Do you understand yourself? Usually.

531. Earth, Air, Fire, and Water: Which is your element? I may be a Water Dog, but my true element is definitely Air. Air magic plays a big part in all three of my novels. If I could choose a superpower, it would be flight.

532. Who influences you to be the way you are? I'm too lazy to be consciously influenced by much outside my little family. Though I'm sure everything I experience and everyone I meet influences me in some way.

533. What is one idea that you live by? Believe. Believe in a higher power, believe in your dreams, believe in yourself, believe in good in the world.

"I don't care what you believe, just believe in it." —Shepherd Book, Serenity, 2005

 

534. How can people act to make you want to get to know them? Easygoing and kind.

535. Are you more delicate or tough? delicate

536. Would you rather be smarter or more beautiful? smart. beautiful people get noticed more often than I'd be comfortable with

537. Have you ever had a surprise party? yes. My fifth grade class threw me a going-away party before I moved. It was very touching.

 

538. When are you at a loss for words? Anytime I'm put on the spot. I hate being quizzed. My mind goes blank.

539. What is the worst time to be alone? Late at night. When you're awake, and the world is quiet. It's lonely and unsettling.

Tuesday Tally, on a subdued note

Last Thursday, my grandma finally passed away. I'm glad she was with us for the holidays. Now she is with her daughter. The funeral was yesterday. The services were beautiful. I loved hearing new stories about her. Two of my sisters and I (accompanied on the piano by a third), sang "Into the West."

 

Into the West, with Lyrics

 

B was good, stayed dry all day despite being in a diaper. He used the toilet at the appropriate breaks rather than interrupting anything. I'm so very proud of him.

 

EotF Status

one chapter still out on submission

will work more on query letter and synopsis, start sending some out next month.

 

T.C. Status

word count: 4,455

 

MiB Status

word count: 857

 

Nothing new written on either story, but outlined the next five chapters for TC, and solidified the antagonist and some other world details for MiB. Alternate title for "Magic is Believing" - "Fly With Me," after a poem of mine. Still have a long time to choose, though. Don't even have the first chapter done yet. Ooh, how would "Fly with me" work as a salutation for Alexa? Too weird?

 

Goals progress moved to sidebar. ---->

GoodReads widget with the books I read this year also added.

"Tuesday" Tally

EotF Status

Draft 6 complete

one chapter out on submission

struggling with query letter writing

 

T.C. Status

word count: 4,455

 

MiB Status

word count: 857

 

Progress on 2009 Goals:

• 0/50 books read
• 1/50 poems written
• 0/50 poems submitted
• 1/50 chapters written (for TC or MiB)

 

Apologies for no posts earlier this week. Monday was my wedding anniversary (7 years!). B spent the night at my in-laws. My husband and I went out to dinner, watched some TV together at home, and enjoyed a night of not having the kid. Tuesday we slept in, walked around the mall, and grabbed some fast food before picking up B. It was very nice.

 

Potty training has been a success! Last week we had a breakthrough when B actually held his pee and rushed to the bathroom. Still having occasional accidents, and have to make sure he doesn't hold it too long while saying he doesn't need to go, but the hard part is done. He's communicating, and enjoying having more in common with daddy, and only has a couple stickers to go until a prize. He has even used the toilet at both Grandma's and school. Yay!

Welcome 2009!

P.J. Hoover is challenging herself to read 50 books this year. I'm joining in on that challenge. I used to read a lot more than that, but now I write, I play video games, I'm a mom... Can't expect me to keep up with the reading I did in my school years. But 50 books is about one a week. That sounds very doable. My to-read pile already has ten books in it. And that's just those in this room, not ones on my to-borrow or to-buy lists. I've signed up for goodreads, where I can keep track of the books I read. I've even created a bookshelf for 50 books in 2009 so I can keep track, and anyone can follow along.

 

Also on the books topic, I've semi-updated my profile on LibraryThing. Someday I can update it fully with my entire library. Once we get a house and unpack all the books. In the meantime, I shall try and remember to update it as I get new ones.

 

So, keeping with the 50 theme, average of one a week, with leeway. Doesn't sound too bad. I doubt I'll actually meet all of these, but shooting for the stars, right? To do in 2009:

• 50 books read
• 50 poems written
• 50 poems submitted
• 50 chapters written (for TC or MiB)

 

The poems submitted equals individual poems (times sent, not necessarily 50 different ones, though I certainly have enough I could), not batches. I did 48 this year. 50 should be easy.

 

Do you have any new goals or resolutions for the new year?