Daily Update: I actually ran!
No, really. I walked up the hill, then ran on the flat and downhill parts. Okay, okay. I walked up the hill and started a light jog, but I was still moving much faster than walking. I didn’t think I was going to start, but as I walked, I just had this urge to start going faster than a brisk walking pace.
A funny thing happened.
Now let me explain something. As I’ve been saying, shin splints have haunted me and my walking. It has for years. I was working out on an elliptical which was nice because it was non-impact training. The new shoes and a shorter stride have helped alleviate the pain of shin splints. But when I run I don’t run heel-toe, heel-toe. My cross-country/track coach in high school had us run on our toes.
So I’ve been told that I look a little funny when I run. I’ve also been told I have Barney Rubble legs (short and stumpy). But hey, when I start jogging, I’m running on my toes and not heel-toe so the pain in my shins is lessened greatly. This was almost as awesome as doing 12 minute miles yesterday. Down from 17 minute miles just a couple of weeks ago.
I’ll be jogging/walking/jogging/walking from now on. I’m going to try and extend my jogging periods and shorten my walking periods. When I can get below 10 minute miles, I’ll reverse my direction. Wait, what? See, currently I go up one big hill, then a LONG, slow downhill. Once I get into better shape I’ll do the LONG uphill with a short, steep downhill. Just to mix things up. There are even different routes I can take that’ll provide more hills, again, just to mix things up.
On the writing front:
I mentioned the Action Pack yesterday. Well I also spoke with Dan Dan the Art Man and he had already agreed to do my cover for my Action Pack story. I’ve now convinced him through my magical ways to do the cover art for both Mike Plested and Scott Roche as well as providing us with a banner and logo for the Action Pack! I mean, how cool is that? Dan is filled with awesome and every time I see him produce something I’m amazed. Dan, if you’re reading this, we promise not to abuse you. Too much.
Yesterday My Favorite Daughter had a late volleyball practice (her first tournament is Sunday). It went until 9PM. Didn’t get into a sitting position until 10PM to start writing and banged out exactly 800 words. It’s always strange to end on a specific number. No practice for her tonight or tomorrow so I should be able to bang out a couple thousand a day. I hope. I’m really enjoying the direction To Fall From the Sky is taking. I had something bad happen to the protagonist, and I used the antagonist’s POV to explain what had gone wrong. I’m not even a third of the way through and I can already see where this is going. I’m going to have a blast once I get into the final parts of this book. Heck, I’m having fun now just thinking about it.
I’ll be posting more updates tomorrow and keep you apprised of what is happening with the Action Pack. We’re currently shooting for the first episode to drop at the end of February, so keep your eyes peeled. Oh, and I also have my first short getting itself ready for release at the end of this month. Dan Dan the Art Man is also doing the cover for that. It’s going to be amazing!
I’m rambling, aren’t I? Ok. Get out of here. I’ve got words to write.
Until Tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Good Things are in the Works
I’m a fan of dessert. My motto: Life is short, eat dessert first.
So when I took my daughter to 7-11 the other day, I looked up at the Rancho Bakery and Deli next door and decided to walk in. Why? Hey, I’m curious. It’s what I do. I see a new place, I need to go see what’s inside.
Side note: There is a sweet shop next door to the bakery (Pistachio Sweets) that hasn’t opened yet. It’s been months and it’s driving me nuts.
Back to the story. So I dragged my daughter into the bakery. They had fresh produce, some great looking cheeses (I also love cheese) and lots of dairy goods and meats. Then there was the baklava section. Now, I’ve seen baklava before. I’ve eaten it many times. I really like it. This didn’t look like baklava.
I introduced myself to the store owner.
He gave me a sample.
Oh! I mean. Oh! Yes Yes OH GOD YES!
So I bought a small container to take home. I wanted to buy a lot more, but I also didn’t want it to go bad. Apparently the bakery is a middle-eastern bakery. He explained to me the history of baklava and that in the middle-east there are over 150 different kinds of baklava. The display they had there had a couple dozen (I’ll take a picture of that when I go back.) It all looked great!
We got three different varieties. All of them were delicious. It was only $5 so I know I’ll be going back. I’ll also be posting the experience as an Unorthodox Writing Tip this weekend with more details.
On the walking front. Took the day off yesterday. Will resume today. The Kid (she wants me to start calling her My Favorite Daughter) has Volleyball practice tonight. I’ll be cheering her and her team on. WOO!
On the writing front. I got a lot written yesterday. Currently I have my short story completed for the end of this month. I have my story ready for the Action Pack (I’ll explain about that in a moment). Although it’s going up slowly, the yearly word count meter is creeping up. I’ve written over 15000 words so far this month. I’ll be writing a lot more. 2012 is shaping up to be great year. I’m so excited.
So the Action Pack. Last night Scott Roche, Mike Plested, and I all sat down to discuss the jokingly named Action Pack Podcast. The name was thrown out based on an 80s TV show. Our concept: 3 stories in one podcast. Each month will bring a piece of each story continuing on throughout the year and concluding a storyline at the end of the year. That would be one season and if all goes well, we’d do a second season.
We talked about artwork, music, content, the blog, the url. The Action Pack Podcast grew on us quickly and we’ll be getting a blog out there soon. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I hope you’ll join us. I’ll be posting more on this as time goes by leading up to the release of the first episode. Like I said, I’m pretty excited.
I need to go make use of that excitement.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: First Day Back in the Office
It’s something I don’t think about much. I work from home four days a week so given time off, the holidays, and everything else, today is my first day in the office since December 13th. I don’t mind coming into the office. The commute normally takes thirty minutes so it’s not that bad either. Plus I get to talk to co workers face to face when I do come into the office.
Working from home has given me something more, though. It’s given me the ability to be a self-starter. When I work from home, I sleep in a little later. I usually wake up before my alarm goes off and get ready to start my day. I usually have my laptop already on so I can just sit down and go.
This has really helped me with my writing. I can just sit down and go. There are some days I need to do a little more, like get myself off the internet. There are even days when I just don’t feel in the mood to write or something is distracting me. These days will happen and I’m learning to work through them. Sure I can make up an excuse like, I only need to write 1000-1500 words a day to make my yearly goal and I can get caught up tomorrow. No, I won’t. If I slack off I won’t hit the goals I’ve set out for myself.
The same goes for my physical fitness goal for this year. I didn’t set a weight resolution or an exercise resolution. What I did was set a goal to reduce my body mass and get myself into better physical condition. I’m not gauging success of this goal on pounds lost or distance traveled during my walks. I’m basing this goal on the size of my stomach and the amount of fat I can feel on my body. Being in better physical condition is more important to me than the number of pounds I see on a scale.
Speaking of fitness, I walked again yesterday. I was able to do the circuit I’m walking in just over 40 minutes. This is a success. The pain in front of my legs is still a dull ache that comes and goes and I’m starting to get a weird, I guess I’d call it a weak feeling in my right knee. I was aware of the problem and my doctor had told me that I need to exercise to get the pain in my knees to go away. So I’m working through that.
Well, as I said, I’m in the office. there’s work to do.
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Get Published: Talking Collaboration
Mike Plested and I have been working together for some time. Want to know all that we’re up to? Check out Episode 74 of Get Published.
Daily Update: Video Editing
Yesterday was a pretty good day for writing. I mostly did re-writing on a story that I have in the Of Gnomes and Dwarves universe, Kance Encounter. Although Kance isn’t one of the main characters in the series, he fills a needed role to help tell the history of world that leads up to where the rest of the characters will take over. Much of this history will be referenced throughout the series, but the short stories will help better define what has gone on before. I’m really excited to be doing these shots (one per month during 2012) and I’m even more excited to get back into the world that I first created when I decided I wanted to be a writer.
The roots of this story go all the way back to 1985/1986 when I played Dungeons and Dragons and these characters come to life. Actual writing didn’t begin until 1988 and, as I’ve chronicled before, didn’t get completed until 1998. The book suffered from many false starts and too many re-writes. I plan to do another re-write and this time I will be completely redoing the series as I’ve learned so much about writing.
On the walking front, I managed a good time yesterday with the new shoes. Shin splints are still happening, but are getting easier to deal with. I still want to go much faster, but still when I start to get moving a little faster than my legs want, the pain comes back. It’s more of a dull ache instead of a sharp stabbing pain so slowing down with a smaller stride still helps. I know it’ll take a few weeks before I can really move on my walk and if things go right, I’ll be able to start running in a few months. Oddly I’m looking forward to it.
I got my daughter’s video edited for her. The kid wrote the script and decided what needed to be shot. I just added the music and pieced it together. That took up a lot of my writing time over the weekend and I’ll be attacking this week with renewed vigor and a need to get caught up or even ahead of where I feel my writing should be at. I’ll post the video once I get approval from the kid and the parents of the others in the video.
Speaking of video, I learned a lot (well, enough to be dangerous) about video recording and editing. If I get bored I may start posting some video updates in place of blog posts. I had fun editing them and had a thought of recording Unorthodox Writing Tips as videos. Interested? Sound like fun? Leave me a comment. Let me know. I’ll see what I can do.
Time to get at it.
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Unorthodox Writing Tips 10: A Different Point of View 2
Have you ever been sitting and staring at the same four walls for hours on end? Something about the doldrums and monotony can drive a person insane Not only that, but it can suck all the creativity out of your brain. Sure I know all about getting into the habit of sitting in the same place to do your writing, but sometimes getting a fresh view point is critical to keeping the creative juices flowing.
I normally do my writing in the same place every time that I write. Today, I’m sitting out in front of the gym where my daughter has volleyball practice. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, it’s 65F outside. It’s a beautiful day. Why would I want to sit inside on a day like this?
Moreover, why would I not want to write on a day like this? I got up early, did my walk, and I’m all ready to do some writing. I don’t have internet access. I don’t have any distractions. I have a fully charged netbook with a keyboard that helps me type faster (I searched far and wide for this little sucker). It’s the perfect time to sit and write.
Not only that, but sitting in a different place engages a different part of my brain. It breaks me out of the normal routine of writing. I feel energize sitting outside today. There are different sounds, a different background to look at, even different people to watch (I’ll do a people watching post one day soon).
One thing I’ve always found to help break me out of a writing rut is to put myself in a different location. It’s so easy to fall into a routine of bad habits. How often have you wanted to sit down and write and wound up doing anything but write? If you have the means with a laptop, netbook, tablet, or some other device, pick it up and move somewhere else. This will be the first step in breaking the bad habit of not writing when you want to write and help create the good habit of writing.
It may even help you with finding where you are your most productive. I’ve learned that I can’t write my best when sitting at my desktop so I’m rarely there any more. It’s too easy to get distracted by facebook, twitter, email, a game, sorting my ebooks, or any number of things.
I actually do my best writing in different locations. As I said, today I’m sitting in front of the gym at my daughter’s volleyball practice. Later today I might sit on a chair outside if it’s still warm enough. I’ve sat at the kitchen table or on the couch.
Don’t let location stop you. There are an abundance of places you can go to write. A library, Starbucks or any other local coffee shop, the local park, you could even take your portable device with you and write while you’re having dinner at some restaurant. Anywhere that you can set up and start typing. This is your chance to use your imagination and find different locations to write. Don’t let your current view distract you from getting your writing done.
Until Next Week
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: It’s like walking on air
Well, ok. So maybe it’s not like walking on air, but I’ve got to tell you, my new shoes are awesome. I took the kid to volleyball practice yesterday at her school and we were about 45 minutes early so we started walking around the track; a very nice rubberized track. About twenty minutes in there was a little soreness in my shins, but nothing like what I’d been experiencing. It’s pain that I know will go away with daily walks.
After 20 minutes or so, we realized that no one else had shown up for her practice. Whoops. So after checking with my phone that the practice was at a different school, we packed up and headed over there. She made it on time, thankfully, and I did another 20 minutes of walking before heading over to watch her practice. The kid is getting really good at this volleyball stuff. I’m a proud papa.
So I did a full walk today on the route I’ve been doing. I’m still taking smaller strides (something the kid gave me a hard time about yesterday) and these appear to also be helping with the pain. I’m still frustrated because I’m not really working up a sweat. I know it’ll take time before my legs catch up with the rest of my body. I also know I’m so out of shape that anything at this point will help. I’m definitely not going to give up this time.
The wife is also going to get into the walking with me. We both need it. It’ll be nice to have company on my walks.
On the writing front. I’m blogging daily, if you didn’t notice. I haven’t been writing fiction daily. I missed the past two days, but I’m going to make up for it today. I’ll be in the truck writing while the kid is at practice. I should be able to do a couple thousand words while she’s in there. I’m about to start on the monthly short story for January that I’ll release at the end of the month. Pretty excited about getting that one going. I need to bug Scott Roche and see how he’s doing.
When I spoke with Mike Plested we talked about our collaborative works. I’ve got the first piece of Gold Rush (working title) ready to go. I just need to do a little editing and record it. This, of course, put the pressure on my writing partner to get his piece recorded. Pressure is a good thing, no? Deadlines help push you into getting something done. Well, most of the time.
Anyway, it’s time to drag the kid off to practice. Time to get a good chunk of writing done. Later tonight I’ll post my weekly numbers for walking and writing. They’re not overly impressive, but they’re numbers nonetheless. Hopefully they’ll both go up as the weeks go on.
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: New Shoes
Today I’m about to head out the door and get a new pair of shoes. I tried walking in the old pair I had and they’re terrible. They’re tight, stiff, and just plain uncomfortable. So I’m off to go buy new shoes. Something I haven’t done for myself in a very long time.
See, I’m a flip-flop wearer. I hate the feeling of shoes on my feet. If I don’t have to wear shoes at all I’ll be barefoot in a heart beat. I don’t really even like socks.
But I’ve now learned that walking in flip-flops isn’t doing my feet, my legs, or my pace any good. My feet hurt when I’m done. My shins ache (at least the sharp pain is going away) and I can’t walk as quickly as I’d like as my feet sweat I slip and I’ve gotten blisters on my feet.
So today it’s off to get new shoes.
On the writing front, yesterday was a wash. I did get a blog post up, and recorded an episode of Get Published with my friend Mike Pested. I didn’t actually get any WIP writing done, though. Will I do so today? I’m not sure at this point. I’m off to get new shoes. After that I’ll be at another friend’s house (also named Mike) working on my truck. After that I’ll probably end up at another friend’s house (not named Mike) where our wives will be doing hair and making dinner. We did the same thing last night (minus the doing of hair) and didn’t get home until after midnight.
I did plan on getting up early, but my wife and I stayed up watching Gold Rush. I hate to love that show because so much goes wrong, but I’ve found inspiration in their perspiration. Seeing so many things go wrong has really fueled my work on my own Gold Rush story (a western/steampunk).
Well, all these errands aren’t going to run themselves. So I’m going to fire up the truck, sputter off down the road. Get my shoes, fix the sputtering, and hopefully get home before the wife and kid so I can 1) walk and 2) write.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: It always feels good
I sat down last night around 8PM. I had been up and down and had trouble finding the mood to write. The previous day’s output wasn’t anything to write home about. In fact writing home about it would have been higher on my word count than what I wrote.
So last night I helped my daughter shoot a little video for her English Class. She needed to re-enact a scene from a book, but more one she wrote instead of directly from the book. I had encouraged her to read October Sky and one of her friends from her reading circle also stopped by. The other we shot this morning. So I had to learn a little bit about video editing as I’d never done anything like that before.
When I did actually sit down to write I read through what I’d written the day before (all 300 words of it) and it was pretty much explainy garbage. I didn’t throw it out. I’ll have to go back and fix it, but I left it there. It does serve a purpose. What I needed to do was to get my villain moving. Once I got him from point A to point B with several mishaps along the way it became easier and easier to write. I had found his motivation and ran with it. In thirty minutes I had written nearly 1100 words. I ran out of steam, but I felt good with the output. I now had the motivation of my protag and antag. This will make writing go smoother as I progress and I already know all the key plot points I intend to hit with this story.
The one I’m talking about I will be doing in a monthly podcast with co-author Mike Plested. We will probably have a podcast out soon discussing the project. Speaking of Mike, we’re also in google docs in the edit phase of editing out Jack Kane novel and we’re about to start the process for plotting out book two. We’re both excited to get going with the editing as it’ll allow us to start shopping it around. It’s a fun book, quirky in its humor, and we should be able to find it a home.
On the walking front, yesterday was a little easier. I’m still taking the pace slow for now. Once I get going my legs want to stretch out and lengthen that stride and when I do the pain in my shins flares up and slows me right back down. Tonight (or tomorrow) I’ll be getting new walking shoes. I intend to go to a sporting goods store and ask the shoe person what’s a good shoe for walking for a person with shin trouble. Regardless of the pain, I was still able to do nearly 3 miles in 45 minutes again.
If you’ve been to the actual blog (not sure if you read this with a reader or hit the blog) but you’ll see I have my numbers up on the side for projects I’m working on as well as my yearly goal. Each Sunday I’ll post where those words were written and mileage walked. I’m also planning on including a daily writing prompt in each post. I think I will start those next week.
Until Tomorrow!
WOO WOO!
Daily Update: Learning to walk.
I almost feel like a child. Not in a good way. I spent a good deal of time stretching my shin muscles (I didn’t even think about this) trying to get the pain to go away. I did some minor exercises to work on getting them back into shape. As I said yesterday, the pain was excruciating. It was painful just to try and get back to the house after my walk.
But yesterday I did walk again. I had to concentrate on taking small steps. I listened to slower paced music to help slow my pace. Each time I would lengthen my stride, the pain would come back, but with a shorter stride, the pain was far less. I completed a three mile circuit in 45 minutes. Slow, but I completed it. I know it’ll take time to get to where I can do a much better time, but as long as I’m getting myself out there each day, I know I’ll do better.
I’m also getting into the habit of putting down words every day. Yes I wrote a blog post, but I’ve also gotten some words down every day in my WIP. Sure I didn’t write much, but I did sit down and write. I need to learn to focus and to actually tell someone around me when I’m trying to focus. Even if that means I need to leave the house to go somewhere else, I may have to do that. It’s hard to write next to someone and every couple of minutes they want to talk to you.
Now I’m talking about my wife and daughter and I have no desire to ignore either one of them. I love them dearly. So I need to find my own quiet time. Even if it’s only an hour here or an hour there. I’ve gotten good at writing in fifteen minute bursts, I just need more practice.
I’m also working on multiple projects at the same time, so I need to learn how to hop from one to the other if I’m stuck on one. They all have their own deadlines and time management is just as important as project management at this point. It’s only five days into the year. I’m on track with the goals I’ve laid out. It’s just a matter of keeping at it. Much like with my walking, small steps at first. Bigger steps as I build up my strength.
Speaking of building strength…
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 