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Daily Update: Oh, I might as well.
Yesterday I wasn’t going to walk/jog. Yesterday I wasn’t going to blog or write. I wasn’t going to blog today either, but I am. Why?
Persistence.
I had my fastest time on my circuit yesterday. I jogged more than I walked. It hurt a little, but overall it felt great to get out there. I can tell my fitness level is improving because I’m moving quicker. It’s easier to go up and down the stairs (the first few days of walking were torture). My legs don’t stay sore as long after walking either. Overall it’s making me happier.
So yesterday I wasn’t going to blog either. Again I’m glad I did. I had a ghost story that I shared from my Navy days it even though it’s a ‘told’ story, it was still fun to write it down. It made me remember a lot about those days in the Navy when I did security duty. I had a lot of “I wonder what happened to so-and-so” moments.
I’ll give you a behind the scenes to the ghost story. Even though I cannot tell you what passed over the Blazer, I can tell you this. There was a fire, and it was put out. Long after I’d left the base I found out that one of the people I worked with had been setting fires all over the base. Usually small fires. Even though he’d been accounted for, it was over radio. He’d left the base when it was his 6 hours off and had walked out into the field in question and set the fire. He was the shadow I saw running around the fire. He was lucky to put it out in time before we got there. After the incident he had to take a few days off due to illness that I later found out was smoke inhalation. He was eventually caught and court-marshaled when he burned down a building that contained many of the base’s shipping and receiving records.
So even though the whole incident still gives me the creeps, I do know most of what happened that night. He was able to get part of the fire out, the rest burned into on open area with no fuel to keep it going. I only know this because we did talk many years after. Once he got out of jail that is. But that’s a story for another day.
At any rate, I’m glad I wrote yesterday. Why? It was one of the busiest days on the blog. I had a lot of people stop by to read the story and that made me really happy. How happy? Happy enough that I got up off my duff, got a haircut and went for my walk. When I finished I had intend to write, but dinner appeared, I wanted a TV show, got interrupted many times, but finally got about 100o words cranked out.
Despite it all, I had a productive day. I hope to have a repeat performance this evening.
Until next time!
WOO WOO!
Unorthodox Writing Tips 11: Try Somewhere New
I’m a curious person. I like to try new things and I’ve never shied away from trying something different. Earlier in the week I needed to take my favorite daughter to 7-11 to get a snack (old mother Hubbard went to the cupboard and the cupboard was bare).
In the same little strip mall is a sweet shop, Pistachios. For us this has been an ongoing joke. I want to say they’ve been setting the place up for a few months now and we’re trying to figure out when they’ll open the place. We put our faces up against the glass and peeked inside. There were some lights on the left side of the store wall that look like they will hold signage and a nice look counter behind which are some shelves with a few bags of pistachios and a couple boxes of candy. That’s about it. It looks bare, but I’m hopeful it’ll be filled with good things to be had by all.
Walking from Pistachios to 7-11 is the Rancho Market and Bakery. Now I’ve only been in the area for a few months and I’ve seen it dozens of times. I kept telling myself I needed to actually go inside and look around. I figured, why not teach my favorite daughter not to be afraid of going into a new place. I diverted my steps and went inside.
“Papi? Where are you going?”
Let me interject here. I have a tendency to walk astray just to confuse my favorite daughter. It’s funny most of the time and sometimes I do what I did on this day. I didn’t say anything, I just entered the store.
Inside standing next to the fresh fruit was a group of men. They could have been Greek, the could have been Arabic, I didn’t know. They just had that swarthy complexion that I’ve always associated with the Mediterranean. Now I was even more interested. Sure the Market and Bakery was located in Rancho San Diego and I expected it to be run by Mexicans, so I was a little surprised.
Inside I found a great selection of fresh cheeses I hadn’t seen before and a large number of dairy products. Even a great selection of salamis and meats. I still had no idea of the nationality of the products displayed. I didn’t talk to anyone until I reached the dessert section. I’m a BIG fan of desserts. Each looked amazing. I had to ask.
“What type of desserts are these?”
“Baklava”
Ok, I’ve seen baklava before. He wasn’t going to get away with that simple of an answer.
“This doesn’t look like Greek baklava.”
“This is middle-eastern baklava. In Lebanon we have over 150 varieties of baklava.”
Okay, now I was really in new territory. My favorite daughter kept picking out ones to buy, the man gave me a 5 minute lesson about baklava, and $8 we were out of the store. I went back the next day and bought $5 more. I know I’ll be going back again and I’ll be trying more than just the baklava.
What did I learn? I learned lot more than just what kinds of baklava are available. It’s something I’ve know and try to put to practice.
1) Don’t be afraid to walk into a store and talk to the proprietor
2) Don’t be afraid to try something new be it food, a book, a new sport, anything.
3) Be opened minded with the experience.
4) Seek out opportunity, don’t just run into them by accident.
Do I think baklava will make it into my writing? Probably not. But one thing I’ve heard over and over with writing advice, write what you know. If you limit yourself a little box you’ll only ever be able to write about that same little box. The more you allow yourself to experience the more flavor you’ll add to your writing. Get out there. Try somewhere new. You’ll thank yourself one day.
Until next time!
WOO WOO!
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!
Just me, and my shadow.
Hey! Look! It’s the Third and this is my third daily post. I know, I know. Hold you applause.
But seriously, I know many people blog multiple times per day. What I’m doing is just trying to get into that habit of writing a quick blog post each and every day. I’m only a couple of days in, but I’m on track. That’s what matters, right?
So yesterday, after lots of eating over the holidays, I decided to work on one of my unpublished goals. This one is simple; to have less of me around. Ever since we moved last year I’ve been sitting on my duff and getting little done. Adding on somewhere between fifteen to twenty pounds has done wonders with lowering my energy and lowering my motivation.
I was writing yesterday and decided, HEY! I can go for a walk. So I did. Perhaps it wasn’t the brightest decision to go walking for nearly an hour in flip flops during the hottest part of the day (it got up to 75 yesterday) but I did it anyway. Why? Because I need to. I know to have more energy I need to get some exercise. I need a good pair of walking shoes as my old nemesis from my running days, shinsplints, came back to haunt me. I puffed and wheezed more than once. All in all it was a terrible experience.
But I’m going to keep at it. I know the only way to get back into shape is to do something as often as possible. So I’ll be walking and tracking my progress. Yes, I walked for nearly an hour yesterday, but I have no idea how far I walked. I asked on twitter for a walking app for my Atrix and got the recommendation for RunKeeper. It tracks your time and distance using GPS. I love technology and this will be an awesome way to tack my time, distance, and progress. From what I can tell it remembers for you. At some point I’ll get a scale and start weighing myself, but not anytime soon. I want to worry more about my fitness level instead of my weight. With this little app I’ll be able to post weekly distance and times. Just another thing to keep me honest. Maybe I’ll do one of those maps to show how far I walk in a month or year. That’ll be fun.
As for writing, yes, I wrote a nearly 3000 words yesterday. I’ll be writing more today. I plan on writing tomorrow. I don’t want to lose my momentum. I’ll post my weekly word count (and walking distance) every Sunday. I also put a word count meter on the main site to keep track of where I’m at with hitting my yearly goal. It’s painful to see that I’m still at 0%, but it won’t move much on a daily basis unless I really crank out some words.
Speaking of writing, today is my first day back to work after a couple of weeks off. That will bite into my writing time I was enjoying over the holidays, but I still have the evenings. Words will happen. Speaking of words, I need to get back to work. During lunch…
Until tomorrow
WOO WOO!
J.R. Murdock 