30 minutes for 30 days

DAY EIGHT - TREADMILL

2012-01-08T22:00:00.006-07:00

DAY EIGHT: Finding Time to Exercise

While 30 minutes is a reasonable commitment to exercise, finding that 30 minutes may be easier said than done. After all there are only so many hours in the day. And if you're anything like me, you're probably already overextended. Maybe even giving up sleep on a regular basis in order to get things done.

It's important to remember that exercise is a choice. How you choose to spend your time matters. But do you know how you really spend it?

Try using a spread sheet 8 columns across x 25 rows down to map out your week (see mine below).

Make exercise a priority. Just like fixed expenses, you have things in your schedules that are set in stone. Hopefully, a good 7-8 hours of sleep is part of your routine. You may have a job (or two) with a commute (and don't underestimate the time it takes to get ready for work). School, the kid's school... Anything specific put it down on paper.

Notice you probably still have a little wiggle room. Maybe even more than you realized. Add exercise and anything else that's important to you. Try not to allocate all your free time. The reality is the unexpected will pop up sooner than you think.

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
12:00 AM	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep
1:00 AM	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep
2:00 AM	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep
3:00 AM	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep
4:00 AM	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep
5:00 AM	Sleep	Curves	Curves	Curves	Curves	Curves	Sleep
6:00 AM	Treadmill	Commute	Commute	Commute	Commute	Commute	Treadmill
7:00 AM	Write	Work	Work	Work	Work	Work	Curves
8:00 AM	Write	Work	Work	Work	Work	Work	Write
9:00 AM	Write	Work	Work	Work	Work	Work	Write
10:00 AM	Write	Work	Work	Work	Work	Work	Write
11:00 AM	Write	Work	Work	Work	Work	Work	Write
12:00 PM		Work	Work	Work	Work	Work	Write
1:00 PM		Work	Work	Work	Work	Work
2:00 PM		Work	Work	Work	Work	Work
3:00 PM		Work	Work	Work	Work	Work
4:30 PM		Commute	Commute	Commute	Commute	Commute
5::00PM		Treadmill	Treadmill	Treadmill	Treadmill	Treadmill
6:00 PM		Write	Water walking	Write	Water walking	Write
7:00 PM		Write		Write		Write
8:00 PM			Write		Vampire D.
9:00 PM		Hawaii 5-0	Write		Write
10:00 PM	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Write		Sleep
11:00 PM	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep	Sleep

What if you really don't have time? Every minute of your day is scheduled and you just don't know how you're going to squeeze in another 30 minutes of anything let alone exercise.

First look at your schedule to see if there's anything you're willing to give up. Lack of sleep adds to your middle (especially with middle age) so don't give up shut eye. If you have a lot on your plate you're probably already a great multi-tasker.

Look for opportunities to exercise. Take two 15 minute walks instead of one 30 minute walk. Walk the track at your kid's school right after you drop them off or when taking them to a game or practice. Bleachers make for an excellent workout.

Lunch hours aren't just for running errands. Pack a healthy lunch, a set of hand weights and take a walk. In fact keep workout gear in the trunk of your car that way you have no excuse when an opportunity presents itself.

Watch your favorite show from a stationary bike (yes, you have to keep moving). Fold clothes while standing during commercials. Catch up with a friend by getting together for a Saturday morning workout.

If you're still having trouble finding time, try this exercise. Start with a blank spreadsheet and fill it in according to your actions. You'll soon see what's sucking up all your time.

Research shows that afternoon is the best time to workout. But morning exercisers tend to stick with their routines. Find what works for a happier and healthier new you.

~*~

Look for my next blog post Sunday, January 15, 2012.

DAY SEVEN - TREADMILL

2012-01-07T23:00:00.000-07:00

DAY SEVEN: One week down, three to go. Even lost a couple pounds without really trying--3.5 to be exact. Starting tomorrow no more of this daily drivel. I intend to limit my progress reports to comments and take a more informative "how to" approach to the blog.

By giving myself just one assignment each week, I'll be able to explore those exercise related topics like scheduling and sleep in depth.

By the way, this is the actual model I workout on, only mine looks a lot dustier. Even after using it all week.

DAY SIX - TREADMILL

2012-01-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

DAY SIX: TGIF! Left work at a reasonable hour. Because it's Friday. Which is pizza night at our house. Got my 30 minutes out of the way as soon as I walked in the door. Looking forward to going to bed at a decent hour and getting up at my leisure tomorrow. Plan to exercise early. And not waste a minute of my writing time.

Finding Time To Exercise When Life Feels Too Busy.

The Truth About Finding Time To Write.
(This may have to be my next challenge).

DAY FIVE - TREADMILL

2012-01-05T23:00:00.003-07:00

DAY FIVE: Any later it would be tomorrow already. Worked out in my PJs. That's it for tonight. Zzzzzzzzzzzz

DAY FOUR - TREADMILL

2012-01-04T23:00:00.000-07:00

DAY FOUR: You've heard of The Never Ending Story? Today was the kind of day for me. Put in fourteen hours at the day job. Came home and got on the treadmill. Because I knew I didn't dare sit longer than it took me to put on my running shoes. Those 30 minutes of walking seemed endless. It was all I could do to hang on and keep moving my feet.

But I did it. And I feel pretty good about it.

This is not going to be my long make up blog. Again, it's late and I'm tired.

DAY THREE - TREADMILL

2012-01-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

DAY THREE: Did it! Last minute, but I did it. Too tired to blog tonight. More on that tomorrow.

Sleep Deprivation.

Six Reasons Not to Skimp on Sleep.

Weight Gain Linked to Lack of Sleep.

Sleep More, Lose Weight.

DAY TWO - TREADMILL

2012-01-02T22:00:00.001-07:00

DAY TWO: So far, so good. Got up. Logged 30 minutes on the Treadmill. But I hate getting up early to exercise and I'm too tired after work to workout.

What's the best time of day to workout?

Morning Exercise for Weight Loss.

Why Evening is the Best Time to Exercise.

AM vs. PM Workouts.

Experts Disagree on Ideal Time of Day to Exercise.

AM and PM Workouts [Military Fitness].

Maybe Nike has the right answer. Just Do It.

DAY ONE - TREADMILL

2012-01-01T09:00:00.007-07:00

DAY ONE: No sweat. My very athletic youngest son and I were just discussing the merits of sweating during exercise. He needs clinical strength antiperspirant. I need a shower in order to wake up. So I took one before my workout. He laughed as I tied my laces. Offered some suggestions, like a sauna suit. No thanks. Or a higher intensity workout. Seriously, no thanks.

Got on the treadmill with the intention of reading my way through the half hour. Hit the preset program for 3.5mph w/an incline of 3-5%. Couldn't get the new Kindle Fire I got for Christmas to stay on. Every time I set it down the thing rested on the off button. Finally, duh, realized I could turn it upside down (got to be smarter than the device). The ebook turned itself right side up and I got busy scrolling and strolling.

After the warm up and a minute at 3.5mph, I had to reduce my speed to 2.5mph for the rest of the workout in order to read. And because I really am that out of shape. Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey is my first read of the New Year and my first ebook ever. Gotta say I'm loving both so far.

By the time I hit the cool down phase I'd finished 3 Chapters and was beading at my brow. Not enough to take another shower, after all I'm just going to be hanging out at home in these sweats all day, but enough to feel like I'd gotten a good work out.

So how'd you do today? Did you break into a sweat?

Fitness Myths and Half Truths:

Excessive Sweating While Exercising Means You’re Not Fit
In fact, it's just the opposite. Sweating during exercise is a sign of an efficient cooler. An athlete who has adapted to keep the body core cool during exercise will shunt blood to the skin’s surface more quickly and release heat from the body. At the same time, the sweat glands increase their output and thus cool the body during sweat evaporation. While fit people produce more sweat than sedentary folks, they lose less sodium, because more of it is reabsorbed by the body. The result is a more efficient cooler....read more

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:32:00.001-07:00

DAY THIRTY

2011-12-01T18:00:00.012-07:00

DAY THIRTY: My final word count for
National Novel Writing Month?

19,107

A long way from 50K words. But I'm not unhappy with it. That's 19K words more than I had last month. And there's always next year.

Write or Die

2011-11-18T22:00:00.001-07:00

DAY EIGHTEEN: It's Write or Die time. We're past the half way point and I've yet to reach 25,000 words. But I've discovered something. Or rather rediscovered Write or Die. There was a time when I could churn out 4 or 5 pages an hour, which is about 1000-1250 words. But I took on the challenge of nanowrimo, knowing it had been a long time since I'd been able to churn out anything.

I blame it on my left brain for not being able to turn off my edit mode. Desperation sank in around day 10 so I followed a link from nanowrimo.org to the free web based app Write or Die. You set the timer, a word count goal and write. There are consequences for pausing before the time is up. In a single 15 minute session I almost made it to 250 words--the equivalent of one page. After half an hour in another session I had over 600 words--more than two pages.

It's good to know I still have that kind of speed in me. You can bet I'll be using Write or Die again.

weighed: don't ask
walked: 30 minutes today (and most days)
written: 13,160 total words

tomorrow's challenges: behind the curve, but hopeful.

winner of days one - fifteen: Linda S. $15 amazon.com gift card (Linda, please email me at rogenna aol com)

Write or Die

2011-11-18T06:00:00.001-07:00

The name says it all!

11.11.11. salute to veterans

2011-11-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

All proceeds pledged to the Veterans Research Corporation

a non-profit foundation supporting veterans medical research.

Reading

2011-11-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

"If you don't have the time to read,

you don't have the time or the tools to write."

~Stephen King

Skipping Pages

2011-11-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." ~Elmore Leonard

Solitude

2011-11-08T00:00:00.001-07:00

"I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude,

two for friendship, three for society."

~ Henry David Thoreau

11/7

2011-11-07T00:00:00.014-07:00

These are my flylady.net commandments adapted for writers.

Daily Life Eleven Commandments

Keep your desk clean: I don't know about your desk, but mine is a dumping ground. Although I would never recommend cleaning over writing, a clutter free desk can be very liberating.

Get up every morning even if you don't feel like it: If you're a writer and can keep regular hours good for you. Write when inspiration strikes. But keep regular hours and you'll be surprised how often inspiration strikes.

Do you morning and evening routine everyday: Whatever it takes to keep you on track. Do your prep work at night or after your writing session and your day will go that much smoother. Don't forget to squeeze in exercise.

Don't allow yourself to be sidetracked at the computer: As writer's we're expected to be social media savvy, to build an audience. The best way to build an audience is to write a good book. Facebook and Twitter can wait. And don't even get me started on Tetris.

Pick up after yourself: Even when your head is in a cloud filled with characters. Plot problems often solve themselves during mindless household chores.

Don't try to do two projects at once: ONE JOB AT A TIME! You know that fresh idea that popped into your head at the exact moment your brain shut down in Chapter 16 of your WIP. Jot it down. But don't abandoned the old for the new unless the new one comes with a contract and an advance.

Anybody can start a novel, not everybody can finish one.

Don't pull out more than you can put away in an hour: Okay, pull out all the stops and keep writing for hours on end. But if you don't have hours on end try writing in small chunks of time. Like an hour or thirty minutes.

Do something nice for yourself everyday: This goes without saying. You deserve it! Reward yourself for meeting daily word count goals. It doesn't have to be anything big. A sticker on your calendar for the day.

Work as fast as you can to get the job done: This will give you more time to play later. Your family and friends miss you. Don't spend all your time revising your novel to perfection before it's done. Or it may never get done. And give up right now on your novel ever being perfect.

Published is the best you can hope for.

Smile even when you don't feel like it: Make up your mind to be happy and you will or you won't. Many writers battle depression. Seek professional help as needed. But smile. You're a writer.

Laugh everyday: But don't forget to have a box of tissues handy for that Happily Ever After ending, just in case.

Daily Draft Seven Commandments

Write 8-10 draft pages a day: That's a minimum 2 hours of writing for me :) And lately it's been taking a lot longer. The point is to set a daily goal (word count, page count or timed session) and be consistent.

DO NOT scroll backward!: I stop to reread what I've just written ad nauseam. I made up this little gem to keep me moving forward. If it's not on the screen I don't scroll back to read it. If I'm stuck I decide how to proceed by reading only what's in front of me.

Spell Check at the END of the day: My current program spell checks as I write. But once upon a time I had to stop and think about it. The point is not to get hung up on a word. Selection or spelling.

Print at the END of the day: Save paper and ink. Back up often. I like to read and revise from a printed page. So I try not to allow myself near purple pens and paper until the end of a chapter. I've never made it all the way to the end of a book. But this keeps me from revising myself into a loop which I've done numerous times.

Stack pages upside down on desk: It's less tempting that way.

Read the last page to begin a new session: This trick works surprisingly well for me. My inclination is to read from page one to the point where I stopped, and then start writing again. This is near impossible beyond the first few chapters.

Repeat 1-7 to THE END: The urge for "perfections" as I write is strong. This is what works for me to conquer those urges and help me meet my daily draft pages.

DAY SIX

2011-11-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

DAY SIX: Made good use of that extra hour today. It was a good writing day. Good for me anyway. Behind on NaMoWriMo word count. But making progress.

weighed: who knows
walked: 15 minutes
words written: 5340

Tomorrow's challenges: more of the same.

Fall Back

2011-11-06T00:00:00.001-06:00

"Spring forward, Fall back!"

Daylight Savings Time Ends

November 6, 2011

DAY FIVE

2011-11-05T22:00:00.000-06:00

DAY FIVE: It's time for a reality check. At this rate I will finish my nanowrimo on December 23rd! Way too much editing as I go. This has always been a problem of mine and I'm not quite sure how to push through it.

weighed: forgot to step on the scale this morning
walked: forgot to walk this morning,
words written: 8664 some progress, but not enough

Tomorrow's challenge: getting in my own way.

Reality Check

2011-11-05T00:00:00.001-06:00

"Okay, who put a 'stop payment' on my reality check?"

~Author Unknown

DAY FOUR

2011-11-04T22:00:00.004-06:00

DAY FOUR: What can I say? Today was as unbalanced as every other day. Yesterday I mentioned switching projects, but neglected to mention the title...

A Stranger in the Family

Seven years after being convicted of his wife's murder,
an innocent man is free to claim his son from the sister-in-law

who testified against him.

weighed: +.5
walked: 0 (what happened to exercise :?)
wrote: 4531 total (which means I only added 86 words)

Tomorrow's challenges: juggling two projects/ the urge to edit

Balance

2011-11-04T00:00:00.000-06:00

Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives,

but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young

or the very foolish imagine otherwise.

~ George Orwell

DAY THREE

2011-11-03T22:00:00.011-06:00

DAY THREE: I chose to go back to sleep this morning and dream my novel dreams until 7 am. These long nights and dark days make it hard to wake up. But I did wake up and with two stories in my head. The one I started DAY ONE of NaNoWriMo and a prologue for another I'd started some time ago.

Since it's early in the game and my word count was close to evenly matched on both I didn't think it be cheating to change up projects. Anyway, it was the right choice I had a good writing day and almost caught up to word count.

weight: -1.5

walked: 0

words written: all day/4450 nanowrimo total and counting

Tomorrow's challenge: balance. I can walk and I can write. But I can't seem to do both in the same day which is the whole reason for this blog.

Wake Up!

2011-11-03T00:00:00.001-06:00

When you wake up in the morning you have two choices;

go back to sleep and dream your dreams

or wake up and chase those dreams!

~ unknown

DAY TWO

2011-11-02T22:00:00.002-06:00

DAY TWO: Yes, this morning's commute was bad. But I didn't realize I was going to be working overtime. I honestly don't have any reserves left for NaNoWriMo tonight.

weighed: -1 (how that happened I have no clue)
walked: 0
words written: 0

Tomorrow's challenges: no excuses/I have the day off!

A Blank Page

2011-11-02T00:00:00.002-06:00

"I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with
nothing but a bunch of blank paper." ~ Steve Martin

DAY ONE

2011-11-01T22:00:00.011-06:00

DAY ONE: The first step. A small one. I knew starting on a workday would be a challenge. Got half hour in on the the treadmill. Then sat down and wrote for an hour. Not an epic start, but a start.

The working title of my NaNoWriMo project is The Pirate Prince (Princes of Poseidon). Not sure I like it. Not sure it matters at this point.

weighed: =

walked: 30 minutes

words written: 60 minutes/664 words

Tomorrow's challenges: work/blizzard/commute

A Journey Of A Thousand Miles...

2011-11-01T00:00:00.005-06:00

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

~ Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

Trick or Treat

2011-10-31T00:00:00.003-06:00

Happy Halloween!

Click on the Witch!

This looks like fun! Darlene Gardner and six other authors

have come up with a novel idea for online trick or treat.

National Novel Writing Month

2011-10-30T00:00:00.000-06:00

Are you ready for the challenge?

50,000 Words in 30 Days...

November is National Novel Writing Month

November 1st-30th

www.nanowrimo.org

30 Minutes for 30 Days

2011-10-29T12:00:00.001-06:00

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by everything you want to accomplish? Then I invite you to set a goal, set a timer and take the 30 Minutes for 30 Days challenge. I prefer a good old fashioned kitchen timer, myself. But these days most cell phones and computers can serve the same purpose.

The first challenge begins...

November 1st, 2011

November is National Novel Writing Month. The goal is 50,000 words in 30 days.

I'm not a big fan of word count goals. The same 1,667 words that took 2 hours one day might take 10 hours the next. How do you plan for that? This will be my third year as a participant and I have yet to cross that 50,000 word finish line. I usually drop out of the race within the first week. What sets this year apart is the planning I've put into it.

NaNoWriMo is not for the faint of heart. It's a time-intensive commitment. I have other projects going on right now and some very good excuses for not participating. Over the course of my last book deadline I gained a significant amount of weight. I'm still struggling to get back on track and have no desire to tip the scales with a writing challenge.

As a writer it's hard enough to find the balance between writing and life. The real challenge is not 50,000 words in 30 days, it's maintaining that balance. But big things can be accomplished by setting smaller, smarter goals within manageable blocks of time.

My goal of 50,000 words in 30 days without gaining weight can be broken down like this.

Walking 30 Minutes for 30 Days

(outdoors when I can, treadmill when I can't)

Writing 30 Minutes for 30 Days

(the minimum for those days when work and other projects take precedence over nanowrimo)

Blogging 30 Minutes for 30 Days

(the maximum for this blog with everything else I have going on)

Good Luck to all the other nanowrimo.org participants stopping by. Feel free to share your own experiences. I'll be blogging inspirational quotes and tips daily. For those not writing a novel, choose your own challenge. Just for following along I'll be giving away a $15 amazon.com gift card on the 15th and a $30 amazon.com gift card on the 30th!*

*One name will be drawn at random from all comments up to midnight MST November 14th, 2011 and then again midnight MST November 29th, 2011.