Juggling Two Dreams

This is the same post I have up at Skinny Dreaming, with only a couple of changes. As it pertains to both my healthy living dream and my writing dream, I thought it was appropriate to also post it here. I also hope to impart how important it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle despite spending an inordinate amount of time sitting at a computer. As writers, we have a tendency to spend a lot of time sitting, and it is important to make time to take care of our bodies.

   
When I was morbidly obese, the only thing I dreamed about was losing the weight and getting myself healthy so that I could live long enough to see my children grow up. It took a long time for me to believe in myself enough to start working towards that dream, but eventually, I made it come true.


Then I started focusing on other dreams. One of those dreams is to be a published author. While I have had some short stories and some articels for magazines published, I haven't yet finished any of my novels to the point of having them ready for publication.


I am finding that trying to maintain one dream while striving for the other is not a simple matter. Writing is a process that keeps me sitting at my computer for long periods of time. Between that and shuffling my children to and from school, keeping tabs on them while they are home and general household maintenance (cooking and cleaning), fitting my usual two to three hours of exercise into my daily regime is increasingly difficult.


I have learned to try and fit my exercise in early in the morning, and, when that is not possible, right after my youngest children go to bed (7:00pm) which leaves me with some time to write later in the evening. I also get some of my exercise through walking and do a lot of walking while taking my children to and from school. Exercise benefits my writing by giving me more energy and my mind feels more open to new ideas during and after a workout.


I am also finding that writing works better when I am not hungry. I am able to concentrate more easily. The temptation, when I am writing, is to snack on junk food. I have been fighting that temptation, and sometimes the temptation wins. I have learned that I need to eat something healthy (such as fruit) before sitting down to write and that I need to make sure to stop, even when my creativity feels like it's on a roll, to have regular, healthy, balanced meals at mealtimes.


Maintaining my weight loss sometimes feels like it is harder work than losing it was but it is worth the effort. I still have more energy than I had when I was overweight, and even my creative ideas seem to flow more easily now. Juggling two dreams isn't easy, but it's worth the effort.


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Dream Big

A new year is upon us and people all over the globe are making new year's resolutions, deciding what they want out of the year that stretches ahead of them. People everywhere look at the new year as a new beginning, a chance to make themselves into something new and change their lives.

There are also some people who say that it's a ridiculous practice, that anything you want to achieve, you should already be planning for and working towards, and that waiting for a new year to begin is just silly. But who is to say what is the right time for you to begin a new goal? And why can't you use the beginning of a new calendar year as a starting point?

Some people will also say that you shouldn't make resolutions, or goals if you'd rather call them that, that overreach. You should make practical goals that are easily attainable through a bit of hard work and effort.

Again, I ask why? Why do your goals, your dreams, your new year's resolutions, have to be small? Why do they have to be things that you already know it is possible for you to achieve? Why can't you think bigger, dream bigger? There's a saying that goes something like, "Reach for the moon because even if you miss, you'll still land amongst the stars." Why shouldn't you reach for the moon?

Maybe, if you dream big, you risk not achieving your dreams. But maybe, if you dream big, you will find yourself accomplishing things you never thought possible before, whether or not you actually make that one dream come true.

And maybe, if you dream big, the journey you make while reaching for it is worth more than the dream itself.

Just some things to think about.

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Use It Or Lose It

I am a blogging addict. I admit it. I have upwards of 18 blogs. Some of them I write for more often than others, but it's still a lot of blogs to maintain.

I don't write here as frequently as I like, but it doesn't mean I am not writing. I am either writing for my other blogs or I am writing on other projects, such as my novel. I also write as the Fitness Walking Writer for the Examiner and I have an article on family fitness that will be published at Beverly Hills Child Magazine in September.

I don't make a lot of money for writing for these places, so why do I take the time to do it? The answer is easy; I do it because it's practice. Even though my novels and my children's stories are fiction, so a different type of writing than the writing I do for my blogs and other places, I still get a ghreat deal of practice in my writing by writing for these different subjects.

Before starting my blogs, I went for many years without writing much of anything. And when I finally started writing again, I found it incredibly difficult to get started again. I had gone too long without practice, without using my creative mind to do what it is meant to do - CREATE!

Writing for my blogs keeps my mind on writing. It keeps me thinking up ideas. I need to come up with fresh content to write about and I have to do it regularly in order to satisfy my readers. And because of this, the ideas just flow from me. I'm thinking up new writing content ideas while walking the dog. New ideas come to me while I'm making lunch for the kids. Ideas come to me while I sleep or when I'm in the middle of a conversation with my three year old. (Three year olds are GREAT for inspiration.) Ideas come to me at random times and more often than they did when I wasn't writing and had let my writing voice atrophy from disuse.

It's similar to physical exercise. If you haven't done any physical exercise in a long time and then decide you need to get in shape, at first your muscles are stiff and unwieldy. They don't move gracefully and easily in the exercise movements, and when you are done with the exercise, your muscles are sore and achey. It takes a while for your body and your muscles to loosen up and to take to the exercise more easily and with less suffering. And then, eventually as you continue to exercise, your body becomes so used to it that you start having to challenge yourself with different and more challenging exercises in order to get the same results.

By using my creative thought processes and my imagination regularly, I keep my mind in good shape for when I really need it for writing my novels. By using my mind, I keep it sharp. By writing often, I keep my ability to do so fresh. Practice makes perfect, but I'm not even looking for perfection. I'm just making sure that I've found my voice and and am keeping it ready for when I need it.

Is it sometimes a chore to have to crank out an article for one of my blogs or for another project when I feel less than inspired? You bet! But is it worth the trouble? Definitely!

Struggling To Keep The Dream Alive

I am determined to finish my novel this year. But despite my determination, I have not continued to write since NaNowriMo back in November. Even my writing in this blog has fallen by the wayside.

I've let other concerns take precedence. I've let my family's needs take over, and, as many of my children are still small, this has to happen for now. But I've also let other things get in my way. My dedication to taking the steps towards my writing goals has waned.

Maybe what I need is to make a schedule. Then I can care for my family and spend time with them, get the housework done, fit in my daily exercise, and still spend time writing.

Whatever it is I need to do to start writing again, I need to just get on with it. One of the designs in my shop states, "Just Write," and I need to listen to that advice. I need to just get on with it.

What do you do to keep yourself motivated and working towards your dreams?

Happy Once-In-A-Blue-Moon New Year!

This New Year's Eve had a blue moon. A blue moon only happens once every 2.75 years, but a blue moon falling on a New Year's Eve only happens once every 19 years. Even more unique, a blue moon only falls on a New Year's Eve at the turn of a decade once ever 410 years or so! So last night's blue moon was a once in a lifetime event!

I'd like to think that it means we are all going to have a wonderful year in 2010!

This year is the year to believe in your dreams and to work towards making them a reality. Don't just write down your goals for the year; write down the steps you need to take to reach those goals and then take them!

Have an "impossible" dream? This Blue Moon Year is the year to go for it!

Finding Time To Write

Quit looking for time to write. Just pick up your laptop (or notebook) or sit at your desk and START!

Here's what happened when my husband Robert tried to plan time to write. Our 3 year old daughter wanted to play in the bath. He got the bath ready for her and then brought the laptop with him to type whle she bathed and still be able to keep an eye on her safety.

Our 6 year old daughter realized a bath was being had and quickly joined her sister. Fighting, playing and splashing ensued. Robert got no actual writing done and instead had to cut their bath short and get them ready for bed.

He read them their bedtime story and then opened up the laptop again. He made a crucial mistake; he was on the bed when he opened the laptop. A while later, when I brought a coffee up to him, I found him fast asleep. No writing had been done during the two hours he'd spent upstairs.

I know that finding time to write when you have family and other obligations can be really difficult. But don't we all owe it to ourselves to try? (At least Robert TRIED!)

National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month, otherwise known as NaNoWriMo begins on November 1st. In the spirit of my new theme for this year, and my more recent post about getting rid of the chains I place on myself, I have decided to sign up for it.

NaNoWriMo is about writing. There is no real prize at the end of it other than your own sense of accomplishment. You are supposed to start writing on the 1st of November, and by the end of the month, hopefully in time to submit your pages, you will have 175 pages written. You don't need to edit your pages. You don't even need to make sure your writing is GOOD. You just have to write. It's about the quantity of your writing, not the quality of your writing.

I think this is ideal for me because I never seem to finish any of my novels. Not one. I'm always so worried that my writing will be rubbish that I don't even start, let alone finish. But NaNoWriMo takes that fear away. My writing will be rubbish. And that's okay. I just have to get the writing done.

With 30 days in November, I will need to write about 6 pages a day (5.8 pages) for each day in the month of November.

So who is brave enough to sign up to do this with me? Just go here and sign up. Then post a comment below and let me know what your user name is at NaNoWriMo. In November, I will post a weekly tally of everyone's progress.

So, who's brave enough to take the NaNoWriMo challenge?

New Year's Resolutions

My husband and I have made the commitment this year to each of us writing/working on our novels for at least one hour a week this year. We have seven children, a dog and a cat, and our time is largely taken up with caring for them. We have not been getting much writing done lately, so we have made this commitment to set aside a small amount of time every week.

Robert has already spent his hour writing this week. I have spent only thirty minutes writing and still have another thirty minutes to go.

How much time are you going to set aside for your writing endeavors this year?