Stormcrow

Awesome, Defining! If you decide to sign up for Nano, PM me and I'll give you my handle over there so you can tag me as a buddy if you like. I'm not the biggest fan of how their site works (I don't like that you can no longer adjust the goal to anything other than the recommended 50K), but it works pretty well for tracking your word count and writing habits. I got in 351 words yesterday, which puts me just a little bit ahead of schedule. Trying to keep that lead going!

Sorry, I got busy doing 18 other things and only this week realized how close it was to November! Yes, I am still interested in doing this. I'm setting myself a personal goal of 10,000 words in November, which is technically small by Nanowrimo standards, but a lot for me. What are everyone else's writing goals this month/winter?

Yeah, I think that's a large part of why I've never really gotten into it in the past, myself. Having the accountability and encouragement is important. I've been trying to get myself writing again this week with 100 words per day, starting at a random scene where I knew at least one line a dialogue that needed to happen and expanding outwards from there. So far, it seems to be working as a technique to get words to page. Hopefully I can train my way up to doing Nano this year, even if I do a modified Nano... say, only half of the usual 50K. Even that would be a lot of improvement and progress for me.

That's totally understandable, Artemis! Are you planning to do Nano this year? Do you have a preferred genre or a current work in progress? I've had an urban fantasy story cooking for a long time, and I'm trying to push myself to finish it.

I also posted about this in the Facebook group, but thought it couldn't hurt to ask here, too. Are any other rebels interested in encouraging each other to write more often/consistently, possibly with an eye to working our way up to participating in National Novel Writing Month in November? Depending on interest, this could be something as simple as checking in for accountability on your word count, up to trading chapters/articles and feedback.

Juliebarkley, incline is on the way out, thank Iluvatar. I don't think I could deal with the reverse just yet. So far I've been pretty good about getting everything done every day, just having a little trouble adjusting to getting them done at the right times. Previously, my cue that I need to wake up has been hearing the boyfriend come home from work, so when my brain first wakes up, it automatically jumps to "house is too dark and quiet, that means back to sleep." I'm experimenting with different wake-up sounds to see what works best without being unnecessarily jarring. Also, some room before pictures! Hopefully I can have some improved ones soon.

Okay, now that we've finally flushed the giant turd that was 2020 (as my nephew so eloquently puts it), let's see if we can't get something good out of the remainder of this miserable cold season. Here are my three goals for the allotted time: 1) Get my bedroom in order. It is currently a pretty big mess. First step is to pick up and throw out all the actual garbage, then start sorting clothes. I'm hoping, by February, to not only have it clean, but also better organized, more visually appealing, and generally more conducive to rest and comfort. 2) Gradually work my way up to a daily walk to the end of my street and back. Google maps tells me this is a round trip of approximately .8 miles. There's also a noticeable incline. Last night I walked about 1/4 of that and it was a moderate struggle. If I go one house further every other day, I should get there. In the event of foul weather, I plan to walk an equivalent distance either around the warehouse at work or on some other indoor errand. 3) Get into the habit of a consistent pre- and post- sleep routine. In the evenings, turn of the screens at 11 and only use the phone for audio. Lay out clothes, lunch, and other gear for the next day. Spend a little "chill time" either reading, listening to music or podcasts, having some girly spa time, and/or meditating, then be in bed by 11:30. In the mornings, get up at 7:30, do some simple stretches and light exercises, get a shower, drink some water and take my vitamins for the day, then have breakfast with the boyfriend when he comes home from the night shift. I know I won't be able to do this every single night and morning, but I'd like to work up to doing it consistently, at least 5 days a week.

Ah, one of my pet peeve romantic tropes, "bicker, bicker, bicker, screw." 😝 Because as the movies have also taught us, relationships should always be high drama.🙄

Elastigirl, unfortunately I don't do (or honestly, understand) Instagram, but I looked up Katy Bowman on the social media I'm more familiar with and was a bit overwhelmed. Just not sure where to start at all, when many of her "simple" suggestions are just not practical for me right now. I'm hoping the book will be able to offer a more Level 0, start from awful approach. I was able to successfully get through my low level bodyweight exercises today, though, which is good. Some complaining from the leg during the squats, but no sharp, fresh pains. Planning to make up some pumpkin smoothies to get me through the rest of the work week tonight. Not looking forward to hearing yet more unsolicited coworker and customer political commentary tomorrow. I'm tempted to lock Crazy Right-wing Chick and Crazy Left-wing Dude in the supply closet together and watch them fight.🤯

Thanks, Elastigirl and Fitnessgurl. I am trying to keep my spirits up. I requested a Katy Bowman book (I think it was Move Your DNA) from my local library, but with the extremely slow and limited service that's all they offer now, it may be Thanksgiving before I get to read it. I really want my public library back. Alas, there was no Josh Hillis on offer. Right now the hardest things to manage with the leg injury are stairs, getting out of the car, and getting into bed. I am managing, but it is not fun. The swelling is almost as bad as the actual pain. If I sit still for very long, like at work, I have to work the leg and foot for a bit before I can get up, because it has a tendency to go stiff. I've been doing some easy stretches and simple standing yoga on a nearly daily basis for a while now (before and after injury). I'm going to try some bodyweight exercises tomorrow when I'm off work. Do you think it would be a good idea to start a thread in the logs folder next to this one?

Last weekend, I tripped and fell while walking to my car. It hurt, a lot. It still hurts. But worse than the physical pain was the humiliation. You see, I fell right in the middle of an expanse of blacktop, and with nothing to grab onto and no give to the surface below me, I couldn't get up. I was stuck for several minutes until one of my neighbors came by. I felt like asking her to just shoot me rather than help me up. I know the mobility problems are primarily a function of my weight, but I didn't know it was this bad, and I don't know what else to do except keep trying to do the workouts and eat healthier, even though I'm always hungry, always tired, and especially this time of year, always depressed. The leg is still pretty banged-up and swollen, so I don't know if I'm going to be able to do all the leg exercises to begin with, but I guess I'll find out on Wednesday. At least it no longer looks like I kicked a Horcrux or got shot in the shin with a series of violet-colored paintballs.

Thanks for the advance encouragement, guys. FItnessgurl, craftwise, it sounds like we do a lot of the same stuff. I knit, too, and I make chainmail, both jewelry and armor. I think I’ve gravitated most towards those media because they’re relatively forgiving of mistakes and retries. I also do some simpler sewing, embroidery, and braiding, and some very rudimentary leather work and craft painting. Now for the first update. Things haven’t exactly gotten off to a roaring start. For one, I really do not know why my work is still open, much less why they continue to dump so much busywork on my desk. Most retail in our state is shut down by order of the governor, except for “essentials,” which we are not, no matter how you slice it. We sell religious supplies. I mean yeah, you could eat the communion bread if you were hungry, but otherwise, we carry absolutely nothing edible, medicinal, or otherwise necessary to the preservation of life and society. And yet, the boss refuses to close. The only respite is that they’ve closed the in-person storefront and are now operating solely via delivery and pickup service, and the phone rings with constant demands from people who have no sense of perspective. What’s more, when I say we closed the storefront, apparently that too is negotiable. Yesterday, the boss opened up the store for twenty minutes for someone who wanted to buy a large statue, because hey, that’s a potential 4-figure sale, and all of our lives are completely worthless in comparison, apparently. It’s… extremely frustrating, to say the least. So yeah, yesterday was super busy, but I did manage some things. I did some chair exercises and extra laps around the floor at work, and I cleared out and threw away everything that was just plain garbage in my little half-bath off of my bedroom. But I didn’t get any writing done. In my defense, my home PC is broken (perfect timing, right?), and the boyfriend was off last night, so he was busy on his and I couldn’t borrow. I’m hoping to catch up some today.

Hi, guys, I hope I'm not too late to do this one. I have something I'm trying to do during the month of April, and since this almost coincides, I thought it might be helpful to combine quests and get a little extra support from the NF crowd. Iluvatar knows I need it. Things are just not going well in my life right now, and haven't been for about four years. The biggest problem is that my employment situation is crap, but I just don't seem to be able to change that. The COVID nonsense has made it worse, since now I'm still required to report for my work drudgery every day, but all the little things that I could look forward to after work are closed down. No library. No craft store. No coffee with my cousin. No playtime with my nieces. It's like life is saying, "screw you very much, you haven't suffered nearly enough. Welcome to the all work, no joy channel, indefinitely." So since I can't change the fact the a big chunk of my week is wasted on doing worthless things for an inadequate income, I'm going to try to do some things worth doing in the time remaining. I know these all sound like piddly lame goals, but this is where I have to start right now. I'm so de-energized and depressed that right now when I have a day off work, I often spend most of it in bed, and I know that's not good. So that's the biggest goal I can wrap my hands around right now: Do Things Worth Doing, Every Day. Pursuant to that, here are my mini-goals for the month of April: 1) Write at least 333 words on my novel, every day. That's 10,000 words for the month. This is part of a joint challenge with my oldest nephew, who is also trying to write a novel. He is going to try to do the same thing. He is bored out of his skull without school, and I am trying to help give him something constructive and self-driven to do, as well as get back on the writing horse myself. 2) Do at least one house cleaning or organizing task every day. The house is a disaster zone, guys. Please, please don't judge me too harshly for the before pictures when they start going up. For various reasons, this house has never really felt like mine, and I've had a hard time settling in and making it a comfort zone. I am hoping, by the end of the month, to have at least my bedroom and the bathroom under control. 3) Do 15 minutes of some kind of physical activity every day, even if it's just a walk or some stretches and forms. Working on the diet is just not very feasible right now, since finding specific foods at the grocery store is a coin flip, and like a lot of city dwellers right now, we're eating what's affordable and available at the moment. But I can hopefully at least start to work on the other end.

So, like a wall push-up? Okay, that sounds potentially doable. I'll give it a try.

I cannot even get into the position without help. Almost as soon as help is removed, splat, down I go. Pretty much straight down as far as I can tell, although sometimes there's a brief fighting wobble. I think the primary failure point is on my arms... my elbows start screaming as soon as I put weight on them. I've tried both and neither seems to work for me. Straight arms quickly collapse down to bent arms down to faceplant. I think my arms are just not strong enough yet.