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Welcome to the National Novel Writing Month (or simply, NaNoWriMo) accountabilibuddy group! A little background for the uninitiated. The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words during the month of November. It's a fun, challenging, one of a kind experience. It is also a tool for learning to ignore the editor on your shoulder. You know, the one that tells you to go back and rewrite the same sentence a dozen times. It might help to think of what comes out of this month as a pre-first draft, or zero draft. Yes, it will be a mess. But every novel, short story, play, script, started life as a mess. And with a lot of work and love, if you so desire, you can turn it into something publishable. Whether or not NaNoWriMo is part of your challenge, or you even have a challenge, if you're writing for NaNoWriMo (or even just thinking about it) this group is for you. Welcome! Links: NaNoWriMo Official Website

January… uh… somethingth. So, the zombie apocalypse was happening. Actually, legitimately happening. National news kept going on like the world wasn’t ending but the locals were getting nothing but radio silence. Power was out, resources were scarce, and I just put on my big damned hero pants to save a teenager stuck in a tree. Oh, and did I forget to mention I got bit within the first week or this and my days are numbered and it’s only… uh… six days? Until I turn into some undead monster? Yeah. That sounds about right. “You caved his head in!” the teenager shrieked. “Shut up,” I hissed, still gripping the tire iron, “Mister Armless was trying to make you lunch and if you keep yelling more will show up.” “No-no, I mean- thank you-“ “You’re welcome-“ “But it’s really hard to break a bone like that.” “I… uh… played softball when I was fourteen,” I told her with a sheepish look. “What, that was, what? Twenty years ago?” I can’t believe this. The world is ending and a teenager is giving me crap about being comparatively old. “Fifteen years ago, kid,” I corrected, “c’mon, we gotta bounce. Things are going to get really bad out here and neither of us are going to do too hot if we stay alone.” “Wait, who are you?” Well, crap. I hadn’t actually thought about this. I know, it sounds lame, but it felt kind of weird telling someone what my name was. She was a stranger- also I was going to turn into a zombie in about five days (six days? Five days? Crap, either my memory naturally sucks or this is a side effect of the bite people don’t tell you. ANYWAY). I didn’t want her to get attached. It’s the same principle behind naming the goldfish you win at the state fair. Besides, I just bashed a zombie’s brains in with a tire iron and Heather didn’t sound like a badass enough name to give someone. “Ruby,” I replied. “Well, uh, I’m Jessica,” she said. The kid offered a thin hand with chipped nailpolish. She had on sweatpants and a messy bun that had never intended to be cute. I decided instantly that Jessica was a good kid. Like it or not, she was going to be the Clementine to my Lee. Except, hopefully, it wouldn’t end with a traumatized Jessica shooting me in the head. Greetings from the great beyond! I figure it's better late than never to get back on this horse. I have a bad habit of getting behind on a challenge, getting eaten by life, and then skulking away in shame with my head hung low wailing whyyyyy? I let all my followers dooooooown! And it is a sad, sad time all around at the Heather compound. So, I decided to go through a handle change, get myself geared up, and be ready to rock this jam yet again. I have readers to (hopefully) not disappoint! Stories to tell! Things to talk about and finally get my readers back in the game about figuring out how my main character survives getting bitten during the zombie apocalypse. Eight months later, I am finally going to pick my story back up. I mean that in both a creative sense and a non-creative sense. AND NOW, ON TO THE GOALS FOR THIS CHALLENGE!

3/30/2016 "Not good," I told my impromptu sidekick. Jessica and I had been together since I plucked her out of a tree a couple months ago. Spring has come and winter walked away without dropping anything particularly fantastic on the ground. Oklahoma had become something of a crapshow to say the least, but it wasn't like this back in January. No, that's an entirely different story, but I guess we've got some time before the door breaks down. "How many of them do you think there are?" the teenager asked with a shaky voice. There is a hard pounding at the door of the safe room. We'd managed to find a particular jackpot of supplies, but it seems like we weren't going to stay safe for long. The pounding on the door came harder. "Come out and we'll be lenient!" rang out a very intimidating, masculine voice. "You know, Jess? The one thing I'm learning to hate more than zombies is survivors," I grumbled. Yeah, I guess I should catch you guys up-to-date. Tell you how we got here and how a scrawny teenager and I decided to be big damned heroes. More importantly, I need to tell you guys why I beat that seven day deadline. Maybe I'll get through the story before they break the door down. ____________________________________________ Hey lovelies! I'm back on Nerd Fitness. I fell off the face of the planet right at the end of my last challenge, but to let you all know: I successfully finished the January Challenge, even if I didn't actually get around to posting it. One of the big things about being largely housebound is that I now have a little more time to exercise and not working as much has made me much, much more creative with my food choices. It's pretty fantastic, all things considered. Thank you all the people who came and checked in on me, and I wanted to post this bit to you to let you know that I am fine! I missed the February and March challenges, not because of anything weird and woeful, mostly just because I forgot about it all and was like "Aw, crap, we're already a week into the challenge and I don't have any goals." So, I was carefully waiting in the wings for the April challenge so I could get back in the saddle, so to speak. I'll be posting goals tomorrow, just wanted to jump in and tell people I'm super excited to get back in the game and, finally, make some headway on the story I was writing.

And so I find myself wandering The Perilous Lands. What are the Perilous Lands, you ask? Lands. Lands that are Perilous. Long stretch of bleak wasteland that can change from one heartbeat to the next. One second you're wandering a desert and the next you're drowning in mud, then the wyverns show up, and the man-eating pheasant, and all in all it isn't the happiest place to be. So what's a young Ranger to do, eh? There are two options: 1. Keep going even though the waterskin is empty, the swords are all dull, we're out of arrows, the wyverns are circling, and the pheasants...we won't talk about the pheasants. 2. Keep spinning around, pulled one way then the next and at a loss for what to do. ...neither of those options sound like great fun, but at least with option one there's a glimmer of hope for making it out again. Which brings us to the, Perilous Lands Protocols A bad cloud has settled on me since Thursday and despite my efforts to shake free, I can't trust that most of the remaining Challenge days will spent in a Fully Functional Capacity. I'm operating at way less than full steam. Physical pain is persistent and varying from moderate to severe, and emotions are leaping out of nowhere to full-body tackle me with little to no warning. But I can't keep waiting for it to get better, so I'm relying on a plan that's rarely failed me before in order to maintain some level of productivity. Ye Olde Highly Specific List Each day, I'm going to have my Necessary Daily Tasks listed, to-do style, as well as a small number of goals specific to that day and that day alone. At the end, I'll look at the things crossed off and will only mark whether Most Of, A Few Of, None Of, or All Of the tasks were completed. At the end of the Challenge I'll consider the Challenge a Success if most of the time I managed to get everything done. I'm not going to go easy on myself but do recognize the need for some leeway at this point. Re-Starting now, my Day One is July 25th. For the Scoring, I won't bother posting the Necessary Daily Tasks, but only each day's Unique Goals on the score sheet, to minimize clutter.

Starting a new log because I feel like my goals have shifted a little bit from when I first created my old one. Starting to feel like the challenges aren't a good format for me anymore, especially now that they're only 4 weeks, instead of 6. On the other hand, I still want to continue writing the story of Jym, the dark elf, whose experiences hold a distorted mirror to my own. I plan to do that here. I'll collect the past story somewhere accessible soon, and flesh this post out with more about my current goals. Starting Measurements: (2/9/2015) Weight (lbs): 220 Estimated bodyfat: 48% (according to the Navy method) -Neck: 14.5 in -Shoulders: 20.5 in -Chest: 40 in -Bicep (right): 15.5 in -Waist: 38 in -Hips: 48 in -Thigh (left): 30 in Goals: I would still like to reduce my weight considerably; or, more accurately, I would like to reduce my body fat percentage. It's currently over 40%, and I would like it get it down to 30%, tops. I also want to get full control of my sleep schedule, something I have struggled with my entire life since adolescence. Waking up at a reasonable hour, being able to fall asleep quickly... these require discipline. The reasons for my difficulties are medical, but I can improve the situation considerably if I keep my schedule consistent. Exercise. I am too much of a couch potato, and I feel like I'm missing out on the world. I want to try different things - to not be afraid to try them, and to not be embarrassed by my body while doing them. Parkour, team sports, even just going for a bike ride. Anything, really. Eating well, and wanting to do so. This is probably the thing that I have improved the most in my first year on Nerd Fitness. It's had its up and downs, but I actually enjoy vegetables and other, healthier foods than I used to, and I find myself disliking fatty, pre-processed foods. There's always room for improvement, though. Energy. This goes with the eating well and the exercise - hopefully those two things will help me to have more energy, which should build a positive feedback loop. But, emotional wellbeing is a part of it, too. Perhaps the biggest part. Having the will to do what needs to be done. I have some intermediate strength goals (per this article): 5 Pullups 1 Straddle (Wide Leg) One Arm Pushup (each arm) 60 Second Wall Handstand 5 Pistol Squats (each leg) 15 Second Hanging Leg Raise Hold Past challenge logs: Challenge Log: The Habit: An Unexperienced JMitch (Feb 23 - April 5) - my first quest ever! The Habit: the Desolation of Jym (JMitch) (April 13 - May 25) - the beginning of Jym the Drow's story. The Habit: The Battle of Priorities (JMitch) (June 8 - July 20) Creating Rituals (JMitch) (July 27-September 6) Jym Learns Magic (September 14 - October 26) JMitch Enjoys the Ride (October 30 - December 14) - took a break from Jym's story; did a "fighting game style" challenge instead. JMitch Gets Up and Goes (January 10 - February 1) - I didn't get or OR go. No Jym story in this one, either. Jym Looks Within (February 1 - March 1) - Back to Jym. She accidentally drinks some Water of Dreaming and falls into a trance while her spirit goes somewhere else. Jym Goes on a Journey (March 1 - April 1) - Jym begins her adventures in the Other World. Very short challenge. ~The Dreaming~ Jym Wakes Up (June 25) - post in this thread. Jym's adventures will be recorded here for the time being. Wait, who's this Jym creature? What is a Drow?

This challenge is pretty much just a continuation of my last one; the main difference this time is that I am going to create a checklist to keep up with things, like I used to do. Sleep Rules: melatonin at 11pm; sit in dim light until sleepy (no screens!)bright lights at 9 am. No laying around in bed. Hydration! Keep up the 150 oz/day Exercise: 2x/week of SOMETHING no matter what. Week 2 will be something of a reboot.... Do at least 1 thing on the TO DO list daily. It's really not that long anymore. Just gotta keep pounding. I'm going to continue my rotating schedule of introspective mediation, spiritual reading, and relaxation time, now with CHECKLIST.

So, after losing pretty much all progress over the holidays, I spent last challenge slowly trying to get myself back on track. Some things are in maintenance mode: I'm not currently tracking calories, but I have enough of a general sense of how much I'm eating that I seem to be sticking close to 2000 calories a day, most days, which is about right. I'm not weighing myself right now, because I don't want to stress out about it. On the other hand, there are some things that need immediate attention: my wildly fluctuating sleep schedule, staying hydrated, and trying to start working out again. I established some rules for my sleep hygiene during the last challenge, but I wasn't entirely good about sticking to them. I've decided that the absolutely most important thing is to try to get my circadian rhythm to properly regulate itself, since its... issues... are the source of my sleep difficulties. Now, I'm attempting this on my own, at this point, without the guidance of a sleep doctor. If I fail to see any improvement, I might eventually see a specialist and see if they can help me. For now, my plan is to take melatonin at the same time every night (11 pm) and turn on bright lights when I wake up in the morning (8:30ish). I did fairly well with taking the melatonin on time during the last challenge, and after a few weeks I noticed that I actually start getting tired on my own around that time, now. Waking up at the right time is still a challenge. I'm not sure why, but I tend to really struggle with staying adequately hydrated. It's mostly in the summers and winters; I think the winter cause is dryness from heaters. I'm seriously considering buying a humidifier, which would probably help. Last challenge, I made it a point to drink 128 oz of liquid per day, which I did, but I'm still feeling slightly dehydrated most of the time. So this time, I'm bumping it up to 150 oz/day. Yes, that is a lot of liquid. (I do include caffeinated beverages, like diet soda and coffee, but mostly it's water and some gatorade.) I really need to get back to exercising. I think I "exercised" (to use the term loosely) 2-3 times last month. My goal for this challenge is just to exercise in some capacity 2 times per week. Walking, stretching, lifting... it doesn't matter. If it gets my blood pumping or stretches out my muscles, it counts. Those are my 3 health-based quests, but I have two "life quests". One is simply to do at least one thing on my To Do list every day, because having a big to do list that never seems to go down makes me feel stressed. When I'm stressed, I tend to avoid the thing that is stressing me out... which means the list gets even longer. There aren't all THAT many things on the list, so I think that by the end of this month, I should be in a much better place in regards to the list. The second thing I want to work on is making time in my schedule for my mental and spiritual health. (Thus the title.) I'm going to attempt a rotating schedule of introspective mediation, spiritual reading, and relaxation time. Hopefully I'll be doing a few story-based posts this time, too! :3

Well, I'm a week late, but I'm here! I think that, since I'm only going to have 3 weeks in this challenge, I should probably try to focus on one habit per week. The first thing I need to do is fix my sleep schedule. Healthy sleep is always a struggle for me, but it's been particularly bad lately. I recently found out about delayed sleep phase syndrome, which I am preeettyyy sure is the cause of my recurring insomnia. Upon learning about it, and learning about how certain bad habits of mine were making it worse, I promptly... starting doing those habits even more. ._. Not on purpose, but it's definitely getting bad. I'm falling asleep around 5 am right now, and waking up around 2 pm. And I have work at 9 tomorrow. This is going to be a problem. Week 1: Fix the Sleep Schedule Since there's a mechanism in my body that naturally causes me to go to bed later and later, I need to constantly struggle against that. As far as I can tell, my "natural bedtime" shifts back by 1-2 hours every night. As in, if I go to bed at 10 pm one night, my body wants sleep at midnight the next. I can mitigate the effects somewhat by making myself go to bed at the same time every night, and taking sleep aids to help me fall asleep before my body is naturally tired. If I let myself stay up until I get tired (like I've been doing this week), then it quickly gets out of hand. One thing that I've been doing that has made things much worse is that I take a melatonin every night. Normally, I just take it right before I'm ready to go to sleep... which means it tends to be an hour or two later each night. This is just reinforcing the shifting sleep schedule. Melatonin acts as an indicator to the brain that "it's time to start getting sleepy." I can't seem to get my brain to settle without taking it. (I am aware that this is a Bad Thing.) I think that if I take the melatonin at the same time every night, that should go a long way to helping my body adjust to having a regular bedtime. Another thing that I've been bad about is sleeping in in the mornings. Since I work from home, I can get away with just turning on my work computer when the alarm goes off, and then dozing for an hour or two in dim light until I'm really awake and ready to start working. This isn't a good habit, though, because bright light first thing in the morning has very much the same effect in reverse as melatonin at night. (Melatonin is naturally produced when you're in a dark place, but part of my problem is that I don't seem to produce enough on my own.) If I expose myself to bright light at the same time every morning, that should also help retrain my brain to have a set sleep schedule. Tonight, I'm probably going to have to take a sleeping pill so I can fall asleep at a reasonable hour. Then I need to start turning on all the lights and letting in sunlight (if there is any) when I first wake up in the morning. I also need to decide on a time to take melatonin every night. I want to wake up at 8:30, and I want 9 hours of sleep per night, and it takes about half an hour for the melatonin to produce the desired effects (I get sleepy). So, I should take my melatonin at 11:00 every night.

Journal Entry: 1/04/2016 The outbreak was quick. People got sick before they really even knew what happened. Military bases were hit first, all that the governments could figure was that the zombie apocalypse was brought on by biological warfare. It was all very hush-hush; if you weren't in the brass then there was no way that you could know what would happen. Civilians who lived outside of the base were the ones who felt the worst of it. It only took a week before something bit me. --- Hello, lovelies! I'm back from a long, long hiatus and I'm ready to get back into the swing of things. New year, way to start fresh, right? I figured out how much I missed the Nerd Fitness community and, while having a huge conversation with the girlfriend, recommended the forums to her. So! It seemed a little silly for me to not do something that I very clearly love that does not take up terribly much of my time. The premise of my story arc for this challenge has to do with the lovely zombie game that I played with Eskcanta the last time that I did this. Basically, I am running this story like it is part of the zombie apocalypse. The new year started off in your standard biological warfare setting and the virus has spread throughout the area. The various challenges and goals will all be framed through this lens and will have a surviving the outbreak feeling. I am taking a brief step away from the standard high fantasy writing that I did in Phoenix Ascendant, though rest assured! I may post some fun stuff for my badass Dwarven Cleric/Adventurer self. It will just be bonus content. And now! The goals: Fitness Goal: Persistence Predator: Walk for 30 minutes every day I recently took a look at the ol' phone-based pedometer and found out that I do not do anything that even remotely resembles walking. Being outside in the sunshine makes me feel good, plus actually walking around really makes you feel like you accomplished something. (Even if that something is walking down your block and then walking back.) PASS: A: All week (7 days) B: 5x-6x per week C: 3x-4x per week D: 1x-2x per week FAIL: No walking whatsoever. None. Zilch. Nada Lifestyle Goal: People = meaty water bottles: drink 32 oz water daily Okay, so water consumption is a big deal for me. When I stopped working in the office (which was both good and bad. My hair stopped falling out though! Yay me?) I stopped drinking as much water because I stopped drinking water when I was bored. So, I find that I spend my day in a near constant state of dehydrated. I gotta be nice to my innards. PASS: A: Drink 32 oz water per day B: Drink 31-24 oz per day C: Drink 23-16 oz per day D: Drink 15-1 oz per day FAIL: Jeez, did you even drink water today? No water is a complete fail Lifestyle Goal: Better than brains: Cook 4 meals at home per week Has anyone been going through their budget before and found that they spend insane amounts of money on eating out? I do. Well, I did. I don't anymore because I'm a liiiiiittle broke right now. My at-home cooking has consisted of frozen pizzas and pudding (so... so much pudding o_o). Do you know how many calories are in an entire box of pudding? Do you know how easy it is to eat an entire box of pudding? In order to survive my brokeness with my waistline intact, I've concluded I want to start cooking. PASS: A: Cook 4 meals at home per week B: Cook 3 meals at home per week C: Cook 2 meals at home per week D: Cook 1 meal at home per week FAIL: No meals at home? Seriously? Not even a frozen pizza? caveat: If I am making a pre-made meal (like a microwave dinner or a frozen pizza) that counts as 1/4th of a meal. It fulfills the actual letter of the challenge, but not the spirit of the challenge. Personal Development Goal: Survivor Story: Journal every night There is a lot of therapeudic benefit to journalling. It helps you get your feelings out and sometimes you need to work through what you are thinking and feeling on paper. While this is great and allows me to talk to my friends, there is also a benefit to having something personal that is just for yourself. I have so many cool journals that I love that I would love to actually get some use out of. So hopeful to actually get down to the business of writing and processing. PASS: A: All week (7 days) B: 5x-6x per week C: 3x-4x per week D: 1x-2x per week FAIL: Not a single entry this week, sadness. REWARD SYSTEM: Just like in school, we are grading this on the 4.0 system. No challenge has more weight than the other, so we are going to be working on the cumulative GPA on this. I'm also going to give myself a stat upgrade at the end of this challenge, but the upgrade will be listed later because I don't know what will be worth what. 4.00: CONGRATS! You busted tail and can now go buy the big fancy FitBit you had your eye since the room mate got one. Equivalent to $100. 3.50-3.99: Cash reward of $75 bucks to do with as you see fit. Maaaaybe put it away for vacation? Maybe buy some more books? Who knows what you can do, but it's aaaall yours 3.49-3.00: Cash reward of $60 bucks to do with as you see fit. 2.99-2.50: Okay homegirl, you tried. Cash reward of $50 to do with as you see fit. 2.49-2.00: You gave it a good try! Cash reward of $30 + $20 of fancy food items 1.99-1.00: Just the $20 in fancy food items. You tried a little, but you really didn't give it a good faith effort. 0.99-0.00: You... uh... get a ribbon for participation?

Hello, fellow writers! This accountability group is intended to be for those who include a storytelling portion in their challenges. I won't tell people who like to write that they can't be a member unless they do include a regular storytelling portion, but I would say: Hey, if you like to write, why not?! It's a lot of fun, and a good way to put a creative spin on your challenges. Member Roster - (Current Challenge) JMitch - (Jym Learns Magic) Sovellis - (High and Dry) Noor - (Questing is What Halflings Do) Scrawlcreatelive - (The ABCs of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry) Petefeet - (Petefeet's 10th Adventure) Jen of Arc - (Whatsoever Jen of Arc Slayeth) ShadowLion - (ShadowLion: Reality Hacker) Terinatum - (Camp Time Challenge) Kilyra - (Kilyra is Striving for Stability) If you know of someone who does storytelling and isn't in the group, point them our way. Group members: ideas, suggestions? Maybe we could do writing prompts or something? Have crossovers? Let's discuss!

I know a number of Rebels are doing NaNoWriMo this year (myself included)! How's that going to go while trying to maintain a fitness and life balance? I guess we'll find out! Here is a good place for finding each other on nanowrimo.org, commiserating, encouraging, sharing tips for writing and life balance, and asking and answering questions about the writing process. Even if you're not doing NaNo, if you want to ask participants about how it works, this is a good place to do that! Watch out, though, you might get roped in. (Join usssss. You know you want to!) This thread is intended to also count as the Writer's Guild thread for this challenge, although I will make a separate one if you guys want. I know there are a few writers who aren't doing NaNo this year. Please feel free to post even if you aren't doing NaNo, but if you feel like you're getting buried in the NaNo posts, I'll make another thread. Writer's Guild Members JMitch Sovellis Noor Scrawlcreatelive Petefeet Jen of Arc ShadowLion Kilyra People Doing NaNoWriMo (link to profile) JMitch (jenngersnap) elinox (elinox) Kilyra (kilyra) Jakkals (jacques) Terinatum (Terinatum) Leimanu (leimanu) Spookyfoot (spookyfoot) our.lady.of.ashes (our-lady-of-ashes) Scrawlcreatelive (mattdh) WritingWeaver (writingweaver) bgvanbur (bgvanbur) zeroh13 (zeroh13) brutalbears (brutal-bears) Noor (DebonairPorter) Riverleaf (Riverleaf2223) LittleLionLamb (littlelionlamb) Word Wars: For people on this thread, word wars often happen in the IRC chat room. Just click "Chat Room" on the menu at the top of the page, then type "/join #NFNaNoWriMo" to go to the sub-channel. So far, word wars seem to happen most often between 9 pm and midnight EST.

*does the secret knock* Hello, everyone! It's me, Jenn. I'm back in the Assassins this time to shift my focus back toward bodyweight training, which I have been neglecting for a few months. I wanna get lean and buff! Can't really do that without some exercise. I've been unemployed for two weeks now, and I have one week to go before my new job starts. My sleep schedule's gone all to hell in the mean time, so I need to get that back under control before my job starts on the 21st. Controlling my schedule will be the goal of Week 1, and Week 2 will be fairly easygoing because of the stress of adjusting to a new social situation. There are two big creativity-based events that happen for me in November: NaNoWriMo and the local gaming con, MACE. I'm planning to GM for the second year in a row, so I need to spend the latter half of the challenge prepping for those. I feel like I've been working up to this challenge for the 7 or so months that I've been on NF. I've known from the beginning what parts of life I wanted to be in control of, and more or less what I wanted that to look like. However, every time I've tried to get all of the balls into the air at once, I ended up dropping something - usually exercise. This time around, I'm going for at least a token element of every part that I want to balance. I feel that I need to keep my qualifications for "success" as low as possible, and strive for consistency. I also experimented with "progressive" goals last challenge - things I could work toward completing during the course of the challenge. I liked making the time to get things done, and it felt good to check things off as I went, rather than just doing an endless cycle of repetitive daily tasks. So I have 4 progressive-style goals, but they are of secondary importance to consistently doing my daily activities. Main Goal: Maintain a predictable schedule that helps me to fulfill my responsibilities and physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. This breaks down into smaller parts: A. Morning Ritual -Wake Up w/o Snoozing (at 7:30 am) -Exercise (headstand practice, 1-min plank, 50 pushups AND/OR go for a walk) -Pray -Eat breakfast -Go to work! (leave by 8:30 am if commuting; start by 9 if working from home) B. Evening Ritual -No screens for at least an hour before bedtime (bedtime is 10:30; stop screens and get ready for bed at 9:30) -Get outfit and lunch ready for tomorrow -Take a shower & brush teeth -Meditate (20 mins?) and/or quiet activity in dim light (plus sleepytime tea) -Sleep! (hopefully by 10:45) C. Count Calories (trying not to eat more than 1500 per day) D. Weekly Requirements (must be done at minimum once per week. More is good): -Clean Litter Box -Run and Empty the Dishwasher -Do Something Special for Spouse Bonus Goals: 1) The Minimalism Game - This PVP challenge runs for 30 days from Sept 14 to Oct 13. On day 1, you get rid of 1 object. Day 2, two objects. And so on, until getting rid of 30 objects on day 30! I have felt smothered in clutter for quite some time, so I am really looking forward to this. 2) NaNoWriMo prep - The last two years, I have worked on writing up background world information for a fantasy setting in which to play tabletop RPG games. Every year, I end up retreading some ground, because in the 11 months in between, I come up with new ideas or refinements for the previous ideas. That means that I essentially have two versions of the world stored in badly-organized text documents. I would like to bring those two documents together into a well-organized whole, which will remind me of what I have already written, and help me figure out which areas I want to change. (I already know there are some things that I want to update!) I also hope that I can give myself a better jumping-off point to devise some more historical parts of the world, rather than working with the purely cosmic creation-level stuff. I need to have a couple centuries, at least, of world history in order to create the specific settings that are needed to actually start using the world for gaming. (For those who are confused, think of this as a project on the level of Tolkien's Middle Earth. It's a life-long work that will always be evolving, and I'm a very top-down type of storyteller. My hope is to create a very lived-in feeling world for others to tell stories inside of.) 3) GM prep - CANCELLED 4) My Portfolio - CANCELLED NEW #3) Draw Every Day - Because I love it. Because it's fun. Because it relieves stress. Because I want to start doing commissions and comics. Not going to grade myself on whether I miss a day. Just going to try to find a little time in my schedule eat day for doodling. Who is Jym? Like some other rebels, I take the "roleplaying game" aspect of NF to additional heights by writing a story about my NF character. The things that happen to Jym are a dim, fuzzy reflection of things that happen in my own life during the challenge. Some of the metaphors are more obvious than others. Magic, for example, represents self-control for me. I visualize magic as being a mental discipline, which requires focus and also the ability to stop thinking about something and actually DO it. Self-control is the same. I thought about staying with the Druids for this challenge, since it really deals more with mental discipline and inner balance, but the assassins are known for being doers who jump in with both feet. I need that momentum to carry me along until the internal stuff has become a habit. Quick recap of Jym's story, for those who haven't read the old posts:

To break the curse, to shed the stone For actions taken you must atone Free yourself from habits staid Run, walk, jump, dance, Fight with sharpened blade. A body reflects how we dine Whether mutton or breads, Sweet grasses, water, mead Or glowing elven wine. If a Halfling’s body you do seek Then with Halfling’s pride you must eat. "Hafling's pride Halfling's Pride... Do you think it refers to a specific food? my favorite food? A food that Dorashire trades in?" Noor paced the length of her cabin thinking. She knew that she had a fingerhold on some of the strings. Since vanquishing the fey and freeing Sovellis' mind, Noor had felt like her old self inside. It was time to make her body match her soul. She tugged the strings of magic through her fingers like yarn, tying and untying them as she moved. She spread her toes and stretched her arches, luxuriating in the feel of her bare feet no longer clad in magical stone. She knew that she was almost to a breakthrough, she cloud practically taste it. @--,--'-- What I have learned so far is that in order to properly balance my life, I need to make smaller goals that are easier to achieve. I am prone to pushing my body in ways that it doesn't want to be pushed.That never works, it always just leads to injury, pain, and unachieved goals. So I am going to take a page from Noor and model my goals after the rhyme that she has almost solved. I think this challenge might be a big one for Noor's curse breaking and for my own milestones. 1) To and Fro: one of the things that Noor takes for granted is her ability to walk anywhere. I used to be able to walk anywhere too- Chicago is all about walking too and this is the time of year that is best for walking. Since the last challenge, I have gained back some of my ability to walk, or at least my memory of how good it can be to move and to get places under my own power. My goal for this challenge is to walk for 40 minutes 3 or more times a week. At the half way point, if I am successful, I will add a 4th day. +3 STA 16 or more workouts completed +2 STA14 or more workouts completed +1 STA 12 or more workouts completed 2) Springy is What Halflings Do: I need to get more mobility and flexibility. Adding yoga last challenge helped somewhat but I am stiff and sore a lot of the time now that I am moving more. Starting work next week is only going to make me more stiff due to long hours of sitting. I am going to make 90 minutes of stretching a week a goal for this challenge. That's 5 - 10 minutes 5 days a week and a yoga class on the weekend. +3 DEX 482 or more minutes of Stretching +2 DEX 432 or more minutes of Stretching +1 DEX 378 or more minutes of Stretching 3) What Halflings Eat: I have to track my food religiously. I have never lost weight in my life without doing this. Plus it will help me maintain paleo eating and help me stay mindful of food. Food is one of my pillars of health. I love cooking, I love eating, I love sharing food with others. In order to make this pillar a healthy one, I need to remember why I love food and stop looking at it as a chore. +3 CON 38 or more days tracked +2 CON 28 days or more tracked +1 CON 14 days or more tracked LIFE GOALS 4) To simulate Noor's magical studies, I am going to take on studying money management. I am not trying to become an accountant or anything, but I want to have a better understanding of financial planning and I want to get my own financial ducks in a row. In order to do this I am going to complete the following objectives: a. Call Vanguard and get instructions on how to reactivate my online account so that I can get access to my retirement fund. b. Order all 3 credit reports so I can see where I stand and begin to clean up my credit c. Read one article from Money Magazine weekly d. Reread The Money Book for the Young Fabulous and Broke over the course of the 6 weeks. Each completed objective is +1 WIS LONG TERM GOAL I lost 8 pounds last month! I also found out that my thyroid meds were still too low, so hopefully I will be able to do even better with this challenge. In order for Noor to crack her spell and get smaller, I need to lose some more of this 200 Lbs, so I am focusing on reduction until I hit my first major milestone of 50 Lbs. Only 48 more pounds to go. (one) (two) (three) (four) (five) (six)

**RESPAWN** Several Days had passed but Veski had lost sight of anything resembling a trail and her earlier decision to try and avoid Boss Ur'trag warriors on the road down to Fekror had been revealed as poorly conceived. "I'm so lost." she grunted, sitting underneath a slight rocky overhang and staring at the valley below. It wasn't Fekror, and it wasn't Soar Crag, by the pits it wasn't anywhere she had seen before and she couldn't care less. "It looks reasonably flatter so, that's a destination." she gathered up with few supplies and weapons she had scavenged and looking over it all she hadn't accomplished much in her few days of wandering. Her armor didn't fit any better, her arms were not any stronger despite climbing down ravines and valleys. Her belly grumbled although, luckily, she had managed to kill a large mountain goat and had eaten well enough. Hunt would be far to loose a definition of what occurred. She had stampeded a group of them with yelling near a cliff and one fell off. It had been a messy job cleaning the folded and floppy remains but she had not starved. Now the goat was gone and the valley below was, at least, green which meant small game. "Yes, onward Veshki, to a battle royal with bunnies, probably." she was relieved again to be alone so that now would witness her horribly decayed survival skills. Her odds were on the bunnies. Starting Statistics: Howdy! I'm a part time student, 3/4 time gm, part time activist (oh noes!) and full time geek. I am a trans woman with all the fun and excitement that brings. Fun. Excitement. Oh, and danger! One of the reasons I want to get back in shape. I am married to Noor's player and copying most of her formatting here because, umm, she was done before me? I am 5'11'' 234.6 lbs and my current sedentary-style is very lifey. I mean, I need to get off my ass. I am primarily interested in Assassin and possibly Ranger or Druid. Will decide the secondary class later. Main Quest: To attain my old goal weight of 165'ish and perform several one armed pull ups. Because Linda Hamilton damnit. Goal 1:(CON) I will get at least 8 hours of night. A= >37days B= >33 days C= >29 D= >25 F= <21Days Goal 2:(CON) I need to make good grub at least 4/wk. A= 24 days B= >20 days C= >16 D= >12 F= <11 Days Goal 3:(CON) I will log my food daily and remain under my calorie goals A= >37days B= >33 days C= >29 D= >25 F= <21Days Goal 4:(STR) I will complete the Angry Birds Workout training circuit three times a week.Each completed circuit will constitute 2 point, leaving a possible 108 points in 6 weeks. A=90 – 100 pts B=80 – 89 pts C= 70 – 79 pts D=60 – 69 pts F= 59 pts or less. Life Goal:(WIS) Get it down on paper. I write a lot of beginnings, a lot of notes, a lot of ideas. I enjoy them greatly but I never finish or complete any of them. I want to complete at least one story of 10,000 words or more this first 6 weeks. Should be easy but I know it’ll put up a fight. Motivation: I want to be faster, stronger, and able to perform tasks without panting like a dying catfish.

Personality & Background Primary Motivator: Achievement, to overcome obstacles and succeed Emotional Disposition: Calm Moodiness: Even-Tempered Core Traits Outlook: Trusting Integrity: Pragmatic Impulsiveness: Focused Boldness: Daring Flexibility: Adaptable Affinity: Empathetic Comportment: Charming Interactivity: Listener Disclosure: Reserved Conformity: Free Thinking Secondary Traits Sense of Humor: Cynical Favorite Topics: Humor, Adventure, People Quirks, Habits, & Oddities: Daydreaming, Lip biting, Tree Climbing Hobbies & Enjoyments: Storytelling, Swimming, Music, Reading Personality Notes: Can read and write because her father taught her, comfortable with a dagger because her Uncle Edrick taught her. Can annoy her grandmother because of her tomboyish ways. Birthplace Cassi was born on a small farm on the banks of the Bellemere River, near the village of Pinewoods. Pinewoods is a small village that is economically dependent on the local sawmill. Barton and Kressara Grim own the sawmill, with the help of their four sons: Errine, Bharat, Esiao, and Derex Family Her mother, Helenia, died in childbirth, leaving the young baby in the care of her father, Adham Hawklight. Cassi was the only child produced by the union, and her father has never shown any interest in bringing another wife into the household. Cassi's grandparents, Brinley and Gavina, live a half-day's walk from the Hawklight farm. Cassi likes to make the journey at least once a fortnight to learn cooking, sewing, and other skills of running the household for her father. Her mother's brother, Edrick, was a soldier in the Great War and regales Cassi with stories of his great adventures. Edrick is the person that Cassi credits (and her father blames) for planting the dreams of adventure in her head. Duties and Obligations Cassi feels great obligation to stay with her father and take care of him, although her heart longs for great adventures. She knows her father wishes for her to marry Derex, the youngest son of the owners of the sawmill. Although Derex and Cassi are great friends, there is no great love between the two.