Gemma kvetches and stretches and etches word sketches

[Gemma]

then she tussles with muscles while learning to hustle

 

 

 

 

So this challenge has two main components, and I am scoring them separately because it makes it harder for me to cheat on myself. 

 

 

 

Component 1 - Write. Compete. Actually finish a thing. 

 

I am, as my husband describes it, "great out of the gate, but not much for stamina." I'm a notorious STARTER, not so much of a finisher. From home-improvement projects to learning new skills to pre-programmed weightlifting programs, I am engaged and attentive and motivated and energized - until I'm not. 

 

Nowhere in my life is this more frustrating than in my writing. I LOVE to write. I'm good at it. This should be my ikigai.* But in all my years of NaNoWriMo and creative writing classes and reading books collecting underpants about writing - I have never once finished anything I would be willing to have published. Or, honestly, viewed by another human.

 

I mean, I've finished a couple of flash fiction pieces - I have written and submitted to the monthly photo prompt on 100 Word Story a few times, and produced a few other pieces in response to other prompts that I am not embarrassed to share. And a group of my closest friends does a Christmas poetry/short fiction thing that I always produce something for.  But anything long enough to be called a "short story" much less a "novel" - yeah, nope. I have a pile of unfinished stories and novels that would stuff The Grinch's sack to the bursting point. 

 

Conventional wisdom sez that if you give yourself a deadline and stakes, you will perform. Common example: want to stick to a running program? Sign yourself up and pay the entry fee for a 5k happening two months hence - then you "have to" stick with it or forfeit your money!!

 

Yeah. I laugh in the face of conventional wisdom. I apparently have zero problem forfeiting a 5k entry fee. Or a writing contest entry fee. If I hit a roadblock, or a speedbump, or a headwind, or whatever, and I feel like quitting - well, yeah, I'm gonna quit. True fact. 

 

What seems more effective for me is these challenges and being accountable to you nerds, so I'm doing this here. Also, I've had some success with bribing rewarding myself for good behavior, so - LOOT!

 

This challenge is simple. Not easy. Just simple.

 

• Step 1: Enter a writing contest. Specifically the Summer 2019 Writing Contest by "The Write Practice." 1500 word or less short fiction. Theme/constraint: One room. (Action of the story limited to a single room.)  
  
  And I'm entering it at the "Premium" level, which means I will get feedback from the judges to help me improve. Because writing only for myself might help me get better - a little - slowly - maybe - but writing and receiving professional feedback is the actual time-tested best way to get really better. 
  
  Entry deadline = May 28
   
• Step 2: Actually write and submit the story for workshopping.   Draft submission deadline = June 3
   
• Step 3: Revise, edit, and submit final actually *completed* story.  Submission deadline = June 10
   
• Loot: If I  see this story through to submission, my reward will be a Chronicles of Narnia hand-painted silk scarf from Etsy vendor EmeraldCloud.

 

 

Component 2: Keep growing shoulders, add growing lung capacity. 

 

I've been working in and around hypertrophy set/rep schemes for a little over a month now (hat tip to @Grumble) and I am really enjoying it. But also - sigh - my cardiovascular endurance is CRAP. Really. Bad. I love to lift. I despise ... <insert 'cardio' activity of any variety here>.

I'm sorta cool with short HIIT sessions, and work them in where I can make them fit (not often enough, but I do try) - but that's still only part of the puzzle. I need at least some element of LSD in my life. No, not like that!!! Long, slow distance cardio. Like ... the boring kind. 

 

I've downloaded a Couch-to-5k app to my phone. I don't for a second have any illusions that I will be ready, able, or motivated to run a 5k at the end of 8 weeks, but frankly if I could get back to the point of being able to pass a Navy Physical Readiness Test I'd be happy with it. I've stuck with it for two weeks now, which is longer than I've ever managed in the past, so that's a good sign I think. 

Also, I am lame and pathetic about mobility work, so I need to add some of that in somewhere.

 

• Step 1: My current battle rhythm 
  Monday: Split Squats/OHP/Curls/Cable pulldown/Cable pushdown (additional shoulder accessories as time permits)
  Tuesday: C25k 
  Wednesday: RDL/Bent-over row/bench/feet-elevated glute bridge/reverse crunch (additional pec/bicep/tricep accessories as time permits)
  Thursday: C25k 
  Friday: Inverted row/push-ups/goblet squat/hammer curl/triceps extension (additional shoulder accessories as time permits)
  Saturday: C25k
  Sunday: Lay on couch Yoga/foamroll/stretch 
  
  Two points for every day in which I execute the plan as planned. One additional point for every day with bonus accessory work added in. Total points possible: 68
   
• Step 2: Take progress pics 
  I did remember to take pictures of myself before I started trying to hypertrophy - about 7 weeks ago? I think? 
  Subjectively I "feel" like my triceps and delts have grown and have more definition - but I can't see it in the mirror. I need to take pics to compare. I reeeeaalllyy don't want to, but it's the only way I'll know. 
  
  20 points, all or nothing, if I do it sometime during this challenge period. 
   
• Loot: If I can accumulate a total of 75 points out of the possible 88, I am buying myself a new brooch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*ikigai = usually translated as "reason for being" or "reason for jumping out of bed each morning" - but I recently read a book in which it was described more descriptively as "the intersection between what you love to do and what you are good at," and that is the sense in which I mean it here. 

[Harriet]

Awesome! You can absolutely do it! The short story will be written and submitted, I feel it in my bones. 

[JessFit]

I love your goals and adore your bribes! I always say I'll reward myself and then never do, so I appreciate how you've actually chosen the rewards ahead of time. 

[Mike Wazowski]

AHHHH all the cool things!!!!

 

1) So glad you're putting your creative stuff out there into the world. Liz Gilbert would be so proud! And love that you're embracing some vulnerability by getting feedback on your writing - both brave and necessary to keep growing.

2) Love your battle plan for the weeks, and that you're enjoying hypertrophy work - speaking from my own experience, it's the type of body comp change you don't notice unless you see side-by-side pictures, at least for me (or get lots of comments on it from friends / acquaintances at the dance studio, lol)

3) Depending on how long the C25K sessions take, maybe there's room to add a little mobility dessert to the end of that workout meal?

4) Love the brooch choice, and I've found a delightful new store to online window shop at! And you've reminded me I should add some swag rewards to my own challenge!

5) Super excited you're back, and bringing delightful Dr. Seuss wordplay here! 

[Scaly Freak]

13 hours ago, Gemma said:

I've downloaded a Couch-to-5k app to my phone. I don't for a second have any illusions that I will be ready, able, or motivated to run a 5k at the end of 8 weeks, but frankly if I could get back to the point of being able to pass a Navy Physical Readiness Test I'd be happy with it. I've stuck with it for two weeks now, which is longer than I've ever managed in the past, so that's a good sign I think. 

 

Inquiring minds want to know which app. I'm loyal to Zombies Run, but always curious what else is out there.  

 

13 hours ago, Gemma said:

Subjectively I "feel" like my triceps and delts have grown and have more definition - but I can't see it in the mirror. I need to take pics to compare. I reeeeaalllyy don't want to, but it's the only way I'll know. 

 

You could also ask a trusted friend measure them for you, in the same spot each time. 

[Gemma]

9 hours ago, scalyfreak said:

 

Inquiring minds want to know which app. I'm loyal to Zombies Run, but always curious what else is out there.  

 

It's just called "C25k" - it's by Zen Labs. It's free and absolutely bare bones - just a vibrate/beep/woman's voice saying "begin your warmup now ... <5 min later> ... begin running ... start walking ..." etc. There is an option to play music through the app. but I haven't figured it out yet.

 

I don't need anything fancy at this point, just someone to tell me what to do. In the past I've tried to do it myself "Okay, I'm going to run to ... that gray mailbox down there, then I can walk for a little bit again." As it happens I never improve that way. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

21 hours ago, JessFit said:

I love your goals and adore your bribes! I always say I'll reward myself and then never do, so I appreciate how you've actually chosen the rewards ahead of time. 

 

Thanks! This seems to work well for me, because basically I'm 5. I just got back from running my C25k, despite it being hot and muggy already out there and me feeling very 'meh' this morning, and that is how I talked myself into it. "Well, you do want that Tara brooch, don't you?" 

 

14 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

 

3) Depending on how long the C25K sessions take, maybe there's room to add a little mobility dessert to the end of that workout meal?

 

Hmmm - they take 30-35 minutes, so that is a possibility. I certainly notice tight spots while I'm running, so addressing them while I still remember where they are is probably smrt. 

 

14 hours ago, Mike Wazowski said:

I've found a delightful new store to online window shop at! And you've reminded me I should add some swag rewards to my own challenge!

 

 

Yeah, they are pretty fabulous. I have a "BIG reward" planned for when I finally pay off my last student loan (end of this year or early next year) - I very much want this Walking Cape to replace my current functional but boring winter coat. 

 

Definitely pick yourself out some swag if that works for your motivation style! So fun, much happy. 

 

 

 

Today's status: 

 

I do not want to write this stuff

I'd lief play tablet games and such

Perhaps I'll clean my bedroom up 

Or polish grandma's silver cup 

 

I really ought to brush my dog

I have an axe! I'll chop a log!

Or first, perhaps, I'll mop the floor

Then change the hardware on the door

 

For if I try to sit and write 

My words seem foolish; ideas, trite

They feel so grand inside my head

But on the page they're dull and dead

 

I sent my money in to say

I'll try your game, I'll learn to play

But now I've got to do the work

Instead of finding ways to shirk 

 

Okay - I entered the contest. 

 

And I started the story. 

 

I've got about 300 words. My two principal characters have met each other. That's what's happening. I kind of already hate this story and want to start over with a different one. Which is fine, I don't have that much invested in this one. Except that is sort of my M.O. - I'll start over and over and over at the 10-20% mark and never go further. 

 

sigh. heavy sigh. I'm gonna go write now. 'k bye. 

 

 

[Harriet]

1 hour ago, Gemma said:

 

And I started the story. 

 

I've got about 300 words. My two principal characters have met each other. That's what's happening. I kind of already hate this story and want to start over with a different one. Which is fine, I don't have that much invested in this one. Except that is sort of my M.O. - I'll start over and over and over at the 10-20% mark and never go further. 

 

sigh. heavy sigh. I'm gonna go write now. 'k bye. 

 

 

Excellent. Stick at it. You need to finish this story. You need the whole experience, from conceiving an idea to writing out the first draft and then revising to your satisfaction, in order to level up at writing stories (as opposed to getting really good at starting stories). I'm currently slogging through the mid-to-end part of a story, and I'm not hugely inspired. I don't even like looking at what I wrote. But I'm doing a tiny bit more each day. I think I'll feel relief when I reach the end, because then I'll be able to think about ways to make it better. But it needs its skeleton first, and that means writing out the story (not to be mistaken for writing plans and outlines of how the story will go). I did the bare minimum--six minutes--today. Other days I do more.

[Gemma]

Monday update:

 

Base gym closed due to Memorial Day, so I worked out at home. I don't have a lot of home gym stuff, but I had enough to make this work. 

 

Split Squats

OHP Kettlebell strict press

Curls

Cable pulldown Band-assisted pull-ups

Cable pushdown Exercise band pushdown

 

 I didn't do the optional accessory work, because I don't have the right size dumbbells or kettlebells for my current strength level at that. 

 

Running Score: 2/88 

 

Words and stuff: 

 

The story was drifting

No purpose or goal

It wandered around with no plot, just the hole

 

I sat with my laptop

I fondled my pens

I went out to the backyard and checked on the hens 

 

Too dull were the characters

Too limited the action

Too banal the dialogue

I couldn't get traction

 

So all I could do was just 

Sit! Sit! Sit! Sit!

And I did not like it

Not one little bit

 

And then

something went POP!

How that "Pop" made me hop! 

 

I looked, and I found, as I laid on my bed

That old creepy idea! It popped into my head!

A tale of murder

A tale of revenge

The creepiest creepy, the dreadliest dread! 

 

 

So, yes, I am walking away from my incredibly yawning yawner that really amounted to two people talking while a loaf of bread bakes. Those two characters will meet each other eventually - but not in "one room" or under these circumstances. They can be more interesting elsewhere. 

 

However, I do have, collecting dust on an old shelf in my brain housing group, a half-baked scene that I thought up years ago (back when I thought I wanted to write murder mysteries) and never used. It has all the ingredients I want - interesting and not-too-likable characters, a potential for a 'twist' in the ending - I just need to structure it to fit in 'one room' instead of 'one hollow out in the woods.' So we are off to the races. 

 

 

 

 

 

[JessFit]

Good for you for getting the workout in anyway! 

[Harriet]

On 5/27/2019 at 8:12 AM, Gemma said:

 

So, yes, I am walking away from my incredibly yawning yawner that really amounted to two people talking while a loaf of bread bakes. Those two characters will meet each other eventually - but not in "one room" or under these circumstances. They can be more interesting elsewhere. 

 

However, I do have, collecting dust on an old shelf in my brain housing group, a half-baked scene that I thought up years ago (back when I thought I wanted to write murder mysteries) and never used. It has all the ingredients I want - interesting and not-too-likable characters, a potential for a 'twist' in the ending - I just need to structure it to fit in 'one room' instead of 'one hollow out in the woods.' So we are off to the races. 

 

Woohoo! Murder mystery! Keeping it in one room will be interesting. 

[Scaly Freak]

2 hours ago, Harriet said:

Murder mystery! Keeping it in one room will be interesting. 

 

A sealed room! Locked from the inside! My inner Ellery Queen fan wants details.

[RedStone]

Please tell me it's a murder mystery that takes place in an escape room... it's suddenly the only thing I have ever wanted to read in my entire life...

 

[Scaly Freak]

4 hours ago, RedStone said:

Please tell me it's a murder mystery that takes place in an escape room... it's suddenly the only thing I have ever wanted to read in my entire life...

 

 

YES!

 

Even better.. a serial killing escape room. You really don't want to know what happens when you run out of time...!

[Harriet]

2 hours ago, scalyfreak said:

 

YES!

 

Even better.. a serial killing escape room. You really don't want to know what happens when you run out of time...!

 

Mind you, the more people die, the less mysterious the identify of the killer becomes. Gotta find a way to keep it mysterious when you're down to two characters... 

[Gemma]

 

I did not mean to mislead - I don't have an actual murder mystery working. That would be some SERIOUS craft, to do a complete murder mystery in 1500 words or less, and I would be super impressed with myself if I could do it, and now I think I will aspire to it, (and in an escape room! wow!) but ...

 

What I actually have in my brain pan is just the opening scene of what was originally conceived as a murder mystery. A.k.a. - the murder. The fun part (at least for me) in this one is the murderer's motive, more than the method or the figuring it out afterwards. Actually, that was part of why I failed to write a mystery - because I was more invested and interested in my murderer than my sleuth or in the finding of clues and such. I really like writing murders and murderers. I don't know what that says about me and don't really want to.   

 

Oh, also, I did run/walk yesterday. So - 

 

Score: 4/88 

 

 

[Scaly Freak]

7 hours ago, Harriet said:

 

Mind you, the more people die, the less mysterious the identify of the killer becomes. Gotta find a way to keep it mysterious when you're down to two characters... 

 

And then there were none... 

[Scaly Freak]

2 hours ago, Gemma said:

Actually, that was part of why I failed to write a mystery - because I was more invested and interested in my murderer than my sleuth or in the finding of clues and such.

 

There is nothing saying you can't write the mystery from your murderer's point of view. The riddle/challenge would then be in how they get away with it, not in figuring out how they did it. That was an established mystery sub-genre long before Dexter was invented...  

[JessFit]

3 hours ago, Gemma said:

I really like writing murders and murderers. I don't know what that says about me and don't really want to.   

It says that you're really cool and I would enjoy hanging out with you and discussing macabre history!  Honestly though, I know significantly more about murderers than I do about math... 

[Harriet]

1 hour ago, scalyfreak said:

 

And then there were none... 

 

I adore Agatha Christie. I read every Poirot and Miss Marple book when I was in undergrad. I had already read all the Sherlock Holmes stories in high school (there are many). I don't know why, I just like formulaic murder mysteries where a clever protagonist figures everything out. So soothing. 

[Harriet]

1 hour ago, scalyfreak said:

There is nothing saying you can't write the mystery from your murderer's point of view. 

I misread this as "from your gardener's point of view" and I was thinking about a murder taking place in a locked room while the gardener looks in through the window, wondering whether he should call the police. 

There is also a mini plot in Oblivion (the game) if you join the assassin's guild, where you have to enter a house party dressed as a guest, and kill everyone individually with no witnesses. Agh, good times. 

[Scaly Freak]

5 hours ago, Harriet said:

 

I adore Agatha Christie. I read every Poirot and Miss Marple book when I was in undergrad. I had already read all the Sherlock Holmes stories in high school (there are many). I don't know why, I just like formulaic murder mysteries where a clever protagonist figures everything out. So soothing. 

 

Go to your local library and look for Ellery Queen and Lord Peter Wimsey, so we can start discussing hat boxes, and cactus plants as murder weapons!

[Harriet]

4 hours ago, scalyfreak said:

 

Go to your local library and look for Ellery Queen and Lord Peter Wimsey, so we can start discussing hat boxes and cactus plants as murder weapons!

 

HAT BOXES? I can't wait!

[Scaly Freak]

I forgot a comma in that statement. The hat boxes aren't nearly as exciting as I made them sound.

 

There is definitely a murder by cactus though.

[Harriet]

11 minutes ago, scalyfreak said:

I forgot a comma in that statement. The hat boxes aren't nearly as exciting as I made them sound.

 

There is definitely a murder by cactus though.

Oh, I definitely read it to mean hat boxes were used to murder people. Now you tell me the hat boxes were mere bystanders???

...I still want to read about the cactus murder.

[Scaly Freak]

27 minutes ago, Harriet said:

Oh, I definitely read it to mean hat boxes were used to murder people. Now you tell me the hat boxes were mere bystanders???

...I still want to read about the cactus murder.

 

The hat boxes were witnesses more than bystanders, I believe. It's been a while since that particular book.

 

The cactus murder story becomes a lot better if you're read the books that lead up to it (it's the last novel in the series). The characters grow and develop through the years.

 

Also, for a brilliant locked-room mystery, look up The Hollow Man, by John Dickson Carr, who might have been the most brilliantly creative mind ever when it comes to the mechanics of a seemingly impossible murder mystery. If not, he at least needs to be near the top of the list.