QengpuBenal is Back!

[Princess Pineapple]

I suppose it won't hurt to recheck things. Hope the results all go your way.

[bgvanbur]

You did great last week, super consistent.  But how can you only work on your novel for just 10 minutes?  I think it would take me that long to get back into the groove of where I left off.

[QengpuBenal]

You did great last week, super consistent.  But how can you only work on your novel for just 10 minutes?  I think it would take me that long to get back into the groove of where I left off.

Well, I'm really doing a lot of editing and checking timeline consistency. I have the first draft of the novel finished. If I was just writing that initial draft, I'd be working on it a lot longer! Even so, I am hoping to set aside a day this week to work on my novel for at least a few hours.

 

Day 21

Zombies!5K Week 4 Day 2 complete.

Ate NO fast food.

Drank 4 bottles of water.

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes.

 

I have discovered that I miscalculated. I cannot finish the Zombies!5K app during this challenge by doing one workout every other day. I am also not comfortable pushing in spots where I have three workouts in a row. I don't think that would be good for my body at this point. So, I can still earn the extra Stamina point mentioned in my initial post. However, I have to complete the app during the week after the challenge. That will help me stay consistent during the break and make sure I don't push myself so hard that I mess something up.

[QengpuBenal]

Day 22

 

Walked 2 miles

Ate NO fast food

drank 4 bottles of water

worked on my novel for 15 minutes

[QengpuBenal]

Took the kids to the Science Center today. We also stopped off at a nearby park. My son loves this park! It has a huge rope climbing apparatus and two giant slides! My son loves anything that lets him climb/go up! 

 

Day 23

Completed Zombies!5K Week 4 Day 3 (halfway through the program)!

Ate NO fast food (I packed a lunch to take with us)!

Drank 4 bottles of water.

Spent 10 minutes working on my novel.

[18ck]

Just curious how the novel is shaping up in 10 min spurts. Do you find it easy to get some work done in that time? It seems like barely enough time to switch teh computer on and open the word processor package. Sorry, none of my beeswax, I know, but I was curious about many small sessions vs less frequent, longer ones. Maybe it's working really well. I was reminded of this Brain Pickings piece I saw a while back about the different routines different writers have, and how they arrange their working hours to suit themselves.  http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/11/20/daily-routines-writers/

 

Haruki Murakami is, of course, one of the scoutliest writers ever and I totally envy his routine but it wouldn't work for me at all if I was a writer. I'd be more like Kurt Vonnegut, I think. And I'd like to be a writer one day. But what the hell will I write? Maybe I'll publish a book called "18ck sticking his nose into other people's business and pontificating about stuff he knows nothing about." Yes, that'll sell well. 

 

Anyway, as Thomas Mann said in a letter to a young writer "If you want to finish a novel, make sure you don't get caught and eaten by zombies". Wise words, and I see you are heeding them, so keep it up!

[QengpuBenal]

Just curious how the novel is shaping up in 10 min spurts. Do you find it easy to get some work done in that time? It seems like barely enough time to switch teh computer on and open the word processor package. Sorry, none of my beeswax, I know, but I was curious about many small sessions vs less frequent, longer ones. Maybe it's working really well. I was reminded of this Brain Pickings piece I saw a while back about the different routines different writers have, and how they arrange their working hours to suit themselves.  http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/11/20/daily-routines-writers/

 

Haruki Murakami is, of course, one of the scoutliest writers ever and I totally envy his routine but it wouldn't work for me at all if I was a writer. I'd be more like Kurt Vonnegut, I think. And I'd like to be a writer one day. But what the hell will I write? Maybe I'll publish a book called "18ck sticking his nose into other people's business and pontificating about stuff he knows nothing about." Yes, that'll sell well. 

 

Anyway, as Thomas Mann said in a letter to a young writer "If you want to finish a novel, make sure you don't get caught and eaten by zombies". Wise words, and I see you are heeding them, so keep it up!

 

Tahnks for the link! That was a very interesting article! My novel is coming along, slowly but surely. I would like to have it finished by the end of this month, but I'm thinking that is not going to happen. Well, I say done, but what I really mean is ready to be sent to a couple readers. Anyways, some days I work a bit more than the 10 minutes. However, I like the 10 minutes because even if I've had a very busy day I can always fit 10 minutes in. It may not be much, but I wrote the first draft a couple years ago. At this point, any work is progress, and doing 10 minutes every day is making me feel like I'm at least making consistent (if slow) progress!

 

Day 24

Walked 2 miles (my calves were really tight today).

Ate NO fast food.

Drank 4 bottles of water.

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes!

[QengpuBenal]

Day 25

Completed Week 5 Day 1 of Zombies!5K.

Ate NO fast food.

Drank 4 bottles of water.

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes.

[Terinatum]

Have the fast food joints gone out of business? Not to imply you ate there a lot, but dang, not now!! Awesome job, QB.

I wish I had a magic wand for your calves! Hell, for everything. No wait that would really not pay off in the end. Okay some stuff. Sorry rambling today. I need human contact! Seriously.

Have a great weekend.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[QengpuBenal]

Lost track of things for a couple days. I completed my goals, but forgot to post the updates! So, here's a quick catch up post!

 

Day 26

Walked 2 miles

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

 

Day 27

Week 5, Day 2 of Zombies!5K

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

Day 28

Walked 2 miles

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

[Terinatum]

Good consistency! Nice.

Have you gotten a chance to sit down with your novel for a longer stretch like you were wanting to last week?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[QengpuBenal]

Day 29

Walked 2 miles

Ate NO fast food.

Drank 4 bottles of water

Work on my novel for 10 minutes.

 

Day 30

Week 6 Day 1 of Zombies!5K

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

 

I haven't had the chance to work longer on my novel yet. I'm just glad that I've kept the consistency up! This week is my first week back at work and it has been crazy hectic! This morning was really tough. I really did not want to go running, but I did manage to drag myself out of bed and get my run in!

[Terinatum]

Steve always says, the most important time to keep your workout is when you really don't want to. Keeps us from letting in excuses that will be harder to fight against the next time we don't feel like a WO.

Ya done good!

Keep up the great work!

[QengpuBenal]

Day 31

Walked 2 miles

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes.

 

Slowly, but surely, my novel is firming up and fleshing itself out. I'm about ready to start working on the ending. That's going to be the tough part.

[QengpuBenal]

Day 32

 

Week 6 Day 2 on Zombies!5K

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Spent 10 minutes on my novel

 

Day 33

Walked 2 miles

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Spent 10 minutes on my novel

[QengpuBenal]

Day 34

Week 6 Day 3 Zombies!5k

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

 

Day 35

Walked 2 miles

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

 

Day 36

Week 7 Day 1 Zombies!5K

Ate NO fast food

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

[Terinatum]

I am so impressed with your consistency. It's incredible. You go girl!!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[QengpuBenal]

Day 37

Walked 2 miles

Drank 4 bottles of water

Worked on my novel for 10 minutes

 

I DID eat fast food today. Originally, I had been planning on going grocery shopping immediately after work since we are totally out of food. However, an unexpected meeting at the end of the day had me getting off an hour and a half late. By the time I got home and was ready to leave it was much later than I had planned. To top things off, a huge thunderstorm had moved in and I was not comfortable driving all the way to the store. 

 

So, i made an intentional decision to get fast food for dinner. It wasn't the healthiest since I had to order off the dollar menu (with a family of five it's too expensive to do anything else). I'm counting it as a fail for challenge purposes, but I think it's more of a win in life since it was a deliberate decision and not a spur of the moment thing.

[QengpuBenal]

D

[QengpuBenal]

Somehow, my counting got messed up! Anyways, on Friday, I walked 2 miles and did not eat fast food. However, I muffed my water and writing goals.

 

On Saturday, I walked 2 miles and did not eat fast food. I again muffed water and writing. 

 

Sunday I walked 2 miles. Fast food, water, and writing all failed, though.

 

Final count:

Exercise: 42/42

Fast Food: 40/42

Water: 39/42

Writing: 39/42

 

Overall, I'm feeling very good about this challenge. I'm usually bombing everything by week 2 at the latest. Next challenge, I'm going to improve on this challenge!

 

Also, while the weekend was not challenge friendly, it was a good weekend. On Saturday, my wife and I went and got matching tattoos. We also got makeovers at Bare Minerals, and we bought new makeup.

 

Sunday, we both got haircuts (I got mine trimmed and she got bangs), waxed our eyebrows, and got piercings (she got her earlobes pierced and I got my cartilage pierced)! It was a great weekend.

 

Today (Monday) I did Week 7 Day 3 of the Zombies!5K challenge. I'm going to continue running this week, so I'd love for you all to be there to encourage me this week as I knock out the last week of the Zombies!5K app!

[Terinatum]

Yay!!!

It's what keeps popping into my head when I read your posts.

The lipstick lesbian spa weekend sounds fabulous. I wonder sometimes what I would look like with makeup... And then my dyke side comes to my rescue (?). Haha.

Back to you.

Yes, this challenge was a masterful success. I've been with you when the weeks were just not working. But you re-gathered up your desire and courage and this is your payoff!!

Congratulations, you earned a great win!

Definitely keep posting. We like week Zero around here. When the next challenge thread goes up, go ahead and start your 'challenge thread' and continue with week zero.

We'll be here with you!