CHALLENGING YOURSELF....
I have done a lot of thinking after last week's blog about challenges. Obviously the world is trying to tell me something...and it is my job to listen.
What I do next is up to me.
I found it easy- or easier- to figure out what my first challenges physically were going to be. To actually get moving. Not too hard.
I mean all I have to do is get out the house and walk up the road. Yep UP the road it is (all uphill- so coming back down is easier).
So I've begun...on the days I work I'm out in the morning or in the evening....
And I'm huffing and puffing, with a sore knee by three houses along (they are big house blocks but...) Just proves how unfit I am. Working on my fitness is my first challenge!
On the days I don't work, there is a park 10 minute drive away. I go there.
I've decided that walking in and twice around the main lake should be okay.
It is a nice place...there are birds twitting and flitting in the undergrowth...there are ducks wondering if you are going to feed them....
these aren't duck I know
...there are people walking dogs, or jogging or riding bicycles.
First week in, yep only the first, but the walking is going good. By this I mean I am walking.
My challenge will be to keep it up when it gets darker and colder and it rains and I just don't want to do it...so yes that will be the challenge, keeping it up.
As for the writing...I went back to look at my goals for the year. Yes there are only four goals on my list but when I look at them, really look at them, they are not easy ones.
One of them is to finish the first draft of the children's novel I'm working on. And when I write a first draft I do tend to go back, edit, rewrite, redraft---so the finished 'first draft' will be quite worked on, even in its raw state.
Another of the goals is to send something out each month. Usually I get all excited by the new year, send some pieces out and that is that. By March I've given up.
Sending out takes time, it takes energy...did I mention it takes time?
You need to research where you are sending it, does it meet their requirements, it is what they publish, what they want?
Then you have to meet all their guidelines, font style and size, double spaced or one and a half, margins, double sided or one, separate bio and synopsis... just the sent piece....hard copy or email....and then of course you go over and check what you are sending out.
Again, and again. And how often are we content to let it sit? We fiddle and tweak, we change a word here, a phrase there....
So sending out will be another 'serious' goal to get around.
What I do next is up to me.
I found it easy- or easier- to figure out what my first challenges physically were going to be. To actually get moving. Not too hard.
I mean all I have to do is get out the house and walk up the road. Yep UP the road it is (all uphill- so coming back down is easier).
So I've begun...on the days I work I'm out in the morning or in the evening....
And I'm huffing and puffing, with a sore knee by three houses along (they are big house blocks but...) Just proves how unfit I am. Working on my fitness is my first challenge!
On the days I don't work, there is a park 10 minute drive away. I go there.
It is a nice place...there are birds twitting and flitting in the undergrowth...there are ducks wondering if you are going to feed them....
these aren't duck I know...there are people walking dogs, or jogging or riding bicycles.
First week in, yep only the first, but the walking is going good. By this I mean I am walking.
My challenge will be to keep it up when it gets darker and colder and it rains and I just don't want to do it...so yes that will be the challenge, keeping it up.
As for the writing...I went back to look at my goals for the year. Yes there are only four goals on my list but when I look at them, really look at them, they are not easy ones.
One of them is to finish the first draft of the children's novel I'm working on. And when I write a first draft I do tend to go back, edit, rewrite, redraft---so the finished 'first draft' will be quite worked on, even in its raw state.
Another of the goals is to send something out each month. Usually I get all excited by the new year, send some pieces out and that is that. By March I've given up.
Sending out takes time, it takes energy...did I mention it takes time?
You need to research where you are sending it, does it meet their requirements, it is what they publish, what they want?
Then you have to meet all their guidelines, font style and size, double spaced or one and a half, margins, double sided or one, separate bio and synopsis... just the sent piece....hard copy or email....and then of course you go over and check what you are sending out.
Again, and again. And how often are we content to let it sit? We fiddle and tweak, we change a word here, a phrase there....
So sending out will be another 'serious' goal to get around.
I will continue to write poems, to take down notes and observations. To go to my writing groups when able. To attend some spoken word venues.
I think I have my goals sussed. I think I have given myself enough....and enough to push myself that bit harder.
I'll let you know during the year how I'm going...on all of these goals.
But for the moment the park is calling...time for a walk.
Vicki
http://vickithornton.weebly.com/
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