Lauralynn Elliott's Blog, page 46

I’m Baaaaack

I was going to post a video of Aerosmith singing “Back in the Saddle Again”, but I thought it might be a little much. And, really, who would watch the video all the way through? LOL. Anyway, I’m finally back on track with writing. I had no idea how I was going to manage writing after working all day, then teaching Vacation Bible School. I was going to put off writing for another week. But then I started thinking about how I really needed to get this story back on track. So I spent my lunch hours for the past two days writing. Monday I wrote over 700, and yesterday I wrote over 900. Today, I have lunch plans, so I may not be writing, but I’ll go back to it on Thursday. It feels great!

Shannon Mayer-One of My New Favorite Authors!

I got a couple of books for free by Shannon Mayer through a giveaway. I read Dark Waters while I was on vacation and really, really liked it. There’s just something about Shannon’s writing style that I like. She makes a story interesting enough to keep me hooked all the way through. The other book I got was Sundered, which is the first in a series. I’m not usually a big fan of “zombie-ish” books, but this one blew me away. I couldn’t read it fast enough because I kept wondering what would happen next. When I finished, I went straight to Amazon and got the next one. I devoured that one, and now I’m on the third one. I hope this is the last one because it looks like there’s no more out there yet, and I don’t want to be left hanging. LOL.

Anyway, I’m glad I found her. I can’t wait to read something else. I’ve read almost everything she’s published so far, though. Maybe something else will come out soon. She’s pretty prolific.

You can find Shannon here: Shannon Mayer

Sunday Update 6/10/12

1. Writing – I haven’t written a word. I was so floored by my blood pressure situation that I decided to concentrate on health last week. Plus, I’ve spent HOURS preparing to teach Vacation Bible School. I hope I can get back on track on writing this week. I’ll be at VBS every night this week, but hopefully I can come home and write. I still need to get the junk off my desk in my office (piled up to get stuff out of the living room when I had my Pampered Chef party). I write better in my office instead of in the living room with the TV on.

2. Kittens – The kittens played non-stop for 6 hours in the house yesterday. It was like having two toddlers in the house. I had to constantly watch them to keep them out of trouble. They knocked over a plant, but I think I fixed it so hubby doesn’t find out. LOL. After six hours, they plopped down in hubby’s recliner and snoozed. I did decide on Willow and Oz for names.

3. Health – My goal is to walk five times a week. I started all of this Wednesday. I walked on the treadmill Wednesday after church and at lunch on Thursday and Friday. That was three times, but I didn’t start until the middle of the week. I’m learning to leave stuff on my plate, so I have leftovers from both last night and from lunch today. Actually, I have more than half of today’s lunch left over. I still haven’t been to the grocery store, so not much cooking done. With VBS all week, I may not get to the cooking until after that’s over. Oh, and I forgot to weigh this morning, so I guess I won’t be reporting weight loss (or gain) until next week.

4. Movie thoughts -We went to see Men in Black 3 last night since it was hubby’s birthday and that’s what he wanted to do. It was good, but not as good as the first two, in my opinion. I loved the first one. It’s one of my favorite movies.

How did YOU do last week?

Chacos

Most of you probably know Skechers was fined by the FTC for false fitness claims concerning their Shape-ups. My friend has a pair of Shape-ups and I have a pair of Tone-ups, but we have never noticed any kind of benefits from the shoes. I think we were supposed to get more toned by them or something.

Anyway, this post is supposed to be about Chacos, right? Well, the reason I mentioned Skechers is because I think Chacos might do what Skechers CLAIMED to do. Now this is ONLY my opinion, so don’t take this as a great truth or anything. I went walking today and didn’t have my walking shoes (the Tone-ups) and I wondered if I could walk in my Chacos. They took time to get used to because of the great arch support since I’m totally flat footed. The salesperson I bought these from said I would get used to them if I gave it time, which I did. Anyway, I went to the park close to where I work and walked during lunch. After about five minutes, the muscles in my calves and thighs, as well as the muscles at the side of my hips, started getting sore like I was working out. I walked for 20 minutes and my feet felt great. But my leg muscles were sore…in a good way. Does anyone know anything about this? Do any of you own Chacos? Do you walk in them (exercise, not regular walking around, LOL)? If so, did you feel a toning benefit?

A Rude Awakening Concerning My Health

I haven’t been feeling that great lately. I know that’s one of the reasons I haven’t been writing as much. The day we left Florida to come back home, I developed a cough which was much like the one I had back in March when I had bronchitis, so I thought I would go to the doctor and nip it in the bud so I wouldn’t get as sick as I was then. When they took my blood pressure, I was a little nervous because my blood pressure runs high when I’m not exercising regularly. To my horror, the bottom number was 98! The nurse practitioner (I went to a walk in close to my work) told me I should follow up with my regular doctor about possible blood pressure meds. I told her if I would just start exercising again, I could bring it back down. She said maybe I should be on meds at least for a couple of months until I had been exercising awhile.

This has been a wake up call for me. I talked to a guy here at work that’s on blood pressure meds (sometimes his BP is as high as mine was even ON meds), and he said that’s probably why I’ve been feeling bad. He said that’s a symptom. Why, oh, why did I let myself stop exercising? I knew exercise was good for me. I KNEW my BP could go up if I didn’t exercise. I feel like such a fool for letting this get out of hand. Today, I’m going to exercise even if I have to do it at midnight. I’ll exercise at least 5 days a week. I’m not going to be TOO BUSY anymore. This is going to have to come first!

Another thing. This is something I’ve learned about eating and losing weight. The reason I can’t stick to a diet is because it’s a DIET. When I try to count calories, leave certain foods off, deprive myself of something I’m craving…that’s when everything falls apart. No more diets for me. No more foods off limits. The thing that works the best for me is cutting down (not cutting out) on foods that aren’t that good for me. Stopping when I’m satisfied instead of feeling like I have to eat everything on my plate. Cooking more so I can have yummy leftovers for lunch instead of going out to eat every day. (That saves money, too!) In other words…just good common sense and good habits. Hey, I just bought a boatload of Pampered Chef items, so I should be good to go when it comes to cooking.

Okay, so on my Sunday ROW80 check ins, I’m going to include health related items, even weight loss. I’ve already lost 8 lbs. and gained 2 back while in Florida. So I’m going to include my current loss in my total. Because, you know, it counts, too.

So who will join me? Who wants to be healthier and is willing to report that along with writing stats? I know some of you are already doing this, but not many. We, as writers, sit on our butts a lot. I do this at my day job, too. We need to get up and get moving. If our bodies are healthy, our minds work better. Are you ready? I am!

Kittens Playing

I know I haven’t posted pictures of my kittens since I first got them, and they were in their cage. So I thought I would share with you this video I made.

The tabby’s main objective: Play with the pencil

The black kitten’s main objective: Streak through the video from time to time, pouncing on the tabby.

ROW80 and Vacation Update

1. I was only able to write one morning while on vacation. But that’s one morning more than no mornings. LOL

2. My husband picked up a crab in the water by mistake and it pinched him. Yes, he bled.

3. There was lots of good seafood to be had and we definitely had it. But we ate lunch before we left on Saturday at Margaritaville, and I don’t know if anything was much better than the Cheeseburger in Paradise. Mmmmmmm. But my husband decided he wanted the volcano nachos. We all had to laugh when they came. I had to take pictures.

This is when he was halfway finished.

This is what was left when he was finished.

And below is an incredible sunset with ominous looking clouds. I took this picture through the window at the Breakers restaurant.

Ominous cloud.

And here is a video I took when we were feeding the seagulls. I left in all the sound so you could hear the gulls, but you also get to hear everyone talking. LOL

So…did all that take your mind off the fact that I didn’t get much writing done??? Hee hee.

Getting Up Early to Write – Not Working!

My plans were to get up early every morning Mon-Fri this week to write. You know, before anyone else got up. This has been a total fail. Our friends who are always late sleepers have decided that this week they weren’t going to be. We’ve been to Florida with them for several years and this is the first year they’ve gotten up as early as I have. Now I only have two mornings left. I have two choices…either give up writing this week or get up VERY early the next two days. Do I really want to get up that early while I’m on vacation? Isn’t part of vacation being relaxed and getting up when you feel like it? What a dilemma!

ROW80 Update 5/27/12

No writing since Monday. I’m on vacation this week in Panama City Beach, so I hope to start tomorrow morning getting up before everyone else and doing my writing then. (Today was church day.)

This condo has no WiFi. I have to connect my computer directly to the modem. Fail! That means my husband can’t be on the internet at the same time as me with his computer, plus I can’t get on the WiFi with my iPad. I also can’t use the 4G on my iPad because I can’t pick up Verizon inside the condo. I have to go outside. Grrrr. On the bright side…the condo owner says if I go pick up a wireless router and hook it up to the modem, he will reimburse me for it. Win!

On the way here, while I was driving, hubby and I talked over his ideas for the book he wants me to write. He was jotting down all kinds of things as we talked. This was a first for us. We’ve never brainstormed about a book together before. It was an interesting experience. I really think I can write this book. I’ve never been a ghost writer before. Not to be confused with Ghost Rider, which would be Nicholas Cage. Never mind.

My Cover is #3000 for Jimmy Thomas!

According to Jimmy Thomas, the gorgeous cover model on the Libby Fox novellas, the Loving the Dead and the Undead cover (print book soon to be out), is the 3000th time he’s graced the cover of a novel. See his post and comments on his Facebook page. Jimmy Thomas In Fact, he’s actually made this cover his icon for right now. My cover artist, Anya, is about to wet her pants go nuts with excitement. Jimmy Thomas is not only gorgeous, he’s smart, funny, and has great business sense. Check out his website, Romance Novel Center and his stock image site, Romance Novel Covers. Many authors, cover artists, editors, reviewers, readers, and more have joined Romance Novel Center. Take a look and see if it’s something you might be interested in. *doing the happy dance*