Walloped by Spring Break

For the first three days of April, I met my goals. I think. Then the weekend came... then spring break. And all this time that I foolishly envisioned I could structure for my writing goals was eaten up by mostly fun and exciting things (shopping for/trying to sell a horse) that meant we spent a lot of time in the car/truck/barn. And lots of state highways.

I fell off all wagons. Writing wagon. Exercise wagon. Eating right wagon. Even the laundry wagon.

But this wasn't a failure unless I stop here. A detour, possibly. Maybe even a trip into the ditch on the side of the road. But not a failure.

Come Monday, spring break is over. Then you'll find my behind in the chair. (Or my feet on the treadmill, working at my desk there.) And I'm going to keep showing up every day until I actually have changed my habits. Which means I'll keep showing up every day from then on.

Hallelujah amen.

Getting warmer . . .

 Have you ever heard that the more sleep kids get the more they sleep? I remember discovering that when I tried to keep Henry up late so he'd sleep in the next day only to find him awake even earlier than normal!

Since starting JaNoWriMo it seems that the more creative writing I do the more creative things I want to do.  This weekend I decided to carry my camera with me everywhere (a hassle because it's heavy and bulky and I'm lazy). I got lucky with a synchronicity of elements - the lighting was just right, the sky was dark and not the normal blah grey of the endless English winter and then, as a gift, a pair of riders appeared. 

Unlike some photographers, I rarely have time to wait for a picture. Most great landscape photographers are the ones who venture out at the crack of dawn and then wait hours for the perfect shot. If I'm out, it's at a decent hour and I usually have my dog with me - on the day I took this photo my son was with me too - neither child nor dog are known to want to hang around for long while I take pictures. 

I read an article recently in Oprah by Martha Beck where she advised to move towards things that make you feel good and away from things that don't as if playing "warmer, colder". For example, if you feel good after you've exercised - warmer! Drank too much and are now hung over? (Who me?) Colder. I must've needed to hear this message more than once because I'd downloaded a bunch of author interview podcasts from iTunes, she happened to be one of the authors and she said it again. 

Creative writing - warmer; photography - warmer; falling off diet wagon: colder; making word count for the day - hot!