These are a few of my favorite things...

• For those who are trying to lose/gain/maintain their weight: http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate (It's free, though takes a little getting used to, but has been worth it - two of my friends and I have been doing it for a month and all three of us lost 10 pounds.)

• For those of us who are “pantsers” and procrastinators: The Marshall Plan Software (Expensive, but has been worth it to me - my friend and former CP, Amber Scott recommended it, and it was just what I needed.)

• And getting a contract for my novella from Cobblestone Press. :) Will let you know when it's coming out.

Inspiration

Hi out there! Is everyone surviving the transition to winter? We actually had snow here the other day - it was a bit depressing on top of the nasty cold I've got.

Anyhoodles, I came across two inspiring bits of information/quotes today and felt they were worth sharing. See, I joined the Medifast online support group (decided to give it another go - I'd done it before and I know it works, but I needed more support this time around) and I found two things on their message boards that hit home for me. What was great about them is that these things can apply to any area of our lives that we're working on, whether it's weight loss, writing or anything else. So what were they?

One, was this quote: "Talk to that person in the mirror as if he or she were a good friend going through this."

Simple, but it really got to me. I'm probably much harder on myself than anyone else is, so I taped a copy of that to my bathroom mirror where I'll see it every day.

The second thing came from a woman had been reading a book called "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink, which isn't about weight loss, but she found an activity in it called "But Out!" that she found helpful enough to share, and I'm glad she did.

The exercise was this: Compile a list of some of the important changes you'd like to make in your life and what's keeping you from realizing them, such as:

I'd like to spend more time with my family, but I travel a lot for my job.
I'd like to eat better, but I'm surrounded at work by sugary snacks.
I'd like to read more, but I rarely have time when I can sit down with a book.

Now go back to each item and replace the word "but" with the word "and":

I'd like to spend more time with my family and I travel a lot for my job. I need to find ways to bring my family along during some of my travels.
I'd like to eat better, and I'm surrounded at work by sugary snacks. So I need to pack my own supply of healthful snacks to reduce the temptation to eat the bad stuff.
I'd like to read more, and I rarely have time when I can sit down with a book. So I need to get books on tape that I can listen to in the car or at the gym.

Exchanging "and" for "but" can move you out of excuse-making mode and into problem-solving mode.

Isn't that great? Simple, but effective. (Or, simple AND effective) :)

Now I'm off to get my butt back to bed so I can shake this cold. How are things going for you?

Updates

Hello again. :) Edie, I haven't forgotten about you - just been super busy. I haven't made any more progress on my story (sadly) but I've made progress in other areas. I've lost 4 more pounds, sold 3 craft pieces on eBay (I updated my main website if you'd like to take a look) and have a job interview next week that looks like it's going to work out. (I'd be working in another hospital with my former supervisor - I loved her, just not where we worked before.) I'll keep you posted. As soon as my eBay auctions end and I get everything shipped this week, I'm going to settle down and finish that novella! I promise. I'll have to check out everyone else's progress in a few minutes - hope you are all busy tapping away at the keyboards!

Now, the dear Edie Ramer tagged me to list eight random fact about myself, so let's see what I can come up with.

1. I'm homeschooling my teenage daughter this year. So far, we're using an unschooling method while she gets away from the public school mentality. We'll see how it goes. (See the "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewellyn for the why of that.)
2. I just starting making Halloween crafts in the last couple of months - a departure from the fine arts I've been used to.
3. I have a large collection of Harry Potter memorabilia. Professor Snape is my favorite.
4. I love men with big noses. (Could explain the Snape fascination, lol)
5. I speak Spanish fluently, understand most Italian, and know a few words of Russian.
6. I miss my cat. My friend said if I say this one more time she's going to slap me, since all I ever did was complain about that demon cat from hell - so don't tell anyone I said so. :)
7. I believe in the power of the mind to alter circumstances.
8. I am so severely sleep deprived right now I can't think of an eighth fact. :)

Seriously, I need to sleep. Just the other day, I misspelled my own name. It's that bad. 8-)

I get by with a little help from my friends...

Thanks to the fabulous Edie Ramer, I was inspired to put two new progress bars on my blog in an effort to keep myself on track. (We'll see how well that goes - I hold the gold metal for rationalizing my way out of anything.) :)

Now that I see I'm 33.2% finished with a story I was going to submit to Ellora's Cave, I'm motivated to get back to work on that puppy. Not a bad idea since the deadline for that particular line is 11/15, meaning it will need to be finished and polished by the end of October.

(If watching progress bars interests you, scroll down to nearly the bottom of the page and it's there on the left.)

One of my CP's from AZ and I were both published within a few months of one another last year, and while I haven't finished anything since, she's gone on to have four more books published. While I am thrilled for her, and she deserved it, I stopped and asked myself last night, what is holding me back? The only answer is: me.

So, here's to a good swift kick in the pants. It's time to get busy. Time to let that nagging little blue scroll bar and my friend's success spur me to work a little harder.

Are there any tricks or tips you'd like to share about how you motivate yourself? Please note, if you're one of those sickeningly organized people who never procrastinate, I don't want to hear from you. ;) Just kidding - I'd love to know how you do it.

Progress

I recently read Candice Gilmore's brave blog about her experience with Weight Watchers, and was impressed how she posted her progress. Since this month's "boob wishes" for me include not so much the losing of the weight as the motivation/energy to do so, I thought I would borrow a page from her book and post my progress (or lack of) out here for the world to see in an attempt to stay motivated.
So without further ado, here is where things stand from last week:

2 / 65 (3.1%)

Now I just need to stay motivated to finish my WIPs, too. :) A few days ago I took some time out to write a synopsis, broke through one bit of writer's block, then got hit with it again. To break through that one, I tossed all seven pages of the synopsis in the air, closed my eyes and picked up one page. I told myself that I would write whatever scenes were on that page. That worked fairly well for a couple of days, now I find myself back to watching TV, playing spider solitaire and putting up progress meters on my blog. :) What do you do to stay motivated - whether it's writing, dieting, working out - how do you stick to the goals you set for yourself when you aren't accountable to anyone else?