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Morning Pages Entry – June 30, 2014

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Sitting here on the boat again. Went paddle boarding again this morning … that’s three days in a row. I just went down the river this morning, as it was a little windy on the lake this morning. I much prefer going out onto the lake, but I’ve also decided that wind is for sailboats, and not paddle boards. Paddle boards are for nice calm mirror like water where you can go out a mile or so, and do some yoga on the board. I haven’t tried that yet, but it’s coming. The next morning it’s nice out, I’m heading out early to about deerpark lodge, and do a few simple yoga moves. Not sure how many I’ll be able to do, but it should be fun finding out. I may fall over a few times, but that’s ok. It may be nice to fall in when I’m done, depending on how hot it is in the morning. The trick, is to get out nice and early. 6am would be best I think. Haven’t quite gotten there yet. I do notice that I seem to need more sleep up here. All the fresh air and sunshine I think. I probably need to get into bed by 11pm, if I’m going to be up by 6 though. Could also be because it’s been a bit warm here at nights. I always sleep better when it’s a bit cooler. I think, that everyone does. So, I still haven’t tested out that audio transcription thing in Dragon yet. I need to try that. I like the idea of dictating into the cell phone while I’m walking down the beach, and transcribing that using DNS (dragon naturally speaking) into a text file. That’s certainly a cool way to do things. And potentially very efficient. I think, it’s going to take some getting used to. Part of the trick, is to not try and talk to fast. Even talking in a slow enunciated manner is much faster then typing. And, speaking of non-enunciated words, I must apologize to yesterdays journal. I typed it in yesterday using the phone, and went back and looked at parts of it later. It’s pretty riddled with typos. And, it took me about twice as long to write, and I think at about half the speed I normally write these journals. Although, I think, it was around 23 words per minute, which is still close to 1200 words per hour, which isn’t all that bad, when you think, that you normally write 1250 words per 45 minutes when you normally do your novel writing. So, in theory, you could come close to a 5K day, but the editing would be horrendous, that’s for sure. This dictating thing has gotten be intrigued for sure. Although I’ve always struggled with DNS in the past, I’m almost always intrigued with the possibliities of it. Perhaps just doing it in a quiet office to start with is the way to go. While writing novels walking down the beach sounds so frikkin mega cool, I may need to master it sitting down first before I get to crazy with it. Woah, hang on … wait one second. How about writing while paddle boarding down the lake? Now, that’s the ultimate of frikking mega cool. And a goal worth shooting for. By the end of the summer, I should have written at least 5K words (prefferably a whole novel) on the paddleboard. How totally awesome would that me. I’ll have to think a bit about what sort of device I’d need for that. Some sort of headset with a mike on it that allows me to record onto a little micro sd car of something. It would of course have to be waterproof. Paddle boarding on the lake while writing crazy stories … talk about the possibility of a crazy inspriational rich environment to be working in. Just imagine where your creativity would go to in a place like that. I’ll have do a little looking online for just such a gadget. I’m sure there’s got to be something out there. Ok, so, that’s some pretty cool and lofty goals for sure. But the thought of getting dns to work finally for me. And the thought of getting words onto paper faster is just too enticing. Gotta give it a try. And, and couple of other little notes this morning. I had some stowaways on my paddleboard this morning. When I was almost back, I noticed a big snail crawling up between my feet on the board, and when I docked there were two more on the back. Sort of cool. Oh yea, and a little bit of drama yesterday. There was some kite surfer getting dragged out into the lake, and he had to be rescued by a jet ski. Rookie mistake, as Jen would say. He was sorta new at it … just a young kid.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: happy LOCATION: boat in bayfield WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: dictate, transcribe software testing TV: Mall Cop BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: paddle board 1.5 hours, short beach walk WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: beef shish ka bobs, pepper, asparagus SNACKS: orange, strawberries, 2 lara bars ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:00 AWAKE: 7:30

 

Morning Pages Entry – June 28, 2014

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Whew! So nice to me up at the boat by myself for a few hours, before the girls all invade. I went out and paddle boarded for a few hours this morning. Could have gotten up a little earlier, but I was out between about 8 and 10, which was ok. The power boats were coming out, which create a bit more of a challenge later. I’m sure, if I got out there earlier though, they wouldn’t be an issue. I do need, to remember my life jacket when I go. I went out the last couple of times without it, and this time, Merrit came out in his dingy to check on me. Or more, to just harrass me for not wearing the jacket. Which is fine. He’s right, I should be wearing it. I’ll remember it for next time. I’ll bring my little inflatable one. That would be enough. It’s funny though, the whole issue of other people worry about what other people are doing is dangerous for them. I suppose, I could tell Merrit, he shouldn’t be drinking so much, and eating so much sugar, and that he’s endangering his life with those choices. It all about freedom and choices. Right? It’s like that little discussion I had on FaceBook over Mayor Bloombergs attempt to ban the big super gulps of soda pop from being sold in New York city. So many people are upset about it, because they feel, he’s forcing them to behave in a certain way. But, the reality of it all is, that we’re told what to do everyday, with the rules and laws of society. We’re told how old we have to be to drink, how old we have to be to drive, how old we have to be to smoke, that we have to always drive on the right side of the road. We live in a culture of laws and rules. Without them, it would be total anarchy. And I don’t think, anyone wants to live that way. So, why not tell companies, that they can’t sell mega sized containers of pop? If the diabetics of this world are breaking the medical system, and the budgetary system, why should we let them to continue doing it? It affects me. It puts me at risk, it makes my life less secure. I think, it’s high time, that a stop is put to this sugar consumption. It’s not like the food companies will go out of business, the way they did with the cigarette companies. We still NEED to eat to survive … we don’t need to smoke cigarettes to survive. So, the food companies just need to be pushed in the direction of making healthy foods, and profiting from them. And, even if the bloomberg law had passed then so what? People that still wanted to drink gallons of soda pop per day could do that. They just have to buy multiple smaller containers. But, what it would do, is make news, and get people talking, and let people know, that it’s a bad idea to drink that much soda pop, and that they’re making themselves sick, and affecting other people in their country. It’s just not a individual choices that’s only affecting them. Just imagine how much better your country if everyone stopped being so sick. Just imagine, that people who are genuinely hurt and need help could get it right away, and from top class doctors. It’s a waste of doctors time treating these stupid kinds of diseases. It’s like cops and speeding tickets. That to me, is such a waste of very expensive personnel. Let them go chase bad guys, and protect people from idiots. Photo radar should be the gold standard for speed control on every major road. Let the policeman be policeman, and not nannys handing out speeding tickets. I don’t know why they ever got rid of that in Ontario. So stupid. Haven’t talked much about writing today. I am committed to 50K every three weeks with emily, so I do need to get to work on that. Stop painting yourself into corners with your stories. Be insanely creative, and think up crazy wacko things for your characters to do. Dream up bizzare situations for them to fall into and find a way out of it. Be creative creative CREATIVE! That’s what story tellers do. Have fun with it. It is fun, that’s why you want to do it. Go nuts, be crazy creative, and make your stories interesting for your readers. Death to the inner critic!!!

TIGERBLOOD: some DAILYMOOD: ok LOCATION: boat in bayfield WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: 2:15 plank TODO: hook up the wireless router TV: none BOOK: Scrivener For Writing A Novel GAME: none EXERCISE: walked down the beach WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: chicken, sweet potatoes, veggies DINNER: none SNACKS: orange, grapes ,apple, 2 lara bars, 2 naked bars ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:30 AWAKE: 8:00

 

Morning Pages Entry – June 17, 2014

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OK, so a little bit slow to the punch here this morning. Just a little tired this morning … that’s two mornings in a row, with less then six hours sleep. Not really a good idea, but I still seem to manage getting through the day. I sure, it’s a result of eating so good these days. Still don’t seem to be losing any weight, but I definitely feel pretty good. Maybe this summer, I’ll get up on the paddle board more often, and get myself into some better shape that way. I don’t think it’s going to be too tough, but we’ll see how it goes out there. I would like to take the paddle board out for longer treks, but not till the water gets warmer. I would like to see, how far out I can go, or maybe even just how far down the shore line. You can only walk so far down the beach, then it becomes impassable, so it would be sort of cool, to go further. It would, even be pretty cool, to go further up south along the shore line. You never walk that way for obvious reasons, but now, you can with the board. No point, in sticking to just your side of the pier. I wonder, how far I could go up the river as well. I’ve never been able to go past the bridge, with just the dingy, but with the board, obviously I can go much further then that. It could be a whole new summer of exploring. I wonder, how long, it would take me to go up the river. I should go with my heart rate monitor, and see exactly how may calories I burn up on the trek. That could be interesting. Just paddling along further and further. You should definitely wear a life jacket, if your going too far though. On a novel writing note yesterday, I did get a pretty decent cover mocked up yesterday. I’ll have to redo the whole thing today, since I just used a dummy image, that had a water mark on it, and there were a few things I did with the effects, that weren’t quite right along the upper and lower borders, but that’s no problem. I was pretty pleased with the look of the cover, for a first attempt. It all kind of fit together pretty well, and not bad for a guy with no cover design skills. I vetted it with the crew on the FaceBook Kindling group, and the consensus was that it was a pretty cool cover. There were a few good tweaks suggested, that I will implement, but other then those, and getting the paid image, it’s looking like a pretty cool cover. Here’s to hoping I can clean up the book a bit more, and make a go of it. I know, it’s not structured the best, and the pacing may be a little crappy, but if it’s enough to get a few readers hooked, I know the next few books will be really good. If it’s too terrible at some point, I can just rewrite the whole thing, or take it down altogether. We’ll see how it goes. Anyway, it turned out to be pretty good day. I played squash yesterday, which was likely a bad idea again, as my shoulder, is still killing me, but what the hell, I really wanted to get out there and play a bit more. Although, the smart move at this point, would be to just put the racquet away for the summer, and focus on the boat stuff … paddle boarding and all. That’s what I really want to spend my time doing this summer. Get into a good writing routine. See, if I can get this next book out on the shelves, and carry on from there. I would be nice to start cranking out a book every two or three weeks for the rest of the summer, and if I can do that working four hours a day, that would be even sweeter. We’ll see how things go. It’s going to be a lot more fun with the brothers here, if you can get that work done ahead of time. So, let’s get things in gear shall we. You do need to do a few edits I think, with the book when it comes back, but nothing too drastic. Maybe, even send it off again for another quick edit by Emily before publishing, or just read it yourself a few times out loud.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN: none (made a cover) PUSHUPS: 2:00 plank TODO: redo cover TV: game of thrones BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: squash WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: left over pork & eggs & tomato LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: steak, brocolli SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:15 AWAKE: 6:30

 

Morning Pages Entry – June 16, 2014

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Only five more days, and I get hit 200 days in a row, which of course, means another badge here on 750words.com. Not sure, which is more significant though the badge or the accomplishment. It’s pretty easy to do these words, but lately the journals seem harder to get started on. It’s like, I’m running out of meaningful things to say, but maybe I’m just over thinking the whole thing. Maybe I’ll just get back to the basics of what the whole thing is about. Yesterday, I did something new for the first time, and that was paddle boarding on the lake. Used the new paddle board that I got for my birthday and went up and down the lake. Everybody gave it a try. It was much easier then the one that I tried out last summer at Brenda and Als place, which was surprising. The one I tried out west was a cheap inflateable one, that wasn’t very stable. I think the one I have, is much wider, and of course, it’s solid plastic. Wayne gave me a few tips on proper paddling, but that’s going to take a while to get used to. It was the J sroke, which seemed a bit awkard, but I think if I do it for a week, I should get the handle on it pretty good. Think, I will start to do it every day while I’m up at the beach. That should be enough practice to get the hang of the J stroke. I was thinking, there are some things I can do to make the balance tougher as I do more of it. Moving my feet closer together would of course be the obvious thing. But, I could even do some simple yoga balance moves on it as well. It would be interesting to see if you can incorporate the paddle into the moves. I’ll have to look up some moves online. Even, something so simple as standing on one leg would be trickier. Of course, we should wait till the lake water warms up a bit. It was so friggin cold yesterday. I was pretty glad not to fall in at all. Just standing ankle deep to launch the board was numbing enough on the ankles. Everybody gave the board a try pretty much, except for Karen. Sam, Tom, Andy, Colleen, and Brian all did it. The boys of course found it pretty easy, and so did Sam. It has a certain relaxing quality to it. So, we’ll see, if this week that my editor has my novel finished. Although, she did say, it would take till the 23rd. That’s actually next Monday. Really looking forward to spending more time up at the boat, and working from up there. The change of scenery is always good for me. I should probably look at getting some covers done up this week as well. Either I do them myself … which is what I think I will do initially to start. I can get some good ones out there. Something like what Jeff Olah did with the Dead Years cover. There are good looking covers, but just using basic editing and some stock images. I think, it’s easier doing it for the apocalyptic genre then others, where you need like real people on the cover. I should just do one myself today, and see what it looks like. That one cover you did for “If I Had A Boat” looked pretty good. The trick, is just picking the right stock photo. I think, I have a good eye for that. We’ll give it a go. I should see if I can find the original image I did for that cover. I think, it may be on the laptop. Find a good stock image, and go from there. That may take a bit of looking around, but it shouldn’t be all that hard. Maybe, even just searching for free images on Google wouldn’t be a bad idea. There have been some interesting posts in the Kindling FaceBook page as of late. Lot’s of good information, with a few more successful writers. The group is becoming pretty mature. I need to get the next novel going as well. I think, the new structure I have laid out in Scrivener is going to help a bunch, and using the idea of brainstorming events (Islands) for fitting into the structure would be cool as well. It should certainly give you a better (more interesting) story for your readers this time.

TIGERBLOOD: yep DAILYMOOD: good LOCATION: home office WORDSWRITTEN: none PUSHUPS: none TODO: write, covers, outlining TV: none BOOK: none GAME: none EXERCISE: walking, stand up paddling WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: avacado, bell pepper DINNER: chili, bite of pork SNACKS: too many grapes, orange, almonds ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 12:30 AWAKE: 6:15

 

Morning Pages – April 13, 2014

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So, I do have a plan for moving forward. There is basically more backstory that needs to be written for the novel, before you really start editing. Primarily, so I’m clear on what’s going on, and can make sure that the novel moves forward in a logical manner, and obeys all the rules of the world it’s being written. I’m feeling a bit tired yesterday and today. I’m wondering, if maybe I’m not getting enough carbs in my diet these past few days to keep my energy up. I have backed off on the sugars for sure, but maybe a bit to much. You may have been sending yourself into ketosis inadvertently. Perhaps, it’s just an adjustment period. Don’t go overboard and compensate too much. Let it go for at least week I would say, and see how things are. It’s only been a few days. yesterday, for the first time since I finished my P90X days, I hit 170 pounds on the scale. Now, I know things may bounce around a bit for a while as they always do, but that’s definitely a good sign, to see things moving in that direction. I do think, I need to stop thinking about it so much. When I obsess about food a lot in my head, is when I usually eventually get into trouble with it. Yesterday, I actually had a few notions about eating things tht I really shouldn’t eat. But it doesn’t take much willpower to dismiss those feelings. It’s like, the further I’ve been from those kinds of food, and the longer it’s been since I’ve eaten them, then the easier it is to avoid them. And right now, being up to 46 days without eating processed foods or refined sugar is putting a far bit of distance between me and that crap. It’s a pretty good feeling. I know, that if I can keep this up, the it just becomes a waiting game, till I get to my target goal of 155 pounds. I’m really wondering what that will look like. It’s got to be good. It’s got to feel good as well. Which, is what I’m really going for. Just imagine how much easier you’ll move around and do things. Just imagine, how much clearer your head will be with that extra energy and enthusiasm flowing through you. I can’t wait to get there. I figure, that by the end of May I should be there. By the end of this month, I should be down to 165, then another month to get me to 155. Then, maintenance should be pretty simple. I don’t miss process sugar at the moment. I like last month, when I ate a lot of fruits and nuts, I simply maintained my 175 weight. I should then for the summer be able to maintain my weight of 155. That will be the next goal. To get back to the weight resistance training. Push ups, pull ups (I may actually be able to do some), squats (or wall sits), and my plank moves. A little something every day to keep you in the game. Playing a bit of squash through the summer would be good, but I’m not sure how that will go. I would like to do, maybe once a week. Maybe every time I’m home, I should get out and play a bit. At 155, I should be in pretty good shape. As long as I keep up the walking and the weights. That will be my main training things I think for the summer. I would like a real paddle board, but I’m not sure I’ll get around to that. I should look on kijiji or something, to see what I can find. Boat fixing time is coming up. I would really like to have that front window stop leaking. That’s a major pain in the ass for sure. I should just go up one weekend, and deal with it. Maybe Sam would come up and help me with it. While it’s under the tarp, is a good time to do it. Assuming, of course that the tarp stayed in place over the summer. And, that the caulking I bought last year is still good, after leaving it on the boat all winter. I suppose, there’s only one way to find out about that. Then we have to go along with all the grief of getting launched with the dragon lady. That should provide a bit of drama as always.

TIGERBLOOD: no DAILYMOOD: nuetral LOCATION: living room WORDSWRITTEN: 0 PUSHUPS: 2:30 wall sits TODO: read, write, relax TV: american horror story, sons of anarchy, wolf of wallstreet BOOK: none GAME: brothers, bitRunner EXERCISE: none WEIGHT: 170 BREAKFAST: bacon & eggs LUNCH: big ass salad DINNER: none SNACKS: orange, grapes ALCOHOL: none BEDTIME: 11:45 AWAKE: 7:15