A Time For Everything

 

The list is to the right, second widget down...

Of eight items, I fulfilled the spirit or the letter of exactly ONE goal.

Yikes. It sounds bad. It is bad, I suppose.

Let's hit them one by one in order.

1) Writer to my grandma in Denmark.-- I probably hit 7 months out of 12. Not great.

--> DO BETTER JEN.

2) Cook and eat better. -- My intent was to get back to eating healthier with green veggies at least three times a week. That did not happen. But DH went to the doctor and received some warnings based on blood work. So guess what--now I have way more incentive to make this happen and keep him around a bit longer.

--> MUST DO BETTER.

3) Lose 8lbs and 4". -- I started the year at 126lbs and ended it at 118lbs. That is exactly 8lbs. I swing between 115 and 118. The four inches didn't happen since I basically fell off the wagon at Thanksgiving and will be enjoying food through New Years. Four inches--ha. I probably increased by one or two, truth be told.

--> Back on the wagons come January.

4) Publish 2 books, possibly 3. -- Hockey books 2, 3, and 4 came out this year as did a box set of the first 3... bear in mind book 2 was written last year. Books 3 & 4 were written this year.

--> DO IT AGAIN JEN.

5) Complete a household project. -- Yeah, due to covid, that home gym didn't come to its full potential. Don't get me wrong, I have the equipment and I use it. I just wanted to dress the space up with a new TV (so I can watch yoga videos and DH can watch whatever) and some thick floor mats for aerobics or yoga.

--> Maybe this year.

6) Exercise twice daily. -- I traded in the morning workout for more writing time. Yoga before bed was pretty consistent for a while. Then things happened and I stopped.

--> Re-evaluate my needs and my available time and come up with a new plan.

7) Really learn plotting. -- I took a handful of classes throughout the year and I learned that I'm pretty familiar with the plotting process. Most of the classes I took had a goodly amount of sameness. What I did learn is that there's something else keeping me from writing better faster. I'm on a new trail to figuring out what's holding me back. More on that in January.

--> Find the real issue holding me back. 

...and last but not least...

8) Brainstorm characters and plot arcs for new series. -- Yeah. no. Didn't do that this year, but it's already penciled in, in my 2021 planner to work on one character a week. It's a six-book series, so that means twelve characters minimum, because two romantic leads per book, and then there's a handful of characters who will have background story arcs and show up in each book, so they'll need some fleshing out as well. I'm not sure I'll have 53 characters all told, but at least it'll be done. Once I'm done with character arcs, I can work on plot arcs...

--> Carry this one over and, you know, actually do it.

Might have to think about the ones I'm planning to carry over and come up with more of a plan to actually accomplish them.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, however you chose to spend it.

Have a great week.

 

 Rest in peace Sean Connery and Alex Trebek.

Sean Connery isn't my favorite James Bond, but he was the first and made the character the icon he is. His and Daniel Craig's versions are the only ones I like.

As for Alex Trebek--game show icon for decades. The world will be a dumber place.

2020 has really kicked the crap out of us.

Hope you had a lovely weekend aside from the Trebek news.

Here's hoping the week is a good one.

 

We got the win...

  

...and we're headed for the Stanley Cup Finals!!!

 The boys will get a much needed extra few days to rest and then it'll be on to the Finals.

And just for shits and giggles...we used to see this clip in the arena during games but not often anymore...and I miss it.

Have a great week. Wheeeeee!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Our boys in Victory Green won last night in spectacular fashion, going from 3 goals down to 4 goals ahead for a 7-3 victory over the Calgary Flames, which allowed them to advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the process, they set a couple of records, not just for the franchise, but within the NHL as a whole.

Their second round match-up is the Colorado Avalanche, a team who is on a tear, but whom we beat every time we faced them in the regular season. Now the regular season was a million years ago and the Avs have their star players playing like stars (unlike our star players), so I don't know how much those wins mean now.

On the other hand, we don't have to face the St. Louis Blues for whom we have some sort of mental block--they knocked us out last in year in double overtime of Game 7 in round two. Depending on what happens in their game tonight--we may not have to face them at all... Of course, if we don't get past the Avs, it won't matter.

Sooooo, say it with me:

Have a great weekend!!

My October conference has been officially canceled due to COVID-19. A lot of attendees had already canceled and the organizers just didn't want to chance anyone getting sick during the five-day event, so they worked with the hotel to move the con to the following year.


Normally, the conference moves locales each year, but due to circumstances and the legalities of a contract with a hotel, it's my understanding that we'll be in St. Louis for the next two years. I could be wrong and it'll just be next year in St. Louis, but staying with the same hotel chain for the second. I don't know and I'm not worried about it at this point.

I'm bummed that I won't get to see a friend of mine that I haven't seen since my first GRL in  Denver in 2017, but on the other hand I'll no longer have the travel and hotel on the books this year and I may even show a profit!

The other bonus is that I can push the publication date of this current WIP out by a month, which I'm going to do. I've been struggling with it and the loss of that pressure to get it done will definitely help.


I've been wondering about a thing for a while and this weekend, I finally found out.

The thing I've been wondering is...can I fit into clothes for teenagers and little girls? I so often see so many cute things--not that I would everything, of course. But the answer is...

Yes.

DD and I were in Target on Saturday and I saw these two really cure dresses and I can fit into a size 16 for girls. My height is the X factor here. Since I'm so short, nothing will be too short or too long!

Look how cute! The blue one is like a button down shirts with a skirt and the red is like a polo with a skirt.




Hope you had a wonderful weekend!

The world is grinding to a halt as the Corona Virus does its thing and yet we must carry on with life as best we are able. It's an interesting contrast.

All major sports seasons and events are or, I imagine, will be canceled or suspended. Conferences of all kinds are also being canceled. I get it. Slow the spread as much as possible so that medical facilities aren't overwhelmed, although it might a little late on that front. I want my hockey teams safe and healthy and I don't want sick people in general, but I'm really bummed the season was canceled.


I'm also nervous about the impacts across the globe, across the nation, and across the various industries; what the ripple effect is going to be.

Unfortunately, the only thing I can do is stay home--which I mostly do--and keep myself and my family out of harm's way.

It's really terrible to learn and to understand how spectacularly the infrastructure of our country has failed us. Yes, there have been people predicting something like this for years, but no one took it seriously enough to act or prepare.

I hate to imagine what the landscape of society will look like by the end of 2020.

Sorry for the downer post, but just posting all my vacation pictures without acknowledging the world-wide crisis would leave the wrong impression.

Anyway, have a safe and educational weekend--meaning, stay tuned to what's going on and take the utmost precautions you can.

It's official. I have signed up for GRL 2020. As the blog post title suggests, it's in St. Louis. A city that I can drive to and that has a hockey team. Had it not had both of those things going for it, I might have opted to not go this year.


I also decided to up my attendance tier...only that tier sold out within 11 minutes and now I'm on a waiting list. The tiers are for readers, authors, and featured authors. I've been a "mere" author for the last two years and decided to up my visibility.

As a featured author, I'll be able to participate in one of the hourly panels (there are 2 options, Q&A or Storyteller Series), I'll get a second lounge slot, and I'll get to participate in the Saturday book signing as opposed to the Thursday morning book signing.

"Lounges" are time slots where you set up shop at a table in the areas outside the rooms the panels are being held in with books and swag in order to visible and to meet people and get your books in the hands of potential new readers / fans. I learned that I get more visibility if I sign up at certain times and get a slot close to a more well-known author.

Either way, I get to see and room with my good friend Char who introduced me to this conference in the first place.

Now, if I get a slot as a featured author, the question becomes: do I do a Q&A or do I attempt to submit a proposal for a Storyteller Series presentation? I'll be brainstorming possible topics which A) I know something about and B) would (hopefully) be of interest to enough people. I'm leery of the Q&A as I don't think well on my feet, but do I have any sort of pertinent knowledge of interest....?

The good thing is...I have time to ponder / brainstorm. The conference isn't until October.

Hope you're having a great week.

I love routines. I'm definitely a creature of habit. Now that the holidays have passed and almost everyone is back to work and possibly school, life and society can return its usual ebbs and flows.

That means it's also time for me to get back on the handful of wagons I fell off starting back in, oh, October. (yikes)

The wagons would include the exercise wagon, the writing/publishing/working on books wagon, the no-carb wagon, and the getting up early wagon.

All of those things listed above work in concert. If I'm not getting up early, I don't have time to exercise or to work on various aspects of my writing/publishing. And if I'm eating way too many carbs, exercise will not be as effective as it could be.

That's not to say I haven't been exercising...I have mostly been riding the exercise bike, but all that does is burn calories so that I don't gain too much weight in the wake of all the carbs I've consumed.

So here are, in no particular order, my goals for 2020:

• Reduce body fat/lose inches--this weekend I got on the scale for an official weigh-in, took a tape measure to my waist and drew some lines on my belly and took pictures. I know what my starting point is for the year, and my targets are a loss of 8 pounds and 4 inches at the waist; the hip measurement should follow.
• Write and publish two books in addition to the book that's already written and on schedule to be published in an anthology in February as well as coming out on its own in May. The other two books will also be anthology length (10K to 15K) and be part of other anthologies. That seems to be my speed for now, although I would like to get back to writing longer books. To that end, I need to do two other things:
• Really learn to plot--I know the basics. I've read enough books over the last decade, but there's a disconnect somewhere in my brain between knowing, understanding, and actual application of concepts. So I'm gonna take some classes and maybe try to find some writer friends who might be willing to tutor me through the process of plotting a book or two. I know this should be more specific, like 3 classes or 5 classes, so that it's measurable, but I may not really grasp things after only three classes. This one will have to be considered achieved when I feel satisfied and confident in my skills moving forward.
• Brainstorm the characters and book plots of a series I've been percolating for at least three years now. I've got most of the characters, their names and jobs/careers, as well as their relationships to one another figured out. But I need to really define their roles in the grand scheme of the series as well as figure out the arcs for each book (which goes back to the plotting issue).
• Decide on and complete one household project--I'm leaning toward getting the garage turned more into a function home gym, but I'll need to confer with DH on this, although I don't think he's gonna have an issue with it. I'll get back to you with the details.
• Cook and eat better--more fish again, at least once a week; more chicken again, at least once a week; green veggies, and salads; drink at least 60 ounces of water a day; more protein in general; smaller, more frequent meals.
• Exercise twice a day--this would be a regular workout in the morning, every morning, and a yoga routine in the evening before bed, except for game days.
• Send my grandmother in Denmark a postcard every month--this is one of those things that's been on the list consistently for years and I just can't seem to get my act together. BUT. With the new bullet journal and planner I should be able to do a better job remembering. I'm going to find 12 postcards and address them and stamp them. That way, all I have to do is pull one out, write a little note and drop it in the mail.

Not the ten I usually strive for, but if I think of something, I can amend the list.

The list is posted to the left, so I have an place to easily find it. It's also in the bullet journal and planner.

Have you set your goals for the new year?

May 2020 be filled with good memories and prosperity for all of us. Whatever that means to you, best wishes on achieving it.

I do not yet have my list of goals ready for you. I took a break from thinking about it for a couple of days because, well, I had no choice. On New Years Eve, as you know, I help hubster sell fireworks. And on New Years Day this year, as you also know, I attended the NHL's Winter Classic. And it was...in a word:


That's not to say there weren't issues for people, I was just lucky enough to have not encountered them, except once, and it was bound to happen with 10s of thousands of people in once place.
First of all, there were officially 85,630 in attendance, the second best Winter Class attendance on record. Venue plays a part, of course, but considering the initial number of tickets they made available was only 60K, the packed house was fantastic. No one expected the response we got in a non-traditional hockey market--but whomever makes the decision, smartly decided to open up the rest of the seats and we had a sold-out Cotton Bowl Stadium.

And the weather which is always a crap shoot in Texas this time of year--and one of the biggest concerns--cooperated. Cloudy skies, 54* at puck drop shortly after 1pm, and no rain.

But enough of the blather. Here are, as promised, pictures:










Have a great weekend and all the best in the coming year!!

It hasn't been a bad year. In fact, it's been quite good in many respects if just plain busy--too busy for my liking. It sped by much too fast, as I've whined about often. But I'm glad it's coming to a close if only so that I can plan for being less busy at some point in 2020.

In years past, I've graded myself on the accomplishment of my goals as listed to the right, but I'm not going into details this year. I'm giving myself Ds and Fs across the board. I didn't do well at all at much of anything.

Now, I'm not sure if I post my goals for the new year prior to or following New Years Eve & Day, but this year they're coming after. I've been thinking about them, but I haven't got the specifics nailed down yet, so probably next week. I know--you can't wait. :0)

My Christmas was good, how about yours? As we do, we gathered at my in-laws home for Christmas Eve. Food was delicious as always, company was a treat, and gifts were awesome. I got the two things I wanted most, so whee... Thank you to my mother-in-law and sister-in-law for those.

And then, I got a thing I would have wanted had I come across it myself. Whether I would have bought it for myself depends entirely on the price, although I'm thinking, considering the giver, I could afford it.

Anyway, it is priceless gift for several reasons, and one I'll love and treasure for years.

Are you curious?

Okay, well, here it is:


In case it's hard to tell, it's a matted collectible photo of Sidney Crosby--my absolute favorite player--three-time Stanley Cup champion, kissing the Stanley Cup in June of 2017. That was the second of back-to-back titles--the Penguins also won in 2016. That was the first time it'd happened since 1997/1998.

Thank you, Kayla, for this gift--you're a girl after my own hockey-loving heart. 

 So dear readers, may the new year bring peace, joy, and prosperity to you and your families.

See you in 2020.

I'm thinking about trying the Bullet Journal system for being more organized and more productive. It looks to be the advanced version of my general list making and requires a little more pre-planning and forethought and organization.


That's not a bad thing, but is it going to be more trouble than it's worth? I have one friend who uses a physical journal but has tweaked it to suit her needs and I have another friend who is more electronically minded.

Now I'm all for electronic but there's something to be said for grasping a concept with a physical book, tweaking it to my needs, and then going virtual. Possibly. Depending on my needs and the tweaks--going virtual might be "out of sight, out of mind." And I'm thinking this might also help me get back on track with daily tasks.



I have yet another friend who uses the happy tracker. She has a physical notebook with printed pages, sorted into various categories, and she rewards herself with stickers on the days / for the tasks she completes. I did that for a while and it worked for me as well, so I'm thinking I could combine the concepts.

Which means going virtual might not be the best option because if that journal--whatever form it takes, and right now it's a composition book I had lying around--is not in front of me, reminding me to open it, to read it, to look ahead, to plan, and to reward with stickers, then it might not happen. And that would defeat the whole purpose.

This year has flown past and the beginning of next year is going to be busy, busy, busy, and I feel like I could use some help in staying on top of all the moving parts.

And so here is the beginning of my journal...



I doubt I'll get too artsy with it...some people like to do decorate their journals, and whatever works for them. But for me it's wasted time. I'd rather be reading. :0)

It's an interesting concept and we'll see how it works for me.

Have a great weekend...

If you said hockey, you'd be correct. It's been a month, almost to the day. :0)

So let's see...

There has been some big news around the League specifically regarding the Dallas Stars...

Let's start with the bad. On Dec. 28, the Stars CEO went on a profanity laden tirade, calling out the  franchise's two highest paid players. Fans of the Stars as well as of hockey in general were divided on how they felt about it. Discipline in private, praise in public was a statement heard often on my various social media platforms. That his harangue was directed at two guys specifically was ridiculous. As frustrated as the organization is, top to bottom, with the lack of post-season appearances, so are fans.


But it's a team effort. Of course the two-highest paid / best players should be playing better, but they need guys around them who can play too and the team has been plagued by injuries and, if not for one of the best goal-tending duos in the League, the Stars wouldn't even be in the playoff hunt at all. Not only that, but the General Manager has had more misses than hits in gathering the right players around his faces-of-the-franchise. So most of us agree the scrutiny needs to be at all levels, not just ice level.

 Now onto the good stuff!

It was announced during the second intermission of this year's Winter Classic, that the 2020 Winter Classic--one of several outdoor games each season and played on New Years Day--is coming to Dallas. To be played in the Cotton Bowl specifically. Woo Hoo!! I AM SO THERE. Provided the tickets don't cost hundreds or more dollars each of course.

On Wednesday, members of this year's NHL All Star teams were announced and the Star's amazing, brilliant rookie, Miro Heiskanen was selected to go. Suffice it to say, he's been on fire since the beginning of the season and stepped up in a big way when our #1 defenseman was out for six weeks with a hand injury. This is a 19-year-old from Finland who took the lower level hockey world by storm for the last few years. Now he's making a name for himself at the highest levels.



Also on Wednesday, DD and I attended our first game of the year and the boys won!! And tonight, DH, DD, Sonshine and I are all going and it's going to be a blast. I love watching hockey with Sonshine. I love going to games with DD. And I love DH for getting me the tickets in the first place. :0)

So have a great weekend and let's meet back here on Monday.