Back to our Regularly Scheduled Routines

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?