check in

It's not quite the end of the month, but I decided to go ahead and do my check-in tonight. It has been almost 3 months with no TV. Has it been worth it? Am I accomplishing what I hoped?

It has definitely been worth it. But I am still not accomplishing all I hoped. I think I need yet a little more structure and planning.

On the fitness front, I am not happy. I have managed to lose about 8 pounds, but I have 20 more to go and Sept 21 is fast approaching. I think I need to enlist the help of a professional. I have a friend who is a fitness trainer and I am going to ask him to help me come up with a fitness routine/schedule/plan. Next week I will begin working a later shift on Mon and Tues so my start times will be consistently later. If I can get myself into the routine of working out before I start my work day, I think it will really help. Any suggestions on how to get and stay motivated? I'll take any and all help in that department.

On the writing front, I am making slower progress than I hoped. I have managed to write almost every day either here, or journaling, but I am making no headway on the fiction novel idea. I'm thinking I should start out with something smaller perhaps, as a novel just seems too daunting at this point. Maybe I could do the character sketches for the novel as short projects, then work on writing short stories about each and eventually use that material to create the basis of the book. I am reading a good book write now called "How to Write What You Love". The author says this about finding time to write, "...if you use only two hours per day, Monday through Friday, you could develop into a working professional writer within one year without interrupting anything in your already established routine." Well, I've already cleared out the two needed hours per day by cutting out TV. Now the challenge is to spend those two hours writing and writing with purpose. I like a lot of the suggestions he makes and I think I'm going to start trying to put them to use.

I'm feeling quite scared and vulnerable right now-with a host of thoughts running through my brain about putting so much effort into something and hoping for a specific result, but having the possible outcome be finding out I'm not good enough? What if the raw material, the talent, just isn't there? I guess I'll never know if it is or it isn't until I put my full effort into. And if it isn't, at least I can say I followed my dream. At least I can say I gave it my best shot. Right?