When I’m not writing I’m…

…working out, or at least that’s the case for my Monday – Friday “work hours.” Outside of that, Matt and I have been rebuilding a social life in Seattle piece by piece and that’s coming along nicely. We’ve already met a lot of amazing new people, gotten a D&D group going, and I’ve found a writing group.

I’m beginning week three of a ten week fitness challenge at my gym. The competition judges you in three areas: attendance, body transformation, and performance improvement. I think I’ve been doing well in all three areas so far.

Attendance:

I’ve been going five days per week and done four classes per week. I keep saying that if my Sunday is free at 10:30, I’m going to do yoga Sunday to add a sixth day/fifth class (and some much needed focus on stretching). So far, though, Sunday at 10:30 has not been free.

Body transformation:

I’ve lost around 3-4 pounds (always hard to tell exactly with fluctuating water levels). Weight doesn’t really matter, though, as we are judged at body fat %. My body fat % started at 25.4, which is just outside of a normal/healthy range for a woman. I’m hoping it ends up around 23, but I won’t really know until I get back into that dunk tank. I can only trust that if my weight is either staying the same or going down, my body is burning fat and converting it to muscle.

Performance:

I can’t really retest myself in agility, but I have been doing circuit training Fridays in the hopes it helps me there. My strength has already improved dramatically, though. I’ve increased in every muscle group, and the specific strength women in the competition are being judged on is legs (men arms). I’ve done from 9 reps of 210 max out in my first test to doing 12 reps of 230 max out today.

Endurance is again hard to say, as the test is based on only 20 minutes on the bike so I pushed myself a lot harder than I do in my hour spin class. But my spin instructor stopped me Thursday to comment on how much it looked like I’ve improved, and I have increased my gears. I started out doing a flat road at gear 10, and I now do it at 11. My max on climbing is still about the same though (18/19 standing climb, depending on the day). I averaged 204 watt output during the starting endurance test, so I am trying to get that up to a 230 average.

And though it’s not part of the fitness challenge, I’ve been doing “#plankaday” and my current best plank is 150 seconds.

Diet:

My diet was already pretty top notch (save for my weekend and, in my opinion, completely necessary cheats), so the only change I have made is to try to move some calories out of dinner and put them in a mid-afternoon meal. This is usually when I am elbow deep in writing, so I’ve had a hard time remembering, but I’ve been doing pretty well at it.

My Writing Group Personal Ad

I’m on the lookout for a writing group in the Seattle area. It would be helpful if it were nearish to Green Lake, since I don’t always have access to a car, but I can be flexible. It would be especially helpful if this group included writers of fantastical literature, as that’s most of what I write. I do write real world fiction occasionally, but most of my work is some brand of irreal. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t fit at all into a group that focused on literary fiction. I consider my writing to have strong literary elements and sensibilities, even when it takes place within unreal settings. I’m also most interested in a group with serious focus toward publication and not writing as a personal vehicle toward exploration of self. That’s not to say I won’t be respectful for those who write for those reasons, but those are not my reasons. I write to tell stories to engage audiences and move their hearts and minds to new places. If I’m not engaging you, I want to know it, and I want to know why. I have extensive experience workshopping and critiquing. I can dish it out as well as take it.

So anyway, I’m really open to any group of serious writers out there who want to read and critique. I just know I’m at my best when I’m engaged in the discussion of my craft regularly with others. I’m also happy to bake wonderful treats for our meetings.

PS: If you are a writer who is also looking for a group, maybe we can start something.

 

UPDATE:

Went to a writing group this past Saturday and really enjoyed the discussion/manuscripts, so I have found a home.

Meet: Gert

I am currently working on a book called Gert and the Dream Hunters. I wanted to give you a small glimpse into the protagonist, Gert, and a little peek at the project. I’ve made some huge movement on this book this week, getting close to finishing Act 1. I’ve been mulling this book for about three years. I’d done a decent bit of work about two years ago on it, then only poked at it every so often once most of my creative energy began being poured into Rift.

Without further ado, the first scene of the prologue.

Prologue - A Very Ordinary Girl

Gert was a very ordinary girl. She lived in a very ordinary house in a very ordinary town, and she had very ordinary parents. Her father sold insurance, and her mother taught high school Chemistry. Dinner was always eaten between six and eight, consisting of a healthy mix of all the food groups some nights and a not so healthy mix of macaroni and octopus hot dogs on others. On an average of three times per week, dinner ended with dessert.

She watched TV on Saturdays and after school, and then it was time for homework before dinner, and then sometimes the family watched a movie or played a game. Whenever this family time ended, she retreated to her room early to enjoy her books or what toys she didn’t quite feel too old for yet. There were fewer and fewer of those every day, and sometimes she looked longingly to the chest where the others were stowed away to gather dust.

Gert had shoulder length, very straight brown hair, large round glasses, a small spray of freckles, and dressed mostly in white, brown, gray, and blue. Her mother bought the majority of her clothes, but she found that even when given a choice, she always picked the same things her mother would have anyway. Sometimes she stole glances at the costume section and the other girls springing from changing rooms wearing purple tutus that dazzled the eye, but not for very long. Now and then, she wouldn’t look away quickly enough and one of the girls would meet her gaze, responding with a delighted crinkle of the nose and sometimes even a pointed tongue. This made Gert’s cheeks turn the colors of tomatoes, and discouraged further peeking.

She was not bad at school, but she was not good either. She received high marks in reading, but could not pass a spelling test to save her life. She had a good grasp of arithmetic, but multiplication eluded her entirely. Her ability to work in groups was always marked satisfactory; she never took the lead, but she did her part and was able to follow directions. She had a few friends but was not considered popular, and certainly never picked first at kick ball. She was bestowed the nickname of “Dirt” in the kindergarten, and it was often accompanied by the chant:

“Gert, Gert! Plain as dirt!”

Even at night, tucked between flannel sheets and her grizzly bear quilt, she simply could not escape the painful ordinariness of her life. You see, Gert did not dream. Or if she did, she could never remember her dreams in the morning. She liked to think—privately, mulling on the hallway window seat—that they escaped from her head like butterflies; too thin wings failing to keep them from being caught in a wind and swept out and over the window sill before she woke.

But when the sky was overcast, or she failed a spelling test, or her mother made her a ham and cheese sandwich when all she wanted was peanut butter and banana—which was, in truth, most days—she simply did not believe she dreamed at all.

Oh, to be so dreadfully ordinary, and to not even dream of anything else!

Gert could imagine no fate so terrible as hers.

Halloweeen!

It’s been a fantastic Halloween. I had a scary short story published over at Every Day Fiction:

http://www.everydayfiction.com/count-to-a-thousand-by-lindsay-morgan-lockhart/

Shenanigans have involved an epic barcrawl through the city, a maze at the Winchester Mystery House, and a party with all my coworkers!

I almost gave up on the Jean Grey costume and so glad I did not. Finally, I found a dress close enough to alter it to make it just right.

 

Introducing: the Pyro

I finally completed the pyro plushie for my top donator!

He was tough. I had to throw out the first head I made and start again. I started off making him way too small. It would have been easier if he were big. But, it was a tough project and I’m still happy with how it turned out.

5 Years in Games

As of September 1st, I’ve been in the game industry now for five years as a professional. I was reminded today, looking for a document in my writing folder, that I briefly worked not-professionally on a MUD when I was 14. I found a document full of room descriptions. This was my GM room:

Cerise’s Tower

The tower stands nearly as high as the clouds, looking below onto everything, with walls made entire of leaded crystal. The view is breathtaking: fields, mountains, rivers, cities, all are stretched out on all sides of it. During storms, one can watch them travel across the plains or crash around you. Protected by a wall of magic, they give the visitor nothing to fear. In the center of the room, a bed is sunk deep into the ground. Soft cushions of deep green velvet are scattered upon it amongst deep blue blankets in a variety of materials. On one side of the room a waterfall runs down the windows outside before cascading down through the sky toward the ground. On a desk of polished mahogany rest scattered parchments and a peacock quill pen. Next to it a bookcase houses books of forgotten lore, philosophy, epics, poetry, and every other type of book imaginable. On the other side of the desk a white tiger dozes, his majestic head resting between his paws.

Look Bed:

Blankets ranging from cotton to silk to homespun wool, all in shades of deep blue, are scattered in a disordered fashion on this comfortable looking bed.

Look Desk:

The wood is carved in intricate, flowering designs.

Look Parchment:

You steal a glance at a parchment. The words are written sloppily and dotted with ink, the product of a fierce desire to get the words onto the paper. The words themselves are careful and concise, obviously the product of a devoted heart.

Look Tiger:

His sleek white coat is disturbed only by thick black stripes. His long tail curls around his muscled body in its state of repose. One golden eye remains open at all time, following you with every step you take.

Fundraising Round-Out

I had nine awesome sponors and ended up raising 621 dollars! Hopefully, I get this novella polished up and into an ebook so I can get them all a copy. It is my continued goal to do so!

My top sponsor was my lovely boyfriend who forgot how prolific I am when he made his pledge. He already owns the Bender plushie you see in my Deviantart, so the plushie is going to my next highest sponsor. She has asked for the pyro from TF2, so that’s my project.

Final Update for the Write-a-thon

I managed to finish off a chapter and also my 40k words before getting going with the rest of my day. Huzzah! It was quite a ride, write-a-thon. I’ll see you next year.

New words: 2280

Final words: 40106

 

http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=6972

Update for 8/6

It’s the last day of the write-a-thon. It’s been a great deal of fun, and I’ve raised some money for a good cause. I wish I hadn’t slowed so much in the last two weeks, but I was going through a rough patch and didn’t have any creative energy left after work to sit down and write. Still, last night I blazed through an important sequence of scenes, writing until 1 Am and producing 5696 words.

I hope to find some time today to finish off the last two thousand words I need for 40k, but I’m not too stressed about it. I made my goal. Just because I decided to make a second even more ambitious goal once I did that doesn’t mean I’m going to feel like any sort of failure. I think I should have time to write a little more, but my day is fairly packed, so we’ll see.

One last time, I’m going to ask you to go donate for a good cause!

http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-writerpage.php?writerID=6972

New words: 5696

Total words: 37,826

Update for 7/29

I haven’t written much since Monday. It has been one of the worst weeks I have had in a very long time, and I mostly just exercised and o when I was home. It’s a good thing I did so much then. I finally did some today. Not many, but something.

New words: 926

Total words: 32130