Wednesday, July 3, 2013

What's Up Wednesday: Summer is BUSY Edition!


What's Up Wednesday is a meme started by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to bring reading and writing bloggers together once a week. Go to Jaime's blog to add your link and check out posts from other writers!


What I'm Reading
Somewhat embarrassingly, this hasn't changed much since last Wednesday.  I still have that book of Nora Ephron essays sitting on my nightstand, I'm still making my way through Who I Kissed, and I'm reading a few chapters of Little Women every day with my students from Queens (coincidentally, the new school where I'll be teaching in the mornings this year chose Little Women for their all-school summer reading this summer--woo!  They're also reading Ready Player One, which I'll have to bump up my list for sure now.)  I also just got a new MS to beta-read and when I started it yesterday I had to TEAR myself away from it to get to all my other tasks.


What I'm Writing


Still moving forward on the same WiP, although I missed a writing day Monday.  I had to pit and freeze six quarts of sour cherries (they only keep a few days in the fridge, and they have a very short growing season.  If I want cherries to bake with all year--which I do--I have to put them up NOW) that I bought at the farmers' markets on Saturday, and then I had a family dinner to go to up in Canada that was very probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience: a very, very important friend of my husband's family, who is 90 years old and lives in Israel, was in Canada for a wedding, so some of her family and some of my husband's family got together for dinner.  (To give you an idea of how important this woman is to them: one of my husband's aunts flew in from New York City, and the other flew in from Bermuda.)  Then the dinner lasted until 11pm, getting us home just before midnight.  So, worth it, but a hiccup in my goals.  This week, it should be business as usual, though: 750 words minimum on weekdays, with the challenge goal of 1000 words four out of five days.




What Else I've Been Up To
I'm still running!  This weekend at the gym, I smashed my previous mile time by about a minute, running/walking an extremely difficult (and fairly pathetic) 12:35 mile.   But the milestone I'm prouder of came yesterday, when I ran a full mile without stopping to walk at all, for the very first time in my entire life.  I'm fairly certain it came in well above the 12:35 time, although I don't usually time myself when I run outside so I'm not sure.  It was a slow pace, but I did it!  That was the first big goal I had set for myself with this new running and walking thing, so I'm feeling really good about that.  It took me 24 days to get there (with a few days off sprinkled in) from...pretty much from nothing.  From not even being able to run all the way around the block (.41 miles) once.  (Oh, and I also hit my goal of 26.2 miles, or one marathon, from June 9th to the end of the month.  This month, I'm shooting for two.) 


What Inspires Me Right Now
 
In both running and writing, I love that I have found friends online who are far ahead of me in their journeys.  I feel so lucky to be able to follow along behind them, watching as they achieve goals and hit milestones that are way far in my future if I get there at all.  Yes, of course, there are the occasional twinges of "I wish I could do that," or "I wish that was happening to me," but more often it makes me feel like these far-off goals are in reach, and I'm happy to have such successful, knowledgeable guides.  Plus, it makes my current goals seem so much more doable: if I have friends who are running 150 miles a month or more, I have no excuse for not being able to do a mile or two every day.  If I have friends who are querying and getting agents and going on submission, I can put my butt in the chair and keep putting words on paper.  Right?
What's up with you?

19 comments:

  1. Congrats on running so much!

    ...that's a lot of cherries O_O Wow! Good luck with your writing this week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! (I know I'm gonna wind up getting a ton of cherries again this week. Sigh. I can't resist!)

      Delete
  2. You had another really busy week! Congrats on running a mile without stopping. I can't run really anymore without feeling like I'm dying, so I'm very impressed! You're right about feeling inspired by our online friends and the things they're tackling and achieving. And as for your writing goals, you're kicking them out of the park. You're doing so, so well and your story is really good! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks :) I just wish the running was as fun as the writing, or the writing was as simple as the running :)

      Delete
  3. Jess! I'm so proud of you for your running progress! It only gets easier, and I bet you'll be shocked at how quickly you improve. A few years ago I couldn't run a mile without stopping, and now I feel like a bum if I don't run every day. I hope it continues to go well for you!

    And best of luck with your writing (and reading!) in the coming week. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow--I just pictured you as some kind of life-long athlete! It's really encouraging to see how far you've gotten so quickly!

      Delete
  4. Oh my gosh, pitting cherries takes forever. I can remember doing that as a kid after we went down to the cherry festival in Traverse City, Michigan. They're so good though! Sounds like you've had another very busy week! And considering your husband's aunt flew all the way from Bermuda for this special dinner, I think it's probably fine that you took the day off from writing. Good luck with your book club, writing, and running goals! (You're doing awesome with running, by the way! I'm choosing to ignore my treadmill still)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really does take ages! I actually love doing it, because it means I get to take several hours out of my day and sit down in front of Netflix while I work, but in busy weeks like this one it really gobbles up the time! (But they're so good!)

      Delete
  5. Your inspiration section is great :) High fives on your running milestones! Keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow, congrats on the running milestone!
    I have a bucket of sour cherries sitting in my fridge right now...ugh. Thanks for the reminder, I guess? ;)
    Your writing goals look so good; only missing one day is fantastic! Plus, it sounds like you had some really good reasons for it. Hope you have a wonderful writing week!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, cherries are definitely time intensive--but so good! Good luck with your bucketful!

      Delete
  7. I love canning and jamming :) fruit, but why does it always take so long to clean and prepare it? Doesn't seem fair. Congratulations on your running! That's amazing. And that dinner sounds amazing - definitely worth a day off of writing. Good luck in hitting those goals this week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to find a good time to make sour cherry jam...we have no air conditioner and it does heat up the kitchen. But it's so tasty and makes such a lovely gift!

      Delete
  8. I love how you worded your inspiration. It's how I feel many days and it is sometimes what keeps me going and keeps me believing that I can do it too. Well said!

    Also, sounds like you had a lovely weekend, even if it was a slight hiccup in the goals. You'll get back on track! I hope you have a wonderful productive week!

    ReplyDelete
  9. WOOT! CONGRATS on your AWESOME running achievement!!! Seriously, that's really fantastic! In no time you'll be running 3 miles like it's nothing.

    And yay for cherries! You're right, there's a short window...gotta grab them while you can.

    Good luck with your writing goals this week.
    Hugs,
    Lola

    ReplyDelete
  10. WOW! I'm super impressed at your running progress. I HATE RUNNING but I, too, am inspired by all of our running friends. I think the last time I ran a mile would have been sometime in the early 90s. I've decided to start walking on a regular basis again, though, and I started this morning.

    Wow, that is a lot of cherries. Yum. Good luck with your goals - have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Congrats on hitting a running milestone! That's awesome. I want to get back into running. I've had the goal of running a 5K for a while now. I've been using the Couch to 5K program and just need to finish it!

    THANK YOU again for beta-ing my MS. I can't wait to hear what you think!!

    I'm also super inspired by my agented and published writer friends. They help motivate me to keep going!

    Good luck with your writing goals this week! Hope you had a nice 4th of July. :)

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for coming by! Please chime in!