Kez's Achievements in 2012

What about me? How did I go in 2012?

Quite well, thanks for asking!

I continued with my Defendo training, graded up to orange belt and attended a weapon's defence course and a Jujitsu seminar. I lost about 7kg over the year and am down to my ideal weight. I still need to tone more but baby steps.

I FINISHED WRITING MY BOOK! I think that was my biggest achievement for the year! I kept meeting with my wonderful writer's group who keep me going.

I also did several online writing courses, and attended the RWA conference at the Gold Coast where I learnt heaps and had a great time. I served on the RWA Committee.

I started Italian lessons and will continue those this year.

So yeah, it's been a pretty good year :)

Welcome to 2013

*testing* *testing*

Is anyone still out there?

Sorry for disappearing - I didn't realise it had been a month since I posted. Ooops. Blame Facebook - I post photos on there and forget to put them on my blog.

So what's been happening? Did you all have a good Xmas and New Year?

We had a great couple of weeks up at Stuarts Pt - lovely weather so lots of the following:

Eagle-eyed friends may actually realise that yes, that is me on the ski biscuit! My words for the year are leap / risk / take a chance. It was meant to relate to my writing, but I've decided to relate it to the rest of my life as well!

Speaking of writing - while up at Stuarts Pt, I finished editing my novel so that it actually hung together properly, with decent pacing, emotion etc. And just in time, as last Sunday I got an email telling me that I had made it through to the 2nd round of the Emerald writing competition! Much squeeing and OMG!ing ensued! What that meant was that I had 5 days to send off the full manuscript for the next round of judging - 3 copies printed and posted. The top 3 will go in front of an editor from St Martins Press, so its a pretty big deal to get through.

I spent 3 intense days polishing and repolishing my manuscript until I was sick of the sight of it. When I couldn't bear to look at it a moment longer, I figured it was time to send it in. So it's gone, and I need to put it out of my mind for a few months. In the meantime, I've asked a writer friend who I trust to give me an honest opinion, to have a look at it and tell me if it's ready for submission. And now onto book 2.

We really haven't been anywhere much or done anything much since we got back. My thoughts are now turning to the new school year and getting back into routine.

Merry Xmas to all..

Christmas Eve in Australia...  It's 38 degrees C (ie HOT!), I'm sitting here in tank top and shorts sweltering...

We had "christmas lunch" with Pete's side of the family yesterday - the kids spent most of the day in the pool.

We'll open family presents tonight, Billy and I will watch some of the broadcast Carols by Candlelight while making Christmas crackers to go on the table at my Mum & Dad's tomorrow.  I have some Xmas sweets to make but I'll wait until it's cooler. 

Then we'll read Twas the Night before Christmas and attempt to get Billy to sleep sometime this side of midnight, before the big man arrives. 

To all my friends who take the time to read my blog - especially those who comment - Merry Xmas to all... and to all a Good Night!

Offline October

Offline October is over.  I'll be honest and say that some days I spent more than an hour online - particularly days when I was tired and didn't want to think.

What it has achieved though is being more mindful of the time that I've been online.  And also prioritising the time so that it's spent making real connections with people rather than mindlessly surfing and getting caught up in dramas about people I don't know.

I've (hopefully) been more responsive to personal emails. I've made steady progress on my editing, and gotten critiques back to my critique partners more quickly.  I was also able to read more books - which is definitely a good thing :)

I've spent more time in the garden, and kept up with the housework more.  I even managed to do some decluttering!

So all in all, it was a useful exercise and one I should repeat on a regular basis!!

JuJitsu Seminar

Over the weekend I attended the Australian JuJitsu Association national seminar in Sydney.

The dojo wasn't what I was expecting - it was like a giant igloo shaped marquee had landed in the carpark at the Sydney Olympic complex at Homebush.  There was one big mat inside - I was expecting different rooms or something.  We were split into 3 groups depending on belt level - there were over 140 participants on the first day - so it got quite crowded on the mat at times when people were doing throws etc :)  Our Defendo group had about 40 people there (adults and kids over 12) so we made the numbers swell!

On both days, we had 6 x 45 minute sessions with instructors from different clubs all around Australia.  The brain hurt by the end of it - so did the body!  We did a lot of wrist locks and arm locks, some grappling work, knife defense work, nerve control (I have the most spectacular bruise on my inner thigh from that!).  I honestly can't remember what else - hopefully it will come back to me when I'm at training again!

This was at the end of day 1 - I'm at the back somewhere.

As well as the seminar itself, it was a valuable weekend spending social time with members of our Defendo group.  We had shared apartments, so got to know our roomies a bit better in the down time.  We also went out for dinner on both Friday and Saturday nights which let us chat and 'bond' outside of class.

It was a great weekend and I'm hoping to do it all again next year :)

Italian lessons

I had the opportunity to start something today that I've wanted to do for years - learn Italian.  One of our homeschool mums who is fluent in Italian (and passionate about anything Italian) has offered beginner classes, and both Billy and I are going along.

Today we learnt greetings, how to ask someone's name and how to tell them our name.

My brain hurts though - it's hard to learn new stuff when you get old :)

Offline October - clarifications

I meant to add this to the post yesterday.  To clear up any confusion, you're allowed 1 hr each day on the internet. 

Excluded from that hour is anything work related - so for me, I'm excluding time spent on the internet for my web design work, survey sites (I do some online surveys for extra income), and ebay sales.  All of which produce some income for me.  I just have to make sure I don't cheat!

I'm still to clarify whether writing blog posts offline counts towards the time :)

Given that I can quite easily spend several hours each day on Facebook and forums I'm on, it's certainly going to be tough.  I'm already seeing which sites / threads I value most and which are just habit.  I know I can do it - I spend less time than one hour checking my email etc while I'm away because I'm paying for the data!  Some days I don't even check it while I'm on holidays. 

It really is just habit.  I need a break - I get on the computer.  It will be about finding other things to do instead of mindlessly jumping on here.  It will mean having a plan when I do get on, not mindlessly surfing.

Wish me luck :)

Offline October

I'm seriously considering joining in Offline October.  It's been started by 2 writer friends as a way of gaining back time wasted on the internet, a way to reclaim your creativity and time. 

It's not just for writers - "It’s for anyone who believes the internet is dominating too much of their time and they’d like to either have a break or get it under control."

I've been trying to cut down on the internet lately - and have been achieving a lot more - and have been 'in training' this week seeing how I'd go with only 1 hr internet / day.  It's tough.  It requires the breaking of a lot of habits. I tend to use the computer as a bit of a decompressor, a way to relax.

I really think I need to do this. Check it out and see if you'd also like to join in.

It's done!

In June 2010, I put it out there that I wanted to write a book.


"I want to write a book.  While I'd love for it to be published, I know the chances are slim.  I don't know if I'm good enough or not.  But I still want to prove to myself that I can do it.

After years of saying "I'd love to write a book", I've given myself a deadline of my 40th b'day in October.  I have a children's book in mind (or maybe YA - will see how it turns out).  At least I have the vague story line and the setting, but I don't have enough of a plot in mind as yet."

I did a Creative Writing Course through the Sydney Writer's Centre which really helped me on my way.  In July, I joined the Romance Writer's of Australia. The children's book was put aside for a women's fiction in August.  My 40th birthday came and went.  (Who was I kidding?  Write a book in 4 months??!)

In April last year, I started writing a category romance, thinking that it was more 'completable' with the shorter word count.  I got to about 30,000 words and stopped.  At the conference in August, I had the epiphany that I really wanted to write women's fiction, not category romance, so I started playing around with the one I'd started in 2010. 

My 41st birthday came and went.  I was up to about 10,000 words.

Based on feedback from competition judges and critique partners, which pretty much said my story started in the wrong place, I started from scratch again in Dec 2011.

Since then, I've written fairly consistently (if not very quickly!) and yesterday, I finished my women's fiction at 70,000 words!!  Writing THE END was a very exciting moment!

It needs a heck of a lot of work, I know that - characters that appear and disappear, no description, boring sentences, scenes that go nowhere - but there's a beginning, a middle and an end, some conflict and character growth.

So now I'm going to put it aside until after conference so I can come to it fresh and inspired. Then the hard work of editing will start. 

But in the meantime, I'm going to bask in the knowledge that I've done something I always wanted to do!  (And before my 42nd b'day - close enough!)

50K in 30 days - day 29

Day 29 of RWA's 50K in 30 Days and I'm done!  And so close to finishing the first draft of my book that I can taste it!

I couldn't have done it without my fellow sprinting buddies, particularly the regulars.  Thanks guys!!  It's been fun!

50k in 30 days - day 20

Day 20 of RWA's 50K in 30 Days and I'm 62% complete - still mostly on track to get my 20,000 words written. According to my spreadsheet, I need to write 749 words each day for the next 10 days.

50K in 30 days - day 15

Half way through the month doing RWA's 50K in 30 Days and I'm 51% complete - on track to get my 20,000 words written.  I'm still loving the sprint sessions - I think all of my 10,000 words have been written in sprints so far this month!

A day in my life - 13th June, 2012

I haven't done one of these for ages, so when it popped up in my reminders, I thought it sounded like fun.

I was up at 7:15, fed the cat, made myself a cuppa and drank it while I checked emails, blogs etc.  Billy was already up a bit before me.

After my cuppa, I hung the washing out on the clothes airer on the back verandah - the weather was looking a bit dodgy. 

I made Billy & I some breakfast (sausage & pasta bake for Billy - the non-traditional breakfast eater, and a poached egg and toast for me).

After breakfast, Billy & I did some maths together - we're working through some concepts in the Awesome
Arithmetricks book - today was the Commutative law.

Then I helped him with coding a Minecraft Java plugin - this one is an anti-swear plugin to stop people swearing on his server (it strikes them with lightning if they do!).

I was going to go for a walk after that but it was drizzling again, so I did 20 mins on the mini-tramp while watching a fascinating TED video on brain evolution.

I finally got to have a shower. 

After my shower, I pulled some homemade vege soup out of the freezer and heated it up for our lunch, along with some bread I'd made yesterday.  While that was heating, I packed the dishwasher and washed the rest of the dishes by hand.  We ate lunch while watching an episode of Warehouse 13.

After lunch, I did some paid work for a few hours (interrupted by a mad dash to bring the clothes airer inside as the rain started pelting in sideways) - a quick change to an Access database for a client, and work on a client's new website, as well as updating our business Facebook page.

Footy training was cancelled due to the wet weather - yay :)  I ventured outside to check the mail and bring the garbage back to the house, then cut up some fruit for Billy & I for afternoon tea.  I got a subscription to Super Food Ideas as a gift at Xmas and this month's magazine arrived - I'll save it as a reward for getting my writing done later in the week.

I checked a forum I read for a little while, gathered the library books together to take back tomorrow, then went out to start dinner.  I made a chicken stew & dumplings using the left-over roast chicken from Monday night.  After I'd gotten all of the chicken off the carcess, I put it in the slow cooker with some celery leaves, peppercorns and water to turn into chicken stock.

While the oven was on, I made a chocolate cake (I love this recipe but I do it in the oven, not the slow cooker) - this cake is great stand-by when you're out of butter like I am.

I knew Billy wouldn't eat the stew, so I pulled some chicken schnitzel out of the freezer (made & cooked a few weeks ago), cut some potato wedges to go with it and popped it all in the oven.

We ate dinner, then I joined the RWA chat room and did some writing.  1316 words in 80 mins of sprints! It gets me back on track with my goal - I'm only about 400 words behind now.


Bed time for Billy - which seems to go longer every night!  I helped him practice his lines he's learning for the Peter Pan audition of Sunday.  Two chapters of Rangers Apprentice - it was at an exciting spot so we couldn't leave it at 1.  Chat about the day, talk about what's going on tomorrow.

I switched the dishwasher & washing machines on (after 10pm to take advantage of cheaper power), wrote this blog post up and am about to head to bed.

It's been a productive and busy day.

50K in 30 Days

Starting tomorrow, I'm joining in with RWA's 50K in 30 Days - like NanoWriMo but in June :)  And we get to set our own goals - we don't have to go for the full 50,000.  There'll be writing sprints, motivational quotes and the wonderful support of a group of others aiming to do the same thing.  (There's over 50 participants registered so far).

I'm aiming for 20,000 words.  666 per day.  Let's hope that number isn't an omen :)

Currently, I'm sitting at just under 50,000 words in my work in progress.  I haven't written in a week so I have some catching up to do to make the 80,000 by mid-July.

So if you see me too much on Facebook throughout June - you have my permission to slap me with the wet fish!

The last couple of weeks have been crazy.  I normally average about 5-6 hours paid work each week (as well as homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, taxi driving etc etc etc).  Last week I did 15 hours paid work.  This week I'm sitting at 7 with a couple of hours still to go.  It seems like every project I've had going has needed to be finished in these two weeks!  I've sent 2 new websites live, finished off working with a client on his Powerpoint presentation (to be presented by him tomorrow), worked on a heap of RWA stuff that has to launch tomorrow, done all the usual household stuff and dealt with a sick child.

Now I just want to rest - instead I'm signing up to write 600+ words / day.  Sometimes I think I'm insane :)

Finding my mojo

Thanks for the support on my last post - I wasn't all that down about it, more frustrated, but it was good to hear your lovely comments.  Especially those who said I inspired them - I'm honoured :)  (And no, I wasn't really denying myself chocolate - I'm not actually that much of a chocolate person.  Chips / crisps on the other hand - they're my downfall!!)

It did make me look at what I did achieve in a more positive light though. In that time (since mid-Jan), I've:

• added ~36,000 words to my WIP (work in progress), and
• exercised ~55 hrs

That's not bad at all :)  I do forget to stop and celebrate what I've achieved.

We had our writer's meeting today and yes, I did have to wear the 'hat of shame' :)   I was the only one this time - so well done to everyone else for meeting their goals!

I've set my goals for the next 2 months.  I'm aiming for approx 80,000 words in my novel, and am currently up to 47,500.  I'm going to aim to get it finished (as a first draft) by 21st July.  I really, really want to say I've completed it! 

I've drawn up a schedule - to add another 30,000 words, it's 500 words per day with a couple of days free where I know I have a full day out.  It's doable, but I need to focus and make the time.  And not leave it until the last thing in the day when I'm tired and it's all too hard.

Now to get motivated on the exercise again too!

111 and out

Anyone who is a cricket fan can tell you that 111 is an unlucky score.  (Just a disclaimer, I'm not a cricket fan - I am just married to one so knowledge comes to me by osmosis!)

Well, it proved unlucky to me.  111 days in a row of exercising AND writing.  Then came the weekend.  I didn't exercise at such - I soothed my guilt by saying that I was hard at work at the camp and walking lots etc etc.  I'm good at justifying...  I may have let myself get away with it too, except I didn't write either.  I tried the 'but I thought about the plot' justification, but I was feeling harsh and wouldn't let myself off the hook.

So the streak has been broken.

Unfortunately, since then I've found it hard to start again.  The streak is broken.  I don't have to prove anything.  I can take a couple of days off.  I deserve a break - just like I deserved that chocolate I just ate! (See, told you I was good at justifying..)

I need kickstarting again.

The fact that I have 10 days left before my next writer's meeting and 7,906 words to write in that time to meet my goal isn't even enough to work yet.  I can see me wearing the hat of shame at the next meeting...

Butt-kicking welcome :)

Orange Belt Grading

Saturday was Defendo grading day for me.  I went into it feeling focused and reasonably confident, but for some reason, once we got to the techniques part, it was as if everything I knew flew out the window.  You know that feeling when you sit down for an exam and nothing looks remotely familiar?  I was completely blank.  My training partner seemed to be suffering from the same problem, and I think our nerves were feeding off each other.  It didn't help that we were the only two going for the higher belt.

Afterwards my sensei said that by half way through the grading, he had decided to only award us black tips (kind of like a half-way mark to the next belt).

But we rallied, somehow, and dug deep enough to scrape through to our orange belt!

So I have a mixture of pride that I did it, and disappointment because I know I could have done better - but regardless, I have my orange belt!!

I have at least 12 months to prepare for my next belt - so I need to practice enough to transfer the knowledge from my head to my muscle memory.  Obviously it doesn't stay in the head under pressure :)

I love this photo - this was before round 3 of 4 of 'back-to-back' ground fighting, with about 5 minutes to go of our hour long grading.  We all look completely and utterly exhausted!

I did it!!

The chip shop saga..

Every Tuesday after homeschool archery, we meet up at the nearby park, have some lunch and the kids play, or wander around chatting - you know, that socialisation thing that everyone is so concerned about with homeschoolers :)

Some time ago, a take-away shop opened up between archery and the park that makes the most delicious hot chips.  It became a ritual for most families to stop there and buy hot chips to take to the park.  A cheap and tasty treat.

A few months ago, it changed hands - and to our dismay, it closed on a Monday and Tuesday.  Disaster!  We had to go back to being organised enough to pack lunch beforehand!

I've been trying to lose a bit more of that stubborn weight around my belly, so I've been trying to eat healthily.  This week, I packed a lovely chicken salad to take with me.  We left archery as usual, and started to drive to the park. 

And spied that the chip shop had re-opened!  I couldn't resist the siren's call (and neither could the other families!) and had to stop.

I ask you - which would you prefer?!

But I was good (ish).  I stole a couple of chips and then sent Billy to sit at the other end of the picnic table so I couldn't have anymore and ate my delicious salad :)

March writers group meeting

I love my writers group.  We meet once a month for several hours - and then usually carry on with lunch at the cafe next door, where we have the owner very well trained to put up with us! 

Today we went through our goals - those that didn't meet their goals for the month got to wear the 'hat of shame', those of us who met our goals got to choose a small pressie.  (I got a notebook and pen this month - gorgeous!)

We set our goals for next month, helping everyone set SMART goals (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely).  Erin ran a writing exercise - discussing 'wandering body parts' and tightening up a wordy paragraph. We 'interviewed' Mary's heroine, digging deep into her motivation and brainstorming possible plot twists. 

We discussed and compared what sessions we're doing at conference, had a discussion about websites vs blogs and set our agenda for next month. 

Thanks ladies for a great meeting!

What day is it again?

I'm sitting here rather discombobulated at the moment.  I've got that 'post-holiday' confusion.  Not that I've really been on holidays as such, but I have been away from home for 4 days.

Friday and Saturday I had a committee meeting with the RWA down in Sydney - we started with a meeting at 4-6pm with some external people, then had committee business from 6:30 - 9ish, then up again the next morning to meet 8:30am - 9pm.  (With quick breaks for meals).  It was very full-on, a packed agenda, but we achieved quite a lot.

I stayed down in Sydney on Sunday, with Pete & Billy coming down to join me.  On Monday we went to the Powerhouse Museum and the Harry Potter exhibition!  It was quite busy but well organised so that the crowd flowed well.  We were able to look at everything without having to wait too long.  Unfortunately you couldn't take photos inside but there are some on the official site linked above.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the Powerhouse museum before our time slot for Harry, so we got to examine steam machinery:

Do some hands on experimenting:

Look at an exhibition on shopping in Australia in the 1880s - 1930s (tying in nicely with our Australian history focus this year):

Revisit the space exhibition:

And have heaps of hands-on fun in the experimentation section:

 

Then it was home in time to get to cubs for more fun - billy carts!

So right at this moment, I'm sitting here wondering what day it is, where I'm supposed to be, and how do I start catching up on the hundreds of unread emails in my inbox?!