Wow, that happened fast.

It’s been cooler here than the middle of the country, for which I’m grateful, but it’s also been beastly humid with lots of thunderstorms.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Today’s gratitude is easy to point to: I had an appointment for my annual exam, scheduled months ago, and I discovered that in the past 2 weeks, I have dropped 4 pounds, and my systolic (although still high) has dropped 8 points. Which means I’m on the right track, and — who’d’a thunk it? — eating healthy food and exercising really does make a difference.

Also, I am grateful for Sam, who sleeps with dragons (or anything else soft he can get his nose on).

What are you grateful for today?

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

I was trying to figure out what to talk about today, what moved my ungrateful little heart when I’m sick once again. But I have so much to be grateful for!

• Medicine to ease my symptoms 
• Insurance and flexible time so I can go to the doctor 
• Hot tea to soothe my throat 
• Other writers to hang out with online 
• The Internet itself
• Good books to read
• Kids who love reading as much as I do 
• Good books for them to read
• A dog who loves to cuddle
• Awesome wildlife (See pictures below, taken yesterday)

What are you grateful for today?

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

So my loving family has once more exposed me to germs that my “reactive airways” took exception to, leaving me battling bronchitis and sinusitis, and all the tiredness and other such issues that go with them. And I poured every bit of focus and energy I had into meeting a work deadline (very interesting book, although I never would’ve picked up a book on phytochemistry at random). Which means I owe you, my loyal readers, an apology because I didn’t blog last week (aside from the serial post that was pre-scheduled), and I didn’t get out the second issue of the newsletter out for September. No, I have no thought of catching up. I’ll just try to do better going forward.

This starts with — I went to the doctor on Friday and got a ton of prescriptions (okay, it only feels that way), and I’m all focused on “Is this one every four hours, every six hours, twice a day, or once a day?” The breathing’s getting better, which means I am able to have two coherent thoughts in a row about something other than “Must meet this deadline.” Thus, modern medicine is once again what I’m grateful for this week. (And the freedom to nap during the day when I need to.)

What are you grateful for this week?

EDIT: Stay tuned Wednesday for a guest post by Julia Knight, whose first book, Swords and Scoundrels, releases tomorrow!

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

One month in, I’m down two pounds total. This is less than the pound per week I was aiming at, but given the holiday dessert eating I’ve been doing (more than I should) and the amount of exercise I’ve been getting (much less than I should), its pretty impressive. This next month, I’m going to start fitting in a ten- to fifteen-minute walk after my first hour of writing and before I dive into e-mail and forums and the like. It’s not a big change, but the goal here is consistency, and small steps that add up to big changes over time.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

First: if you’re subscribed to the feed, with luck (and guidance from the wonderful folk at TigerTech), it should be working now. Please let me know if it’s not. Now on to the main post:

It’s my birthday, and purple and blue hair to the contrary, I’m not as young as I used to be. (In fact, when I was young, I probably would never have worn such hair, being too afraid of what other people would think.) As we age, our bodies go through lots of changes — and as exciting as it might be to watch my daughter as she works at climbing higher in a tree because she can reach that next branch, or as worrisome as it can be to try to decide whether my son’s upper lip shows signs of darker hair, changes don’t stop when we become adults. We lose flexibility. Muscle tone becomes harder to retain. Weight becomes harder to lose.

This year, I’m trying to do something about that. ( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Those who know me know that walking is a biggie. I touch on this on my About Me page. I had a major accident, and as a result, I had to relearn to walk — more than once. Before my accident, I walked everywhere, and afterward, I remember telling my roommate that I resented her put-upon attitude about having to walk four blocks. I was on bed rest at the time and would have given anything to be able to get up and walk.

Now? I don’t walk as much as I used to. Part of that is because, despite the fact that we’re technically within city limits, we might as well be living in the suburbs for how close we are to anything, and there aren’t a lot of sidewalks between here and, for example, the closest supermarket (both Wegmans and Giant are about 2 miles away on busy streets). It’s not like living in Berkeley and popping over to Andronico’s or Berkeley Bowl. I don’t walk because there’s not a lot of places to walk to.

Part of it, though, is habit. Over the years since my accident — especially the years before I got my ankle straightened and fused — I stopped walking. It was painful, it was difficult, and there didn’t seem to be a lot of point. So even though I now can walk, I still haven’t as much as I used to.

Last year, I worked at running again. Even tried to start up again in December, which is a bad time to try to make a new habit with all the calls on my time. I will run again this year — I probably won’t aim for a half marathon, just another 5k in September, most likely, with the goal to finish in less than half and hour this time (cutting my time in half!). On days when I’m not running, though, and to work up to it, I’m going to walk and remember how grateful I am that I can walk, that I still have my own leg, that this is something I enjoy.

I leave you with this video, and the usual question: what are you grateful for this week?

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

Just thought I’d drop a note in to say I’m doing better this week. Taking most of last week to recover really was a good move. I’ve been running several times, and I’m up to being able to run 30 minutes (not necessarily fast, but that’s okay) at a time. Proofreading has been my focus this week, with some progress made on the book for Moongypsy. I could tell my burnout was fading when I started getting ideas for new stories, and I have one idea for a short story that I’ll probably get written next week.

My big revelation this week has been that everything takes time. It’s something I know and am okay with when gardening — I planted a rhododendron six years ago that finally bloomed this year, and of my two clematis, this is the first year the maroon one has bloomed. (The purple one has been blooming for three years now.) Peonies also take a few years between first planting and blooming, but then they produce profusely every year.

Yet, even though I know I’m getting into better shape, sometimes I get depressed when I look in the mirror and see how far I still have to go. Then there’s writing — from idea to completed project can take seemingly forever.

So it’s good that I can look out at my garden and see that even things that take years to yield results are worth it.

First bloom, after five years.

A regular showpiece in the garden.

Six years' wait

Steady performer, every year.

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been really tired of late. Some of it’s good — I’ve had a lot of freelance work on my plate, which keeps me busy. Unfortunately, then I have less time and energy to do my writing, and when I start figuring the time for other things — exercise, family time, cooking, life — well, there’s even less time and energy. So I cut corners. Skipped the exercise because heading out for over half an hour to run, then coming back and stretching out, showering, cooling down, well, all that takes time. Chunks of it.

Today, I read a post Kristine Kathryn Rusch wrote back in 2009 as part of her Freelancer’s Survival Guide, Burnout. In it, she lists several symptoms of burnout — exhaustion, irritability, inefficiency, and more. Hmm. Yes, that’s ringing bells.

Okay, to be fair, I figured I was on the edge of burnout. That’s why I took the weekend essentially off, just doing things I enjoy and don’t stress over (mostly — getting kids to bed has to get done, and there often seems to be stress involved). It’s also why I read her post today; I hoped she had some good advice.

Her advice? Sleep, eat right, exercise. And then worry about whether you’re taking on too much. I’m trying to get more sleep; it’s not always easy with a family, but I’m trying. I do need to get back to the exercise that I’ve been slacking on, though. I mostly eat right — except for the chocolate chip cookies I baked this weekend and ate copious amounts of.

One of the stressors I’ve had is feeling like I have to live up to others’ expectations for my writing career. Whether it’s things I disagree with (like writing taking precedence over everything else in my life, including attending my son’s first band concert) or more insidious things like being a writer meaning I should be writing every day, for more hours than I put in, so I get things done faster. And even if I do want to get things done (and some I need to get done, like the book I’m writing for Moongypsy Press), adding that expectation on top of everything else has made it worse.

I’m still trying to write, but I’m trying to not be down on myself about expectations. I want to write because I want to write, because I have these characters in my head whose stories I want to tell, not because it’s one more thing on my to-do list.

I’ll probably be much more upbeat after even a week of better sleep and a couple times of exercise, but this is a good wake-up call that I need to take care of myself, and that includes managing my expectations.

What about you? Have you been pushing yourself too much recently? Or some time in the past? What helps you get back on track?

Originally published at Erin M. Hartshorn. You can comment here or there.