Remember Me? Here's What I've Been Up To.

Why, hello there. Not sure if you remember me, but you look lovely today. I love the way you're wearing your hair, and that outfit is so fetching. And .... and ... please don't hate me!

I'm not going to say the last time I've posted here because I'm way too embarrassed. I have been on Twitter! But yeah. I'm sorry. You know when you haven't called someone is soooo long, and then you start avoiding it because you're afraid they might be mad at you? Or you're just a wimp and the task seems more daunting than it really is? Guilty. Some of my awesome writer friends - Anita Grace Howard, Melanie McMcCullough and Lisa Ritter Cannon - are calling me out. So, I am biting the bullet and posting for the first time in quite a while. Here is what I've been up to, and my lame excuses reasons for not blogging:

• I started a 6-week fitness challenge (seriously, I did). This is the biggest excuse reason. I devoted most of my evenings to exercise, and by the time I finished it was dinner, shower and maybe some snuggle time with Hubs, it was bedtime. The challenge finished a week ago and I made 10th place out of 30 people. Woo! I also was the leader of the sit-and-reach challenge (+23 inches, baby). I only failed the push-up test because I have no upper body strength.
• This goes hand-in-hand with the fitness challenge, but I also ran a half marathon! It was the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon and I did this with my mom, dad and sister. We ran all 13.1 miles and I was barely sore the next day. Working out really paid off!
• I've been spending more time with Hubs. Our marriage has always been good. Lately though, we've been hanging out a lot more and it's awesome. My happy place is snuggling with Hubs watching an awesome movie or reading a book. I feel like our relationship is even stronger. Ahh, mi amor.
• I haven't been writing very much. With all my exercising and regular daily stuff, my writing time has been very limited. Any time I had to write I felt should go toward my WiP. Not that I've written much of that, either. I definitely need to prioritize my time better. I told Hubs yesterday that I need to take some weeknights to write instead of watching our recorded TV shows.
• I thought I didn't have much to say. With my lack of progress on my WiP, I felt like a poser. I see a lot of writer blog posts with this same sentiment so I know I'm not alone. I did have an awesome Saturday (a few weeks ago) when I spend all day writing and added more than 3,000 words. I want to have more of those days! Then I see Kiersten White's post about writing and book in 9 days and I feel inadequate again *sigh*.

I hope that I will be a much better blogger friend in the future. Like my Hubs says, excuses are like butts. Everyone has them and they all stink. So again, I'm sorry :(.


WiP Update

• I love my story! The more I think about it, the more I realize that I would love to read a book like mine. Everyone says their first manuscript is rubbish, but I really hope that's not the case. I love the story and my MC too much.
• I have 40 completed pages. 100 pages is my first big milestone I want to reach and it always seems so close yet so far away.
• Yay, crit group! We had a critique group meeting a couple weeks ago with some people who hadn't read any of my story before, and they immediately liked my MC! They said they were rooting for her in just a couple of pages. My group also caught a mistake in my logic that would have made some embarrassing scenes later. Oops. Also, I'm somewhat of a pantser, so I created a minor character on the fly and then totally forgot about him when my crit partners gave me feedback. I was like, who are you talking about? Oops again.
• I crack myself up. I have this scene where my MC is at a karaoke bar and has, well, several drinks. I added more to it after my critique group read it and I was laughing so hard! Then I got all gushy and proud of myself for being so funny.
• I'm reading a lot for inspiration. I find that reading certain types of books is ginormously helpful in getting me motivated to write. I recently read CLARITY, which has a similar voice to mine. I couldn't wait to finish reading the book so I could work on my WiP. That was the day I banged out more than 3,000 words! My TBR pile doesn't have many books with my same voice, but I think I need to find some.

So how have you all been during my hiatus? How are your WiPs? I did keep up with reading your blogs and commented occasionally. You guys are awesome and definitely inspire me!