A quick post
To say I completed the Race For Life 5k at Holme Pierrepoint today. :D Didn't beat my last time, but that is a long rant about the organisation and other 'runners' that I won't go in to right now.
But thank you to those who have given to such a great cause.
I have reached my goal of £50, but any other donations are gratefully received.
Which reminds me, I need to add a quick Thanks for sponsoring me to...
Sheila,
Thanks
The aims - update
1. Quit smoking - I will do this, I have to do this. It just isn't going well. Unfortunately I've been looking at nipping out for a cigarette as a break and I've yet to find something to replace that need.
2. Finish Dormarth (NaNo novel) and get a copy for myself from LuLu - Was abandoned, but after talking to someone about it (thank you Funk) I've become determined to finish it once again. Only now it's a novella, not a novel.
3. Completely finish 'The Dullest Book Ever Written' before this years NaNo - As I've mentioned in a previous post, this book is now this years NaNo novel. Title will change, but all ideas are coming along nicely
4. New addition - I have a few short stories I've been working on. I want to get 3 short stories out to mags before the beginning of Nano this year.
5. Take 2 holidays - first one taken, second one completely paid for.
6. Do the Race For Life at Holme Pierrepoint in under 28 minutes (July). In training, although training has gone a little squiffy over the past few days due to heat, work and little ones first birthday. Off to gym again tomorrow though. No idea whether I will manage it under 28 minutes as all training has been done on the treadmill, which doesn't give an accurate view of times. For one, I know I can run easilt at 13km/h, however, I avoid doing that speed on the treadmill. I have been doing some speed work (hopping/short strides, then long strides) and I'm happy with my progress. So we shall see. I just hope the weather isn't too hot!
7. Begin running and train for Derby Dash (BHF). Yes, that one didn't work. Should have joined the gym sooner :p
8. Save up for luxury spa break (the full works) with mam - sorted. Will be going for my birthday.
9. Get under 70kg - did, went up a little, tiny bit, now back under. My main thing now is to make sure I continue exercising regularly.
10. Go white water rafting. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to be achievable this summer. But, I am still aiming to at least have a slip of paper which entitles me to a rafting experience by the end of this year.
Another addition...
11. Do the Hearts First Walk - High Peak Trail Winter Challenge Walk 2006. That's a 17 mile walk through the Peak District. "A 17 mile hike through Derbyshire's Peak District from Cromford Meadows, near Matlock, to Hurdlow, six miles south of Buxton. The Trail, a former railway line, crosses the limestone plateau of the White Peak with dramatic vistas, woody knolls, mysterious mounds and stone circles, and is a haven for rich animal and plant life. 17 miles may not be a marathon but in November in Derbyshire it's a serious challenge. Take up the challenge and you'll experience the camaraderie and good humour of over a thousand participants determined to get to Hurdlow and support the BHF"
More Sponsors!
Thanks to
Jenny,
Helen,
and Louise
a further £15 raised
Sponsors!
Just a quick note to let you know the paypal button has been updated to accept donations for the Race For Life. Although paypal does deduct a little, I will add that deduction to the total. So whatever you give is the amount that will go to Cancer Research.
I am grateful for any donations made, 1p upwards, no matter what you can afford. You can also go directly to my Race For Life page by clicking on the link to the right.
A quick thank you to those who've already sponsored me :D
Jenny
Mum and Dad
Chris
and
Neil!!
Thank you all.
Fundraising to date - £25.50
Getting back on track
Excuse me for a moment, but I'm very, very pleased with myself.
Earlier in the year I took part in [url=http://paulenesjournaljourney.homestead.com/WHO12wk.html]Paulene's 12 week challenge[/url], The first one of the year as things got pretty busy and I couldn't commit to the one happening now. My goal was to get below 70kg. Which I did. My weight crept up a little, but not really concerned about that as it was just a few pounds. I then joined the gym just over a month ago. Weighed in my induction at 73kg and had all the normal twinges that you get when you start running again when you're unfit.
Anyway, my motivation has been a 5k run at the end of this month. I've done the [url=http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/victoriacoupe]Race for Life[/url] before my kids were born. I managed to do it in 28minutes. So my aim has been to beat that time. To do so, I've been keeping my training to 30 minutes and watching the distance gone in that time go up. Yesterday I found my comfortable running speed on the treadmill and managed 3km easily. 19 days left and my aim seems to be achivable!
Also, I weighed myself this morning. I've made no alteration to my diet, but with just exercising I'm at 70.2kg. Yet more woohoos!!
Too much to do
Right now, I'm listening to Arctic Monkeys. I should be doing some work though.
A few things have happened since the holiday and things have been pretty hectic. Desperately trying to get on top of things in the house, but it's impossible! Everywhere needs decorating and recarpeting. Did manage to lay the tiles and paint the stairs though. Even if terracotta paint is really pink and looks awful.
Went to see
Divine Comedy at Wulfrun Hall on the 18th. He does seem to have lost quite a bit of enthusiasm for gigs, which doesn't make for a good night out. Bit of a diva too. It was alright though and at least I can cross them off my list. Was just a wee bit shocked when the woman asked me for £6 for two cokes. LOL
20th - Our wedding anniversary. Hubby was on a late shift so, I went along to our 10 year school reunion. Shame more people couldn't have come. And also a shame that a certain somebody cut my night out short.
31st - Went out to see the Zutons play at Rock City. An excellent night. Even a decent support act, which makes a change. The Greats lead singer was very.. energetic. Jumping around with her own unique style of dancing. The Zutons were fantastic liv, put 100% into their performance. The only down side was the whining woman stood next to us. Constantly complaining about things, but when her other half offered to leave, she said no, I don't want to ruin your night. Too late, love.
Kids are just dandy. Adeline going through a bit of a whiny stage, but not too bad. Ellie is just fantastic. Very special girl.
Had my gym induction yesterday. A bloke with nicer eyelashes than any man should be allowed weighed me and did my height and worked out a programme I should be doing to get fit. So, it's five minutes on the cross trainer, 5 - some wierd thing i can't remember the name of (a stepper thing), 5 - treadmill, 5 - cycle, 5 - rower, 5 - some other stepper thing. I love the rowing machine, very good at that one, but the rest ick. Don't like treadmills, I said I don't like treadmills, still got put in my training. In his credit, instead of making me run on the damn thing I have to walk 5.5kph at 10% gradient. Going for my first proper workout there before work today. Half an hour in the gym then for a swim. I'm glad it's right next to work, that should encourage me to actually go, won't be able to make excuses that it's out of the way or anything. The only thing I could complain about is the bloke did the programme so I'm near the desk for most of it, I'd rather be able to hide away in a corner somewhere until I get my fitness up.
Been on holiday
It's been a little while since I've posted here. So a short update, or a long one...
Got back from my holiday in Wales (Pembrokeshire) on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the cottage fantastic, the swimming pool superb. Everything about the holiday was perfect. Except for a bull trying to gore us on the first night. Farmers should put a sign up warning walkers when there's a right of way through their field. It was dark, so we didn't see it until we were quite close.
Just chilled out really, went to a farm park, a zoo and Pembroke Castle. The rest of the time we spent on a beach or in the swimming pool. My parents came along too, but they just spent time in the cottage reading a lot of books. Which meant they missed most of the sunshine as it was misty in the village for a couple of days. That's the only problem with getting a cottage so near the sea.
Adeline kept climbing out of her cot on holiday. Something we've suspected her of doing at home, but we've never caught her. So, the second night we put her to bed in the double bed and she slept there the rest of the week. I took one of her cot sides off last night to see how she does and we'll be buying her a bed in a fortnight. that's something I've been meaning to do for a while, but we haven't got around to it yet.
Tonight, I'll be moving her bed to somewhere else in her bedroom. Tomorrow night I'll be putting Ellies cot in there and on Sunday, we'll see how they get on sleeping in the same room.
Ellie was still waking up in the night. But she's all better, no problems with teething or anything. We think that she is stirring in the night and wanting us because she can see us. So, on the last night of the holiday (my parents went home a day early) we moved her into a different room. Since we've been home, she's been sleeping downstairs. there hasn't been any crying or problems so far *touch wood*. So she'll sleep downstairs, in the travel cot, until Saturday. Saturday night, me and the girls are stopping at my parents as I am going to my school reunion, which is just up the road from them.
The holiday was fantastic for getting me writing, wrote a short story and a few little scenes. Not sure if they will ever be used. They were more to just get me writing. I wrote every evening so I'm pretty pleased with myself.
I know kids grow up quick, I just can't believe how quickly. There are no babies in this house anymore. Which is good. Never been a baby kind of person. I never coo over babies, maybe a 'look how tiny that baby is, aww', but that's more a comparison as ours were never tiny. I mean that literally, not just that I can't remember them being so small. They just were both big babies, both quite long. They'll both be tall. Adeline seems to tower above other children her age.
Adeline is to start nursery soon. I'm going to ring up the nursery to go and have a look around in a short while. Not that there is much choice round here. We have one that is a possibility, so if we don't like it then she won't be going to any. We're going to be signing her up for a class or two at the local sports centre and we take her to the park to play quite a bit, so it isn't as though she will miss out on any interaction if she doesn't go.
I've given up on running for now. I'll still do the race for life, as you can walk the 5k rather than run it. But, it's just impossible to find the time to run. The morning's are a possibility, but this means getting up an hour earlier and as I don't get in from work until quite late, it isn't as though I can go to bed an hour earlier to make up for it. I was planning on running in the evenings once they got light. But how stupid was that plan? Around here! I must have been mad. So instead, I'm going to learn Wing Chun and sign up with a gym. Luckily, work is right nxt to a gym, so if I get hubby to drop me off at four, I can't get out of exercising before work. Even if it's just going for a swim.
But is it art?
I strayed from Scribe's and visited a few other writing forums. There is one thing that has become clear. Writing is not an art.
How can it be? Any other form of art you can do for pleasure. Just because you enjoy doing it. You can garden without wanting to enter competitions, you can carve or sculpt just because you enjoy doing it, you can paint without wanting to sell any. Any other thing that could be called art, you can do for pleasure alone. But not writing.
To be a writer you must want to be published. You must consider it work, you must follow the guidelines, include only a certain amount of characters in the first chapter, you must not include certain words in your writing as you will be considered illiterate. Doesn't matter if they are in the OED, they are not words.
Art is open for interpretation, you can have two people look at the same piece of art and it will invoke different feelings and interpretation. Writing must be read only as the writer intended it. You will be loosing out if you see any other meanings, read it in any other way than the author intended.
Most of all, writing is
hard work. If you write, then you may only do so with the intention of being published.
This attitude saddens me. It annoys me. Worst of all, it puts me off writing.
If you write and get published, then fantastic! A colleague was saying how her friend has just had her stories accepted and has been paid to write a couple more books in the series. That is brilliant. She has been able to give up work and concentrate on something she
loves. Because that is the point, she enjoys writing, that is why she does it.
That is why I write. I enjoy it, I like making up these other places, people, events, the story. If I choose to use a word in the correct context, then I will, regardless of whether it will make another writer's eyes bleed. I feel sorry for these people who place so much of themselves in language and the correct usages. So what if a lecturer is talking and writing on a white board and makes an error. It doesn't matter and certainly should not make your eyes bleed.
If someone does not rank prologues as highly as you, then so what, write one if you want to. Write because you enjoy it, but do not expect everyone to hold your work in as high esteem as you do. It won't be the end of the world if someone skips the prologue to start at chapter one, neither will the reader's life be empty or meaningless for doing so.
If someone is a 'beginner' when it comes to writing, why is the attitude to them different to someone starting out in photography or paiting? Why in other forms of art are people allowed to ask questions that only a beginner would ask, but not in writing? I don't ask this question for myself, but I have noticed an attitude from so many people who claim to be 'expert' writers towards newbies. Some people just need that little bit more help. Some people truly want to do it, but are daunted and struggle to come up with those first concepts. Instead of having a go and saying they shouldn't need their hand held all the time, or worse, that they should not be trying to write a novel, give them advice on how to come up with the ideas themselves. Just because someone doesn't know everything about grammar, does not make them illiterate, neither should 'illiterate' be a word that is used quite as freely as it is to describe people. It should not be used as an insult.
Most of all. Write if you enjoy it, if you don't, then don't. Write with the aim of completing the story and enjoying the journey. IMHO, you should never write with the sole purpose of being paid and published, even if you are already an established, published writer. If you want to do something and get paid for it, there are other jobs out there.
It has also made me think about the other things I do solely for pleasure. No where else have I come across quite so many people who have such an elitist attitude towards a hobby. I can cook because I enjoy it, I don't have to be aiming at opening a restaurant. I can be an amateur photograher, without wanting my pictures to be in an exhibit. I can run because I enjoy doing so. Even when I went onto the RW forum to rant about a piece in RW, nobody blasted me in their reply. I went on because the piece claimed everyone had time to go running. If George Bush had time and Madonna had time, you had time. I had an issue with this. Madonna has a nanny to look after the kids. George Bush also has plenty of time. They both have the money to hire people to help them fit running into their lives. I posted my rant and my situation. When do I run? Yes, I do find the time, but not regularly. One person said it would be easy, I just need to get up at 5am to go out. All well and good, but when I don't get home from work until 11pm, running on 5 hours sleep is not a good idea.
I went a little off track there. Though I'm sure I've made my point. Of course there are people like I've mentioned in all walks of life, but never have I come across quite so many. Even from non-writers, you must be writing to get published, to get some money from it. Never has anyone assumed I want to go in races or run the London Marathon. Even people who have seen my drawings have never assumed I want to sell them. So why is it the complete opposite in writing?
Needless to say, I won't be visiting the other writing forums again. I don't think any amount of persuasion would get the members to get their heads out of their backsides and lighten up a bit. I'm sure if they read this, it would makes their eyes bleed, they would only notice the errors within my sentances, rather than the message I'm trying to get across.
