Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Blogging

This is my 500th post!!! I can’t believe that I have been blogging approximately twice a day for the past eight and a half months! It has been such an important part of this journey and has helped me on a lot of different levels. I would sincerely recommend the process to anyone trying to lose weight!

When it comes to this online journal, my pattern has generally been to do one entry shortly after I get up and another one just before I go to bed. I have found that the dual posting both sets me up for an on-track day and also allows me to express how I feel that day actually went. Occasionally, I have thrown a third entry into the mix if I had something I felt I really needed to write about, and there have been a couple of times where I have had to temporarily reduce my journalling to just once a day when I have become very busy, but by and large my double posting routine has truly served me well.

But it’s a lot of work. And before anyone starts to panic after reading those five small yet significant words, I want to assure my readers that I will be continuing to write on a daily basis. However, I think that I am going to have to cut it down to generally just one post a day. But, I promise that there is a really good reason for this…

When I was six years old I wrote my very first poem. And with its creation was born a deep-rooted passion for the written word and the lifelong desire to become a writer. I have now been given a small chance to pursue this dream.

A couple of weeks ago I noted that I had gotten some amazing news, but that I was reluctant to discuss it because it hadn’t been confirmed. Well, the details have been sorted and I am now very excited to announce that I have taken a part-time position with a local publishing company writing a weekly online column about children’s activities and other relevant articles as the organization sees fit!

Starting this Friday, my pieces will essentially be published on a blog feed that runs through their website and will sometimes by highlighted in their newsletter as well. It is just a couple of hours work a week, but it still requires some restructuring of my schedule to accommodate the time spend on this new prospect. Hence, why I am having to reduce my blog posts here.

The company, Gumboot Books, is absolutely incredible too and they produce quality children's books with well-written stories which I can't wait to encourage others to read! I am truly looking forward to working with them! Their focus on education and the environment is especially appealing to me, and I am thrilled that I will be furthering their efforts in calling attention to these important elements through my column.

And while I don’t want to get too enthused by things that are not yet a reality, there has been quite a bit of discussion with the publisher about me authoring a companion activity book for a collection of short stories that they printed two years ago. I have been asked to submit some samples by the end of June and – provided they like what I have done – to complete the book in its entirety for next February. They are aiming for publication in the fall of 2011, so I really won’t know anything else on this until then, but it’s hard not to be at least a little excited. (Okay, make that a LOT excited!)

But, again, this whole thing will be taking up a lot more of my free time and something in my schedule just has to give. So, my plan for this blog is to continue writing here once a day, every evening, with an extra morning post on Saturdays to continue reporting my weigh-ins. I am also not opposed to throwing in the occasional extra entry if I have something important to report, but – because of my obvious new time constraints – I think that I will need to limit myself to these guidelines for the foreseeable future.

Dang! Just when I was on a roll… By these new calculations it’s going to take me all the way until July of next year to reach my 1000th post!

FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 9 glasses of water
- 1 wrap on a soft tortilla shell with deli ham, cheese, dried cranberries, spinach, fat free Miracle Whip, mustard, and pepper
- 3/4 cup fat free peach yogurt with 3/4 cup honey nut granola cereal
- 1 golden delicious apple with cinnamon
- 1 banana
- 3 cups celery with light peanut butter
- 1 fiber chocolate delite bar
- 3 1/2 cups spinach salad with canned shrimp, cubed cheese, croutons, dried cranberries, and calorie-wise Greek feta and oregano dressing
- 1 mug chai tea with honey and milk

EXERCISE:
- 1 hour Body Strengthening class
- 15 minute walk

18 comments:

  1. that's awesome news. And hats off to 9 glasses a day. I'm doing the pee-pee dance every 5 minutes after only 48 ounces.

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  2. Congrats on your news!!!! That sounds really great. :)

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  3. **such great news**

    on all fronts in a way.

    bloggin rocks but LIVING and taking care of YOU and less plugged in time? well. you know how I feel about that and Ive been adoring it :)

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  4. WOWIE!! Great news!! Congratulations!
    Blogging is great but there are other avenues of creativity! We'll be ok with one post a day :). Let your creative juices flow!

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  5. HOW EXCITNG! I say that the opportunity far outweighs anything else! Can't wait to hear more. I never got how you managed 2 in the first place! :-) But now hearing about this passion, I understand!

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  6. Congrats on your new position! I'm sure the time spent on your new column will balance out the blogging thing.

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  7. Woot! What a great opportunity for you, and for the publishing world. We need good people working on quality children's books...and the environment is one of my strongest passions. This is great news! It couldn't happen to a nicer blogger!

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  8. Gratz on your new gig and on your blog progress!

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  9. Oh my goodness how exciting for you!!!! I attempted to write a children's book many, many years ago. I sent out 10 copies to 10 different publishers....and I got back 10 rejection letters, lol. It was something I did on a whim...it was fun....and I'm sure you'll have MUCH better success than I did, lol. Good for you girl!!

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  10. Oh how EXCITING! Sounds like an interesting job!

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  11. Congratulations! You are the perfect one to do that kind of writing!!

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  12. Congratulations! You're going to be great.

    Unplug.

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  13. Your life is a big bunch of Awesomeness, J!
    Congratulations on this new career direction. It sounds like a lot of fun ... more than work. Terrific news!

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  14. Congrats on the employment!!! Were you an English/journalism major? I've often wondered...

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  15. Thanks, everyone! I am SO incredibly excited for this opportunity!

    Dawne, you are half right... I majored in English and Psychology.

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  16. I was thinking about you this evening and your recent struggle up the scale and decision to just maintain for a while. I wondered if it had anything to do with your decision to stop blogging in the morning. So, I had to find this blog to see if it coincided with your gains. It looks like you continued to lose for a couple more weeks after this, but I still wonder if they are somehow related. In this entry, you mention blogging in the morning sets you up for an on-track day. I would like to challenge you to return to your morning blogging. If you don't have time to dual blog, then just blog in the mornings to set yourself up for an on-track day.

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