As the last of the zombies fell motionless to the ground, Leikar turned to the Knight of Valor, half expecting to be smote.
Instead, the Knight dipped his head in thanks then collapsed to the ground.
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A Time for Change
After visiting my grandmother and being reminded of my own mortality, one thing that stood out above all else is that mobility as you age is so important. After breaking her hip, my grandmother has struggled to do even basic things.
And osteoporosis doesn’t just run in my family, it gallops.
I had already done a lot of research on how to prevent osteoporosis, so I know that I need to do weight-bearing exercise. Walking versus swimming, for example, as the pressure of your feet on the pavement helps builds bones. Lifting weights will do even more.
Yeah, I know, I hate lifting weights, but I like the benefits. Being strong and fit is amazing.
I’ve known this for ages, and we even have a small home gym tucked in the corner of the basement because of it. A home gym that is dusty and neglected because who has another hour a day when they’re working full time, being a mother, wife, and trying to write books.
But that’s the “all or nothing” mentality I find myself caught in so often. I need to stop.
Fifteen minutes of squats, push-ups, and overhead presses will help. Something is better than nothing. I will never become a gym rat, but I don’t have to be to get some benefits.
So, we committed to spending twenty minutes a day in the basement getting it ready to use again. Moving furniture to get a play area for the kids, setting up a TV with Netflix, and rearranging the exercise equipment in such a manner than we can use it safely again. The girls got a gymnastics mat for Christmas, and we’re setting up a safe spot for that, too.
It’s been a lot of work. We haven’t always managed the twenty minutes a night. But we have tried. Once we do have the exercise area ready, the game plan is either to go down and use it, or keep spending that twenty minutes cleaning.
We’ll see how it goes.
I really need to get a plan together as to how we’re going to tackle lifting weights again. I’m not in my twenties anymore, so I need to come up with a more gentle plan that lets me build back up to my former baseline. I’m a desk jockey by day and creator of words by night. While I can type pretty fast, even the forty-five pound bar is going to be too much for me to squat at first.
I may be a pantser in writing, but I’m a plotter in everything else. If you have some advice, let me know. If we are too stiff and sore to function, we’ll give up lifting altogether.
There has to be a middle ground, and I plan to find it.
Serial Micro Fiction: Given Up
Leikar knew zombies and knew how to fight them.
Most important thing was to keep them from getting too close to spread their contagion.
His fire spells did just that, and this kind of undead followed orders absolutely. They would continue charging headlong into the flames unless their master commanded them otherwise.
When no command came, Leikar assumed the Knight had already killed the necromancer.
They’d won, but he still wondered if he’d given up his own life helping the man.
Growing Old
We recently visited my grandmother and my extended family. They live almost seven hours from us, and there is no easy way to get there by airplane. It’s not a trip we make often, though I wish it was easier so we could. Two kids in a car for seven hours is no one’s idea of fun.
My grandmother lives in a very rural part of the country, and she has neither cable TV nor internet. It made for an interesting trip for kids whose hospital pictures we took with our iPad. They learned to appreciate Netflix a whole lot more when we got back to the hotel.
My mom made the trip as well, and she took my oldest daughter in her car with her. This allowed my husband and me time to reconnect. We had seven hours in the car with minimal distractions other than talking to each other. I was reminded how much he makes me laugh, what a good partner he is, and how supportive he is.
Sometimes in the rush of kitchen remodels, making supper, doing dishes, and running the kids to school and dance class you can lose sight of these things. Makes me realize how much we must start making time for date nights.
The other thing the trip made me realize is that we’re growing old.
Yeah. Harsh.
But true.
I remember standing at the same sink my daughter was at to wash her hands when I had to stand on tiptoes to reach the faucet. She can already reach the faucet.
I remember when “the back room” seemed like this huge, cavernous space. Now, it’s like any other room.
I remember when her back yard seemed huge and to stretch on forever. It’s actually a relatively small yard.
It’s also hard for me to think of my uncle’s as grandfathers now, though they are. I remember when I was first visiting my grandmother, and my one uncle still lived at home while he was in school. Now, his kids are grown and on their own.
Time marches on.
While our vacation wasn’t a trip to Mexico or Disney World, it did let us see family and give me time with my husband. Not exactly a Pinterest trip, but that’s okay. This gave me a chance to reflect and remember what is important, even if it also reminded me of how much has changed.
What I do with that lesson is now up to me.
Serial Micro Fiction: Fire
As the Knight of Valor destroyed the three ghouls coming at him from behind, the first wave of zombies closed in on him.
The Knight screamed as they tore at him.
Leikar ground his teeth, knowing the Knight was a fool.
But he couldn’t not help.
As he emerged from his hiding place, a fire spell was already
on his lips.
Writing: The Slog
I have gone from the euphoric high of new characters and fresh beginnings to the slog.
So I decided to procrastinate do some research, and curl up with a couple of good books.
Which may have made the situation I’m currently in with this WIP worse as now I am yelling at myself not to compare my first draft with a New York Times best-selling author’s final finished product.
I know this. Mentally. But the reptile brain is less easily convinced by reason.
And it doesn’t help that my characters are not behaving. They are not doing what my notes said they should do. The hero is not at all what I thought he would be like. He’s a dark and powerful mage that…likes puppies and kittens?!?
Wait, what?!?
Leikar, you are supposed to…never mind. You do you, and let’s see if that gives us a story.
And this is what happens in the middle of my stories. My characters are off doing things they weren’t supposed to do until later in the story. Acing in ways I’d never intended.
I have to slog through it and find my way to the end.
Usually, writing the ending is much more like writing the beginning. At that point, the characters have tossed my ideas aside and just run toward their own ending.
But, I have to get to where they are taking me.
Let them show me the path even though its not the path I chose.
So, yes, the writing is going much slower. I am in the soft morass of the middle where things happen that I know I’m going to have to go back and add foreshadowing for in earlier chapters. Where I know a ton of things are going to need to be tidied and cleaned up.
But that’s for later.
The middle is where I most need to silence the internal editor as every word is a struggle to get on the page anyway. The last thing I need to do is quiet the ideas that are coming because I started three sentences in a row with the same word.
Still, I am getting there. Perhaps in another few weeks, I will have another completed first draft.
To add to my pile.
I need to figure out how to edit faster. But that will wait until I get through this journey.
First, Leikar has to show me how he’s going to get out of the mess that found him.
*evil author laugh*