I am a diet failure!

[paragraphs]

I really am.  I have eaten SO WELL all week but have I lost? ANYTHING? NO.  I weighed this morning exactly what I did Sunday....   I tell you what this plateau I am on is ROCK SOLID.  If it was ten pounds less I'd be fine. LOL!!!   I know that a lot of people are into body acceptance, which I totally believe is important, but I am a stubborn sort and don't wanna just yet.  I think it is absolutely true that once you hit the 50's aka post-menopause, weight is harder to get off.  Mind you, for real, I've had no problems at all - no crankies, no hot flashes, nothing.  Just everything...stopped. Lucky me!  But yeah.

Anyway - am considering there may be other factors involved with my body's stubborn determination to keep me right here. Stress would be the big thing which I have plenty of, working as a legal assistant now.  Generally, I love my job, love the often-crazy-pace, but when it doesn't let up and I leave work with so much yet to do that I feel like I should stay late (2.5 hours overtime this week) or come in on a Saturday (um, hell no?) then, well... yeah.  

This week was insane.  I had filings in bankruptcy court - omg, talk about nuts? the rules! the things to do!  Whenever I file anything via Pacer I am always so certain I will screw up!  And then I discovered we did - but - this is the thing - it was not, is not MY job to make sure we have the right things to file. Right? I am the mere typist/filer.  Yet we totally screwed up the notice of hearing (totally fixable, btw) and I am CRUSHED.  And of course my boss says 'don't bring out the horribilizer..." he knows me well. LOL.  But yeah.  Bankruptcy filings, Northern District of Texas FW filings, filings in Dallas court, the appeals court... oh and even an administrative court...  all this week.  There is just so much to do and dear attorneys forget, often, that there is always so much to do AFTER the filings are done. They move on but I have a lot of cleanup online and hard copy-files and such-left to do.  *thunk*

I am whiney about this and yet I love it, my job is mine mine mine, I am awesome at it, my boss told me 'you saved me' - lol - yes I love that - cuz I did - cuz I am awesome....  But DAMN. STRESS!!!

So that and knee still healing and being swollen may be contributing to the problem.  Not sure. Going to keep on soldiering on though with eating 1350 calories a day because well that is a good thing, right. 

Bought a physical book today.  Karin Slaughter, CRIMINAL.   I'm getting drawn back to mystery in a big way these days....my first love, after all.  I have a lot lined up for this year but I am thinking that Fall 2013 is going to see me returning to hardcore mystery. If not before, with my new writing group.  Yeah.    *sitting here nodding*

I hate GoodReads.  Will not be back.  No I will but I am going to make myself a new one with my real name to keep track of the books I read, and keep far, far, faaaaarrr away from the m/m world there.  I miss the days where I was oblivious to readers and their opinions and esp. those who enjoy being vicious and mean.  Seems to be a thing there these days which is sad.  Oh well.  I only quit writing for two days and am back at it.  Never, ever seek out reviews.  Ever ever ever. EVER. 

I am rambling. I need to finish these sci fi edits because I want to send this in, dang it!!!

Comments

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

If you change your name on Goodreads, let me know so that I can follow you. Returning to mystery? YAY!

Also, in weight watchers we discuss the issue of plateaus a lot and it seems that the way to fight it is to not starve yourself more but to mix it up a bit. Keep the same calorie count (or points) but eat less dairy more of something else. Throw in an extra 15 minutes of walking if possible. Additional exercise seems to be the one way to get you over the hump. It doesn't have to be a lot but your body needs a jump start of something.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

The big problem I have right now is this sprained knee - it is still healing and walking around a lot makes it puff up like a puffer fish. Ok not that bad but yeah. Still healing - it felt great when i was on the steroids but now that I'm not it is more achy again.:(

Yeah...I have no idea what is going on in mystery these days but I would honestly like to take another stabbity at it.

Also, am thinking maybe I should look into WW. Those on it sure seem to find success.

[(Anonymous)]

I lost 40 pounds on it (then stress from family situation and holidays...) So I need to go back as soon as medical issues with parent is resolved. The key to WW is the leader. Find a leader you like. I've heard that some of them are just so-so. I lucked out and found a fabulous leader right off the bat. She's funny, so supportive, caring, just an all around great person. Also, they are on the etools bandwagon like whoa these days, so it's easy to keep track of your eating habits. The one thing that I love is that you can scan bar codes at the store with your smart phone. It's amazing how many calories are in things that you think are relativley benign! Of course, they use a point system but it's basically the same thing. The basic tenet: you can eat ALL the fruits and vegetables you want. No limit. You have to limit the other stuff. It's a very, very smart system. And a basic plan that you can stay on forever. I really recommend it.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

Me up there.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

LOL!!! Okay good!

What are you doing writerly-wise? I literally have not checked out the mystery scene in years.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure exactly. Thrillers continue to dominte. Gone Girl has run away with all the hype, but I can't say that I understand why. Seems like a lot of plot busts, although the writing itself is extremely compelling. Fluffy cozys are making a huge comeback, which I think is due to Kindle sales. Kindle sales have replaced mass market paperback. My Kindle sales seem to be rather decent and chug along, despite not having a book out there. Your publisher went out of business, right? You have the rights to your mysteries, right? The first thing you need to do (and I'm absolutely serious about this) is to reformat your mysteries and get them up on Kindle. amazon itself has a self-publishing arm if you want to do it through them. I can also recommend BookBaby. That process seems fairly straightforward, plus of all the self-publishing entities, their covers seem to be the best. Which is key because covers seem to be extremely important. The visuals, you know. Now that there is literally no mechanism for choosing books (as places like Goodreads have usurped the professional review process), covers have assumed even greater importance. You need an ebook presence for two reasons: it shows a potential publisher that you're savy to what's happening in the market and it gets you BACK in the "legitimate" market after, what, a ten-fifteen year hiastus. Also, if you can't sell it, then you can self-publish it and you'll already have some sort of presence there. That's the first thing you need to do. With the popularity of cozies, you should do really well.

Me? I went over to the dark side and joined amazon's breakthrough novel contest in a last ditch hope of getting some sort of recognition for my Jane Austen pastiche. The first round of cuts happens on Valentine's Day. If I don't make the cut (I submitted it as a romance), then I'll self publish it through their publishing arm. I need to get it out of my life. I'm currently working on a m/m mystery that is loosely based on my HP stuff. Loosely is the key word. It's sort of a tongue-in-cheek take on the HP world. There will be lots of shout outs to the HP fandom, but it will stand alone. I'm up to chapter 6 and with a newly invigorated writing group, I hope to finish it by May. Then I'm going to write a serious novel. I've been thinking about this for a while. It's time to push myself as far as possible writing wise. I'm 56 years old. Time to see if I can write that big book.

[paragraphs.livejournal.com]

Oh that is cool! Good luck with that! I have no problem with self-pubbed books. Of the favorite books I've read this year, mostly YA, there is a strong number of self-pubs. I am far more forgiving these days of typos.

Yup I have my rights back but only have the one book. I have to retype the whole thing but it is something I do want to do. I'm not really interested in writing cozies - I am just not that fluffy - but what IS pulling hard is police detective. Hmmm... Rachael IS a cop, I could totally pull her back into that line of work... rewrite the first one and get it back out available and go from there. Oh the things I would change!!! And will. Hmmm. I will check out Bookbaby though one of my crit buddies is learning everything she can about self-pubbing and is becoming a pro.

I am just getting a little tired of writing m/m - three books out now, about to send out another that will have a sequel, then have one other to write this year and a f/m anthology... busy busy! After all those, which should all be done by mid-July, except for the sci fi sequel THEN would be a great time to concentrate on mystery again. Yeah.