Circuit Torture, er...Training: Run, Forrest, Run!

Have I ever mentioned how I hate to run?

My body is not made for running.  I'm not putting myself down here.  Need a body for making babies?  Mine's the one.  I've been through 36 hour labors.  I had two kids at home, one before the midwives got there.  (As my husband, Rob, about that one!)  It was hard, it was painful, but I loved it.  I've got a great body for making babies.

Need a body for dancing?  I'm there.  When I was young (and in shape) I could dance for hours.  I used to dance guys off the floor.  I've got a great body for dancing.

But running?  Forget it!  First off,  I look silly.  I run like Velma in the Scooby Do cartoons.  Some people run like gazelles--beautiful, stetched out legs, power in each step.  Me?  Basset hound.

Coming in for the home stretch.  They captured my expression perfectly, don't you think?

Second, I get shin splints at the drop of a hat--or the pounding of the shoe.When I was in field training in the Air Force, I used to walk around with ice packs taped to my shins.  I even ran during a field day competition that way.  I looked ridiculous, but I made it.  When I get shin splints, my entire body complains.  I can work through achy arms, I can lift weights even when my back protests.  But shin splints?  Whine whine whine.  Why are we on our feet?

...which is about what I tell myself when I go to the gym, anyway.

I do run, as you know--on the treadmill, for one minute intervals, and until my shins start sending warning signals.  Then, I move to the treadmill or the ladder.  Sprinting is actually kind of fun, and if nothing else, the music and the people around me are a distraction from how much I bloody hate running!

However, the weather has finally turned nice--meaning 90s and 100s, with a laughable chance of precipitation--and Ryion has pulled out his latest in torture:  Half-mile runs outside! He's mapped out a nice little route that starts with the temptation of the donut shop (or perhaps the reminder of why I'm pounding my feet in the first place), then along a busy street so drivers get their morning comedy (Hey, look!  It's Velma!  Zoinks!), then past the Maverick where you either get a whiff of gasoline from the pumps or longingly think of the sodas and goodies inside ("And no stopping at Maverick!" Ryion warns), then through the suburban neighborhoods where you dodge sprinklers, ants pouring our of sidewalk hills (where do they come from?) and people heading out to start their day in ways more civilized than sweating and listening to their shins whine.  Of course, you encounter the donut shop at the end, and the smells are both motivation and torture.

And last week, we did it with 20 pound weight vests on.  Needless to say, I moved to the elliptical after Day Three.

This week, Ryion put us through a grueling workout since he's closing the gym For Independence Day.  I'll tell you about it next week, but I will say this:  No running, and I loved it!

Why Attend the Catholic Writers' Conference Online?

This post is for Catholics and writers.  If that's not you, you're welcome to read on and please share with your Catholic writing friends.

The Catholic Writers Conference Live is Aug 7-9 in Sommerset, NJ.  It's an awesome opportunity to learn from other writers, share your faith, and even pitch your Catholic book. A friend asked for some more information about what the conference is like, so I thought I'd share my response:

The conference has two great aspects: First, it does run like a standard conference, with panels, speakers, workshops, etc. There's a crit group usually (I think you register separate, but that's free with admission), and a chance to pitch your book to Catholic publishers (again, a separate registration, but free with admission.) The speakers are all Catholic and faithful, though not every discussion is necessarily Catholic focused so much as writing and marketing focused.

The second great thing is we share with the Catholic Marketing Network, which means with the conference, you get admission to the trade show. There you can meet Catholic vendors of all kinds from all over the world. They are there mostly to cater to bookstore/gift shop owners, but some sell the stock there (on the last day, they cut prices of their stuff so they don't have to take it home, and some even give things away.) However, you have the perfect chance to talk to publishers informally, plus religious orders, producers of education programs and audio books, and other wonderful people who may need a writer. We've had several folks find writing jobs just by chatting to folks on the show floor. Also, CWG members with SOA approved books can do signings and there are interview opportunities. EWTN is there, as are other radio and tv stations, and they sometimes have empty time to fill--just go up and ask.


Registration costs $80 for CWG members, $85 for non-members and $45 for students. It's worht every penny!  There's also a discounted combined membership. To register or for more information, go to http://www.catholicwritersconference.com.

Good Intentions: A DragonEye Novella for The Midnight Diner

I'm thrilled to announce that Good Intentions: A DragonEye Novella, will be published in serial in The NEW Midnight Diner.  (They are currently fundraising via indigogo, which I talked about on Monday.  If you are a fan of Christian spec-fic with a rough, realistic edge, please consider helping them out.  Like all fundraisers, there are prizes, including a chance to be a character in the novella.) 

Good Intentions is one of the serious DragonEye stories, dealing with murder, immigration issues, and racism of a different kind. 

The story opens when Guster Brody, an immigration officer, is found dead by his wife--an obvious suicide.  Or is it?  Guster is a faithful Catholic, and Sister Grace is convinced he would never commit such a terrible sin.  Mrs Brody insists that her husband was troubled.  Grace, however, is not alone in her suspicions.  Brody had helped several Faerie folk gain US citizenship or legal immigrant status, and one of his former clients approaches Vern and Grace with her suspicions.  The next morning, she's found dead.

While the police chalk that up to anti-Faerie gang activity, neither Grace nor Vern--nor the deceased woman's husband--are buying it.  As thier investigations get closer to the truth, the villain gets more desperate, sending a wight to possess Grace and even trying to blow up their car.  Who else must die before Vern and Grace discover the killer.

Hey, for $80, it could be you!

I'm so excited to write this story for The Midnight Diner.  I'm looking forward to the challenge of writing a serial again.  (My first one was World Gathering, which became Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem; and I have some others I've done as fundraisers that I plan to publish as novellas in the future.)  I also think The Midnight Diner will be a terrific quarterly magazine.   Please check out the fundraiser, and in 2014, check out the magazine itself.

Circuit Torture: Technology vs Intuition

Last week, I remarked that Rob got me to use an app called Noom.  It tracks calories and workouts and tells you how much you can eat.  It works terrifically for Rob.  He's lost 6 pounds since starting circuit training and using the Noom program, in only three weeks.  However, the first week I tried it, I gained a pound and two percent body fat.  This despite the fact that I was doing double workouts and walking the dog daily.

Well, last week, I lost my phone.  (It got put in the second shelf of the cat scratcher, where the cat never sits, but which for some reason collects stuff.)  It has been a different kind of week, with a lot less exercise, though the weekday workouts continued.  Without the phone, I was back to guessing what I should eat and basically following my body's signals.  Turns out I lost a pound this week, even considering I had too much pizza and a soda last night.

The lesson for me is that, when I listen, I know my body's needs better than a computer program.  The program was actually encouraging me to overeat, because all my exercise gave me extra calories to consume (and keep in mind that it would only give back part of what I burned in exercise, yet that was still too much for me to process.)

I'm not dissing the program, btw.  It works great for Rob.  It gives him guidelines and discipline he needs, and as he noted, his intuition works far better with externals than listening to his body.  The program is kind of fun, too, if you get into tracking stuff, which I usually do.  In this case, however, I think I'll stick to my weekly measurings and just listen to my body on a daily basis.

The New Midnight Diner Coming Soon, and Will Feature a DragonEye story!

There's nothing quite as exciting to an author as being asked to do a story for a magazine.  I received that honor last month from Lincoln Crisler, new managing editor of The Midnight Diner. I've long been interested in contributing to their annual anthologies, but I never seemed to have a story ready for them, so needless to say, I'm thrilled.

I'm also thrilled to see The Midnight Diner opening for business on a more regular basis.  Here, you'll find some great stories in a Christian-friendly setting that aren't preachy or whitewashed.  Trust me, I know Lincoln:  the man loves realistic, rough-around the edges tales of people who struggle.

In order for them to launch under a new format (and pay their contributors, another joy!), they are having a fundraising campaign.  Lincoln gives the details below, but I have a special surprise as well...  See where it says "Become a character in the serial novella?"  That's a DragonEye story!  You will have the chance to be in a case with Vern and Sister Grace.  (One of two spots has already been claimed!)

Thursday, I'll tell you a little about the story, Good Intentions.  For now, please read what Lincoln has to say, and if you can spare even a dollar or two for a worthy cause, click the link and help out.

Kicking Off The NEW Midnight Diner Fundraiser!

Some of you may be aware that, as of a couple months ago, I became the Managing Editor of The Midnight Diner. Since 2007, The Diner has been released as an annual, print anthology of hardboiled genre fiction with a Christian slant. No restrictions on God, no restrictions on reality. If you're familiar with my CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY? anthology, it's pretty much the same take on spirituality as my take on superpowers--as gritty, realistic and non-bullcrap as you can get.

When I stepped into the Managing Editor's role, my first order of business was to help Editor-in-Chief Michelle Pendergrass turn the Diner into a paying market. To that end, we decided to make a couple of moves. One was to change the Diner's format from yearly print antho to digital quarterly, and to expand the types of creative efforts we'll encompass. The Diner will now have a poem, two short stories, an essay and a serial novella chapter in each issue, with the potential for an annual print collection at a later date. The other was to develop an operating budget--what it would cost to do the Diner right, for the first year.

In order to raise our first year operating budget, we've set up an Indiegogo fundraiser that will run until August 19th. We're not simply coming to you with our hands out, though. In exchange for the funding we need to pay some small expenses plus a decent chunk of change to our artists and authors, we're giving away some pretty good incentives.

• FREE Digital Back Issues of the Diner!
• Yearly Digital Subscriptions to the NEW Diner!
• Become a Character in our Year One Serial Novella!
• Edit/Critique of Your Own Written Work by our Editors!

So, check out the fundraiser here, and please consider donating and/or spreading the word to your networks. We have some great things planned, and we'd love for YOU to be a part of it!

Thanks!

Alugiac: the redeemed villain in the Mind Over Trilogy

Last week, a group I'm in started discussing anti-heroes and complex heroes, and it got me thinking about my villain, Alugiac, from the Mind Over trilogy.  I thought I'd share his growth from villain to redeemed hero. 

In Mind Over Mind, Deryl, a psychic human, has been manipulated by an alien called Alugiac.  Alugiac would come to him in his dreams, teach him fighting skills (first with swords, then with his telepathy) and indoctrinate him.  At first, the lessons were a welcome escape from the grief of losing his mother, but eventually they started changing Deryl’s attitudes.  They manifested themselves in the waking world, too, until he psychically stops the heart of a bully who’d tormented him.  (Deryl does CPR and brings the boy back, but this is the last straw, and he’s institutionalized.)  Alugiac leaves him alone for awhile, but comes back to resume training, and Deryl realizes he wants to use him as a long-distance weapon in the fight against another world.  Deryl refuses and managed to fight him off.  This one is out by DragonMoon, BTW.  http://www.amazon.com/Mind-Over-Karina-L-Fabian/dp/1897492367

In the second book, Mind Over Psyche, Deryl teleports to an alien world called Kanaan, where he meets and falls in love with Tasmae, who is psychically linked to her planet.  She can manipulate the weather, even to redirecting earthquakes and quelling volcanoes.  She also has a rare talent: being able to harness the energy of her world and the life on it and use that to repel a planet that periodically comes too close to hers. (They call the planet Barin.) They are at war with Barin, and in the last war, she was nearly killed by one of her people who went insane and turned traitor:  Alugiac.  Alugiac has joined the Barin and is in fact their Great Prophet and the religious leader that united the nations of Barin.  Alugiac catchies Deryl and Tasmae in a psychic netherworld.  He gives Deryl a choice:  Obey him and have everything he wants (including Tasmae) or die and Tasmae with him.  Of course, they fight back, and in the end, Deryl breaks through Alugiac’s insanity. However, they leave Alugiac in the netherworld, struggling to come to terms with all he’s done.  This one comes out in September.

In the final book, Mind Over All (which I’m writing), Alugiac is back, only with a twist.  Deryl is working with him to try to stop the war between Kanaan (where Deryl and Tasmae live) and Barin, where Alugiac is the Great Prophet.  Here’s the fun thing:  Alugiac went insane because he realized that each time someone like Tasmae used her power to repel Barin, they basically cause worldwide disasters.  The Barin live underground because their world is barely habitable most of the year.  They depend on their technology and know that the world is thrown out of orbit every few centuries, but don’t know why.  Alugiac, who was Tasmae’s Godfather, knows why—and he knows that she is the most powerful of her kind.  She won’t just move Barin, with all the horrible repercussions.  She will destroy it, and probably Kanaan as well.  That’s why he was trying to kill her, and unable to do it “in person,” was training Deryl as a psychic assassin. The Barin also realize their planet is doomed, which is why they are planning a full exodus to Kanaan. Deryl, of course, is working toward a better solution, but in the meantime, the strain is pushing Alugiac back toward his insanity from before.  So he’ll be fighting himself as well as the people of Barin, trying to convince them to stand down and trust in God.

I’m just about to the really fun scenes, where Deryl goes to Barin to try to save that world.  He’s known there (thanks to Alugiac the Prophet) as God’s Wrath, which was supposed to be used against Kanaan.  Deryl’s best friend from Earth, Joshua, is going with him.  He’ll be known as God’s Mercy.  I’m still not sure how it will work out, but I do know that in the end, Alugiac will sacrifice himself to overcome his dark side, but not before he nearly kills Tasmae.

When I started writing the first book, I had no idea this was where it would lead.  Alugiac was supposed to stay the villain, but he's far more interesting as a redeemed one.

What do you think of redeemed villains?  Who's your favorite and why?

Real World Weight Loss, Month Five

Time again for the monthly update. This was a rougher month because Rob was home (hooray!) but that meant we didn't eat as well.  Also, he got me using this app called Noom to count calories.  Well, it only works so far.  If I had "extra calories" that day, I'd treat myself.  I discovered (after gaining weight despite extra workouts and staying under my calorie count) that, at least for my body, it does matter the kind of calories I consume, not just the amount. 

Here are the photos.  I have to admit; I don't see that much difference in them.  However, I know from measuring that I've lost 25 inches and 16 pounds overall, and I am feeling a major difference in my clothes.  Stuff that hasn't fit comfortably for years now is a little loose.

Here are the measurements:

	15-Jan	14-Jun		total loss
weight	169	152.2		16.8 lb dec
body fat	38.5	33		5.5 dec
chest	38.7	34.6		4.1 dec
bust	41.1	38		3.1 dec
waist	39	32.9		6.1 dec
hips	42.8	38.2		4.6 dec
abs	42	36		6.0 dec
thigh	22	21.8		.2 dec
calf	15	14.9		.1 dec
bicep	11.6	11.8		.2 inc
forearm	10	9.5		.5 dec
neck	15	13.9		1.1 dec
Total loss				25.6 inches