Couch to 5k is my Fitness NaNoWriMo

I participate in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month for the theoretical person out there who doesn't know) every year, even when I know I don't have the time or the energy to win. I just like to play. Mostly, I don't hit my word goal.

Couch to 5K (or C25K since we all like to use the lingo, right?) is a running program that takes someone from not being a runner, to being able to run a 5K. I completed the program years ago and was so proud of myself. Then I hurt my foot and stopped running. Last year, when I was fed up with feeling crappy all the time I decided to start up again.

Things were much tougher for me then. I was very overweight and out of shape. After the first couple weeks of the program I had difficulty progressing, so I did each week twice before I felt strong enough to move one. I ran super slow. Most people could probably walk at the pace I was 'running'. But I was still proud of myself.

Then I got lazy, and we went on vacation, and I generally neglected my running. Still, I wanted to do it, so I started over. That time I did better and got really close to finishing the program. . . and then I thought I had the flu, but actually had a perforated colon and got to spend some time in the hospital. It took longer than I expected to gain any strength back, but when I did, I started C25K all over again. My colon responded by acting back up again. Stupid colon.

Now I'm on the week 3 runs - for the fourth time in the past year, even though this time I knew going in that I would not be able to finish the program. That trouble-making colon is coming out in a couple weeks so I won't be running for a bit as I recover.

So why bother restarting the training? The same reason I can't not do NaNoWriMo. It makes me feel good. I'm proud of myself when I do it. Even though my efforts and results are not exciting compared to what I see others doing, they are pretty great for me. So after surgery, when my doctor says it's safe - I'll be starting my fifth attempt to get through the Couch to 5K program. Hopefully that will be the one I finish.

Oh - and, I'm signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo 2016 in April. I'm 'karabu' over there. Camp NaNoWriMo is similar to the November event, except you set your own word goal, and it doesn't have to be all on one novel; any project is fine. Stop by and say Hi if you're writing too!

"Eye of the Beholder" eBook Giveaway

I'm playing/ experimenting with all the promotion thingamabobers over on Amazon as I learn about this whole ebook publishing gig.

So, I've made an Amazon giveaway for my ebook, "Eye of the Beholder and other stories". This is a little different than the free book promotion I ran when I first published the collection. In that case, Amazon let me set the price to free for a limited period, and anyone who wanted it could download it without cost.

The giveaway has a limited number of copies available. Five copies in this case, and I paid for them. Anyone who wants one enters and has a 1 in 100 chance to win. So, more of a lottery situation. Sounds fun, and worth a go, so here we are. If it goes well, I'll run another giveaway next week for "Love Thy Enemy/ The Way Home".

Here is the link to enter the giveaway for "Eye of the Beholder and other stories".

Zito the Rat 2013 - 2016

 

Is this not the most adorable rat you have ever seen?  

He is our rat, Zito, who passed away today just a month or two short of his third birthday. He came to us when his owners dumped him off at the sister veterinary hospital to the one I work at. My friends there knew we had a rat, so they called and asked if we wanted this little guy too. 

Often, I've noticed, rescued pets, or those that you find yourself with unexpectedly turn out to be the best pets ever.  That was true of Zito anyway. I've had lots of pet rats over the years. At least ten that I can think of off the top of my head. But Zito was special. He, more than most of the other rats I've known, seemed to really love human company. He was snugly. Loved his ears rubbed. He was just plain fun to be with.

Our other rat at the time Zito came to us was named Frito. We thought we would give the new guy a matching name. I suggested Cheeto, but the kids didn't like that. They argued he wasn't orange, so it didn't work. They came up with Zito. Since then he has been the subject of many stories and poems and other school writing assignments. In fact, I just realized today that I have never given a character a pet rat, and that needs to be remedied. 

Thank you Michelle for taking such good care of him at the end for us. 

He will be greatly missed. Small lives can still  have a big impact on our hearts.

Daily Exercise with Books!

I have been making a very strong effort to do some type of exercise for at least 30 min every single day. I've been doing this for long enough now to really feel the difference between when I'm on it, and when I've slacked off for a few days. My go-to exercise is walking. I love walking, and it isn't too strenuous so I won't try to avoid doing it.

One other habit I've developed, sort of accidentally, but it's working so I'm going with it, is that I save my audiobook listening time for my walks. Now I've made it a rule. I can only listen to my book when I'm walking. Now I enjoy walking enough that this rule has never gotten me out walking when I otherwise would have shirked. It has, however, encouraged me to take a longer route, or keep going around the block one more time if I'm at an exciting spot in the story and don't want to stop yet.

I'm currently on book three of the first Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. These are big books so even with hour long walks these have lasted me a nice long while. The narrator, Michael Kramer, is amazing. There's a large group of characters and they all have a distinct voice that adds to their personality. I highly recommend the book, or the audiobook if you want to try the walking thing.



Now my only problem is that now I'm doing the Couch to 5K running program three days a week, and I've learned I don't listen well while trying to run. So I really miss my story on running days. I'm debating about changing my rule to compensate for this somehow. Still thinking.

New Short Story Collection - Get it for Free!

Eye of the Beholder and other stories by Kara Hartz

I have put together some of my favorite short stories as a short ebook. These are Science Fiction and Fantasy stories:

An astrobiology team discovers a planet with disturbingly familiar aliens.
A middle manager finds out who has been stealing office supplies but knows no one will believe him.
A cleaning robot is much too efficient.
A little boy id desperate to acquire superpowers.
A military robot fights to deliver vital information before time runs out.
A translator under pressure makes a fatal mistake.

This collection qualifies for the KDP Select program, so I'm giving that a try as an experiment. So for now it is only available at Amazon but it also allows me to offer a limited time FREE! promotion.

You can get the collection for free for three days at the link above beginning tomorrow, Friday February 5th thru Sunday the 7th.

This Year's Christmas Pokemon

It has become a bit of a tradition over the past few years for me to crochet Pokemon for my girls. This year is Pachirisu and Oshawott. I think they turned out cute and the girls seem to love them.

I always get the Pokemon crochet patterns I use from WolfDreamer 
Someday I'd like to try to create my own pattern, but that day is not today.

I've Released an eBook: 'Love Thy Enemy / The Way Home : Two Short Stories'

I've complied two of my short stories, one previously published and one new, into an eBook.  These are both primarily Romance stories with Sci-Fi settings so I thought they would fit well together.

For awhile now I've wanted to try my hand and creating an eBook, and these short stories felt like a good opportunity to try out the process. Obviously, going forward if I do more of these I will need help making covers - this one is not spectacular to say the least - but will have to do for the moment.

I'd originally wanted to try out Amazon's Select program to get into the Kindle Unlimited lending system, but they require digital exclusivity for that. 'The Way Home' is still published at Voluted Tales Magazine so this book would not qualify. Maybe another time with another book.

However, that means I am free to distribute 'Love Thy Enemy / The Way Home' to other stores as well. In addition to Amazon (link above) it is currently at:

Apple iBooks
Inktera
Scribd

and should be up at a couple more places, including Nook and Kobo, in a few days. I will edit this post with links as they become available.

Yea!

Almost NaNoWriMo Time Again

I'm signed back up for NaNoWriMo again. I feel more determined to do well this year, so we'll see how things go.
I have a couple of possible obstacles - one is that I'm taking an online writing course at the moment. It's from the University of Iowa and called How Writers Write Fiction. It's been more time consuming than I had anticipated and I've had some trouble getting all the assignments in on time. As this relates to NaNoWriMo - the class will still be going on in November so that adds another layer of writing to do. I plan to just go ahead and count my class writing in my NaNo word counts even when I don't write a scene from my novel for my assignment. Still, there are the video lectures to watch, the reading and critiquing that will also need my time. Hopefully I can pull it all off.
The second thing -  I guess it isn't an obstacle really - is that I plan to keep working on my novel in progress first. I don't think it has a whole 50,000 words left in it however, so if I finish it before the end of November I will start a new story. This plan is slightly off from the NaNoWriMo guidelines, but I'm not concerned about the novel police coming after me. I just want to boost my word count.
Stranger things have happened!