Writing Woes

I attended a two hour long dance practice and ran for twenty minutes today. I'm a little achy. But thank goodness that when I rolled my ankle towards the end of class it wasn't serious, and I'm okay. That could easily have been disastrous--I sort of have this jinx where I usually injure an ankle right before a big competition, so I'm hoping that was it, so now it'll just be smooth sailing.

My sleep schedule has been really messed up, and not helping is the still lingering effects of the infection. I went to sleep at three in the morning last night, woke up at noon, and now it's one in the morning and I'm still awake. Argh. Worst of all, is even when I'm awake, I feel like going back to sleep, and I hate that, because there's so many other things I'd like to be doing but don't feel like I have the energy for.

Like writing! I was desperate all semester to get time to write, and now that I have all the time in the world, I am having the most terrifically bad time getting words on paper . . . or, er, word processing document. I just sit here staring at the screen, tap out a few words, and can't figure out what I want to say, or, rather, how I want to say it. Writer's block is maddening in all its forms, but especially now. And especially because my father is constantly hinting and asking about how my writing is coming along; he wants me to finish up and start getting published already. It is nice to have someone who believes in you, but it's also stressful. Particularly when the words for the stories just aren't coming.

Oh well, I will keep slogging away and perhaps my muse will return. I have written a lot more in Linden's birthday story, yes I have, but there's a key scene that I need to write to connect the written parts with the current published parts, and that scene is giving me a lot of trouble. Until it is written, I can't post all the other pages I've written, which is just adding to the pressure. But I am not slacking and have not forgotten the story! I am just working hard on one scene it needs before it is posted. And I think I need to (alas!) trim dialogue.

So, back to work! Or, to bed. I have not yet decided which course to take.

My Quest: 30 Days to Get In Shape

Now that I am recovering from my staph infection--or, at least, I believe I am recovering--I can move around again and exercise again. Which is good, because the Irish Dance National Championships is in one month, and I am as of yet nowhere near fit enough to be in competitive form. I am capable of really working out only once a week in Hawaii due to limited space, and then for the last two weeks of the semester I did not exercise at all, due to studying for final exams. Also, this infection kept me immobile in bed for two weeks, so altogether, I have not had much exercise at all for four weeks.

When preparing for a National Championship, this is BAD.

Right now, however, I feel blessed simply because I have the possibility of competing at all now; at first the doctors were telling me I might need surgery and therefore Nationals was entirely out of the question.

So I must get in shape, and quickly. Hence the title of this post. I am beginning my quest: to get in shape in thirty days. I'll let you know if it is possible. I believe that it is, if I work very hard. It's doubly difficult because the infection has really drained me, so that I'm exhausted all the time (as in, 'I sleep in until two in the afternoon' exhausted), but I'm struggling forward. Today, June 1, I am going to declare the official day 1.

Today I practiced my dancing for about an hour, but it was a light practice. I need to push myself harder. I also just returned from a night-time run of about . . . oh, forty minutes. I am the world's worst runner, but it is a good way of building endurance and strength quickly. My legs will be very sore tomorrow. In fact, they are already sore. I need to stretch.

Wish me luck! I'll update periodically here, letting you know how I'm doing. It'll help keep me on track.