Some Thoughts On Discipline

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Okay, so I wrote this blog post that's really whiny and boring. If you have trouble sleeping, click on the "Read More" link and view the original post. Really, all I wanted to say was this:

I wish I could lose 4 pounds before Boston. Doing so would require me to alter my diet. I lack the discipline to do so. I wonder why? I can run 20 miles and not eat meat for 22 years but not eating rice or bread (or eating less of them) for three weeks is out of the question? 

How is that possible? Why can I be so hardcore disciplined in some areas of life and feel I have no control in others? 

That's all I really wanted to say. 

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Just Your Typical Day

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Ever look up at the end of your workday and think, "Where did the time go?" I decided to track how I spent my time the other day and this blog post is the result. Enjoy. 
  • 6:30 AM - Day gets off to a sluggish start as I'd planned to be up by 5:30.
  • 7 - 8 AM - Try to work through e-mails while fighting off attempts of both cats to derail my productivity by insisting I give them lengthy backrubs. Cats - 598, Dena - 0.
  • 8:30 - 9 AM - Interview Barefoot Josh on my radio program this month.  
  • 9:15 - 12:30 - Write and edit ongoing book project
  • 12:30 - 1:30 - Revise index for my book due out in October
  • 1:30 PM - Consider fixing lunch but choose instead to wander through the kitchen every 10 minutes and stuff random handfuls of almonds, apples, cereal, bread with honey and granola bars down my throat instead. 
  • 1:40 - Stare longingly into cupboards, mentally wiling copious amounts of chocolate to appear
  • 1:45- 2 - Sulk in chair pretending to work, but really still thinking about chocolate
  • 2-2:45 - More book writing/editing
  • 2:45 - 3 - More sulking about the no chocolate thing
  • 3:30-4:30 - e-mail, admin work
  • 4:30 - decide there's no time like the present to paint the accent wall in the hall. We've selected a bright cheery yellow to compliment the orange because we like color
  • 5:30 - I still need to do my speed work on the treadmill, but I know I'll be to tired to cook dinner if I do and I don't want all the vegetables I bought to go to waste plus I really need to eat a healthy meal. Go ahead and cook dinner and place in fridge.
  • 6:15 - Convince myself it really won't take all that long to put a second coat of paint on the wall and better to just have it over and done with. Solid logic, except the wall is going to require a third coat. Bummer. 
  • 7:10 - Finally hit the treadmill for speedwork. 
  • 8:15 - Reheat dinner in the microwave (giving myself mental high-fives for having cooked in advance) then drag dinner plate, myself, and ice bags to the couch where I ice my knee and eat gobs of food as I watch The Biggest Loser.
  • 8:30 - Blair gets home. Having stayed in one spot for more than 10 minutes, I have lost all will and ability to move. After being at work all day, he cleans up the kitchen for me. The man is a saint. 
  • 10 - Bed. Bed, bed, bed. 
And that is where my day went. How about you?

Early Morning Cat Chat

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SCENE: Dena at her desk, madly typing away, trying to get a bit of work done before it's time to leave for her radio interview. Into the room wanders a large black and white blob. It is Lucy_Cat. 

Lucy: Mrow.

Dena: Hi, baby.

Lucy: MROW.

Dena: I don't have time to pet you, sweetie.

Lucy places herself at feet of busy writer. Sighs and gazes upward: Mrow? Mrrr-ow?

Dena: Later, I promise.

Lucy: whine-whine-whine

Dena: Stop it!

Lucy: Eh-eh-whine-mrrr-eh-eh-eh-mrrr...

Dena relents and reaches down to give the blob a quick scratch behind the ears.

Lucy: Purrr.

Dena returns to her work.

Lucy: ACK-ACK-ACK-MROW. Eh-eh-eh-whine-eh-eh..

Dena: Enough!

Sullen silence.

Lucy: Mrow? Mow? Mow? Mrrr-ow?

After banging her head fruitlessly on her desk, busy writer relents and spends 10 minutes combing a purring cat who informs her the bonding is over by reaching back to bite her hand. Writer returns to desk. In wanders fuzzy furball #2, Olivia.

Olivia: Mew? Mew? Mew?

Repeat scene.

Not even 8 AM and I've already been emotionally manipulated by two creatures small enough to fit into a grocery sack. And I wonder why I'm not more productive. 

I'm A Pit: Learning to Deal with Negative Reviews

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So the other day I'm hanging out at my desk, pretending to work but really surfing the web for low-carb vegan dinner entrees (don't ask) when a Google Alert e-mail pops up, alerting me that a website called The Second Pass has posted something about my upcoming book, Who Moved My Mouse? Self-Help for Cats (Who Don't Need Any Help). Yea! How sweet. 

Or not. Turns out I'm a pit. A pit is a book not eagerly anticipated by the site's editor, John Williams. A pit is BAD.

Oh, cruel reviews! It's an arrow to the heart. Only, not really. Mr. Williams hasn't read my book--he just didn't like the title. (Maybe he had a bad experience with a cat as a child. Or maybe a bad experience with a cat as an anal-retentive adult. Whatever.) And considering the site reviews some bind-busting books of a high-minded literary nature, I'm quite pleased I even made the radar. Go little cat gift book, go!

Here's the lesson: Once the book is released (or sooner--hey Mr. Williams!), reviews will be coming my way, both good and bad. The trick is to not read too much into either of them and just keep writing. I shared with a friend that I thought the best course of action would be to not read any reviews that come out, period. He laughed in my face. "Yeah, good luck with that," he said. 

He's right. I'll read 'em. And laugh. And weep. And then, hopefully, keep writing. 

I may make a special effort to send Mr. Williams an autographed copy though. Packaged in kitty litter. Poor man sounds like he could use a good laugh.   >^..^<