Goals for 2008

I went hunting my blog for my 2007 writing goals so that I could have a good laugh. It worked! The complete list is here.

To sum up, I thought I would :

1. Finish this revision pass on Quest to be Queen.
2. Complete one (or, if needed, two) passes on Marks of Repentance and GET THE THING KICKED OUT THE DOOR!
3. Write something. Maybe two somethings.
4. Revise something else if time permits. Squid?
5. Work on the recipe book project.

What of that did I actually accomplish?

1. I set aside the revision pass of Quest to be Queen and started back at it in November of '07. It isn't quite done.
2. The only thing on the list I actually completed! Marks of Repentance did, in fact, get revised. It took nine months, but I did complete a pass! It finaled in a contest and is currently out at another one, so I guess you could say I *kicked it out the door*.
3. Write something? Not so much.
4. Revise something else? Not so much.
5. Recipe book project? Decided it wasn't my passion and shelved it.

Yikes.

In the spirit of providing amusement to us all again in twelve months, what are my plans for 2008?

1. Keep sending out Marks of Repentance. After awhile, analyze whether the novel and/or the query package need another revision.
2. Complete revision of Quest to be Queen, get it out to critters and hopefully into submission in 2008.
3. Revise the opening chapters to Chloe's story (romance) and The Girl Who Cried Squid and submit both to the Genesis contest in April.
4. Revise both novels, send to critters.
5. Write something. Maybe two somethings.
6. Keep critting
7. Keep up with moderator duties at Forward Motion

Goals for 2007

Time to think about the upcoming year and what I hope to accomplish writing-wise. There are so many things I need to do MORE of, and yet the days are the same length as they ever were. I'm not sure what to make of that. Priorities are a nasty thing.

In 2006, I wrote one new novel, The Girl Who Cried Squid, during Nano. That means I had gone 11 months without creative writing. It was too long. I either need to write two books next year or slow down (skip Nano) and let the writing of one novel take much of the year. Which means I would need to learn to multi-task, and THAT is a problem in its own right.

In 2006, I revised two novels and a partial. Yikes, that doesn't sound like a lot at all. I revised False Perceptions and I'm not happy with it (after feedback) so it's shelved, at least for now. I revised Marks of Repentance and all the crits are now back. I plan to go through it again as soon as I complete the partial, Quest to be Queen. I always have this problem. I like writing first drafts better than I like revising, but the honest truth is that if each novel takes at least two additional drafts, then I need to block that into my schedule.

I thought I would start contacting agents in 2006, but I haven't. Nothing has been ready. I refuse to send out something I don't like. So I'm hoping again for this coming year.

What else is there? Conferences: I'm keeping an eye on a couple that may work out in 2007. Reading in the genre: trying to. Reading outside the genre: trying to. Networking: trying to.

So what are my plans for 2007?
1. Finish this revision pass on Quest to be Queen.
2. Complete one (or, if needed, two) passes on Marks of Repentance and GET THE THING KICKED OUT THE DOOR!
3. Write something. Maybe two somethings.
4. Revise something else if time permits. Squid?
5. Work on the recipe book project.

Writing contenders at the moment? Well, there's the long-ignored 2yn project, Puppet Prince, but it's not yelling all that loud. Currently there is a fantasy romance floating around in my head, something to do with this site on the matchmaking tradition. I asked Kaesa nicely, but she doesn't want to play in the Puppet Prince world; she wants her own. **Rolls Eyes.

What are your goals for the coming year?

More on the project...and assorted

Thanks to those of you who have volunteered already. Emails will be going out in the next 30 hours or so to the so-far list. I've been uploading recipes to the forum like crazy all week and have lots more to do. If I seem slow on the uptake communication wise, that would be the reason.

Also, for the next ten days I'll be in and out...but more out than in. Hubby is off work till the 14th. Over the next couple days he and his nephews are *topping* the haystacks and then first cut will officially over. The bale wagon stacks the hay in rows with a flat top which doesn't shed rain or snow all that well. So they create a peak with more bales over the center of the stack, then tarp it down so it will keep well for the required months.

Because this is a temporary shut-down at his place of employment and wasn't figured into our vacation days, we're not wandering far from home. By the time these dates were announced, my in-laws--who live on the farm and are our backup--had already made appointments in a city far from home. Hubby's fancy water system requires somebody keep a close eye on it at this time of year, so we'll ask a neighbor to do that a few times. We plan on doing some local camping overnighters, including taking his dad's boat across the lake and camping for a couple days there.

Our water system, in case you're interested, consists of a shallow well in a place where most households are hooked into a community system. Because we have two households on one deeded property (legally I might add), the community system refuses to service us. It's a mixed blessing actually, because hookup would cost us ten thousand dollars plus several hundred dollars a year usage fees. His folks, back when they owned the farm, put in a 1300 gallon cistern. In the months of the year that the well was usable (February through June or July, depending on the year) they ran the farm off the well. The rest of the year they filled the cistern using a 300 gallon slip-tank that fits in the back of the pickup truck. Then they'd switch back and forth between the well and the cistern whenever the water level in the well came up enough to use. Because the cows can go through 300 gallons on a hot day, that meant hauling a load of water became part of the daily chores (especially during the hottest part of the year which so happens to coincide with haying, the busiest part of the year.) The well water does not pass health standards, so an extra tap in the kitchen was permanently hooked up to the cistern, which always had clean water in it.

Hubby wasn't thrilled with that chore when we took over the farm. We did it for a few years and then he came up with a brainwave. He stuck a sump pump down the well so that whenever there was a bit of water in it, it would get pumped directly into the cistern. When the well doesn't keep up with the usage, we haul water. Allowing it to come in a little at a time prevents us hauling water for most months of the year. In spring there is so much water in the well that I would turn on the sump pump for about 15 minutes daily to top off the cistern. Now it is taking about four hours of running the sump pump daily, which is why we can't leave the farm totally unattended. In a few weeks I'll likely be able to leave the sump pump on around the clock. The last time we hauled a load of water in the slip tank was November.

The downsides are fairly minor compared to the gains. We now have a water cooler in the kitchen for all our drinking water--one of those commercial ones with the 5 gallon jugs. For awhile last fall I couldn't lift those into place but if I was careful in managing the water, I didn't run out while hubby was away. The other downside is changing filters often on the pipes around the cistern. The well water is quite murky.

Well. I had no intention of going off on water systems when I started this post! All to explain why we can't just throw the camper on the truck and disappear for the entire week, being as the cows are happy on grazing and don't require any personal attention.

We live in a beautiful part of BC--I've shown you pics before so you already know that--so it's not a hardship to camp nearby and do some day trips. We're hoping to find a good huckleberry patch or two as well. I've gotten kind of addicted to having fruit at the ready and our local huckleberries are superb. It's a little early in the year yet for the best spots, but we'll see what we can find.

Behave yourselves while I'm gone. I hope to come back at *it* all refreshed and ready for anything. Ha.

The mystery revealed

Today is the Promised Day. You all have been very patient...and I hope at least a little bit curious. But maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole-hill.

Quick review: Throughout my adult life I have been slowly gaining weight at roughly the rate of two pounds a year. That netted me a gain of about fifty pounds over my weight in 1980. In 1989 high cholesterol was added to my woes. I've been aware of the accumulative problem and periodically have made an attempt to deal with it but basically I am a lazy person.

I don't like counting calories, though I like healthy foods. I like doing things outdoors, but fitness classes bore me. Going to the gym was not much fun, but I did it for a couple of years in the mid-90s. It took so much time out of my week and it seemed I was constantly following big strong men around the strength training equipment--men that didn't bother to remove the monstrous weights they were able to lift or pull.

In 2004 I joined Curves for women. At last I could exercise in a woman's environment with several advantages beyond that. There are no weights to adjust---and the cardio workout takes place simultaneously to the strength-training. Forty minutes three times a week and you're outta there baby. I definitely began to trim up, but lose weight? Not so much.

I've mentioned my bout with arthritis in the fall of 2005 and the shocking revelation that I'd gained an additional ten pounds (seemingly overnight) elsewhere. It took about two minutes on March 10, 2006 to decide that there was no time like the present to mend my ways. It was time to Get Serious. Exercise wise, I realized I'd been going through the motions of the Curves workout but not really pushing myself (and of course I'd been off for a few months due to the flare-up). I vowed to go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and to go for a brisk walk on the other four days. Every day, I would exercise without fail. On the food angle I began jacking my daily servings of fruits and vegetables from a pathetic average of 2-3 to 8-10. When I discovered the G. I. Diet the remaining piece fell into place.

I have lost 30 pounds and am within 8 pounds of my goal (no need to be as thin as I was when I was 20, methinks.) At first I looked at the GI Diet as a temporary solution. It began working for me very quickly and that helped. However as I lost weight and gained health and energy I began to realize that this was too good a feeling to relegate to the back burner once I had reached my goal. I began adapting my recipes and inventing new ones to meet the requirements of the GI Diet.

What does GI stand for? Glycemic Index. The basic idea is that the founder, Rick Gallop (past president of the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario), has looked at how quickly and efficiently our body burns calories from various sources. In other words, not all calories are created equal.

He divided food up into three basic categories, based on universal traffic lights. Anything he labels *green* means Go for it. Eat as much as you want. The yellow category means Proceed with Caution. And red, of course, is simply Don't go There (at least if you want to lose weight!). His comprehensive charts are found in his paperback book (sold at paperback prices; I bought my copy at the local pharmacy) and categorize food by glycemic index into these three colors.

What makes the GI way different from other *diets*? Gallop acknowledges that simply going low carb means that we deny our bodies a lot of the essentials we need. There are good carbs (vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, etc) and bad carbs (those high in refined products). The absolute best thing is not counting calories. If I'm hungry, I go have a snack. I have lots of favorites to choose from.

This made a lot of sense to me and still does. And as I've worked through recipes both old favorites and new innovative ones, I've been thinking about the lack of a recipe book that is based on the principles of the GI Diet.

The idea of writing one was born. I write, don't I? Why not a recipe book?

At last we get to the point of this post. I have been researching (ongoing) what it takes to write a recipe book and seek publication for it. I know it is a long shot. Doubtless the world in not waiting with bated breath to hear from me. Still, the idea won't let go.

I am looking for people from all walks of life, with varying cooking skills, and living in various parts of the English speaking world to test recipes. A forum has been created for the posting of these recipes in which the testers can comment. There will be specific forms to fill out. No tester will be expected to try every recipe, but I am looking for reasons why a recipe might not appeal to you enough for you to WANT to try it. I am looking for a one year/ fifty recipe per person commitment (out of several hundred that will be posted).

If I am able to reach my goal and actually sell this recipe book, each tester in good standing will be mentioned in the acknowledgments and will receive one signed copy of the book. There will be no additional cash (or any other type of) payment. If it doesn't sell despite my best efforts, I still believe all participants will have been winners. You will have many healthful recipes to fall back on for the remainder of your life.

If you are looking for healthy recipes (whether or not you intend to go the GI Diet the whole way, every day) and are interested in this pilot project, please email me at: chief_tester AT valeriecomer DOT com. I will send you more details and a basic application form.

Applications close Friday, August 11.

So...what have I been up to?

Monday is the big day when All will be Revealed.

Yeah, I know, I keep promising. Sometimes it's hard for me to connect with my daughter online, and my learning curve for web work still requires a hand-hold at many stages. But the forum she is helping me build (shall I say that I am helping her build?) is nearly ready for the symbolic ribbon snipping.

Of course you have no idea what the forum is for! It's not just for a bunch of Val groupies to hang out. I'm under no illusions that I'm about to win the World Popularity Contest. The forum does have a purpose, though. Come back Monday and let me explain my evil plan for World Domination. Or maybe I'll leave that to Pinky and the Brain...