"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify!"

I first heard this quote in a movie, of all places. One with Shirley MacLaine, where she keeps marrying men who leave her bundles of money. She wants a simple life, but marries a farmer and he hits an oil well in his fields. Marries another "poor" man and he strikes it rich. One of her husbands quotes Thoreau to her. (What a Way to Go, thank you to Google for the title.) She wants a simple life, but the men she marries all want to make it rich, and they do, along with the pitfalls that go along with their new lifestyles. Then they kick the bucket.

When I’m reading, I tend to be drawn more toward an underdog, someone who doesn’t have a lot and isn’t a social climber. Generally speaking, characters have some undeclared source of income or they stand to inherit a great deal. Occasionally, they are middle class, but have you ever read a historical novel that didn’t include a member of the “ton?” Yes, I have, but they aren’t nearly as interesting. Then there are the contemporary “billionaire” type novels. They don’t appeal to me. I like the Average Joes and Janes. There are also the famous person meets “nobody” tropes. I’ve seen some of those done well, but they are also not my favorites.

That’s why I like to write working stiffs. 

Do you have a favorite trope? Poor character strikes it big? Like Shirley MacClain’s husbands in the movie? Or do you prefer the local shopkeeper? or fireman? Or another person living in middle class suburbia/trying to make it in the city?

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Update on the weight journey: holding my own. Up a pound, down a pound. I’m actually pleased that the baseline is lower, even as I try to push it lower. Still tracking calories. 

And now there's a deadline

So far, I've been writing on my own schedule. Don't get me wrong, I usually write a book fairly quickly (although not as fast as I used to "pre-plague"). Elspeth Barclay book 3 is nearing completion, and after checking in with my editor, I am now writing to finish rather than just writing to find my way through the story.

The inspiration

That means I need a title! Ugh. Here's a hint. Elle breaks her own rules and calls out to the spirit world. The spirit that answers isn't the one she expected. Nevertheless, she helps the spirit find what Elle believes is closure, except this spirit isn't finished. What more does it want from her?

I've been back and forth through the story as it unfolds, cleaning up some of the mess along the way, redirecting the characters to the main road, but there's still a lot of mess to address. Then, of course, there's the grammatical pass that needs to be done, and the readability pass... all of those fun things that go into producing a book--and that's before it goes to the editor. She's going to want a "pre-final" version that she can then point out the flaws in. The more mistakes she sees when she gets it, the better the chance she'll miss a potentially bigger mistake. So, yeah, I need to make it as near perfect as I can before I send it to her.

Right now, the expected release date is sometime in April, but more on that later. I have a deadline to meet now! Anyone else looking forward to the new book? 

Coffee and disappearing products

I have a knack for liking products that apparently aren't all that popular with the rest of the world. I can't tell you how many times I've thrown myself into going "all in" with a product, only to have it disappear off the shelves. It's happened with cereal it’s happened with deodorant. It's happened with hair products. It's happened with perfume. I get it. Trends change. Products change. There's always something "new and better," except when it ISN'T new and better. It's just different. 

The latest product I have to now give up is my coffee.

I've never been a big coffee drinker. That is, until I found one I actually liked. Yes, I was a casual coffee drinker, and I occasionally tried a cup of tea when it was cold outside to help me warm up. Most of my life, I was a Coca-Cola drinker. That was my caffeine fix. Then I stopped drinking carbonated beverages for a number of reasons. It's only been the last maybe ten years that I actually drink coffee every day. That's coming to an end.

When I got a Keurig type brewer--actually, the Big Guy got it as an anniversary gift at work--I bought some of the flavored coffees that I like, and I discovered a new one. Gloria Jean's Mudslide. Medium roast. Hints of chocolate and vanilla without being all cafe mocha. I was a convert! Drank it for years, but then they stopped making it in K-cups. So I bought it in bags - ground or beans to grind. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew this was going to be another one of those "it's going to disappear" things. Here's the thing. In my quest to lose poundage, I've been told coffee is a good thing to give up. I don't know why, but okay. Also in the back of my mind, I told myself when I can't buy my Mudslide anymore, I'll quit the coffee. Then they raised the price and lowered the volume (no longer a pound) you get for that price. Maybe time to rethink the "when."

About a month ago, I got a coupon in my email for coffee, so I went to order more. I'm on my last not-a-pound. Guess what? Mudslide wasn't available. I checked my order history, and the picture of the product that goes with the order is a placeholder box. Part of me mourned the loss of my favorite coffee, and part of me said "ok, the time has come." Then a funny thing happened. I got a survey about my "recent purchase" of Mudslide. "How did you like your order?" HAHAHA. What timing. Yes, I told them it was my favorite coffee but why were they tormenting me when I can't buy it anymore? Needless to say, they haven't followed up to my comment.

So now I'm working my way through the last of my coffee. I have some other flavors to tide me over, also, but I'm not planning to replenish the supply once it's gone. All those authors and coffee memes will poke me with a sense of sadness that I can no longer drink my beverage of choice. I guess we'll see how it affects my weight loss journey!

Do you have a product that you loved that is no longer available?

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Update on the weight journey: the Big Guy bought me a treat. He likes to do that, even when I tell him not to. The result was some backsliding, but a minor hiccup. Still tracking calories. Holding the line and determined to move the needle down. “Just say no.”

New Year, New Ereader?

You know what I haven't done in a while? Give away a book, just because. Lots of people got ebook readers for Christmas, and the "stuff my kindle" event showed that people are looking for new things to read. 

Are you missing one of my books in your collection? As a thank you for being a reader and for joining me here on my blog, I'm giving away one book each to three lucky winners simply by asking for it. 

Click here

Know someone who might like my books? Share this post with them so they have a chance to win, too! And did you know you can also gift books -- ebooks and paperbacks -- to friends and family at most sellers? If you need help figuring out how, leave me a comment including which bookseller you want to gift from and I'll send you a link to their gifting instructions.

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Update on the weight journey: No more binges since the Christmas cookie fiasco. Still tracking calories, still in calorie deficit. Down one more pound. Non-scale victory? I'm wearing jeans instead of my "soft pants" (as Dear Husband calls them). 

Losing Weight in the New Year

I'm Baaaack...

New years are always cause for re-evaluation. I think it's the nature of the beast. Unavoidably, people are going to talk about New Year's Resolutions, or things they want to accomplish in the new year. I stopped doing that years ago, but one thing always remains.

I'm going to talk to you about my weight today. Not a pleasant topic in the best of circumstances, and one no one wants to discuss most of the time. Here's the thing. I'm what you call a yo-yo dieter. Many years ago, I joined weight watchers because I'd reached an OMG weight--that threshhold which we shall not cross without buying a new wardrobe in unacceptable sizes. I lost a bunch of weight. Then a funny thing happened. They changed their plan. It no longer worked for me. I became a statistic, one of those "I kept it off for three years!" people before I gained it back. That was sheer laziness on my part. I tried going back to WW after that, but the program was different. Not as effective. I resorted to the MyFitnessPal app that counts calories, which I recommend - but you have to stick with it (which I didn't).

When my son got married, I was determined to drop the extra weight once more and I let a friend talk me into a (I'm going to call it questionable) program. The program worked, but even as I was working it, I knew it wasn't sustainable. Again, I dropped the weight. It taught me some valuable nutrition lessons, so it wasn't a total waste of time and money, but as an emotional eater, I was triggered when "my person" passed away. I resorted to the "life is short, eat the cookie" mentality and yes, I gained the weight back. 

So here I am. I've accepted that my body likes being a certain size. I'm of a certain age. I'm at peace with that, and my health is good, so there really isn't an issue. Except there are notable differences when I'm more in control of my food. The way my clothes fit is a no brainer, but there are other benefits that motivated me to try once more this past November. Well, I lost the weight with weight watchers once before, so I tried it again. Funny thing. While I'd seen the changes in the weight watchers program over the years, I didn't really understand how much they'd changed the program. It was impossible to follow this time around, and now they're promoting it in conjunction with weight loss drugs. I'm sorry, Oprah, but unless you have severe health risks, there's a better way. We’re older now. Our bodies have changed due to a multitude of factors. I’m never going to be that skinny 20 year old again.

I went back to calorie counting with MyFitnessPal, which is much more reasonable than manufactured points that don't work, and I've lost some weight. I've applied the nutrition lessons I've learned through the years. At the end of the day, it's all about mind set. Food really is an addiction - and as Betty Ford used to say, just say no. I've been counting my calories with MyFitnessPal since around Thanksgiving time (which means this is NOT a "New Year's Resolution"). As I told my buddy when I started, I'm committed. It isn't a sprint, it's a marathon - the only marathon I'm likely to run. Despite being in calorie deficit every day, the scale isn't moving very quickly. I originally lost 8 lbs, then regained 4 after a Christmas cookie binge. (amazing how quickly you can put it on and how slowly it comes off.) I re-lost 2 or the original 4 and am trying to do better. No more Christmas cookies.

It isn't always about the victory on the scale. It's accepting that we are all made differently - different sizes and shapes - and age weighs into the equation. I'm not making excuses or rationalizing bad decisions, but I'm also not going to jeopardize my health going the pharmaceutical route. 

I can get on my soapbox and preach about all the poor options that are available to us as Americans, how we got into this obesity mess in the first place, but at the end of the day, it's about choices. 

I'm trying to make better ones.