Day(s) of Reckoning

Day 75

We love the Simpsons here at the Platis household. We have a ton of Simpsons games and one of them is the Simpsons Game of Life. It is not the same Game of Life that I remember playing as a child. Now instead of the Day of Reckoning they call it retirement. That certainly takes the edge off of it. I prefer Day of Reckoning which is why I have named this column that.

It has been two weeks since I have unveiled my New Year's Resolutions. So now it is time for some accountability. On the 14th and 28th of every month I plan on blogging about how I am doing. The good thing about doing this is that I don't have to come up with 2 blogs a month. The bad thing is that not only will it bore some to tears but it will also show how lazy I am. Hopefully that will not be the case.

So without further ado...

WRITING:

I have worked on my novel these last two weeks and I think I have made a nice bit of progress. I have a brand new beginning all written out which I am pretty satisfied with. This will introduce the main character in a much better way and also makes the impact of the first cliffhanger all more important. I have also started to edit my novel and I have got a good chunk of it started. It has been pretty interesting considering this is the first time I have read it. I am pretty happy with the progress of this goal. My other writing goals I have not started but that was to be expected. I only have a few months to knock this one out of the park.

READING:

I actually accomplished a goal by reading a new novel this month and I finished it way ahead of schedule. I read 'Beat the Reaper' by Josh Bazell. It was a fairly quick read, it was very easy to get through and flowed very well. And the more you read, the more interesting and hard to put down it got.

THE GOOD: Very quick and highly interesting. I thought it had two things that made it an excellent read. The footnotes were highly interesting with some neat facts, stuff I never knew. The book also peeled back the main character's past in an interesting way. One chapter dealt with the now and the author would reveal some tidbits and then the next chapter was in the past. So you can learn how events actually came to be.
THE BAD: I was not a huge fan of the ending. It was definitely exciting but it seemed to quick and some of the actions of the main character were almost too unbelievable. But that didn't take away from my enjoyment.

For those that like a step on the wild side, you should read this book. It does have quite a bit of colorful language and had some disturbing things so be forewarned.

The next book that has been recommended by my friend Steve is 'Then We Came to the End' by Joshua Ferris. I might pick up this book at the library and get a head start.

ART:
Nothing down with art although I did do some doodling of potential cover art for my novel. When I get a collection of them I will try to scan them in and post them.

EXERCISE AND EATING RIGHT
I have exercised for two weeks straight and I do feel like my body is responding. Sadly, I am not eating so great yet. I have loads of Christmas candy that needs to go. So the plan is to eat it all up so I don't have anymore left. Yeah, I know, doesn't totally feel like a solid plan. I was happy the first day I started, I was on the Wii Fit Plus and weighed myself. I was only a pound more than I thought, which was good considering I was eating like a pig over the holidays. I do the Wii Fit every other day and when the next time came, I was up three pounds! D'OH! So now instead of 7 pounds, I have to lose 10 now. But I have lost some since then so at least I am heading in the right direction.

As far as my other goals have gone, I have not had any time yet. The novel is my focus for now. We'll see how I am in another 14 days.