Midweek #ROW80 Update and Thoughts on MapMyRun+

The writing has been a bit of a struggle the last few days.  Been busy at work and home and generally just haven’t had my brain as much in the story.  I only managed a paltry 250 words on Sunday (I know, better than 0), 503 on Monday, and a far more respectable (for me) 1014 on Tuesday.  I’m closing in on the end of Act 3 (thank GOD).  Next week I have to kill off one of the good characters.  I’ve never done this in a book before, and I fully anticipate copious weeping while I do it.

On the Operation G.I.T. front, I recently upgraded to MapMyRun+.  Mostly this was to get rid of the ads that I kept accidentally clicking on, but it turns out it’s got some cool features.   Like coaching.  You can set your target pace and how often you want it to check, and it’ll chime in every however often (2 minutes for me) to let you know what your current pace is and whether you need to slow down, speed up, or if you’re right on target.  Given that one of the things I want to do is KEEP IMPROVING and beating my time, I find this a marvelous feature.  This morning I averaged at 12:09 minute mile (really it was an 8-9 minute mile while running and a 16 minute mile walking up the big hills), down from 12:18 on Monday.  Booyah!

My decision to go vegan until dinner has more transitioned to being vegetarian until dinner.  I’m keeping the emphasis on whole grains, fruits and veggies, but I like a little cheese in my salads and such.  I’ve been quite successful so far, and I’ve noticed my taste buds getting more sensitive (to salt in particular).  I also added in a B-complex vitamin after lunch yesterday, which seemed to help some with the post lunch slump.  In the past I’d taken a B-complex in the morning and it made me horribly jittery.  After lunch yesterday went much better, so that seems to be the right time for that.  I haven’t actually been counting calories since I started this.  If I get hungry, I have some kind of fruit or veggie concoction.  Probably with some of it I’m over my technical budget by the time I’ve had dinner, but with all my reading on macronutrients, that’s not necessarily a problem.

After more noodling yesterday on the issue of YA in other historical periods I have about decided that if I were to write this steampunk series as YA, it would have a very NA feel to it, simply because teens were new adults in that time period.  Courting, marriage, grown up jobs and responsibilities–but not so mired in those things that it changes the tone of becoming and identity.  So that’s the direction I’m leaning in at the moment.  Certainly it could change.  I might have an editor by the time I get around to this project.  But for now, I’m thinking older YA.

7 thoughts on “Midweek #ROW80 Update and Thoughts on MapMyRun+

  1. Killing our children certainly stings. I don’t envy you there. But like you mentioned, any words are better than no words. Talk about G.I.T up and go 😉 A steampunk NA/YA would be a great way to get a broader audience for you. Heck, I bet it would be fun to write too. I hope you end up writing it.

  2. Have you read Kady Cross? I just started her steampunk series (Finley Jayne). They’re YA, but it’s very clear that at 16 (I think that’s her age), Finley is similar to an 19 or 20yo in today’s society.

    Also, I LOVE MapMyRun. It’s a great app.

    Good luck getting those words in!

  3. Just read this after finishing off my turkey burger and fries. Oh well.

    Good job getting some words on the page. I will mourn for your character too. That’s hard to do, but kudos to you for not taking the easy out but doing what your story needs. Have a great week, Kait!

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