Between Jest and Earnest

A couple of Sunday mornings ago, I closed my laptop and felt pretty good about myself. I had a draft. A completed draft. Don't get me wrong, it's a flaming pile of mess. But it's my flaming pile of mess. It was two years ago when I started an exercise in self-discipline wherein I committed to writing a minimum of 30 minutes a day for 30 days . It was a success, insofar as I was able to stick to this commitment. But it also succeeded in helping me to develop a new habit. In the coming months, I continued writing for at least 30 minutes on most days. Have there been lapses? Yep. Plenty of them. But with a little bit of effort, I've been able to recommit. Ever since closing my laptop on that day, though, I've let the metaphorical dust gather around the manuscript. Most days, I wake up thinking that this will be the day where I turn it around. But then the day finishes, and I'm telling myself "Tomorrow you'll do it. Just wait until tomorrow." B

My Don't-Related Triathlon Goals

Time Spent on book: 2 hours Words written: Collecting Grade for the day: C (Started the week well. Not so much by the end) I'm doing a triathlon this weekend, and I have been thinking about my goals for this race. I have learned through running that it's good to have goals. Sometimes my goal is a time or a distance. Lately, it's been more related to staying injury-free. But goals keep me focused on something , which I find helps me get out the door. With this triathlon, though, I think that my goals can't focus too much on the event itself. After all, my "training" for the non-running events has consisted of three bike rides and one swim. So with that, I offer up the following set of goals for my forthcoming triathlon. They are all, as you will note, "don't"-related. Why? Because often when I "do" something, bad things happen. Don't Separate a Shoulder. Yep, I did that. The first time I "trained" f

Guest Post on Puppy Mills

The following is a post from my 10-year-old daughter, Ruth. She is very passionate about this topic and she wanted me to share this with as many people as possible. ------------------------------ A puppy mill makes female dogs have litter after litter of puppies to sell. The workers don't care about their health or treatment, they only care about the money. The puppies are separated from their mothers, then piled in cages. You may know about puppy mills and you may not. Either way, they are awful places. Some puppies are driven in a truck, like apples or corn. Fortunately, puppy mills are regulated in Pennsylvania. Sooo... we're all good -right? Well, that's not the case. Puppy Mills may be regulated in some states, but in the chart below, it shows that twenty other states don't have any laws against them! Alabama Idaho Nevada South Carolina Alaska Kentucky New Mexico South Da

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