Getting fat? P90X

A little over a month ago, I weighed myself at 200lbs, which is 20lbs over my normal weight. Since I refuse to buy pants larger than a 34 waist, I decided to get back to working out.

I’m in my 40’s now, but back when I was in my twenties and early thirties, I was a gym rat, going about 6 days a week to weight train. Nothing bulky, just staying lean and in good shape.

After I moved to Chicago, I stopped working out because of all the times I had to stop and start for various reasons. So, here I am, needing to do something. A friend suggested P90X and I started doing the DVDs. Now, I eat relatively healthy, but I’m not following their strict diet or maintaining their schedule, but so far, I’ve lost almost 20lbs and my pants are loose again.

It’s a great workout, but you need at least an hour a day to do it. I found the only time I can do it with a clear mind and uninterrupted is to get up an hour earlier every morning and force myself. You do what it takes or it just doesn’t get done. All I’m doing is replacing sleep with a workout, so I’m not loosing any of my daily routines.

Besides the normal cardio and weight training, there is also a jump training DVD, a martial arts type routine and YOGA, which I’ve come to like a lot. I recommend it highly and just remember, after 90 days or when you complete the schedule, you can maintain with a normal workout of about a half hour a day as long as you eat like a normal human – or a normal human in the 1950’s.

Ahead of publishing schedule!

I just received word from Medallion Press that my ebook pub date is being moved up to May 2011 instead of December 2011. That means I have less than a year to market and promote UNHINGED into being the most downloaded ebook ever!

Is it wrong to dream?

Writers use their imagination, so I can easily fantasize about word of mouth and the demand being so high for UNHINGED that it eventually goes to print and then becomes a movie. It reads as a movie.

In case you don’t know what UNHINGED is about, it’s about a New Orleans detective chasing down a serial killer that is murdering women from his past. One twist is that they find out who the killer is rather early and the other twist is that FBI is sabotaging the investigation because they don’t want this killer to be caught.

Anyway, the plans for its release has now changed and I have to get a move on. First thing? By an ebook reader.

The Agent Search

When I first started sending query letters out to literary agents years and years ago, I really didn’t know how to write them and I thought that quantity would be better than quality, so I had received many, many rejections and wasted so much postage.

These days, I still don’t believe that I write the perfect query letter, but I hand pick the agents and I customize the query to that agent after doing sufficient research. Have I landed one, yet? No. But I have received personal feedback from some of them and that can be very valuable also.

Case in point – I’ve had Pam Ahearn on my radar for some time now. I queried her early on and then years later apologized for that attempt and tried again. Ms. Ahearn has responded most recently with a letter telling what she liked and didn’t like about the first 75 pages of a detective thriller. Although it was a rejection, she gave me the inspiration to change some things that I’ve been scared to up to this point and low and behold, the book is better. The flow is better and the action is better and she will welcome a re-submit.

Building the relationship is what will get me an agent. Letting them know that I will always be around and that I am willing to work with them and change things up. I have to think that way, or I may as well quit.