Surround yourself...

Trying to find a rhythm to 2018...Friday Five.

Sorry... I did it again. 

Completely disappeared from my blog.

I didn't mean for it to happen. 

I've planned both my Friday Fives and my Sunday graphics every week.

Right now, I'm just running out of day long before I'm running out of tasks to do. 

The good news is that means I've been crazy busy working.

The bad news is that my blog has taken the hit for it.

But I have a new plan, so maybe I'll be able to manage this better. 

So, why have I been so busy?

or 

What's to come in 2018....

Last year was crazy busy with 7 releases under my Christi Snow name and 3 releases from KB Jacobs. I wrote just over 350,000 words. 

This year I'm planning more. 

I have my schedule planned out so that I'll be writing 450,000 words and releasing 7 full-length novels. For those of you that don't write...that's a LOT. But if I stay on task, I honestly think I can do it (and not burn out). 

So, I know you all don't really care about how many words I write per day. You want to know what books are coming. 

So, here is a tentative release schedule with book titles: 

1. When Love Comes Back (When the Mission Ends #5)

2. Guarded Desire (NM Protectors #1)

3. Photo Op Serendipity (NM Protectors #2)

4. Sweet Disaster (Play It Again #1)

5. Disenchanted Hearts (Play It Again #2)

6. Recovering Hope (Play It Again #3)

7. Found at the Rock Concert (Found #4)

The first six books on this list are m/f  with the only m/m on there as Found at the Rock Concert, so I'm still trying to figure out how I can slide a couple more m/m releases into the mix.

Note...every single one of these books is full-length so there's not a lot of room.

So, we'll see. 

There are definitely more details coming soon. 

2018...Weight Watchers

A lot of you may not realize that I've been a lifetime WW member since 2000 when I lost almost 35 lbs. My husband has been lifetime since 2013. 

But 2017 wasn't a great year for either of us and our weight, so we are back on the WW band-wagon for 2018 (and I think we were both dangerously close to our original starting weights...eeks).

It should be noted that we both ADORE the new Freestyle program. 

I have been with WW for a LONG time, so I have seen a LOT of iterations of the program. 

Hands down, this is the easiest version of it they've had so far. 

For those of you curious, all these items are free...

*grilled chicken breasts

*turkey breast

*eggs (scrambled eggs are my go to when I'm running low on points)

*almost all seafood

*all fruit

*all veggies

It's amazingly do-able. 

So far (with three weigh ins) Ben has already lost almost 10 lbs.

And after two weigh ins, I've lost almost 5 lbs.

(We used to be able to attend meetings together, but so far this year, we haven't been able to coordinate our schedules so we can hit the same weigh in day...LOL).

But needless to say...I'm a fan and highly recommend the Weight Watchers program. It's all about simple moderation and eating healthy...something we ALL should practice whether we need to lose weight or not.

But if you all are interested, I'll keep posting progress as we go along.

Other 2018 goals...

I don't do resolutions per se, but the beginning of the year is the perfect time to make life changes. In 2018, I changed a basic thing that I do in my bullet journal. I now create Weekly tracker pages. These pages are made up of my goals, my daily word count tracker, and daily habits that I'm trying to develop. 

(I don't know if you've ever heard that it takes 21 days to develop a habit. I'm a firm believer in this, so my daily habit tracker will probably change quite a bit over the course of the year as I feel certain practices become ingrained.)

But here is a quick look at my weekly tracker pages for the first three weeks of the year, so you can see what I'm doing (some successes...a lot of failures...gotta work harder on that no spend!)

Note: I'm writing this section of my Friday Five on Thursday, so this week's tracker is up to date as of 10 AM on Thurs.

InCoWriMo...

I know. I'd never heard of it either until this week. 

InCoWriMo is Feb 2018.

What is it?

(if you click on ^^^ it will take you to the InCoWriMo website)

Simple...it's a commitment to write a handwritten letter every day for the month.

I love that!

And I plan to do it, although I can admit right now that it's going to be a challenge because writing letters takes time. 

But that's also WHY we should TAKE TIME to do it. 

To take time to show someone else that we care.

I'm excited...so, I'm doing my part to help spread the word.

This graphic came from GouletPens.com. They have a fabulous blog post about the challenge that you can find HERE. They also are my go-to source for writing supplies. I love them, so give them a visit!

Just me...

This is one of those days where everything is stacked against me.

*I'm not going out today besides the school for drop-off and pick-up of Kat.

*I'm writing a difficult scene.

*I'm working on rewrites.

*I'm working on taxes.

*And it's the one day of the month where it's imperative that I stay on top of my Motrin or I'll end up curled up in a ball in bed with god-awful cramps.

I got up this morning and fully planned on wearing yoga pants all day.

It's one of those days.

But then I thought about it and decided NO.

You know why?

Because if I put on yoga pants, I won't feel as good about myself.

And today is already filled with yucky tasks.

Those two things combined means I'd probably eat all day.

Which would mean, I'd feel even worse.

So, today I made a conscious decision to break the cycle and dressed up...simply for me.

Because it would make me feel better and happier all day.

It was a good decision.

I don't take many photos of me, but here I am as of this morning...

***

Keeping my motto for 2018 front and center...

Have a great weekend, everyone. 

I hope it involves a GREAT book!

smiles,

Christi