Exercise | BulgingButtons

November 5, 2013
by BulgingButtons 4 Comments

Giving the People What They Want – Whatever That Might Be

Dear Readers,

My hope is to share with you content that you enjoy reading. I’m trying to do that in a way that is interesting and engaging. I’ve been looking at the blog stats and have come to the somewhat painful realization that my college statistics course was zero preparation for distilling the information I’m currently facing. Actually, that’s not quite it. It’s not the realization that’s painful, it was the statistics course and its accompanying MINITAB computer labs that were painful. In graduate school someone gave me the sage advice to take my statistics class pass/fail. Remembering back to my undergrad experience, I took that advice. Mercifully, I passed.

As interesting as all that may be, it’s just back story. Something I am told time and again to avoid in my writing. I guess old habits die hard. Here’s the crux of the situation: I want to know what you, the reader, want to see on BulgingButtons. From the start it’s been a cute little self-absorbed blog about my life as a fat girl. It’s branched out from there to include my life in general, including some thoughts on parenting my dear son, with bits about my teaching career, a little about my long neglected quilt projects, and a fair amount about the wonderful world of words, aka writing.

I sometimes write about health related topics, or the world of fat girl fashion. I also write about my food obsession, both positive and negative, and about my ongoing efforts to get my fat behind in gear, i.e. exercise. Some days this is more challenging than others. Oh, and challenges. I have the ongoing 47 for 47 challenge, and the NaNoWriMo and NaBloPoMo challenges for the month of November have kept me quite busy as well. I also did a series of Daily Passions Prompts, and I have regularly written to the WordPress Daily prompts.

I suppose I’m not looking for a new direction exactly, because I really like sharing my thoughts in all different directions, but I do wonder what aspects of the blog appeal to you most, and what parts are your least favorite (or just not interesting to you). I imagine the quilters have all left the building, as my poor neglected projects page hasn’t had any action (much like my poor neglected quilt projects). And anyone seeking recipes has probably moved on, because I haven’t shared any. But I know that lots of you have chosen to stick around. I’d love to know why.

I’m ready for the feedback, bring it on! What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of BulgingButtons, and what would you like to see more and less of here?

Thanks in advance for your well thought out and detailed comments! (See what I did there? Clever, no?)

With love and orange-filled Oreos (hey, I have to get rid of them somehow!),

November 2, 2013
by BulgingButtons 11 Comments

Fat and the Writing Lifestyle

November has come screaming in with the beginning of NaNoWriMo and the fantastic workshop I attended this morning. It was my first novel writing workshop, and it was so well done. The fact that it was also free and included a catered lunch was even better.

Then, once home, I discovered the NaBloPoMo challenge. I am such a sucker for challenges, especially ones that I think I have a chance at completing. This one, to publish a blog post a day, seemed like a no brainer for me. I post often, sometimes more than once a day. I signed up and grabbed their badge.

That got me thinking about other challenges, notably my 47 for 47 challenge. Uh oh. There are lots of items on that list that are yet to be crossed off. In fact, most of them. Oops.

The thing is, the more I live a “writerly” life, the further I’m getting from my health and fitness goals. Last night, as I produced my 2,300 words I munched on m & m’s. Hmmmm. Writers can eat grapes as they write. They don’t need m & m’s. I can also think about my characters or upcoming chapters as I walk on the treadmill. I need to keep this in mind as I immerse myself in words. I need to remember to take care of the physical, even while I’m focusing my energy on the mental.

October 28, 2013
by BulgingButtons 1 Comment

Visuals for goals make an impression

This is so simple and in many ways so obvious, but how many of us do this? Read on for Lisa Jackson’s brilliantly written advice on ways to stay motivated.

Live to Write - Write to Live

We’ve had several conversations on this blog about goal setting, the importance of writing your goals down and breaking those goals into quarterly/monthly/weekly/daily tasks.

We’ve also talked about ‘checking off’ those daily tasks and crossing items off ToDo lists.

And while I love crossing items off a list, or putting a check next to a “big goal”, I’ve found great value in other visuals, too.

For instance, for exercise – I give myself a star or a smiley face or a “great job” sticker on a day that I have at least 30 minutes of exercise. I have 12 small months taped to a kitchen door, so I can easily see how many days I’ve exercised throughout the year whenever I want. It’s quite inspiring.

Last year, I completed 2 races – a 5K and a triathlon. I tacked the race bibs to my bulletin board (as well as giving…

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