Month: January 2005

Meet the new boss

Writer guy

A new year, a new food dilemma. Diet, meal plan, food plan, whatever the en vogue title is, for four out of five Americans, most diets are a memory by March. Amen to that.

Still, it’s handy to blame someone else for failure. The news is an excellent scapegoat. Theres so many choices and options and the media further complicates the matter by spouting conflicting messages. Last year everyone and their grandfather went on Atkins. Few follow Atkins now except my grandfather, who did before the diet existed. See, refined carbs derail his blood sugar levels.

Widespread abandonment of low carb diets aren’t helping the sugar peddlers just yet. Krispy Kreme stock is in the gutter, and keeps sliding. Weight Watchers reports modest gains in attendance. Maybe that’s the new wave, twice revisited. The verdict is still out on the Zone, but it sounds like much of what doesn’t work long term in either Atkins or Weight Watchers.

But the point of all this is, what eating plan is right for me? And why the hell does this come up every January? Not like I’m bikini club bound any time soon.

You know, I was a lot happier before this diet research. Perhaps, it’s time to reincarnate the 2004 plan. It’s deceptively simple: simply visualize a diet thats allows for whatever is desired and then do that.

Oh yes, next year, next year I will have an eating plan.

Presently Present

Writer guy

Rough return to daily grind. Food coma sets in at the usual time. Since coffee is not available for revival, the primary recourse is exercise and water, itself a false remedy. Desperately need caffeine. Might require blood transfusion if blood sugar continues languishing.

The Wife’s cat behaves oddly. First ack attack at 8am. Later, the striped beast demands a ride around the apartment on my shoulder, and multiple head butts. Suffer a traumatic brain injury when cat rams pointy skull into forehead at high velocity.

Orders are strong, with a substantial bump in sales in the Xmas wake. Perhaps everyone returned nonessential gifts and are flush with ducats.

Writing is rough going under such conditions. No word from agent. The trial continues….

Year End Wrap Up

Writer guy

It’s time for year end site statistics!

Blogs: 309. Target – 312, or 6x per week. Not bad at all.
Visitors: 25 countries, including Aruba, Finland and Norway.
Referrers, or sites that link to samhilliard.com. Not very many. Working on this.
Most read page: Blogs, although comments are closing fast. Comments will win in 2005.
Number one search phrase: Sam Hilliard, followed by the Wife and Buddhapuss ( they tied ).

New Years Day

Writer guy

New Years Eve is a time of reflection and new beginnings. Every December 31st the Wife and I record a number of goals for the coming annum. Goals break down based on category, be they personal, professional or as a couple. A year later we review, discuss and write new goals.

2004 was rocky on my end. The Wife did well, satisfying four out of five personal goals and every career goal. I flubbed three out of four personal goals. The goal fulfilled: write every day for three hours. Man, I’m so fired.

Lost in the crush of self pity and yearning for a half dozen martinis, the Wife studied my list. She put what happened into perspective. Of the four personal goals, only one goal was under my influence, the writing schedule. The other three depended on the actions of others. Hearing that, made it clear why I 1) I failed and 2) felt bad about missing the target. The endpoint was never mine to hit.

The Wife took one goal and re-framed.

Before : Get a literary agent.
After : Query, contact and work towards securing representation for the Ridge Runner.

Not only is the re-framed goal more accurate, the statement now emphasizes my personal responsibility and influence in the situation.

And so we enter year 2005. Rock on….