Chocolate, and other things

I took Ben on a tour and tasting at a local chocolate "factory" yesterday. I use the quotes because the facility is very very small. I had visions of our experience at the Ben and Jerry's Factory tour and the chocolate factory is, like, the size of my living and dining room. So there were a few minutes where we had to adjust our expectations and settle into the reality of the actual experience. But from then on, it was wonderful! We learned a ton about chocolate making and even got to help with some of it. We took all kinds of silly pictures but they were on old-school disposable cameras and I haven't gotten them developed yet.

In other news, I've been making slow progress with my current WIP. It's been especially difficult to carve time out of my schedule to write over the past several months. Wait, let me amend that--to carve time out of my schedule when my brain is still functioning. My day job has spilled over into my personal life and I'm trying to reclaim my personal time for myself. It's a slow process. :)

In other other news, this week marks the first of a six week commitment I've made to myself to exercise, for real. I've done some off-and-on jags with the elliptical machine in the past but this time I'm getting serious and committing to at least 3 times a week and including weights. I know it's going to suck and I'm going to hate every moment of it for a while but I'm hoping that if I press myself through six weeks of it, I'll get past that point to where I at least don't hate it and it feels a little more habitual and integrated into my life, versus some sort of looming Olympic challenge. My first workout is planned for tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Old Notes

Do you ever look back at something you worked on a long time ago and think, "Really? I came up with all that? Huh..."  :)

I've spent the morning going over old notes I made on a book (working title abbreviated: PR) that was Absolutely Going to be the Next Book I Wrote No Really...back before I started on TLOS. This story will not let me go. I have really good notes on it and I like the characters and the potential for conflict between them. Now I just need to figure out plot and how to tell the story. The backstory is huge and essential (I know, I know, everyone thinks that about their characters' backstories but this one really is) and I have to think creatively about how much of that information needs to get to the reader and when.

Hmmm. Time to get to work!