Checkpoint Charlie

Hello, dear reader!

Last week, I fell into the trap of navel gazing (Not naval gazing, as I first wrote. That’s ship-spotting, and completely different).

It’s something I’m prone to. I tend to live in my own head, with my own thoughts, which is probably a bit of a boon to anyone else thinking of taking a peek in there.

However.

Idle thought and rumination alone will only take one so far. There comes a point when action has to be taken, and to that point I started off this year with some goals and aspirations. Not resolutions, you understand. Nothing that concrete. Just things I’d like to achieve.

So, let’s see how we’re doing, shall we.

You Are What You Eat
The first of the aims I first exposed to public scrutiny (In this post), was to get a little more healthy. This boiled down to two things—eat better, move more. The first of these is pretty easy on first inspection. 

It’s about choices and balance, It’s getting more protein and vegetables, dropping the carbs slightly, and getting into a ‘calorific deficit’, otherwise known as taking in less calories than you expend, thus forcing the body to use up its stores of fat (and, potentially, muscle, but that’s where exercise comes in). The moving has proven just a little trickier.

Being possessed of a wheelchair that didn’t wheel all that well, and a dog who’s advancing years and mixed breeding has resulted in a touch of arthritis/tendonitis, my usual canine based trundling has taken a hit. The weather hasn’t been all that conducive to getting out and about either, but that may just be me being a big jessie.

To compensate, I started using one of the exercise routines offered by Adapt To Perform, a website and YouTube channel run by a fellow wheelchair user and specifically designed to cater for the needs of such, and even, over the last week, broke out the crutches for small be reasonably regular walks with Tina, my fantasticly supportive wife. 

And the eating thing? Well, that’s still a work in progress. I can resist pretty much anything apart from, temptation, but as long as the treats are in the shop and not my kitchen, I’m pretty steadfast. Take-aways still nag away at my resolve, but their appearance in the Rankin household has taken a definite nose-dive in recent months. Something the increasing cost of our favourite Chinese takeaway may or may not have had something to do with (fiscally responsible Yorkshireman here, remember!).

So, yeah, as I’m writing this straight after a session on the dumbbells, I’m going to give myself a solid 7 for the health thing.

Well Read
Next was to keep up last years aim of reading more. 2023 saw me read a book a month, something that seems quite trivial, but with the advent of social media and television streaming, this had taken a hit. Therefore, as reading makes our speaking English good (bonus points for identifying the reference) I decided to aim for that again.

Three months in, two books read. Again, I’m going to give myself a 7 for this one, too. Yes, I’m behind, but I can catch up, and maybe even overtake my stated goal. It’s something to strive for, anyway.

Next!

Finally, to go along with the reading I wanted to do more writing. To this end, I’m almost finished with my re-re-re-re editing of the book wot I wrote, and intend to have this go through a round or two of querying by May. I’ve also put a few words down on two more putative long form projects, one a Political thriller/Urban fantasy mash up, the other more aimed at a younger readership. The short story avenues have, unfortunately, dried up a little with two of the small press publishers I’ve written for having ‘troubles’. There’s a couple of submitted stories still waiting  on a yay or nay with both, but I’m not holding my breath.

So, I’m not sure on that one. 6 out of 10, maybe? Could do better?

Track
Nothing is ever perfect, and I deliberately did not make my New Year about definite win/loss scenarios All my stated aims are works in progress and, I guess, this post is mostly for myself. It’s a way to keep my feet to the fire (a waste of time in my case, It would take the smell of burning flesh for me to realise), a way, with a third of the year gone, to keep me on track.

  

So, here’s to the next three months, and the half-way there checkpoint. Hopefully, a little more time, and a little application will result in a trimmer, more learned, and more proactive blogger.

Now, where’s that book?

Until next time…

#

Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think


New Tales Of Old


Death Ship


Pestilence: Drabbles 1


Reaperman: Drabbles 3


The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu


Eldritch Investigations