Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Give it Up?

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people. ~ Orson Welles

Because I'll forget if I don't say it now: Go visit Allie's Blog for Writers Wednesday and read a great writing tip. Even better? Leave a comment, and be put in a drawing to win a $5 Amazon.com gift certificate!

I ran out of words yesterday. It was the strangest thing. I had nothing to write. Not a thing. Do you recall that my blog entry was mostly pictures? I couldn't do revisions, couldn't write, had no inspiration and nothing seemed to help.

I can't recall if that's ever happened to me before. I hope it doesn't happen again today. I have stuff I want to get done.

"Miles From You" is number five on the bestseller list at The Wild Rose Press. And number five at All Short Stories for TWRP. Not bad. I'm kinda bumming, though, because I have two reviews up at that last site, and they're "good" and "okay". I know, it could be worse, but I want "great"! I really loved that story...

Melissa has been dieting (in preparation for the RWA conference) and is using a particular program from the book, "Eat to Live". I've been reading through the book and I agree with pretty much everything he says, and I'm certainly going to add more fruits and veggies to my diet immediately (not that I'm not already eating a lot, just not as much as he recommends: 1 or 2 HUGE salads and 4 fruits daily)...

But...

I don't think I could keep on his program for any length of time. Not because I could only have a little cheese or yogurt. I have no problem eliminating animal foods from my diet (though he says you can have them in moderation).

It's the coffee and chocolate part.

He says you can have 1 cup of coffee occasionally. But I LOVE my coffee and really don't care if it's regular or decaf, I just like the taste. And I drink it with chocolate soy milk. Every morning I drink an entire pot of coffee with about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate soy milk. I spent all night thinking about it and again this morning (as I sip at my mug of java).

What about you?

What would be a deal-breaker for you on a diet? Seriously -- what would be one thing you simply couldn't give up?

BTW, it was interesting to see that the gardeners and non-gardeners were about evenly split yesterday. I just always assume everyone must love getting out there and weeding and planting and tending as much as I do.

I attacked our woods a bit yesterday afternoon. There is one thing good I can say about New Hampshire -- stuff GROWS here. Like crazy. If we didn't fight with our back woods, our entire lawn would be forest in only a few years. It's truly amazing.

Here's hoping I find some words today. I'm going to give it a go. Have a great day!

8 comments:

Melissa McClone said...

It's only six weeks that you have to be really strict, Marianne. Or you could even do the moderate weight loss program that isn't as restrictive. I've been on the vegan one. I live for chocolate and even on deadline, it hasn't been that hard to give up. Plus after that first week, now the weight is really coming off. It's been so much easier than I thought it would be and I don't have the cravings for a Tillamook cheeseburger the way I thought I would. Of course I'm not a coffee drinker. But hey if you already use soy milk that's not considered dairy! It'll be interesting to see where I am on Monday. That'll be my halfway point.

anno said...

I read this just after I ate every single piece of licorice-flavored salt water taffy from the one-pound container I bought yesterday at the grocery store.

I don't think I can give up anything. Not coffee, not any of my salty, crunchy, spicy munchy snacks, not cheese, not bacon, not chocolate, nor my daily glass of red wine. For the rest of today, though, I might be able to give up licorice-flavored taffy.

Anonymous said...

I'd be hard pressed to give up my Diet Coke. I'd fight to the death for it. *g*

Ceri Hebert said...

An occasional cup of coffee? I think not. I could give up chocolate before I give up coffee. As for something I could never ever give up... well I'm not really sure. There are a lot of things that I love, but I don't eat on a daily basis. Except for coffee. But if someone told me I could be a size 8 again in two months if I forever give up coffee I think I might do that.

I'm off to editing. Joy. Actually I'm looking forward to it because I love the story. Don't know when I'll get back to my other writing. A week maybe?

iwybmt-I want your brilliant mind today

Gay said...

Life without coffee isn't... life.

I hit Starbucks nearly 365 days a year. (The only thing that stops me is when I travel in Europe, they haven't sprouted in all the countries yet, nor in all the cities. You can only find them in parts of Germany and not at all in France. I usually make it to Europe at least once a year with the horse stuff... I LOVE Europe. I could so easily live there for the rest of my life.)

Some days I go to Starbucks twice. I haven't yet gone three times. I hope I never do. That could be bad. Very bad. I have my own espresso machine, but I can't seem to make mine taste as good as theirs, and then I have to clean the machine afterwards... which somehow takes the pleasure out of it.

I like regular coffee, too, but there's something special about a great latté.

Anonymous said...

A deal breaker for me would be meat. I tried to go vegetarian once and quickly discovered that I don't like vegetarian recipes. I would have to spend the rest of my life eating salads and veggie trays because there's nothing else that I could get down. Once you cook a veggie, you ruin it according to my taste buds. I even tried the veggie meats as a substitute, but those are so darn expensive that I would have lost weight quickly-- I wouldn't be able to afford to eat!

http://nicoleblack.wordpress.com

Melody said...

Marianne, congrats on having your book on the top five bestselling list! Keep it up! :)

I love food; and I'm blessed that I'm able to maintain a slim body despite all the temptations out there (thanks to my parents' genes...and the work stress!).

I can't live without green tea! They are way too addictive to me.

groovyoldlady said...

I occasionally go Low-Carb to keep my hips under control (Down, girls!), but I still drink coffee and tea. As long as I accompany them with a bit of a snack, they don't plummet my blood sugar.

I eat sugar free chocolate sometimes. It tastes good, but doesn't really do the endorphin trich like the real stuff.

I've lost 7 pounds in the past four days due either food poisoning or a nasty bug. Even now I'm marveling that I absolutely can not finish this measly bowl of chicken broth and brown rice.

It's an effective "diet", but I don'r recommend it!