New Cycling Goal

I hit my first cycling goal of the year last week. It was 500 miles. Since there’s still plenty of riding time left, I needed a new goal. I thought about it a lot. I wanted something that was reachable, but not too easy. I wanted something that meant something to me. I found it.

This year, I will cycle a minimum of 1300 miles. I’ve done 560.23 miles of it so far. I have 739.77 to go. I can do this.

I already have another goal in mind for next year 😀

I’m a Bad Blogger

Or rather, it’s summer. I have four kids. They’re home – or not. All this translates into, “What’s sucking up all my time?”

So, dear blog, here are some quick updates, to prove I haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth, or been eaten by some mythical creature that turned out to be real (like they’d ever find me!)

In cycling news, this week I hit my 500 mile goal – Yay! I’m currently working on coming up with a new goal. Something challenging, but not out of reach. I’ve also gone on two 40 mile rides in the last couple weeks to work on my distance. Those were hard. My body wasn’t amused. I’ll be working on getting in better shape so the distance doesn’t affect me so negatively. And my long Monday group ride (21.5 miles) has now become my shortest ride of the week. I added a 27 mile ride to the list of weekly rides. And, I’ve been able to keep the most important goal so far – don’t break anything.

For writing, I attended Lori Foster’s Reader and Writer Get Together in Cincinnati a few weeks ago. I met with Sue Grimshaw from Random house and pitched my sci-fi. I knew going in that the line she’s shopping for didn’t include Young Adult, but it was good practice. Even though she wasn’t able to request mine, she did say that the outline of what the story was about was really good. That alone was worth sucking down the fear and shutting out the whispers of doubt. I knew I had something I could use in a query letter. Which brings me to my next update. I have a query letter – or at least a first draft of one 🙂 It’s now going out to crit partners for some feed back.

I’ve also finished a short piece for an open submission call for an anthology called Once Upon an Apocalypse. They asked writers to retell a fairy tale of their choice, but include a zombie apocalypse of some sort. It was fun. That’s also going out to my crit group.

Next writing goals involve making things shiny – the query letter, the book, and the short piece. Then send them out. At that point, I can jump back into the second sci-fi book 🙂

There. See? Not a slacker, just a very busy mommy.

Hope your summers are filled with pixie dust and wishes that come true! And to the dads – Happy Father’s Day!