Marge In Charge, Sexy Rockers & The Magic of Three

Anyone out there? I've been blog-resistant lately. Not intentionally. Just busy. My husband, youngest son and I went to Tennessee to look at a school that offers a program my son is interested in. I'd never been to TN before. It was a whirlwind trip, and I didn't get to see as much as I would've liked, but we got a lot accomplished and managed to squeeze in some fun, too. The trees were gorgeous. Lots of them and they were vibrant with color--reds, yellows and oranges. We spent one evening walking up and down Broadway in Nashville. Every club and/or restaurant we passed had live music and the bands were all incredibly talented. Another night we went to see Aerosmith at an outdoor ampitheatre! Stephen Tyler still has "it!" I'm not sure what "it" is, but he's chock full of it. Despite the fact that in some weird way he's sort of androgynous, he is very sexy. And what a fantastic performer! In fact, the entire band is incredible. I would see them again in a second. And again! If you ever get the chance, pay the bucks for a close-up seat. You won't be sorry. Yes, I admit it, I'm a rocker at heart and always have been.

On the plane ride home from Tennessee, I read an article about a scientist (whose name escapes me) who believes that if a person makes some new activity a part of their daily routine for 28 days (I *think* it's 28, it's 20-something...) it becomes a habit. He also believes in the "magic of three." At the first of every month, he chooses 3 new "habits" he wants to instill into his life, and he commits to doing those 3 things daily for the next 28 days. The idea is that, by the end of the month, those things will be an instilled part of his life. Then it's a new month and he chooses 3 more. So, as tomorrow is November 1 and the start of a new month, I'm going to give this a try. You read it here: Every day for the next month I will:
1) Walk 10,000 steps using my trusty new Digi-Walker my fabulously fit sis-in-law gave me to count the steps.
2) Have my butt in a chair and be working on my writing--no emails, checking Amazon, Googling for reviews, etc. -- by 9:00 a.m. at the latest, 5 days a week, and work for a minimum of 3 hours. (Now this doesn't mean that's *all* I'll work. This is just the MINIMUM DAILY. In order to meet my deadlines, I'll have to work a lot more than this most days. The object here is to set a fixed working time. A scheduled time set aside for nothing but writing. I'm bad about that.)
3) This one I'm not sharing, but it has to do with goalsetting.
I'll keep you posted on my progress with all this! Wish me luck...

Last Thursday, my puppy Marge and I started obedience school at Petsmart. We'll be going once a week for the next 7 weeks. Marge has lived with us for about 7 months now and she has definitely asserted her presence. At my house, Marge is in charge. Or at least it seems that way sometimes. I love her, but it's time she figured out who is boss -- not her hopefully! Petsmart teaches clicker/reward training. Our homework before this week's meeting is to (1) learn that the sound of the clicker means she's going to get a reward (2) learn the command "Watch Me" (Call her name to get her attention, when she looks at my face say "watch me" and if she keeps her focus on my face, click the clicker then give her a treat (3) learn her "release phrase." This is what I'll say after she's done what I asked her to do and now she can stop. I'm going to use the words "That's it."

In writing news, my agent sent out my YA novel to 14 publishers about 3 weeks ago and we're still waiting for the good news that at least one of them thinks it's wonderful and wants to buy it for big bucks (thinking positive here!). Send good vibes my way.

In the meantime, happy reading!

Jenny