I think at some point in our lives, we've all tried the slim fast diet. I failed at that one miserably. Even just one of their shakes a day left me starving. It was about 8 years ago that I tried that diet last, so maybe they've changed their formula since. After that, I said I'd never do the "shake" for a meal again. Well, that changed when I discovered it's much easier to make your own.

I have a guest author stopping by today - Sherri Goodman. She'd written a great article about why you should read more romance this new year, and I couldn't agree more! I can't get enough of romance myself.
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January is here and we all know what that means—time for another New Year’s resolution. But as Forbes notes, only 8 percent of people actually achieve the New Year’s resolutions they set. If you haven’t already come up with something to try out in the new year, why not plan to start reading more? With the rise in popularity of e-books, there are literally thousands of options at your fingertips. And the written word offers perks you can’t find anywhere else—not even in that gym you vowed you would start going to last New Year. 

I've had a really good week. Very happy to have stayed on track so well. 
One of the hardest things, in my opinion, when trying to start eating clean is cutting out processed foods. Let's face it, a bag of noodles with chicken seasoning and spices in it that you boil in water is easy. Boiling whole grain noodles, using your own seasonings, etc, is a little harder. I've yet to get that same flavor I can get from a packaged meal.

This weeks biggest challenge for me is food prepping. I'm not someone who sits down and plans the whole weeks menus. Like with writing, I'm a fly by the pants kinda person. I'm currently in a Beachbody challenge group and I have a nice graph for each day for me to fill out my foods. This has helped. My current meal plan is 4 primary vegetables, 2 secondary vegetable and/or grains, 2 fresh fruit, 4 lean protein, and 3 healthy fats.

I realized I've yet to sit down and really think about my goals as a writer in 2015. I do have some. In the past few months, there have been some changes in the publishing industry. EBook prices are going lower. Right now, if an author wants to be able to move a book, pricing it at 99 cents is sure way to do it. Where as a year a go, a 99 cents was for a sale or a new author wanting to get readers to buy their books to build a readership. I've spent the last two months trying to decide where I want to go in my career. It's hard for me to drop my books all down to 99 cents in order to sale books because I supplement an income in my household with my earnings. However, I've been resistant to this change, but finally I said to myself, do I want to be left behind in this field of work, or do I want to ride the wave. So, I'm choosing to ride the wave. Which means readers can begin to expect a few more sales from me than usual.

I have some of the best readers out there. Just sayin'. One of my readers', Liz Castillo, has made me some awesome teasers to some of my books. Check them out for a little teaser!

One of my favorite books I've ever written is on sale for 99 cents during the month of January! It's normally $4.50 - so this is AWESOME!

Last spring fitness became a big part of my life. I lost 20 pounds last spring and then maintained that weight loss until the holidays. I only gained a few pounds with all the sweets, and so far already dropped two of the five I put on.

For Christmas the hubby got me the Fitbit I've been wanting. I learned then just how little I walk. It comes with the default setting of 10,000 steps a day. I didn't come anywhere near that goal. So I lowered it down to 8,000 and made myself reach it. That was a lot of work. My current goal is 7,000 steps. I've not made it yet unless I really make myself get there. Am I lazy? No. I get up and move all day, but I work from home. I don't have to walk far to the bathroom, etc. So I am still trying to figure out an attainable go for this fitness tracker.