A Brief Status Update

As you may, or may not, know (or care), I’m in the throes of several “Betsy makeover” initiatives this year. With luck, they will help me release my inner Betsy.

Roar like a lioness, Betsy! Roar!

mewwwww!

Hey, it’s a start.

Since I have taken to spewing my personal angst all over cyberspace, I thought I would give you a brief update on how I’m doing as I work towards my three main goals.

Writing

This has been both the simplest and the most difficult of the three goals. It’s simple because my objectives are very clear. Here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to write. When I finish my next book, I’m going to write another one. And so on. I want to write pretty much every day.

How am I doing? Well, I’m back in the saddle again after a brief hiatus to come to terms with some health issues. I’ve been working on my WIP pretty much every day for the last two weeks, and it is progressing nicely. And that makes me happy.

Rating: Good

Eating

My diabetes has been pretty bad (hence the health issues). To deal with it, I decided to radically change my eating habits. Here’s what I’ve been eating for the past three weeks: vegetables, legumes, some meat, some fruit, some grains. And when I get tired of that? I eat vegetables. And for fun? I eat vegetables.

How am I doing? Pretty well, actually. I find that I actually like the way I’m eating now. It makes me feel good. I have been refined and artificial sugar-free for 22 days (and 19 hours, but who’s counting) I’ve lost a little bit of weight. My sugar numbers are getting better. Progress on both of those fronts has been slow, but steady, and that’s encouraging. I figure the hard part will come after I see the doctor again in May, because I anticipate that visit will be much better than the last one. I’ll have to be careful that I don’t slack off after a better report.

Rating: Good

Spending

I’m working to pay off my debt and gain my financial freedom. I’ve pulled back on a lot of my spending and rearranged things like my cell phone to try to reduce monthly charges. This has freed up money that will be used to pay down the debt. Right now I’m funding a baby emergency fund. After that’s finished, I’ll take aim at the debt itself. To the moon!

How am I doing? Working on the spending at the same time that I’m working on the eating was a good choice, because I just don’t have the money to spend on food. I’m getting the budget rolling, and it’s starting to feel more natural. The next big step (after tax returns) is going to be finding things around the house to sell, and figuring out how to sell them.

Rating: Good

And the overall verdict? So far so good.

I’ll let you know how I’m doing periodically as the year progresses. Well, honestly I should say that I’ll let you know how I’m doing as long as I’m doing well. If I start to fade in any area I’ll probably just change the subject. *whistles casually*

But enough about me. I hope you guys are doing well in your own 2012 makeovers!