1 GYMUARY For the first experiment, I decided that each and every day I would go to the gym. It taught me that a twelve-minute walk in January in New England can sometimes feel like that train journey in Dr. Zhivago, especially given the aggro, icy winter we were dealt this year. And truth be told, I missed three days, one because of a blizzard (I made up for it shoveling snow, I reasoned) and two from…well… Gymuary also taught me going to the gym every day is an excellent way to injure one’s self, particularly when one’s self is prone to zealous, willful overexertion. As I am. But I sure did burn a lot of calories.

2 FACE-OFF FEBRUARY In February, I gave up wearing make-up for the entire month, and I didn’t cheat once! It was hard for about two days, then I realized no one except me actually notices if I’m wearing make-up or not. Easily the most liberating month of the twelve. If you’re like me and have been wearing make-up since junior high, give it a whirl. You may just surprise yourself with your own capacity to not care what anyone thinks about your face.

3 MEAGER MARCH No frivolous purchases for the month of March. No problem. I missed eating out and going to the odd movie, but for a single month, it wasn’t much of a hardship.

4 NO #&$%@! APRIL For April, I put the kibosh on my potty-mouth, from “damn” and “hell” on up the line of profanity. I knew I’d fail, so I devised a penance system ahead of time, promising to donate a dollar for each swear that I let slip. All told, I ponied up fifty-seven bucks to charity. That’s not so bad, right? That’s less than two swears a day! As the culler of my many written blasphemies, my editor Laura can attest that that’s pretty impressive. For me.

5 MEAT-FREE MAY I went vegetarian for the month of May. It was the most fun of all the challenges, as I taught myself a dozen or more new recipes and really made the most of our weekly farm share box. We’ve since cut way down on our meat consumption, and hence our grocery bill and household’s carbon footprint. I could fairly easily go vegetarian full-time. Mmm, tempeh. Though I would miss my beloved scallops.

6 NO JAVA JUNE That’s right, no coffee. I did enjoy a rather spirited headache for a couple days, but I soon enough replaced the ritual of coffee with maté tea, and it wasn’t too terrible. I did cheat, though, once. I had a small cup of coffee at the movies, but it made me feel strung out and anxious after three weeks’ abstinence, so it wasn’t even an enjoyable transgression.

7 JUJUBE-FREE JULY That is to say, no candy. No extraneous sugar. If a food such as wine or fruit contained natural sugar, that was fine, but no candy, sweet drinks, pastries, or packaged food with sugar as one of its top five listed ingredients. I missed my nightly square of dark chocolate, but as with the meat and caffeine, once I got into a new habit, I found it wasn’t much of a chore. Though I did ogle an awful lot of pastries while waiting in line at the coffee shop… Bakeries took on a red-light district allure that month.

8 UP AND AT ‘EM AUGUST For August I said I’d set my alarm and rise promptly at five a.m. each morning. Well, I ended up going on vacation for nearly the entire month of August, and gave myself permission to take that time off from the Lents, as well. So, I can’t accurately report my findings, since I really didn’t fulfill this one. Not even close.

9 SWITCH OFF SEPTEMBER In September, I went without TV. Considering I don’t own one, this should’ve be easy, right? Hell no. Thanks to Hulu and Instant Watcher, I had a mean TV habit going on, and I needed to figure out other ways to enjoy my lunch hour or unwind at five aside from tuning in to my beloved crappo reality shows. Movies were acceptable, so I didn’t deprive my manfriend of our shared entertainment times, but no TV. And I did it! I wound up reading a lot more, and generally hanging out in my kitchen, listening to music and working on crossword puzzles.

10 OMMM-CTOBER For October, I’d committed to practicing yoga either at home or in a class for at least forty-five minutes each day. I failed a bit, only doing twenty or thirty minutes some days, and a few days, not at all. I’d begun to lose steam by the time October rolled around, the novelty of all this nonsense having worn off some, and that coupled with a bout of food poisoning sort of dampened my motivation. Still, I definitely felt better those days when I did make the time.

11 NOVEMBOOZE That’s right, no alcohol for the month of November. I love a glass or wine or beer when the writing day is done, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see how easily I could swap them for a mug of hot tea and still unwind just as easily. It’s the symbolism of the drink that I was really attached to, not the buzz, and it turned out a cup of just about anything was enough to trigger in my brain that it was time to relax. Though full disclosure, I did cheat and drink wine at Thanksgiving, though I’d given myself permission to, ahead of time. It was a premeditated caving, not a moment of weakness

12 DONATE DECEMBER Each day in December, I’m going through my clothes and other possessions and choosing one nice thing to give to a Salvation Army-type donation center. Actually I’m doing it every five days, grabbing five things and walking them to the drop box down the road. It was easier at first, but it is a bit more challenging now, with the month half-over. Still, feels great to be getting rid of things I don’t need and helping people who do need them, all in one go.

So, we’re now eleven and a half months into Discipline Year, and I’m truly glad I did all this nonsense. That said, I’m also not planning to do it again, not next year, at least. Sticking with my simple New Year’s resolutions instead for 2012—run ten miles without stopping for the first time ever, try one new recipe a week, read one hundred books, and land an agent. Still ambitious, just a bit less…relentless.

I hope everyone has a safe, healthy, happy holiday season, and a great start to the new year! See you in 2012!

xoxo,
Meg

My husband is big on the traditional Thanksgiving meal, and I honestly don’t mind. Though, I do like to throw in something new each year. Last year it was a really easy cranberry dish. This year, I’m thinking about two different dishes one for the holiday and one after.

On Thanksgiving, I’m going to make some stuffed mushrooms. One of our favorite Italian places has the best stuffed mushrooms. I’m stealing their sauce, which is vodka sauce, but I’m going to try something different on the inside. Since I’m making stuffing, I’ll just put some stuffing in the mushrooms and sprinkle some cheese on top and some sauce. What do you guys think?

After Thanksgiving, I want to try to make a Turkey Shephards Pie. Doesn’t that sound good? I’m thinking I’ll start with a good pie crust (good as in I bought it at the store). Then in a big frying pan I’ll mix the left over turkey, gravy and any veggies we might have left over. I’ll add some sauteed onions and mushrooms. I’ll add a bit of garlic, cajun seasoning and cumin (I love the combo of cumin and turkey) and heat everything through. I’m hoping the gravy will thicken around all the goodies. Then I’ll put in the the pie crusts (maybe two) and put the left over mashed potatoes on top. Then I’ll stick it in the over for a half hour or so on medium heat.

I don’t know if either one of these will work, but they sound good in my head.

What is your favorite part about Thanksgiving and do you have a favorite dish? Feel free to share recipes. And someone who comments here will win an autographed copy of Model Marine, and all who comment will be entered to win an e-reader and other great prizes. (You can find details on my blog at www.candacehavens.com)

And tomorrow is Veterans Day, so let’s take a moment to remember those who put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms.

So why is it that all I seem to do at conferences is EAT?  There’s coffee at Starbucks, because God knows I can’t function without that.  And I’ll have coffee meetings because I’m certainly not the only one who needs the caffeine hit and so that’s usually the first meeting of the day.  Then I go from Starbucks to breakfast, supplied with our conference ticket.  That’s continental breakfast and when I sit down with perfect strangers to talk books.  Heaven!  But I also eat a muffin and another coffee while I’m sitting there.  You can’t chat without something in your hand.

Then there’s the 11:00 meeting with agent or editor or web designer.  Not to mention the video person or PR somebody or the other authors with whom you’re writing a continuity.  Gotta hang with them.  And you can bet someone brings a snack.  It’s always a great time for chocolate or nachos.  Don’t care which.

Then there’s conference lunch to meet more new people.  Afternoon party with hors d’oeuvres, then dinner with friends before evening parties with booze and dessert.  And that’s only the first day.  Can you imagine how huge I feel by the end of a four day conference?  Especially if conference is in a fabulous city like NYC.  I mean, could you possibly go to a Manhattan restaurant with your editor and NOT eat something awesome?  Even though you’ve just come from cookies and coffee with your best friends?

So I end up feeling like I’ve just eaten my way through the conference.  Yes, I have a stack of meeting notes and things I plan to do.  But I’ve also just eaten non-stop for 4 days.  OMG, I feel huge!

Anybody else have this problem?  And while you sit down to tell me all about it, I’ll grab another muffin. Do you eat through all of your travels? (The day this blog goes live, I’ll be traveling to New York and beginning my foodfest. So, please comment but I may be late with mine depending on when the plane lands.)

I’ll admit that I don’t make resolutions, but I do make goals. It’s important for me to see what I’ve accomplished and to have a goal or two or ten to reach for in the long term. I also make goals for different parts of my life.

But I realized I’ve never made goals to have fun. And that’s something I’ve been missing. In the past I’ve often shared my work goals, but seldom my personal ones. This year I’m shaking things up. I’m putting it all out there into the universe for all to see. And I’d love it if you would share some of yours.

Candy’s Goals

Books/Writing
1. To remember this is therapy for me and that it isn’t just about getting the words on the page. It’s about telling a good story.
2. To give myself enough time to really make the story what I want it to be.
3. To write at least three books this year.
4. To sell my YA
5. To finish my Devil’s Girl book
6. To promote the heck out of She Who Dares, Wins and Truth and Dare
7. To finish The Model Marine.

School
1. Keep my 4.0.
2. Make time for studying, at least 15 hours a week.
3. Remember why I love it so much.

Work
1. Try to work ahead as much as possible.
2. Remember that I have some pretty cool day jobs as a TV and Film critic, and to appreciate the benefits that affords me.
3. To shake off the small day to day stuff.
4. To always let my interviewee tell a good story.

Personal
1. I want to eat good food. The kind that nourishes my body and makes me feel good. I’ve given up on diets, but I want to eat foods that help me out in the long run.
2. Cut out sugar. It’s like crack for me, and I have to look at it as a gateway drug for bad eating. I feel so much better when I don’t eat it. (I’ve written this after I had two chocolate chip cookies before breakfast. Sigh.)
3. To organize my office and buy furniture so that I can keep it that way.
4. To be a kinder and more understanding person.
5. To remember how cool my life is and to be grateful for it.

Fun Goals!
1. To spend more time with my best buds.
2. To travel somewhere that I need a passport.
3. To get a passport.
4. To go to RWA in NYC this summer.
5. To do a book tour in April and May traveling to see many of my lovely friends.
6. To learn French. (I suck at languages but I’ve ALWAYS wanted to learn French.)
7. To make 1 hour a day just fun or meditation time.
8. To sleep more.
9. To spend more time doing fun things with my kids and The Hub.
10. To laugh out loud really hard at least once a day.

So I’ve showed you mine, now you show me yours.

Happy New Year!

But the moment I started empty nesting, I began shifting my eating habits. Not out of intention but laziness. Yup. LAZY. That’s me. I hate cooking. Let me restate that. I HATE, DESPISE, DETEST and LOATHE cooking. So, I began eating fruits and vegetables because they required no cooking. My husband is a gem in that he will make a sandwich for himself or happily pick up semi-fast food on his way home. So, if I don’t want to cook, I don’t have to. And guess what? I didn’t want to.

So I began eating what I later learned was called a RAW DIET. All live food. Fruits, nuts, and veggies. And it turns out, it’s one of California’s newest diet crazes. Who knew I was being trendy? I thought I was lazy.

Well, this January I ended up going 100% raw. The reasons for this change are myriad, but it comes down to the energy work I do in my spare time. Everything has a vibrational rate. The higher the rate, the easier energy healing goes. Living foods have the highest rate. Dead foods have low rates. Ergo, eat living/raw food. Plus (added benefit), live foods tend to be alkaline (basic) as opposed to acidic. Diseases including cancer have a hard time living in alkaline environments. Since raw food reduces body acidity, it can have enormous health benefits.

In any event, I went raw. I bought a blender and have a smoothie for breakfast, huge salad at lunch, and whatever I feel like in the evening. Oh, and nuts all day long. (I LOVE NUTS!) I can eat all I want, whenever I want. But I’m not nearly as hungry, and the weight has been coming off. About 2 lbs a week which is a steady, safe pace. Plus, my energy work is better than ever. By a huge margin! Caffeine and dairy were the hardest to give up, but I really haven’t missed them that much.

Here’s my problem. This is supposed to be a LIFE STYLE choice, not a temporary diet. I’m doing fine because I’m sitting at home, writing my newest novel and going no where. Easy to not eat pasta and cheesecake because no one is offering it to me. What do I do when I travel? What about when a friend asks me out to lunch? My good writing reward was usually a lunch out with Elizabeth Hoyt at the end of the week. That’s gone now too. Do I really want to eat salad every day? That’s no fun when there’s chocolate mousse in the offering.

So…my question to you is what have you done when dieting AND dining out? Does the diet go out the window? Or do you typically find a compromise? And what about conferences? A week away on rubber chicken? Forget the diet, that gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it!

I could use a few good elves. I need an elf to help me promote my upcoming Blaze, “Take Me If You Dare.” I need an elf to finish my annotated bibliography for a school project. I need an elf to do my holiday shopping and write those holiday cards. I need an elf to write these three proposals for new book projects that I promised before the first of the year. One of those pointy-shoe folks to do the cooking and the cleaning. One to write all my TV and movie columns over the holiday would be nice. And those are only the first few things on my list for December.

My children will tell you I’m short enough to make a perfectly good elf, and quite honestly if I could clone myself I would. What I’ve learned over the years is that when it comes to holidays, you do what you can. I try to get done the things that make me and my family happy, and the ones that pay the bills.

That means I may not send out those holiday cards, but I will provide a lovely buffet meal on Christmas Eve for family and friends. I will most likely do the majority of my shopping online, though at least one day I’ll stop by the mall to enjoy the decorations and to get that feeling of the holiday bustle.

I’m determined that I will make time to do the things I enjoy. That might mean working some late nights the first part of the season, but that is a sacrifice I’m willing to make. I will DVR my favorite holiday programming, Rudolph, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, A Charlie Brown Christmas, to watch while I’m wrapping presents. Ugh. I’m so bad at wrapping presents. I can’t tell you how many times someone has said, “Oh, how sweet, you let your kids do the wrapping.” I’m not kidding. I know they make those beautiful bags you can just slide stuff in, but I like watching people rip open that paper. We’ve already decorated for the most part. By we’ve, I mean my husband set up the tree, and I did everything else.

This year we are traveling for Christmas Day, which means even more to do. But it’s okay. We’ll have Christmas Eve here, as we have since the kids were tiny. None of it matters as long as we are together. My kids are older and I know there will come a time in the future when I will have to share them, but for now I’m holding on as tight as I can. The best part of the holiday for me is when we are sitting around on Christmas Eve singing carols. The kids grump and complain, but the one year we didn’t get to do it because of a family illness, they were depressed.

Normally, Christmas isn’t about the gifts for me, but I’ve been very lucky in that department the last couple of years. This year all I want is for us to be happy, healthy and together. Though, um, I will be purchasing all those December Blazes for myself.

So I want to hear about your plans for the holidays. I’d love to hear about some of your holiday traditions, food or fun stories from the past. Is there a gift you want for this Christmas? Don’t be shy! If you don’t celebrate Christmas, tell us about your holiday traditions too. I’m always curious.

Santa, if you’re reading this. I’ve been very good this year, except for that one time, and um… You know what? Never mind.

Happy Holidays Ya’ll

Seriously, how can you not nap on Thanksgiving Day? The food, from those carbs in the yams to the Tryptophan in the turkey is tailor made for snoozing. And it forces one of those drooling-on-the -pillows-zombie kind of zonks. You know what I’m talking about. If you wake up and you don’t have serious pillow case lines on your face, it wasn’t a real nap. It’s the only time I’m rude when there are guests in the house. If they aren’t gone an hour and half after Thanksgiving lunch, I have to excuse myself with a headache (all that stress of preparing the meal, ya know), curl up with a good book and then get my nap on. (It’s important to get as much rest as possible on Thanksgiving Day, because the next day is all about shopping. I’ll talk more about that in another post.)

So here’s how it usually goes down here in the Havens house:

If we’re having the meal here, and we usually are, I’m up early to make sure the turkey and the roast are on. Then I start preparing all the side dishes. I don’t have to do many of those, because it’s pot luck and the rest of the family brings sides and desserts. There are HAVENS STAPLES for every holiday. These include Cheezy Green Beans, cranberry sauce (I’ll share the recipe for my favorite in a bit) and some kind of sweet potato/yam dish. The food is put out in a banquet style, because at the minimum we’ll have 20 peeps to feed, and it’s usually more. We have family spread out all over the downstairs at various tables and it’s a blast. The more people eat, the sillier they get. My face usually hurts I laugh so much. And then everyone leaves and it’s nap time. It’s a really wonderful day.

I want to hear about how you spend your Thanksgiving Day. Do you help out at a soup kitchen? Do you have favorite foods? What traditions do you have?

To show my thanks for you guys hanging out on the Blaze Blog here’s one of my favorite recipes for Cranberry Sauce. I found it in the November 2007 issue of Domino Magazine.

Cranberry-Clementine Sauce
Serves 8-10
2 clementines
2 packages (12 oz) fresh cranberries
2 cups sugar
Slice clementines thin (with skin on) and then place in a sauce pan with the cranberries, sugar and 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool before serving.

It’s so easy, and so tasty! People will think it took you forever to make.

Happy Thanksgiving, Ya’ll