Media Maven

Writing Practice - a necessary process if you want to write well

I’ve got a friend who never practices his writing skills. He thinks that someday he’ll write a novel in a hot flash. Somehow the light will go on, he’ll be fully inspired, and the writing will just happen.

I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen….

Writing is a way of life. If you love to write, you’ll practice writing daily, or almost every day. It is something you learn about by doing it.

I’m a fiction writer… and I write articles. Every day I’m at my computer — writing! One of my favorite things to write during my practice writing sessions, is flash fiction. I love to write these short-short stories and someday may have enough of them to publish a book of stories, each about 500 words.

Some of my best flash fiction is written during practice writing sessions. It takes only about fifteen minutes! I usually choose a writing prompt then let my imagination take flight. I choose a character and put that person in a situation. A few minutes later, I have a story. It is so much fun.

I backup those stories in Google docs. Sometimes I post them on my blog, but usually I just let them sit, waiting for that day when I’ll have enough to publish a book…. probably a Kindle e-book!

Lemonade Diet and Going Vegan

My chances for getting health insurance are slim, so I’m taking charge of my own health by doing the master cleanse lemonade diet. I’m currently on day ten of a fast that will last until my tongue turns pink, 30 days, or I cave - whatever comes first.

I’m not at all hungry today. Lemonade is a terrific appetite suppressant and I’m feeling just fine energetically and mentally. They say by day ten I should be having mental clarity, and I’m kind of still waiting for improvement because I’ve been feeling more focused and clear in my thinking all along.

The cleanse removes toxins from the system, and pushes the re-set button on life so that we can make drastic life changes. For me, the big change will be going from vegetarianism to veganism … plus gluten free.

Recently I read an illuminating book about wheat - call “Wheat Belly” by Dr. William Davis. What an eye-opener. He’s helped hundreds of his patients morph into gluten-less diets and they’ve lost weight and had other impressive health benefits. I have to try it!

Going vegan has been a long-time goal of mine. Every time I got close I’d fall back into the egg and cheese eating vegetarian diet, and I’m determined at this time to give those up. Well, I already gave them up to do the master cleanse lemonade diet. After ten days I’m sure all food addictions have been broken. Now I just need to be strong and truly change my eating habits and learn a new way of cooking - all vegan! I’ll be incorporating a lot of raw foods along the way.

Fighting CPS for Grandparents

Do you have a favorite classic book?

There are a lot of classic books I’ve loved reading. I will have to admit, one of my favorites is Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I consider it one of the must read classics of great literature - and it amazes me that I waited so long to read it.

You see, my mom had a copy the entire time I was growing up. I remember seeing that thick blue book on the shelf hundreds of times but I never bothered to read it. My older sister did, and she loved it. But I held out…

About 30 years later I finally got a copy from the library and read through it. Guess what! That book is entrancing, addicting, and full of life. I consider it to be much better than the movie version of Gone With the Wind, and that too is a classic.

There’s much more in the book. Scarlet O’Hara has an incredible personality. You get hooked into her story and don’t want to put the book down, not even to sleep at night. I very much recommend this book to whoever hasn’t read it yet.