RELEASE DATE: AUGUST 2011
Abingdon Press Publishers
January 31, 2011
January 12, 2011
January 6, 2011
How does your garden grow?
In “Write for Your Life” Anna Quindlen writes, “Wouldn’t all of us love to have a journal, a memoir, a letter, from those we have loved and lost? Shouldn’t all of us leave a bit of that behind?”
I’m certainly hoping my children will answer a resounding, ” Amen, yes, sister!” to that question; otherwise, what in the blazes will I do with the mountains of marbled composition books lying in wait?
Some days, I’m terrified that I will be left drooling in a hospital bed, conscious enough to know my kids are attempting to revive me by smashing me over the head with my journals in retribution for the words that they may feel that I’ve hit them with.
Let’s face it; there’s some putrid stuff in those pages. About myself, about my marriage(s), teaching, my kids both biological and classroom. Some days were just not pretty. I’ll own that. But, honestly, I don’t have the kind of time it would take to edit them.
And what would I be saying by doing that? That I don’t trust them to understand that I was human? That if that know that I hated and doubted and envied and angered and pouted, they will be disappointed in me? That they won’t understand that those words on the page were my feelings at that particular time, on that particular day, in that particular year?
It takes a lot of manure to produce a garden. I hope my children can plow through what they find in my journals to understand that I always prayed to use it to produce a fertile life, abundant with hope and joy and laughter and gratitude. I didn’t always succeed. But I never took my hands off the plow.
January 5, 2011
Why can’t brownies be health foods?
Two other writer friends and I have embarked on a thirty-day trial of the Paleo Diet. By breakfast of day two, I had already started whining.
In a nutshell (because we can eat nuts on this diet): “The Paleo Diet will work wonders. Dr. Loren Cordain demonstrates how, by eating your fill of satisfying and delicious lean meats and fish, fresh fruits, snacks, and non-starchy vegetables, you can lose weight and prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome, and many other illnesses.”
Notice the obvious absence of brownies, cheesecake, and ice cream?
Without going into all the gory and boring details, it’s healthy eating (already bleech…), but requires eating some sort of meat at breakfast. I wake up at 4:30 and generally eat breakfast a half-hour later. The thought of a pork chop or anything meat-like at the time of the morning makes me want to gag. I whined to my diet friends, and they offered suggestions. So, already I’m seeing the benefit of diet-buddies. It’s that accountability and shared moaning that make all the difference.
And I’m on day 2 of my 5K training plan. I tell you, this whole fitness thing is zooming by…
January 4, 2011
Getting fit with a little bit
First day back at school after the holidays. Thirty seconds after the first bell, it’s like we never left. Except that I have 35 students in my 4th hour class. I don’t have enough desks; they’re going to have to take turns being absent.
At least returning to school means returning to trotting between my classroom and the 
copy room, which will add oodles of steps to my new Fitbit. I had to wait months after I ordered this little wonder for it to arrive. The Fitbit steps I’ve taken, the distance I traveled, calories I burned and it even tells me the quality of my sleep. There’s a special band it slips into for wearing it at night.
copy room, which will add oodles of steps to my new Fitbit. I had to wait months after I ordered this little wonder for it to arrive. The Fitbit steps I’ve taken, the distance I traveled, calories I burned and it even tells me the quality of my sleep. There’s a special band it slips into for wearing it at night.The Fitbit contains a 3D motion sensor like the one found in the Nintendo Wii. I clip mine in the middle of my bra. I’ve tried clipping it to my waist, but I don’t trust just leaving it in my pocket. My goal is 10,000 steps a day. Some days are better than others, but that day we went to the mall I told you about? Over 12,000 steps!
The fitbit comes with a small wireless station that syncs the information. I can track log my food and track my activities and more.Stay tuned tomorrow for the continuing saga of my body overhaul! Tomorrow, the Paleo Diet.
January 2, 2011
Running into 2011
I spent the first day of the new year with my husband, which was really special because he’s been working like a maniac. For the past few weeks, our conversations have been limited to, “Hi, I’m home. Glad you’re here. Supper’s on the stove. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”
Riveting, huh? The man does have to wake up at 3:30 in the morning at least three days a week, so I get that he needs to go to bed early. Then, between my attempts to finish my second novel and try to win the battle of the ever-rising stack of ungraded papers, we didn’t have much face time.
Two weeks of an annoying cold, a week of exams, and then…ta da…the holidays. Well, holidays for me. But finally, we were able to actually experience a date night with friends to witness the Saints clip the Falcons’ wings, and our cruising the shopping mall and a late birthday lunch at P.F. Chang’s (their stir-fried eggplant is my favorite).
One of my purchases was running shoes. For a while, they’ll be walking shoes, but if I follow Jeff Galloway’s 5K plan, running should happen eventually. One of my daughters has inspired me. She’s joined one of her friends and is training for a half-marathon. I’m not that motivated, but if I can run four miles without needing an oxygen tank, who knows?
But here’s the burr…now I have the shoes. And if I don’t use them, they will taunt me from the closet or wherever it is I’ve kicked them off.
Can I do this fifteen week commitment? I hope so. I surely need to.
Perhaps this can be my place of accountability. Have you started something you weren’t sure you could finish?
January 1, 2011
It was the best of times…
I’m grateful my blog isn’t a child; I would have been reported to Social Services by now on abandonment charges.
So, for the 3.4 of you who are faithful readers, I resolve to be a consistent blogger in this new year. Please be patient with me while my website and blog undergo a few tweeks over the next month or so.
The social media savvy Marian Schembari, who put the awe in awesome, critiqued my website and Twitter profile (she provides a detailed video AND written report), and I’m in the process of implementing her suggestions. AT the risk of an adjective overdose, believe me when I tell you that Marian is aamazing, fearless, insightful and one smart cookie cake.
The year 2010 will forever be a special one to me. My debut novel, Walking on Broken Glass, released February 1, and a week later the New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl.
I also submitted to my editor my second novel, Edge of Grace, which is scheduled to release in October of 2011. The other 362 days had their moments.
But I appreciate every one of them because every day I wake up breathing is a good day.
Now…let’s all of us breathe our way into 2011!
