Guest Blogger Marjorie Richardson writes about waking our consciousness through gentle yoga. Want to calm your nerves, quiet your mind, decrease anxiety and heighten immunity? How about having more comfort and ease in your body? Developing a feeling of fluidity in your body? Accessing your creativity? All these things can and do take place through slow and gentle movement accompanied by focused rhythmic breathing. Gentle yoga enhances our ability to hear ourselves, to listen to the inner cues we are constantly being given. In deeply concentrated states of mind, restlessness calms down. Synchronizing breath and movement train the mind to sense the subtle layers of well-being below all the surface chatter. Hatha Yoga is a tool discovered thousands of years ago to be used to awaken consciousness and unite with all the levels of our being. When attention is directed inward, your body receives messages that you are safe and…
Category: Guest Bloggers
Establishing a practice can help you move forward in magical ways.
Guest Blogger Suzanne Murray writes about: The Power of Establishing a Practice. Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness concerning all acts of initiative and creation. There is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans; that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen events, meetings and material assistance which no one could have dreamed would have come their way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!” – W.H. Murray The Scottish Himalayan Expedition Whether it’s for writing, meditation, or exercise,…
Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt reveals her secrets for tight control.
Guest Blogger Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt shares her secrets for keeping track of plots, characters and their shenanigans. Hi! Marlene asked me to write about the weird way I write – and I will, with one caveat: don’t try this at home. In fact, don’t try any of this at all unless you already know you’re an extreme plotter (as opposed to a pantser), and need to 1) have tight control over what happens in your novel, and 2) have a method that you are comfortable with to keep track of all that plot stuff. If you are a true pantser – following your instincts alone – I think the following will strike you as insane. I do this because my CFS-addled brain makes it very difficult for me to keep everything in my head – more about that in a minute. I gave up Word for managing a writing project because…
Guest Blogger Rebecca Lawton: conflict = bringing opposing forces to light
Rebecca Lawton writes about conflict . . . the kind writers want to have in their writing. Recently I read an article by a bestselling novelist who claimed she didn’t follow the well-worn advice to include conflict in story. “I hate conflict,” she wrote. “I don’t like to read it, and I don’t like to write it.” Wondering what techniques she did use to captivate her devoted followers, I turned to my bookshelf and opened one of her latest works to the first page. The initial paragraph set a sunny, peaceful scene in which couples and families strolled and played outdoors; the second paragraph described a situation only blocks away where a crowd was experiencing danger that had “turned their perfect Saturday into a nightmare.” Bingo. Conflict. The word is via the Latin conflictus, meaning contest. My good old Oxford English Dictionary describes conflict as “an incompatibility between two or…
Guest Blogger Janet Ciel: Recall a time in your life. . .
Janet Ciel writes: The other day I was having a conversation with a biking friend who mentioned she had a dream of being a poster child for the 70′s and above age group. She said she was buckling down on her eating, biking as much as possible, and is joining a gym. She was inspired by an amazing woman she read about who is in her 90s and still competing in track and field events. You know my response was enthusiastic, as of course I always feel that our maximum potential is just another bike ride away. I am amazed at the strength and endurance increases that are possible by just doing it, what “it” is for you, over and over again. No matter what your age you can get stronger and more vibrant. But some of you have not even started. You might be in your 70s or older…
Guest Blogger Jared Gulian never gave up.
Guest blogger Jared Gulian wrote a fun story about his dream of being published. I love publishing stories that are inspiring and enjoy stories that take place in San Francisco, my home town. “I’m giving up,” I said. “‘Moon over Martinborough’ is never going to be a book.” Ever since I’d started this blog I’d wanted to turn it into a book, but I was losing hope. “Maybe you shouldn’t give up just yet,” Uncle Oscar replied. Uncle Oscar was here on his annual visit from New York, and we were sitting at the Gamekeeper, the restaurant at Alana Estate vineyard just down the road. CJ and I were having lunch with Uncle Oscar and our friends Leelee and the Wolf. “Uncle Oscar’s right,” Leelee said. “Don’t give up. Although the blog had gained some recognition, after 3 years of hard slog I still felt no closer to my book…
Guest Blogger Arlene Mandell: Write Quirky, Break Free
Guest Blogger Arlene Mandell writes: “Found tiny brown frog in bathroom sink.” Both the frog and the notation in my journal made me smile. This reminded me that not all entries must be “worthwhile” in the service of self-analysis or material for lofty literary purposes. I’m seventy-three, have been writing for most of my life, and have cabinets, folders and computer files filled with work. Quite a bit has been published. And there’s plenty that hasn’t been. Recently I’ve been giving myself permission to snip, toss and DELETE anything that hasn’t worked thus far and may not be worth expending any more energy on. For example, there was the stack of dusty manuscript copies of Slow Kissing, my first novel which I shipped from Closter, New Jersey, to Santa Rosa, California, fourteen years ago. No matter how many times I revised it, it just wasn’t very good. One rainy morning…
Guest Blogger Adair Lara talks about her latest obsession.
Guest Blogger Adair Lara writes: Voice in writing is my new obsession. I’ve been talking nonstop to my memoir students about it until they all look at me cross-eyed. “You must think of your experiences as material! And of yourself as a character!” Many of them have been taking the workshop with me for years, climbing the three flights of steps every Saturday to the redwood attic of the Victorian house I live in. I was all about identifying the emotional beats of the arc when some of them started. They must have been sick of hearing me say, “What’s the beat?” (The wine Lee Anna brings helps). And they must have been surprised –why had I not mentioned this new approach before, if it was so important? Well, I didn’t because even though voice is the most obvious thing in the world, we don’t see it. It’s also all…
What if we speak truth with compassion? The power of words.
Guest Blogger Kshatriya Millick writes about the importance of words. The lyrics to “Speak Life” by Toby Mac have really been weighing on my heart and mind. Hearing this song, live in concert, touched my soul and spirit in a way hearing it on the radio never did. It has caused me to think about how I speak to others. Do I use my words to lift others up or tear them down? Do I take little jabs to their characters and their lives, to feel like I am connected to something or to feel superior? Do I use jokes that are hurtful to be funny? Do I use my words to inspire others or to discourage them? These questions have caused me to evaluate how I use words in my life, and how those in my life use their words in their lives. I no longer wish to associate…
Due Dates — Making Friends with Deadlines by Michelle Wing
Guest Blogger Michelle Wing writes: I have always been rather envious of writers who say they sit down at their desks each day at, say, 9 a.m., and write for three or four hours. In other words, writers who have a pattern and a discipline to their output. That is simply not how I am wired. I can’t do anything that way – exercise regimens, meals, study sessions – nope, I fail at every attempt to adhere to a strict schedule. Instead of berating myself over this, I have learned to look at what does work for me. What are my ideal conditions for writing productivity? I thrive under deadlines. Having spent over 15 years of my life working as a journalist, I am very familiar with the feeling of having to get a story out – now – just under the wire. It is its own particular type of…