Get Healthy blog hop

 

When I was 20 I developed a form of arthritis called Ankylosin Spondelitus.  I have a fairly mild case of it. In fact, technically it’s undiagnosed because it hasn’t scarred my bones enough to show up on an x-ray.  But we know what it is because of the type of pain I have and the family history.  I have two brothers diagnosed with the same thing.  Watching them I can see how easy I have it and I’m grateful for that.   

But that doesn’t mean I don’t hurt.  

I have good years and bad years, good days and bad days.  Regular exercise is an important part of treating this disease.  I need to keep the weight off (something I struggle with) because extra pounds put extra stress and pressure on my joints.  Also, I need to keep limber.  The more I move the better my joints are. 

But.   

How do you do that on the days when it hurts so much you don’t want to get out of bed.  How do you keep up the exercise, or the writing for that matter, when you can’t bend, or sit, or walk? 

I've had to learn to listen to my body, and I've had to learn to say it's okay.  It’s okay not to exercise on those days, and I shouldn’t feel guilty about it. And I also shouldn’t compare myself to others who have no limitations and can work out for hours daily. It's so easy to see what others do and think I should be able to do that. But if I try to do what they do, if I overdo it, I end up hurting worse for longer so all exercise needs to be in proportion to what my body is capable of.   

At the same time, the days I’m feeling good I can’t allow myself to slack off.  There might not be another good day for awhile so I have to take advantage of it.  It’s hard to make exercising a priority on those days, because I also have to fit in all the cleaning and errands that I’ve put off during bad days.  But if I don’t take care of my body I’ll end up having more bad days. 

It’s a vicious cycle and, like much of life, you have to find the balance.  And you have to listen to your body. Some days I can do a brisk walk on the treadmill for an hour.  But If all I can manage is a hobble for fifteen minutes I still try to do it.  Then I celebrate it.  It’s better than doing nothing.  And it will help, every little bit helps.

I've had to learn to accept my limitations and what I can do. And I'm trying to learn to do it without feeling like a wimp.  For those of you who are struggling to start an exercise program, or who have limitations as to what you can do, don't give up.  The little things do count! Just keep at it and do your best.

Take care of your body because you don’t get another one. 

The power of words

I don't think any of us doubt the power of words. As writers we seek to use that power to convey the emotions we explore.  Yet, what about our casual words, the ones that just jump out of our mouths, or our fingers as we type?   Have they ever had unexpected power?  Do your posts sometimes have consequences you didn't anticipate?  Do you ever wish you could rewrite, revise, edit and otherwise polish the words you speak? 

Words are powerful.  They can hurt or heal and we should be careful and thoughtful how we use them.  But even more so than words, we are powerful.  Someone can choose to use their words against us.  And those words may make us hurt, may cause problems in our lives, but we can choose how to respond to them.  We can choose not to be hurt. 

Careful with your words.  You don't always know the impact they can have.

Are Rules Tools?

I'm not a huge fan of writing "rules".  You know, the ones that tell you what you can and can't do as a writer.  I do realize, however, that some of them are good suggestions  put out by people who have been in the industry. So while I never give the rules control of  my manuscript I do listen to what they are, or rather why they came about.

Tools have a specific purpose right?  You wouldn't (I dare say couldn't) put in a screw with a hammer.  At least not in any way that would allow the screw to function like it's supposed to.  So I was interested when I found this post about rules as tools.  When we know what we want to accomplish in our current work, then we can choose the rules, or tools, that will help us achieve it.  the rest of the rules can stay in the toolbox and be forgotten until you're doing a job that might need them.  It was an interesting way of looking at rules and I like the idea of making the "rules" work for me.

Then I found this.  15 things a writer should never do. But these actually make sense.  These aren't really rules, just advice they've heard over and over from different authors over the years, and they actually make sense.  For instance number 15 says never give up. That's a rule I could follow.  Number one says don't assume there's a single path to follow to publication.  If you want to know the rules inbetween you'll have to click over to the article but most of them made sense to me. 

I'd love to know if you agree or disagree with any.

Key to Happiness

I was bit by a happy bug.  Alright, so it wasn't a bug at all Jen nominated me for the How to be Happy meme that is sweeping the internet.  I knew I had to do this one.  It's fun and we all need a little more happiness in our lives. 

This was actually quite hard. There are a lot of things that make me happy but mostly  I believe happiness is a choice.  Bad things happen, yes, but it's our choice how we deal with them.


So here are my top ways to be happy.

1. My family.  My husband is the nicest, most perceptive person.  He really understands and supports me.  Watching my children explore the world always helps me realize what life is about.  

2. Helping others.  I was once told "if you're feeling sorry for yourself, it's because you're thinking of yourself"  Focusing on others helps me keep my life in perspective.

3. Chocolate.  Need I say more?

4.  Books.  They keep me sane in a crazy world.

5. Friends.  Both real life, and on line.




So tell me, what makes you happy?

Motivation

I have a deadline coming up this summer.  It's made me look at where I am and where I want to go with this MS.  Last week I even sat down and wrote a few plot points in  a time line.

No!  Of course I wasn't plotting.  This was entirely different.  I maintain my status as a pantster. 

Really.  No plotting at all.

*cough* Anyway....

How do you motivate yourself?  If you have a deadline or a goal and you really need to get working what do you do?  Do you have a special routine to get in the writing mood?  Do you work on a reward or punishment system?  I know each writer is different an there are many ways so I've been wondering, how do you do it?

To dialogue or not to dialogue

I once toyed with the idea of writing a novel without using any dialogue.  No really.  Anyone else ever think of trying that?  At the time I disliked and feared dialogue.  It was hard, it was clunky, everyone sounded the same, it was impossible.

I no longer feel like that.  I can't say exactly when my feelings changed but now I really like dialogue. I've even received compliments on it. (Hmmm, maybe I should write a book that's all dialouge......okay, not really)  I know practice had a lot to do with the change.  Also, finding a story and characters I was passionate about. When I loved the characters, when I knew them, it was easy to know what they would say and how they would say it.

Of course, study and craft research helped too.

Durring the A-Z challenge (so it maybe went unnoticed by a lot of people)  there was a three part series on dialogue over at The Blabbermouth. Here is the first part, second, and third. I found it a fun and interesting read.  And even though I don't hate dialogue anymore, there's always room for improvement.

Post A-Z

Hey everyone!  Survive April?  Have a nice break since then?  Anyone celebrate Star Wars Day or the Cinco De Mayo?  I've noticed the blogosphere has been a little quiet this last week.  I know I was taking a little break. It was the first A-Z I participated in and I enjoyed it!  I'm very glad I prescheduled my posts as April turned into a horrible month.  I wasn't able to visit as many blogs as I wanted and I know I missed returning some comments but I enjoyed every blog I did visit. Thanks for sharing your A-Z journey with me.

During April I recieved a few blog awards. First I want to say thanks to the people who thought of me.  Jan Morrison, Sarah Chafin, and Suze. I truly appreciate being nominated for these.  I'm not going to answer each of the sets of questions but I'll answer a few from each set.





If you could do whatever you wanted (money no object) how would you spend your time?
Honestly probably not much different than now, though there would just be less cleaning and more travel.  

Fave midnight snack?
 Nothing.  I can't eat late at night or I get really bad heartburn.  Pain is not my favorite midnight snack.

Naughty or nice?
Nice.  And I never fall for the bad boys, in life or in books.  


Its raining, not just a drizzle, but a full downpour, you have nothing planned for the day.  What do you do?
Depends do I have kids?  If the kids are with me I try desperately to entertain them while keeping their energy in check so we don't all go bonkers or end up in the hospital.  If the kids are elsewhere I cuddle up with a snack and book or my laptop and listen to the rain. 

Do you prefer to read a book that focus's on a action filled plot or a character based one?
 Character based.


If you could have any meal for dinner tonight, anywhere in the world, what would you have?
Something I didn't cook, though I'm feeling in the mood for Chinese.  

 Who are your influences?
The biggest influences on my life are my parents.  They're the best and they're always there to help or just offer a sympathetic ear when I need. 

 Have you ever had a recurring (sleeping) dream? If so, care to share it?
Frequently, too many to list here.  Sometimes I'll have the same dream every night for a week then never have it again.  Sometimes I'll have the same dream years and years later.  

 What was the first name of the first person you kissed/who kissed you?
The Engineer was the first (and only) person I ever kissed.  Once you find the right one there's no need to look around.  Plus I was very shy growing up. 



 We'll get back to some regularly scheduled posting sometimes soon.  Probably.  :)