Have a Healthy Heart

My husband and I went for heart tests today. We each had a cholesterol/triglyceride/glucose blood test, baseline EKG, and vein check. It took less than twenty minutes for all three tests, and now we have peace of mind that our hearts are healthy.

Heart disease, stroke, and diabetes are prevalent on both sides of my family. My father died from a stroke, and I would like to stay on Earth for as long as possible. Preventive tests are a must.

Because I would like everyone to stay on Earth for as long as possible, I’d like to take a moment to remind people to protect their hearts. There are simple ways to do so:

1)     Get the same heart tests as my husband and I had done.

2)     Keep your weight down, and be especially mindful of your waistline.

3)     Keep your mouth healthy, which means flossing and brushing your teeth.

4)     Watch your sodium and alcohol intake.

5)     Quit smoking.

6)     Exercise more and sit less.

7)     Eat more fruits and vegetables and less red meat.

8)     Don’t stress out.

9)     Laugh more.

For your peace of mind and that of your family and friends, please take care of your heart. Low cost tests are available everywhere in the month of February, so take advantage of them.

Turning a Bad Day Around

My mother-in-law is very ill. She has good days, and she has bad days. On good days, it's like old times where she's happy, and content. On bad days, she can be downright mean. We all like the good days better than the bad days!

As writers, we also like the good days better than the bad days. The nice thing is, a bad day can be turned around, and can be salvaged. There are many times that I'm in a non-writing mood where I don't want to turn on my brain and write. But if I force myself to do it, I can make those non-writing days a semi-productive, or even a completely productive day.

Sitting down to write doesn't mean that we have to work on our novel or on our short story. Sitting down to write sometimes means getting our feelings down on paper, or daydreaming about something pleasant, or getting to know our characters or our setting better.

Writing can take many forms, and just because we aren’t working on something we will submit for publication, it doesn't mean that we’re having a bad day. I struggle to write almost every time I sit down in front of my computer. I struggle with wanting to write every day. It's not always a pleasant experience, so I tell myself that fifteen minutes is all I need. When fifteen minutes are over, I know I can stop. More often than not, I continue writing because something good is getting out.

Sometimes I write about someone who annoys me, and find that personality ending up in one of my characters. Sometimes I write about a place that I'd like to return to, and find a new setting for a story. Sometimes I write about my favorite food, and suddenly my characters are eating it. Whatever you put down on paper might come in handy down the road.

Even if the day doesn't feel right for writing, it doesn't hurt to sit down and try. You never know what will come of it.

Time budget

I told my husband that we need to quit spending so much money. After reviewing our budget, I realized that we spend unnecessarily. By my calculations, we could save a lot of money if we quit impulse buying. We pay off our credit cards each month and never carry a balance forward, but we are accumulating “stuff”. Stuff might bring instant gratification, but in the long run doesn't move us forward.

I also looked at my time budget. I waste a lot of time. I allow myself to DVR one show each night, and watch them on Saturdays and Saturdays. DVR does save time since I fast forward through commercials, and I usually feel like I've earned the right to watch my shows because of all the other things I do.

This wouldn't be a bad system, except for the fact that I find myself watching the shows that my husband watches. He loves television and movies, so even if I'm trying to work with headphones on, I am distracted. If I go into another room and hear my husband laugh or react to what he’s watching, I want to know what's going on.

It’s hard not to waste money and time. However, I find it much easier to control my monetary budget than my time budget. I have self-discipline when it comes to money because I use direct deposit to send money into a savings account, instead of relying on myself to move the money from checking to savings. With my time budget, I can make to-do lists and think that I am going to do everything for the gratification of checking things off, but it's not automatic like direct deposit. I have to work at keeping on task.

Even when I tell myself I'm wasting time, it's hard to get back on track. But I'm going to try to manage my time budget better because once it's gone, it's gone.

Do Your Best

I love P90X. The workout program is one of my favorites. I have always been in good shape, being a runner and lifting weights, but P90X has taken my training to a different level. I have been doing P90X for quite some time now, and love the way I feel once I'm done.

One of Tony Horton's favorite things to say is, “Do your best and forget the rest.” With my P90X workout it's easy for me to forget the rest, because I don’t dwell on the fact that I didn't lift as much weight as I did the last time or that I didn't do as many reps as last time. What matters is that I'm working on myself and I see results.

It is often hard for writers to “forget the rest.” We always try to do our best, but we can't forget the harsh comments, the self-doubt, or the sacrifices that we make. Even when we do our best, we are rejected. Even when we do our best, we may never see our hard work in print. Even when we do our best, we can't always forget the rest.

Maybe we shouldn’t forget, but we also shouldn’t dwell too much on our struggles. Remembering is okay if it’s a motivator to continue doing our best. Remembering is okay if we learn from it. Remembering is okay to keep us humble.

The bottom line? Do your best…

Tools for the Job

My husband got a new tractor. It’s a really nice John Deere 44 horsepower tractor with a cab. My husband has another John Deere tractor—a 25 horsepower tractor without a cab. When he has to do snow removal on the smaller tractor, he is cold and miserable, and it takes a long time. If it's snowing and the wind is blowing, he doesn't like doing the job. 

This new tractor has a nice big cab. Now he will stay dry, and with the heater, will also stay warm. We live on a mountain pass, and at times the snow is extreme. With the new, more powerful tractor, the job should be much quicker, and more enjoyable.

My husband now has the right tool to do the job. The smaller tractor will come in handy for tilling the garden and other small jobs around our acreage. But the bigger tractor will operate the backhoe more efficiently, and it will move snow much better.

As writers, we need to have the right tools for the job. It doesn't matter what tools you use, as long as they are the right ones. Some writers like pen and paper. Other writers can't live without their computer. But even those may not be the right tools for the job. If you write with a pencil and it isn't sharp, it makes the writing a little harder. If your pen runs out of ink or if you run out of paper, you no longer have the right tools for the job. If there is a power outage and you don't have a battery backup, or if your computer dies, you don't have the right tools to do the job.

To be the most efficient, to make the most out of your time, and to enjoy the process a little more, make sure you have the right tools for the job. My husband is looking forward to the next snowstorm, and as writers we should always be looking forward to the next words we put down.

The Best Gifts

My dad's birthday is today. He has been gone for almost 3 years, and it's hard to believe that so much time has passed. Some days it seems like his passing was very recent, while other days it seems like it has been a long time.

 

I dedicated my first novel to my dad, Joe Hirase, because he was an incredible reader. He taught me, through example, that reading is one of the best ways to spend time. I've never felt guilty about taking time to read, even when there were several other things to do. Every day, he read the newspaper from the beginning all the way to the end before diving into a book.

 

He loved Westerns the most, and when I worked at B. Dalton Bookseller, I filled his library. He his second love was mysteries, then thrillers, then historical novels, and then whatever else was available. If I look at his books that we still have, they are falling apart. Most of them are held together by rubber bands because he read them several times.

 

My dad enjoyed reading his books, then sharing them with others. He kept the ones he wanted to read again, but all the others he boxed up and took them to the assisted living center where my grandmother had lived. Every time he went, the staff would make an announcement to the residents that “Joe brought more books”, and then they would tell us how much they appreciated his donations.

 

I have a hard time parting with books. But my dad love to share, so maybe I should go through my bookshelf, and see what I too could share. Books are the best gifts!

Writing With Joy

Bella the boxer. At a year and half old, she is spunky, and cuter than words can describe. Believe me, I’ve tried! Bella has a terrible underbite, and she has to adjust her head when she eats, so the food doesn't fall out of her mouth. When she thinks she's in trouble, she wags her little tail as hard as she can, which in turn wags her whole body. Then she makes little squeaky noises, and because we find it so irresistible, we forget we’re mad.

Bella loves her brothers and sister. She loves people--even the vet. She is happy, carefree, and simply enjoys being herself. When I watch her outside in the yard playing with the other dogs, snuggling up in the same bed as Zeb, or looking out the window at what she's missing in the world, I can't help but think of how much joy she brings us.

For writers, joy can be hard to find. We put all sorts of constraints on ourselves, which makes it hard to be happy and carefree. I decided to try writing the way Bella plays—with recklessness and freedom.

Nothing happened.

For some reason, I couldn’t write. I had all kinds of thoughts, but my mind stopped me from putting any of it down. I could hear my inner critic telling me, “It isn’t good enough”, “You really wouldn’t say that”, “No one will like that”, “It’s garbage.”

The mind is so powerful, yet so limiting. I tried again the next day, and took a chance on the words in my head. I reached for the Backspace key several times, but decided to let the words flow. After a few minutes, I relaxed and got some good writing in for the day.

It’s hard not to edit as I write, but I’m training myself to get out whatever is on my mind, and delete later. This method brings more days of joy because I can be myself and say what I want.

 

Bella taught me that my writing doesn’t have to be neat and pretty on the first pass. It just has to be real.