One Step Forward...

Ten steps back. Most of last year flowed amazingly well. Between the Friday night writing dates and the biweely alphabet adventures, I carved out large blocks of time in which to pursue my passions. Then came the fall--in every sense of the word. Fall, the season brought the fall, a physical incident, resulting in the metaphorical "fall" from grace. At least it felt that way in my world.

Instead of a Grimm's Fairy Tale, my life played out like a Grim, Scary Tale. My traditional weapon for fighting adversity--humor--kept failing me. The worst part was when my urologist recommended I go on a low-oxalate diet to try to retard the growth of more kidney stones. After reading the handouts with the proscribed foods, I came to a horrifying realization. Nearly anything I chose to eat vould violate some dietary recommendation for one of my health conditions! What is good for my kidneys is bad for my triglycerides. What is good for my colon is fatal for my kidneys and on it goes.

Hopefully, the worst of tidings has passed. In this new year 2010, my intention is to recover a sense of Radiance--radiant life, radiant health, radiant spirit. I will try a few old formulas and practices that worked well for me in the past. To those I will add experiments with a few new tools and tricks that look promising.

I will be wrapping up the alphabet adventures this weekend with a retracing of the old Zane's Trace route from Wheeling, WV to Maysville, KY. In 2010, I will begin a series of monthly literary adventures to discover the authors, libraries, bookstores and works that figure highly in Ohio's literary heritage. As part of each trip, I hope to include a writing date component to compensate for the missed weeks last year following my injuries.

At least this year I posted here within the first fortnight. That is an improvement.

After a Long, LONG Winter's Nap

The Strokesmodel remembers she has a blog out there somewhere in cyberspace. Not that the past 30 months have been uninspired--quite the contrary. I refuse to fall back on my stock-in-trade excuse that I have been too busy living my life than to write about it. That is a cop-out.

Several recent developments have drawn me back to this blog with the intention of making a fresh start. First and foremost was a breakout session on Demystifying Social Media at last weekend's District 40 Toastmasters Conference. Angie Palmer, fellow Toastmaster and owner of Skye Public Relations, presented the breakout.

Here is a link to Angie's Top 10 list of Reasons to Use Social Media.

Another was the reunion with an old college friend I hadn't seen in 20 years. Krit's position as headmaster of a boy's boarding school in Bangkok brought him back to my vicinity. One of the schools he visited posted photos from that visit on its blog.

During our get-together, Krit asked me if I blogged. How embarrassing for me, a writer by avocation, to tell him I hadn't posted in it in over two years! This is an effort to metaphorically hit the Reset button.

Finally, because I resolved at the beginning of this year that my primary goal was to become re-enchanted with writing. An initial step in this process was scheduling Friday night "writing dates" at the local Barnes & Noble. Another is participating in writing group meetings.

Later this spring I will attend the IWWG annual conference "Remember the Magic" in Saratoga Springs, NY. On my visit to Chautauqua Institution in August, I will audit both writing workshops. I am stoked about both events!

Off to bed to dream about summer writing retreats and road trips!