On Being a Writer

 I have had many careers in my life and I have always been a writer.

The use of the word “and” in the line above is important. Many people would have chosen the word “but.” The nuance of word choice is important to a writer.

I kept a diary for a while in my youth, until it ran out of pages. I turned to spiral notebooks. My writing became a venting of my feelings, opinions (personal and political), short stories, speculations on spirituality, and drafts for “letters to the editor” of my local newspaper. I also drew things in my notebooks, like room arrangements or blueprints for building something myself.

My early writing relieved me of obsessive thoughts swirling in my brain. After writing it down the all-consuming thought was vanquished, sometime later to be unceremoniously pitched in the trash.

My early political writing often resurfaced in public speeches or everyday conversations.

Sometime along the way, like a kindergartener with a crayon masterpiece, I wanted recognition of my work. My blueprints for a bookcase became one. My garden design sketches resulted in vegetable and flower gardens many people enjoyed.

I began the task of submissions and tracking them for my “articles” to magazines and newspapers. I began a collection of rejection letters, taping them to the wall and keeping count, because somewhere I read you are not a serious writer until you have accumulated at least five hundred.

Having a family, running a business, and simple everyday events kept me busy. The only time I wrote was to get those obsessions out of my brain.

Sometimes a story would form and I would fill spiral notebooks. (This was before I could afford a computer.) I wrote several not-so-great masterpieces. Those fantasy worlds I created are now a part of landfills in places unknown, or living forever on hard drives of broken computers stored in a garage. A few of my stories still live in magazines, most of which I am sure, are also fodder for landfills.

And, my world changed. I now have an external hard drive for back-ups. I have no family at home or job to distract me---only emails and Facebook and the World Wide Web.

With the support and encouragement of my family, friends, and a great writers group, (Bartlesville WordWeavers) this year, two of my books are going to be published. One is non-fiction with a targeted audience for real estate professionals and frugal homeowners. The other is a fiction stalker-thriller geared to women, eighteen and over.

Four of my short stories can be found in Seasons Remembered, an anthology which I will be pimping this weekend as a free giveaway on Amazon.com.

Future posts on meanderingmentalmusings.blogspot.com will be geared toward the challenges of being a writer in this wonderful world of computers when one is computer challenged, the celebration of those writers who have overcome the obstacles, and of course, those times I just have to have a mental dump.

Questions and comments are usually appreciated. And, there is a gadget thingy on the side of this page where you can put your email and follow my posts. To be followed and read thrills the heck out of the kindergartener in me.

Please visit my website at Barbarashoff.com

Nothing Like Leftovers to Make My Day!

This will be short and to the point. I loved this 4^th of July celebration because I spent it with family and friends.

I forgot to get my camera out of the drawer. Bummer.

Everyone cleaned up after themselves.

I went to bed with a smile on my face.

I woke up, dressed, and went outside.

I returned to grab my camera, I have an even bigger smile on my face.

A Quick Update on My Juicing Adventures

For those who missed my last post, I began juicing about May 18th. I am determined to lose the forty pounds I have put on in the last couple of years. About fifteen pounds jumped to replace the smoking monkey I had on my back. That monkey keeps trying to jump back on, and we have had repeated scuffles. 

I refuse to discuss what my weight was when I started this juicing adventure. Let me just say, the four times I have tipped the scales that high in the past, I was pregnant.

I was only able to continue the total juicing diet four days. I have challenges with will power and I got HUNGRY. 

So, I started eating the swill. That's the pulp left over after one puts the fruits and veggies through the juicer. After four days of only drinking juice, the swill was DELICIOUS cooked as a gruel. The addition of a little Greek seasoning really helped. I lost eight pounds, and used four rolls of toilet paper in four days. 

I continued juicing twice a day, and ate plenty of fresh veggies, fruit, eggs, and tuna.

The juicer died last week... after less than a month of use. Bad news, I threw out the box. No box, no return. Good news. I wrote Black and Decker and got an email saying they will replace it, after I jump through a couple of hoops. I am working to get both feet of the ground... at the same time... without sitting down.

(If you will click on this link, Mary Kincaid has her thoughts this week on gadget boxes.) 

If I were a conspiracy theorist, I would suggest the possibility that manufactures of gadgets implant a data strip thread in their boxes. If that data strip is not within x number of feet of the product, its absence triggers a switch within the gadget, causing the gadget to fail. This theory reveals the truth of the ultimate in planned obsolescence. 

Hey! I write fiction as well as non-fiction. 

However, I already believed everything Snowden said, before he said it. And let me say for the record, to those who know me, I TOLD YOU SO!  

Hmmm. I wonder what Snowden would say about the data strip in the box theory?

But, back to the juicing, weight loss, and getting healthier. 

My sister surprised me with the gift of a fancy-schmancy treadmill a few days after I bought the juicer. 

The treadmill is a way for me to combat peripheral artery disease. When I began on the treadmill, I could only walk two minutes at l mph before my legs cramped, seized up and my calves would become as hard as concrete. I can't begin to describe the pain. Just think, charlie-horses in both calves and feet... at the same time. I have doubled my endurance time, and speed, and have gotten a little smarter. I only walk until it starts to hurt before I quit. A little pain, a little gain. But I would say doubling both speed and time is pretty good in a month.

I have done no juicing for a week. I continue eating fresh fruits, veggies, eggs, tuna, and have added some chicken.

And, as of today, stripped naked, and leaning a little to the left on my scale, I HAVE LOST 17 POUNDS! 

Woo hoo!

My motivation? All the professionals were doing, was telling me to watch my diet and giving me more, and more medications. I wasn't getting any better. My diabetes glucose levels continued to climb, (even with controlling carbs) and I was instructed to increase the volume of insulin,  an additonal kind,was added, and I had to increase the number of injections.  

And, of course, I want to feel better because I have two books coming out soon. One fiction and one non-fiction. I need to be in condition to get out and hustle those babies.

Also, some of my friends suggested we need to become leopards. 

Is that right? Suzanne K? Carolyn B, were you going to join us? 

 I was a Wildcat in high school. A Mighty, Mighty, Wildcat.

By the way, I love reading your comments. You can add yours by clicking on the link below. If the link says NO COMMENTS, that is not an instruction. It simply means yours will be the first for this post. Also, if you enjoyed reading this I would really appreciate it if you share it with others. 

I am working diligently to get up to speed on this social networking stuff. There are still things I have to learn. I have been assured by Amazon, The Dummies books I have ordered, are on the way.