Sweet Success Celebrates JL Fields

Pikes Peak Writer member and PPWC faculty member JL Field’s next book will be released June 6: The Vegan Air Fryer: The Healthier Way to Enjoy Deep-Fried Flavors.

Join JL for her book release party from noon to 2 p.m. on June 17, 12 to 2 p.m., at Colorado Common Hard Cider. All are welcome! First 75 people get a free drink coupon (if over 21), free recipes samples from the book, vegan food truck fare for purchase, and everyone in attendance is entered in a free drawing to win an air fryer! 

To learn more about vegan lifestyle and JL's classes, https://jlgoesvegan.com/

Fresh Brain through Food

By: Karen Albright Lin  

                                        

 A fresh brain is a ready brain. 

That Burger King Triple Whopper Large Meal leaves you smeared with grease, bloated, and tired. How often do you feel incapable and unmotivated to write after imbibing?  Lucky for us all, there’s plenty of food that’s more likely to make you feel clearheaded and so incredibly clever your critique group will bow to you. I use to be a weight loss counselor. I saw better diets turn my clients from potatoes into Iron Men—hyperbole perhaps, but you get the point.

In the '90s I changed course, turning to travel and food writing, eventually signing a literary cookbook contract with a publishing company, though it ended up falling through when I lost my photographer. Downer moment aside—I have the experience to confidently come to you with good news. Feeding your mind doesn’t have to take a ton of time out of your deadline-cloister. 

Trends in writing styles change up; it’s possible Melville and Steinbeck’s crazy-long descriptions wouldn’t get a second look by Simon & Schuster today. Nutrition education, too, has gone through some tweaking since I was a counselor. The nuts and bolts have changed; even the food pyramid has been supplanted by a plate split into four sections:  fruit, vegetables, grains and protein. Plus a lonely little dairy circle outside the plate—a minor character apparently. The primary aim of this image is to fight obesity.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/03/business/03plate.html?_r=0

Just as having rambunctious triplets and a needy spouse could make walking feel like trudging through wet cement, carrying around extra pounds can make your body sluggish and your brain sludgy.  But it’s not only about keeping a healthy weight.  There are specific foods that will help you maintain a fit mind.

 A fit mind is a better writing mind.

You likely know how you should be eating. You know quality food helps energy, mindset, and even your relationships—after all, it’s incredibly important to have friends and family supporting you in this masochistic career you’ve chosen. You recognize the need, but you use excuses not to eat well. 

Maybe you “don’t like rabbit food.” 

                                                            

Or you don’t have time to prepare elaborate meals. 

You aren’t fooling anybody when you say you have a crush on the 20-something beauty at the drive thru window.     

   

                                                          

We don’t want to feel deprived. 

I’m not suggesting ostentatious six-course meals (unless you’re a foodie and food writer like me) or fad diets (those can be more risky than hopping on board the tail end of a genre trend).

Writer-healthy eating starts with learning which foods feed our brains, then focusing on them. It can be as simple as adding more vegetables and whole grains. And fruits and oily fish like salmon, known to power up the brain, make learning and remembering easier.  As an added bonus for us loony-toon writers, they also promote emotional stability.

Cut back on salt, fat and sugar. That last one damages your teeth anyway, leaving you unfit to do that keynote speech after your third bestseller.

                                                   

Think variety, balance, and moderation. That three day binge fueled by fifty-six Frappuccinos and 20 Lindor truffles, may not be a good idea. Once you try better foods, your body will start to crave the good stuff. It’ll be like having an intractable addiction to a gripping mystery series. 

Drink a lot of water (bathroom stretches are good for us). Minimize caffeine even when you aren’t on a writing binge; it can trigger panic attacks over deadlines. You may have stayed up until three am finishing that last chapter, making you late to work, but don’t skip breakfast (even if it’s yogurt, a piece of fruit and a granola bar eaten while on your tractor). Replace fried foods with some mind-power alternatives.

You know that pesky thought glitch caused by your 100^th rejection letter? Fish, leafy greens, and eggs fight that sort of cognitive impairment because they are rich in B vitamins. 

Some savvy scientists say vitamin E helps prevent cognitive decline, so try to eat more asparagus, leafy greens, olives, brown rice, whole grains, nuts and seeds.  Vagueness being one curse of a first draft, I’ll be more specific: pumpkin seeds enhance memory and thinking skills that help us when brainstorming our next novels.  They also lead to the uptake of that blessed good-mood chemical, serotonin. Many of us can use that.  

Red peppers, broccoli, and citrus fruits are good for mental agility, making it easier to jump through all the hoops that are required to publish. As to the finer details, experiment with herbs and spices. Sage improves memory and concentration, but add it at the end of preparation to protect the beneficial oils. Kind of like a line edit!

I’m the antonym of vegetarian, and I’m not sure who came up with this bunk, but some bogus dudes claim eating less dairy and meat might help ward off depression over an unsuccessful pitch. Eat tomatoes rather than throw them at the winners of the contest you entered but failed to final in. And right before the awards banquet, where you’ll sit by your agent of choice, eat miracle blueberries so your teeth will be a lovely sapphire and those little skins will stick there as evidence of your healthy diet.     

 For samples of my food writing visit:

http://culinary-colorado.com/2013/11/24/guest-post-talking-tofu/

http://karenalbrightlin.com/AltMedClip.html

http://culinary-colorado.com/2013/08/11/guest-post-eat-at-your-own-risk/

http://www.karenalbrightlin.com/cookingleaves.html

http://culinary-colorado.com/2013/05/15/guest-post-learning-to-love-exotic-foods/

SIDEBAR:

I had a generally healthy diet.  But when I needed to lose weight, I did 4 easy things:

• Stopped soda and started drinking ice tea with lots of lemon and calorie-free sweetener
• Exchanged junk food for Qdoba and Chipotle—where I eat naked burritos
• Instead of ice cream, I got my cold sweet dairy fix by eating shredded wheat in milk with Sweetener.
• Started walking—often listening to the recordings of conference workshops, paper and pen in hand so I could stop and take notes when needed, then graduated to dancing.
• Activity and reasonable changes to diet can make a lot of difference.

About the Author:  Karen is an editor, ghostwriter, pitch coach, speaker and award-winning author of novels, cookbooks, and screenplays. She’s written over a dozen solo and collaborative scripts (with Janet Fogg, Christian Lyons and director Erich Toll); each has garnered international, national and regional recognition: Moondance Film Festival, BlueCat, All She Wrote, Lighthouse Writers, Boulder Asian Film Festival, SouthWest Writers Contest, and PPW Contest. Find out more at www.karenalbrightlin.com

Slaying the Stress Monster

By: Barbara Nickless

If you’ve ever had stress kick on like a pilot light in the middle of the night, or felt it stalk you with twenty-four-seven persistence, then welcome to the human race.

The Oxford Dictionary defines stress as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. The causes can be internal (fear of pubic speaking, worry about a medical procedure) or external (buying a house, taking a new job, suffering a loss).

So, yes, stress is part of being human. But in today’s hyper-demanding world of social media, twenty-four-hour news, and contentious presidential elections, we can find ourselves perpetually anxious. The flight-or-flight response that protected us from dire wolves has itself become a monster. Headache, chest pain, fatigue, lack of focus, depression, insomnia—these are only a few of the joys visited upon us by stress.

And, oh boy, am I intimately familiar with the havoc stress inflicts. A few years ago, a wildfire and other traumas kicked my personal anxiety into the stratosphere. After my life returned to some semblance of its pre-trauma state, my body didn’t get the memo. Even minor, everyday stressors like getting cut-off in traffic caused my anxiety to spike. This, I learned, was normal. The body holds onto trauma with the persistence of a politician with an applause-winning soundbite.

It was no way to live. I had to channel my inner Beowulf and slay the beast.

Enter hours of research and months of practice. Over time, I created a list of stress-busters that work for me. It’s an on-going effort—the struggle, as they say, is real. But now I have some tried and true tools to use the next time someone tries to take off my front bumper. 

If you look at this list and start thinking, yeah, that would all be great for people who have some time in their day, then recall the marshmallow story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX_oy9614HQ

The moral of the marshmallows? Save time for the important stuff now, and you’ll get back double the benefit. More than double. A few minutes a day could add years to your life.

·       Back off those goals. It’s all about the process. Google “process versus goals” and you’ll finds all kinds of helpful ideas about this. The important thing to remember is that while finishing a novel is a worthwhile goal, you’re more likely to get there if you focus on the pleasure you feel in the process of a daily writing habit. Loving the process = progress = less stress.

·       Work efficiently. Schedule intense work, like writing a novel, in twenty-five minute segments with a five minute “mind wandering” break at the end to serve as a refreshing reset. This gives your brain a break and helps alleviate built-up stress. It’s also easier to push through tough or scary work if it’s only for twenty-five minutes at a time.

·       Don’t multi-task. Don’t even try. Humans can’t. And trying to do so actually reduces your efficiency. If you’re like me, well, just call me Pavlov’s dog. Every time one of my devices lets me know I have an email, message, or phone call, I’m all over it. I finally learned to turn off those helpful little pings. Be cognizant of how much checking your email or engaging in social media fractures your attention. Fractured attention means accomplishing less in the time you have. And what does that do to your stress level? Rocket ship to the moon, anyone?

·       Recognize your limits. Being overscheduled is a major stressor. Work and family take priority. Beyond that, sometimes we have to just say no. If you can’t help a friend or a cause right now, it doesn’t make you a bad person. Promise yourself you’ll make time when doing so won’t hurt your health.

·       Find your tribe. Just make sure it’s the right one for you. People who have a support network live longer, healthier lives. Work, hobbies, church, and, yes, Pokémon Go—all provide opportunities to connect. Social media can be helpful, too. Just be aware that online communities don’t offer the same level of healthy engagement. Get out there in person and express—and feel—the love.

·      

Yoga. Yeah, I know. Who has an extra hour in their day? Here’s what I read that made me

change my mind: People with some of the worst stress in the world—combat veterans—are finding significant relief with yoga. Some are getting better results than they saw with traditional therapy or medications. And even a few minutes a day helps.

·       Meditate. Another, yeah, yeah. You force yourself to sit there for ten minutes while your mind races over your to-do list and your body is in sprint mode, waiting for the alarm to go off so you can get to the important stuff. But here’s the deal—just five or ten minutes of daily meditation (more is better) literally changes our brains for the better. Google it.

·       Fight for your body. It’s the only one you’ve got. Eat right. Drink water. Exercise. It takes time now, but gives you more time in the future. ‘nuff said.

·       Keep perspective. If some of your stress comes from keeping up with the Jones’ (or Stephen King or Harlan Coben or the guy in your critique group), remember, this is your journey. Lately I’ve been freaking out over whether people will like my debut novel or if I’m capable of writing a respectable second book. I worry that I’m not as good a daughter/mother/wife/friend as I want to be. This is one of those middle-of-the-night monsters for me, and when it leaps, I take a deep, meditative breath and remind myself that I am on my path, not anyone else’s. That’s something I can own.

All of the above ideas take awareness, willingness and some time. But they translate into more time on Earth. Which, in turn, means more time to write our stories. And isn’t that what all of us want?

I’d love to hear what stresses you out and how you cope with it. If any of these techniques work for you, please share!

For every comment you make, you’ll be entered in a drawing for an ARC of my debut novel, Blood on the Tracks. Our esteemed blog master, Donnell Bell, will pick a random winner on August 31.

About the Author:  Barbara worked as a raptor rehabilitator, instructional designer, sword fighter, astronomy instructor, and piano teacher before turning to writing. Now an award-winning author, she lives in Colorado where she loves to snowshoe, cave, hike and drink single malt Scotch—usually not at the same time. She is the author of the Special Agent Parnell series featuring a railroad cop and her K9 partner.

Don't Just Sit There -- Move!

By: Darby Karchut

We’ve all heard of the negative effects of sitting too long. It’s bad for our muscles, organs, and can even increase the risk of various kinds of cancer. As writers, we must be extra vigilant to guard against this insidious stalker of our health. If you want to know more of the medical hows and whys, you might want to read Get Up! Why Your Chair is Killing You and What You Can Do About It by Dr. James Levine (co-director of the Mayo Clinic). In his book, Dr. Levine lists the areas and systems of the body that are damaged by too much sitting:

Source: Pixabay

Heart

Pancreas

Colon

Digestion

Brain Damage (due to less fresh blood and oxygen)

Strained Neck and Shoulders

Back Problems

Muscle Degeneration

Hip Problems

Varicose Veins

Weak Bones

  

Even more depressing news: A study by the 2015 Inaugural Active Working Summit also found that sitting increases lung cancer by 54%, uterine cancer by 66%, and colon cancer by 30%.

Yikes! What’s a writer to do?

Well, for one thing, get up out of your chair. The current mantra from health experts is to “stand up, sit less, move more.” And by moving, they mean more than just our daily walk/run/gym time. Yes, vigorous sustained exercise once a day is vital to our health. However, a number of findings report that standing more during the day is also beneficial to people who don’t exercise. In other words, any kind of moving around counts. The more, the better, but even a little helps.

Here are some straightforward, but effective, alternatives to sitting:

Stand at your desk. A couple of boards across two stacks of books will do the trick. Or, you can get those cool gizmos that raise and lower your work surface. Some experts recommend putting a foot rest (a small box works fine) under your desk. Standing with one foot on the box eases the strain on your back and hips. Switch feet as often as you like. This is one I use a lot, and it really works.

A treadmill/desk combo is also very popular. Just be careful not to get too engrossed in your writing and fall off.

An inflatable exercise ball is a cheap and easy alternative to chairs. Roll it side to side as you write to work your core muscles.

Of course, a gadget that you wear on your wrist that measures your steps is another way to keep moving. I’ve never tried one, but a lot of my friends find them motivating.

However, standing or walking makes it harder to concentrate. So, a rule of thumb that I found helpful is the 20-8-2 Breakdown. For every 30 minutes, sit for 20 minutes, stand for 8 minutes, move for 2 minutes. You can set your phone’s alarm, your sports watch, or even an egg timer, to remind yourself.

Once you’re up, the moving around part can be as simple as walking around your house or office, climbing up and down a flight of stairs, jogging in place, do a round of jumping jacks, or break out the yoga mat. Even light housework counts. Just move. I read of one executive who makes a point of walking laps around her office whenever she’s on a phone call.

The 20-8-2 Breakdown isn’t supposed to be a hard and fast rule, however. It’s more of a reminder to incorporate opportunities into your workday to rise up. The more you move, the more your body craves it, which in turn, encourages you to be more active. It’s a wonderful, virtuous cycle.

So, give it a try for a week. See what works for you. Even small steps can add up to big results. Like writing a book, no? The hardest part is getting started.

I’d love to hear your suggestions on what you do to keep healthy while writing. Please feel free to share in the comments below.

About the Author: Darby Karchut is an award-winning author, dreamer, and compulsive dawn greeter.  A native of New Mexico, she now lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, where she runs in blizzards and bikes in lightning storms. When not dodging death by Colorado, Darby is busy writing for children, teens, and adults. She is represented by Amanda Rutter at Red Sofa Literary.

www.darbykarchut.com

www.darbykarchut.blogspot.com