Top Five Friday: The Meatless Maven

A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.

~ William Shakespeare

Ah the first Friday in Lent.  And that means basically don’t overeat and don’t eat meat.  Which are two really good pieces of advice for any day of the year, actually.  Ok, I confess.  Although I am trying to get back to my 80% raw eating lifestyle [I refuse to call it a diet], it is only 80%.  The rest of the time, I eat organic, lovingly-treated meat.  And potatoes.

So today’s edition of the Top Five Friday is all about what to make when you need, or want, a meatless dinner.  You can also check out some of the salads I posted.  Or even the Oysters from last week.  

Crab-Stuffed Flounder

Not really the spirit of the fast, is it?  Well, at least it meets the letter of the law!  I’m not really sure why fish makes the grade [note to self: google that]; I always thought it had something to do with blood in the meat.  But then when I gutted a fish for the first time, I discovered, much to my chagrin, that fish have blood too! Ewwww!  Anyway, this recipe from the queen of butter, Paula Deen, is pretty awesome for any day of the week, but it makes a Lenten Friday a little easier to bear.  Especially for the non-Catholic friends of ours who bear the brunt of our meatless grumpiness.

Spinach Mushroom Tarts

Two of my favorite veggies: spinach and mushrooms come together in one amazing and fabulous looking entrée.  And yes, it’s raw.  I love Susan Powers’ recipes ~ she makes living the raw food lifestyle look, well ~ stylish!  And the food truly is raw-mazing.  Not to mention really, really good for you.  I saw these tarts and went straight to Whittingham’s to buy the little stainless steel molds.  Totally worth it! 

Spicy Glazed Salmon

I love my salmon.  Especially when it’s wild caught in Alaska.  I’m surprised at how many people don’t know that farm-raised fish is not the healthiest way to get your Omega-3s.  They swim around in little [or big] pools.  Which, yes, may get cleaned.  But still.  How would you feel is you had to swim around in your own…yeah.  Now you understand! 

Now that we've got cleared up ~ this is a super yummy recipe that I’ve made for dinner countless times: both for just myself and for dinner guests.  Always a winner.  And in the summer, I’ve substituted basil for the cilantro.  You can also use dill.  Just take out the soy sauce.

Veggie Chili

Tofu is not my friend.  And probably not yours either.  Process anything is not good for you.  I have given in before, but generally I stay away from soy products.  Another post for another time!  So I forgo the veggie crumbles in this recipe and put in red wine, green peppers and regular diced tomatoes.  And my shredded Daiya “cheese” of course.

Pan-Seared Scallops

I stopped ordering scallops in restaurants because they were always overdone and just plain wrong.  So there’s no recipe to link to because mine is the best and the simplest ~ IMHO.  Buy scallops.  Rinse.  Melt butter in pan.  Put scallops in.  Salt and pepper to taste. Watch very closely, turning with tongs every so often until lightly golden.  DO NOT OVERCOOK. 

Make pesto out of fresh basil or spinach.  Serve the scallops on a bed of pesto. Voila!  A little bit of heaven!

Happy Friday!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What are your favorite meatless dishes?

Accenting the Positive: Giving Up and Getting In to Lent

[Penance] does not mean sacrifice and self-denial in the first place, but a “change of heart,” a victory over sin and a striving for holiness.  The sacrifices of fasting and self-denial are only means and signs of this spiritual penance.  If people understand this well, they will not put the main effort in Lent on technical feats of abstaining from pleasures (which sometimes make them proud or vain), but in sincere contrition, prayer and humble fight against their faults.

~  Fr. Francis X. Weiser, S.J



"In Ictu oculi" by Juan de Valdes Leal



Ash Wednesday.  Time to dust [no pun intended] off those New Year’s resolutions and try, try again!  Lent is less about doom and gloom, and more about changing one’s heart.  Unplugging from the world for forty days and re-aligning one’s spirit with what is really important in life: Love, Faith, Generosity, Authenticity.

Many people give up eating a certain type of food, such as chocolate, or literally unplug by giving up Facebook or personal email.  While good, those things miss the point and don’t really go far enough.  My friend Terry [who is the most awesome tenor eh-ver!] said it best on Facebook the other day:

“Think it matters if you stop using Facebook for 40 days…it doesn’t.  How about 1 posting a day about something that matters…perhaps there’s a charity you care about.  That might be something to post instead of cats wearing bowler hats.  Giving up meat? So?  Do it…but maybe spread the word about sustainable, small independent and local farmers while you’re at it….”

There’s a great story in Scripture where Christ talks about a man possessed by a demon, who gets rid of the demon, and sweeps the interior clean; but then the demon gets bored wandering around, finds seven more demons worse than he is, and comes back inside the guy.  What?!  That’s not fair!  The guy got rid of the demon and swept his house clean!  Yes, but he didn’t put anything in the space left by the demon’s absence.

It’s not enough to stop eating fast food [the evils of which is a post for another day!] or sweets.  It’s not enough to stop watching so much reality TV or spending so much time on the computer or the internet.  Getting rid of those behaviours is a good and laudable thing!  But put something in its place.  Otherwise the bad habits will come back stronger then before! We have enough negativity in our lives; do something positive!

Personally, I haven’t finished taking stock yet to see where I need to clean house.  But in one area is definite: after my gall-stone cleanse, I fell off the 80% raw-vegan-juicing lifestyle wagon I had been riding for so long.  My bank statement alone is enough to accuse and convict me!  So one thing I’m giving up is eating out ~ healthier for my wallet and my body.  And in place of eating out [where in the world does that food come from anyway!?], I will be making my own fresh smoothies and juices and eating only organic, sustainable foods.

What about you?  Do you observe Lent?  What are you giving up and getting into? 

Oremus pro invicem,

 ~Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Throw Me Some Beads! The Mardi Gras Edition

Creole is New Orleans city food.

Communities were created by the people who wanted to stay

and not go back to Spain or France.

~ Paul Prudhomme

It’s almost Lent.   And that means Mardi Gras, the feast where Catholics traditionally used up all the animal-related products before the 40 days of fasting began on Ash Wednesday.  Eastern Catholics still follow a strict, “black fast” – no eggs, meat, or dairy.  Western, or Roman Catholics are little less, well, we're just wimpier ~ and with good reason. I had one professor in college who was Eastern Catholic and he was always grumpier during Lent then the professors who were Roman.  Just sayin’.

A die-hard Virginian I may be, but I love my Deep South sisters and Nawlins food ranks up there as the best a Southern foodie can get.  Chicken, crawfish, shrimp, and lots of butter.  And always that question: isn’t gumbo the same thing as jambalaya?

Fried Oysters

My favorite way to eat oysters is baked in their shells with garlic and parmesan on top.  But with a dairy intolerance, that is right out.  Happily, frying is not.  [Although I admit I don’t do as much of that lately.  Having gallstones really helped me get in the habit of healthier eating!]  This is a great recipe, although I didn’t use saltines, I used gluten-free breadcrumbs.  And it actually came out beautifully.

Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya

No, this is not the same as Gumbo, y’all.  Jambalya has rice, lots of it.  Think of it as the Creole version of paella.  Gumbo thickens with a flour-based roux.  For this recipe,  I used long grain brown rice in place of white because 1) I’m all into that health stuff; and 2) I’m not from Nawlin’s so no French Quarter grandmother is turnin’ ovah in her grave as I gleefully put my own Virginia stamp on things.

Ramos Gin Fizz

It’s great to be Catholic and Southern.  You get to drink things like a gin fizz. Also bourbon.  But I wanted to highlight this Nawlin’s classic.  Enjoy after a day sweating in the kitchen over a hot stove ~ preferably not into the gumbo!

            Ok, fine.  Another great one is the Sazerac.  Awesome.

Beignets

Confession: I’ve never made these.  However, I’m dying to try them this weekend for my friend’s Mardi Gras bash.  So if I get around to making them, I’ll let you know how they turn out.  I have eaten them before, if that counts.  And they are waaaaaay better than doughnuts, y’all!

King Cake

Ok, I’ve never made this one either.  This one is on the list this weekend as well because all the ones I have ever had at Mardi Gras parties were made my non-Nawlins people and they were dry and well, yucky.  Hopefully none of them is reading this now.  Might as well try my non-Creole hand at this favorite too!  I even have last year’s baby ~ which technically means I should have hosted this year.  Maybe I'll get it again this year!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Any favorite foodie traditions for Mardi Gras?  How do other non-Nawlins foodies celebrate?

2012 Goals: Second Month Check In

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. 

~ T.S. Eliot

According to my calculations, I haven’t gotten very far in reaching my goals, even though I took a risk with such a huge list this year.  Try as I may, I tend to get overwhelmed pretty early in the journey, and simply stop looking at the road signs.  No wonder I get lost and end up looking over the Resolution Ravine ~ I see a lot of dried old bones and fresh carcasses down there!

So while I am trying to figure out what method of tracking my goals will help me to actually accomplish them, I have decided that in at least one department, I can add something that will definitely help: posting here weekly about my goal struggles and progress [when there is any!] and asking for your input on how you conquer the Overwhelmedness Ogre.

Together, let’s see how far we can go this year!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Gettin' Your Green On

Salad "freshens without enfeebling and fortifies without irritating."

~ Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826)

Last week I highlighted my top five favorite soups. This week we look at salads.  I know ~ you don’t like to eat your veggies. I understand that salads are easier to munch on in the summer time when the tomatoes are red and juicy and warm from the sun’s caress in your garden, and your hands smell like the crisp and spicy basil leaves you just plucked.  But salad has its place in the winter too.  And even if you haven’t had a mild winter like we have had so far here in Virginia, you can still enjoy the energy and pick me up you get from eating your veggies.

Cornbread Salad

Also known as layered salad, I make this for summer BBQs and it is a great way to get those veggies down!  The recipe I have actually used is in one of my coveted Southern Living cookbooks, but this one has most of the ingredients and the point of these salads is to play a little.

Fig and Goat Cheese Salad

I discovered this sexy little salad while searching Epicurious for a 4 course dinner for fourteen friends I hosted a couple of weeks ago.  Actually, I took this recipe as a suggestion and made substitutions all over the place.  Figs are not in season, so I used dried instead; raspberry and run raisin goat cheese instead of the yogurt; arugula instead of pepper cress; and I topped it off with balsamic vinegar and EVOO.  Wow.  Now I know why figs are known as nature’s candy.  Even my friends who do not like salad ate it up!

Heirloom Salad

Okay, I agree: this salad really is better in the summer when everything is straight from the garden.  But it still makes the list as one of my top five salads.  I adore fresh tomatoes and basil still wet with dew.  If you are dairy-intolerant like me, forgo the cheese altogether or use Daiya’s Mozzarella ~ love that brand!  It’s not only non-dairy, it’s non-soy.  Yay!

Panzanella Salad

This is a great winter salad because it has bread in it.  And although I try to eat as little gluten as possible for health reasons, fresh French bread is my weakness.  I have used a variation of this recipe several times and each time it’s a hit.  The key is to let the salad sit for a little while so that the bread absorbs the juices from the tomatoes, cucs, and the EVOO.  This one can be an entrée.

Warm Beet Salad with Bacon

Growing up I hated beets.  Now I love them.  Especially in the juicer.  Ahh!  My favorite café in North Arlington is Cassatt’s Kiwi Café and they serve a simply amazing beet salad with goat cheese and honey.  This recipe has the same idea (brown sugar), but with the added yumminess of bacon.  And as we all know, everything is better with bacon!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What are your favorite salads ~ for winter or summer?

Top Five Friday: "No Soup For You!!"

First-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting.

~ Abraham Maslow

Looking through past posts from 2011, I realize I haven’t posted any menus or recipes since March or April of 2011.  Time to rectify that sad state of affairs!  As it is February (although these past few days have felt more like April), what better place to begin a new month of Top Five Fridays then with food?  So today I highlight my top five soups.  And given the roller coaster weather we have been having, some of these recipes are on the lighter side ~ in texture, if not in calories!

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Epicurious is the best recipe archive hands down.  And even my friends who do not like squash ~ or any type of vegetable ~ love this soup.  I made this for my cousins when they visited the United States for the first time in October and they were blown away.  I guess they don’t puree vegetables in Poland?

Since I don’t “do” dairy, I substituted coconut milk for the cream and a soy-based product for the sour cream.  I do not normally eat or recommend soy products (perhaps a topic for another post) but I have yet to find a good non-soy substitute for sour cream.  Love to hear your suggestions in the comm box!

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Sherry

Again, I substituted coconut milk for the heavy cream and didn’t notice the difference.  And yes, I do still use real butter (margarine is just evil ~ it’s chemicals, people! Blah!)  And even with a dairy intolerance, organic butter does not seem bother my system.  (Thank God! My reputation as a good Southern cook is intact!)

African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans

This is wonderfully hearty soup for when winter nights are actually cold!  Don’t turn your nose up at the secret ingredient ~ peanut butter. It adds a rich and creamy texture to the soup and you hardly notice it.  Serve this with corn bread dripping with butter and honey ~ yum!

Pumpkin Chili

Pumpkin pie, pumpkin custard, pumpkin bread ~ you name it, I’ve put pumpkin in it.  I love this sweet squash!  Having said that, you may not think pumpkin and chili could get along in the same pot.  But just like the peanut butter in the Sweet Potato Stew, pumpkin adds more texture than noticeable flavor in this chili.  I even served this to my manly men friends for Super Bowl Sunday in the past and they went back for thirds!

Corn and Crab Chowder

Ok, so corn is really a summer starch.  And I really try to do the seasonal eating thang.  But this chowder is too good to wait until summer to make.  And I love crab, although not as much as I love pumpkin (Crab pie? Crab custard? Ewww!)

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

What are some of your favorite soup recipes? Share your links or lists with us!

Writing Challenge: A Month of Letters

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters.  You can't reread a phone call. 

~ Liz Carpenter

Really, nothing beats going to the mail box and finding a handwritten letter tucked between the utility bills, political posturing, and snail-mail spam.  Even better when that handwritten envelope is unexpected.  So it was with great joy that I read Tia’s post (of Depression Cookies fame) about the Month of Letters Challenge, brought to you by Mary Robinette Kowal. 

The rules are simple: during February, snail mail at least one item during the days the post office is open. And make sure you write back to everyone who writes back to you.  For more info, visit Mary’s website.

With several pen pals, one would think I had enough letters to mail for more than twenty-four days.  Perhaps ~ we’ll see how it goes.  I signed up ~ join me, and if you’re so inclined, drop me an email with your POB and leave the digital world behind for the next month!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Twitter Art Exhibit: Creativity + Charity

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. 

~ Amy Lowell

Sullivan just told me about a great art exhibit that any artist in the world can contribute to.  The caveat?  The artist has to be on Twitter.

David Sandum is a Swedish artist living in Norway.  Last year, he came up with the Twitter Art Exhibit to benefit the Moss Public Library and it was a roaring success.  This year the exhibit will benefit The Women’s Crisis Center in Moss.  All submissions are must be the size of a postcard and the deadline to send your artwork in is March 30. 

To learn more about David, his art and the details of this fantastic charity art exhibit, visit his website.

And let us know if you submit any artwork!

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

2012 Goals: Mid-Month Check In

Goals are dreams with deadlines. 

~ Diana Scharf Hunt

Eighteen days into my goal setting extravaganza; time to check in!  How am I doing?

Writing – Blogposts

Five posts in January so far; that’s at least two blogposts a week ~  so far so good!  I am so glad I gave myself this goal; it is forcing me to write and let go instead of keeping my writing under lock and key.  The written word is like a child; it needs to get out and make some mistakes or it will never mature.

Writing – Letters

I said 2 weeks and it’s been about 2½.  But I did mail one letter yesterday and am in the process of replying to two more and writing another two after that. 

Writing – Submitting

Ok, I admit it.  This one I forgot about, but the month isn’t over yet!  I still have time! 

I did compose a new poem, so before the month is out, I need to submit [or another one] and let the words fall where they may!

Writing - Journaling

I’ve simply flown on this one.  I have journaled almost every day since the start of the month.  It was a rough start ~ being sick makes doing anything seem impossible, including lifting a pen.  But now I’m on a roll.  The strange thing?  I’ve found myself typing all my journal entries because my fingers can keep up with my rapid-fire thoughts and I don’t lose anything.  Writing it long-hand, I lose track of the thought or the emotion I want to capture.  My next lesson will be to not beat myself up for typing instead of the more romantic long-hand. I do still hand write my letters, so there is that.

Personal Growth/Giving Back Goals

Perhaps I should have broken my goals down by month. As in, focus on writing goals in January, personal goals in February, etc.  I say this now because the other two main goals (Personal Growth and Giving Back) have fallen by the way side.  And by that I mean that I haven’t even looked at them in the last 3 weeks.  Go me.  Ah well.  I can start tonight!

Not bad for the first couple of weeks!

How about you?  How are you doing with your 2012 Goals/Resolutions?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Fear the Thirteenth!

Fear makes us feel our humanity.
~ Benjamin Disraeli

Happy Friday the 13th! I am not a overly superstitious person nor am I OCD ~ although sometimes for the sake of my cluttered home office and bedroom, I almost wish I were! But I love stories that deal with the dark side. Not the blood-and-guts, chop-chop horror stories full of scantily-clad screaming teenagers and no plot. But stories that tackle the dark side of humanity ~ something I think we are all too familiar with.


So in honour of Friday the 13th, I offer up my top five picks for artistic explorations of the dark side of humanity.


Criminal Minds – CBS
In my opinion, Criminal Minds is one of the best dark police procedurals on television right now. I have been watching the show on DVD the past couple of months, starting with Season 1; I’m in Season 5 at the moment. The writers for this show are incredible ~ every episode I watch has some aspect that makes me green with writerly envy. I’m the type who becomes completely enmeshed in the story [i.e. do NOT talk to me while I’m watching]; however, there have been moments when the writer in me detaches and thinks “that was a brilliant line or plot twist!”


In terms of fear, CM has got it: they’ve had episodes dealing with almost every type of sick psycho out there, including a Satanic-esque cannibal. What fascinates me is the myriad factors that go into making a criminal who he or she is, family background being the most important.


Grimm – NBC
The Grimm Fairy Tales as criminal profiles? Brilliant! The development of myths, how they affect us and what they say about a culture is a fascinating study. And NBC has a winner with this show. The pilot was a little slow, but set the stage and the episodes after have not disappointed. Imagination is not dead, folks! It’s alive and well in the minds of Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt, and Jim Kouf.


There’s fear aplenty and it airs tonight at 9pm!

Fringe – Fox
J.J. Abrams is my hero. He comes up with the most amazing plots and story lines that push the boundaries of the mind. He must wake up every morning thinking “What if…?” Mad scientists, parallel dimensions, other selves, and Joshua Jackson. Plus a haunting soundtrack.


Downside? Also airs on Fridays at 9pm. Tivo, baby!


The Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Remember reading this for English 101? A fascinating psychology study. A modern adaptation is Apocalypse Now, starring Martin Sheen and set in Vietnam instead of the Congo. Read the book ~ again ~ and then rent the movie.


The Tell-Tale Heart – Edgar Allan Poe
Picking five stories to read or watch for Friday the 13th is tough ~ there a re many great authors and stories out there. But you can’t talk about scary stories without mentioning Poe. The man was a master of the macabre and a brilliant writer. Masque of the Red Death is one of my personal favorites, but the Tell-Tale Heart is sheer brilliance because it Poe wrote it before “profiling” was invented. It’s a crime story told by the criminal who committed it.


I would love to see this re-imagined on Criminal Minds in Season 8. A violent and possibly schizophrenic yet organized protagonist becomes fixated on the old man’s eye, sadistically shines a light on it night after night for several weeks. After the vile deed is done, he chops up the body and arrogantly invites the police into the room and talks to them at length. Come on, it’s perfect!

What noir fiction do you like to read or watch and why?

Oremus pro invicem,
~ Mikaela

Finding the Right Words

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
~ Buddha

Yesterday I attended the wake of a dear friend of mine.  Sharon was the light in the life of so many people: she always had a kind and encouraging word to say to everyone, was a tireless worker in the vineyard of the Lord, and had a mischievous sense of humour.  She will be greatly missed around here.

As I was tidying my hair before going into the chapel, one of her daughters-in-law came up to me and introduced herself.  She'd been crying and didn't seem to know what to do with herself.  I took her hand and told her who I was and how I knew Sharon, and how it was a shock to think she was actually gone from us.  And then I walked into the chapel and sat down several pews back from the family.

Every word of comfort, every poetic prose and turn of phrase I had ever thought of ~ out the window, up in flames, hidden behind a wall I couldn't penetrate.  Why is it that when people need the right words the most from me, I stumble and hesitate or merely grimace, hold their hand, and say nothing at all?!  I'm a writer for heaven's sake!  I should be able to say something worth remembering! 

After the wake was over and I was driving home, I thought of a few things I could have said that would have been sincere, authentic and comforting.  But to write them down for later use would be to run the risk of turning into a Mr. Collins!

I know I'm not the only one with this lapse of. . . what? Memory?  Prose?  What do you do in these types of situations?  How have you handled a loss of words before?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

You're Invited to Abbey's 54th Poetry Party!

Poetry is what gets lost in translation. 

~ Robert Frost

Christine over at Abbey of the Arts is hosting her 54th Poetry Party!  This party’s inspiration: the bare trees of winter. We are invited to write a poem and then post the image below (with a link back to Abbey of the Arts) and an invitation on our blogs, Facebook pages, and Twitter.

Invite your friends to the party!

My contribution to the party:

The Naked Tree

Alone and forgotten

She stands straight.

Each gust of wind bends her back -

Bends but doesn’t break.

She stretches her limbs

Up, up

Toward the pale sun

And touches his warmth

In a fleeting embrace.

As the days wane

And the nights trace

Her outline by the moonglow,

She is transparent,

Vulnerable –

Stripped naked.

Still, none can see

The hope of spring

Hidden

Deep, deep

In her hibernating heart.

Oremus pro invicem,

Mikaela

Writing Without a Devil on Your Back

Words betrayed her: beautiful butterflies in her mind;

dead moths when she opened her mouth for their release into the world.

~ Glen Duncan

I said that I wanted to post at least twice a week, and here it is the end of the first week of the new year, and voila: my second post, just making it across the finish line like a sweat-flecked favorite at the Derby, his nostrils spewing white gusts of breath.

Better late than never I suppose.

G.K. Chesterton once said (or at least it is attributed to him) that a thing worth doing is worth doing badly.  But I don’t know about that.  Bad writing is just plain bad writing.  And usually when I read it (or see it played out on the big or small screen), I want to gouge out my eyes or have a book-burning party.  (Can one burn DVDs?)  Some writing should never see the light of day, it’s so bad. 

Unfortunately, bloggers have two demons chasing them: a daily deadline (if we want our words to get out there; you can’t change the world with words if no one reads them!), and no editor.

Deadlines.  I can live with deadlines.  Like most writers, nothing I write is ever perfect enough to publish, and without an editor riding my procrastinating rear, self-imposed deadlines can simply fade away like pixie dust. 

But editors!

Some writers will tell you they hate their editor.  I only wish I had one to hate!  Sullivan does a pretty good job of catching my grammatical mistakes and pointing out better ways to convey whatever it is I’m trying to say.  But for the most part, I’m on my own.

And I hate poor writing.

Actually, hate isn’t a strong enough word.  Despise?  Abhor?  Loathe?

You thought I was kidding about burning books, didn’t you?  I have two working fireplaces in my house and sadly, I have enough kindling in poor writing to get me through the winter!  

Who wants to be that writer?  I do not want to be that writer!

But of course I have been.  A lot of the kindling are my own scribblings, bits and bobs of poems never pursued, first drafts of stories that I strangled at almost their first breath, songs only half remembered.  But that’s ok.  Bad writing should never see the light of day, but it must still be written.  Think of it as getting the poison out, or sowing your wild writing oats.  Get it over with so you can get on to the good stuff.

And by the way, don’t burn the bad stuff.  It just might be the seed of something new. 

And good.

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela

Top Five Friday: Breaking Writer's Block

The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible. 

~ Vladimir Nabakov

Day six of the new year ~ are you still psyched about realizing your dreams and goals!?  I have to admit, I’m not quite as energetic about it all as I was when I was laying out my goals and planning how to reach them.  A faulty thyroid, a severe vitamin D deficiency, and a low iron count may be contributing factors, but honestly, reaching any goal, no matter how badly we want it, involves sacrifice and hard work. 

Stares at a blank page for an hour.

What I wouldn’t give for Harry Potter’s wand!

Checks FB four times in that same hour.

Actually, what I wouldn’t give for J.K. Rowling’s brain!

Page still blank.  And now throat is dry.  Pours herself a drink.

Ok, there must be a better way than this to get motivated to write.  For crying out loud, six days in and I haven’t written one, single, bloody word!  The brand new journal is blank.  My poetry book hasn’t been written in since God only knows when.  My folders for blog posts has moths flying out of it.  And my pens and keyboards are covered with a fine film of dust.

Ok, Maybe it’s not that bad.

Looks at blank sheet of paper.

Maybe it’s worse!  What is an earth-bound muggle writer to do!?

And voila!  My own writer’s block is broken and I have my top five list for you today: Mikaela’s Top Five Ways to Break Writer’s Block.

Read

I love reading book reviews; a good one can be like Cliff Notes, giving you enough of the book to give you a flavor and the desire to read more. Tia Bach over at Depression Cookies recently read and reviewed Stephen King’s On Writing.   Tia pointed out that Stephen King reads a lot of books and he recommends that writers read a lot of books.  It’s an old but true proverb: the best writers are well-read.  Meaning, they read.  A lot.

Just Write

Stephen King writes 1,000 words a day, and there’s rarely a day he doesn’t write.  Now, perhaps 1,000 words a day is too much to tackle.  So make it 500.  Or maybe a timer works better.  Set a simple kitchen timer for 20 or 30 minutes, put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and don’t stop writing until the timer goes off.  Don’t worry about perfect prose and elegant poetry.  Just put words down on the page.  It’s amazing how doing this unlocks topics and connections you hadn’t thought of before; you won’t be able to stop writing.  The key is to write the same amount of words every day.

Get Active

Sometimes you just need to step back and get a different perspective on what you’re writing about.  Get outside and take a walk.  Or a jog.  Dance with your children, play with your dog, hug your spouse/boyfriend/girlfriend.  Just get away from the desk, breathe in some fresh air, and get the blood pumping.  But don’t dilly-dally.  Once you feel rejuvenated, get back to the desk and start writing again.

Talk to a Friend

Criminal Minds is one of my favorite TV shows, and I don’t watch a lot of the idiot box.  Right now I’m on Season 5 of the DVD set from Netflix.  Every episode my respect (and perhaps a little envy?) of their writing team grows.  And I realized something: it’s a team effort.  Most writers will tell you that the art and craft of writing is a solitary endeavor, and for the most part I agree.  But I have seized upon some of my best ideas when bouncing things off of fellow writers.  Sullivan is writing more poetry then blog posts these days, and we still get together as often as we can to watch the spark of creativity explode into some great projects. 

Meditate

In this plugged in age, you would not believe the benefits of just sitting in silence.  No text message beeps, no voicemail dings, no vibrating hum ringtone, no electronic hum at all.  The human brain can only handle so much.  Turn things off, get comfortable, and just breathe.  Empty your mind of your to do lists, schedules.  Breathe.  Relax.  Focus on one thing only: that you are loved and accepted by God ~ however you understand Him. Do this for 15, 20, 30, or even 60 minutes once a week, and you’ll be surprised at how much calmer you will be.  And when your body is calm, your mind is calm.  And when your mind is calm, oh the ideas you’ll think!

What about you?  Do you have any tried and true methods for breaking writer’s block?

Oremus pro invicem,

~ Mikaela