Category Archives: Uncategorized

These are the guidelines used in our writing workshops. It is a free style form; it only works if you ignore other writing practices which emphasize structure and editing. This is about writing practice, a prelude and an aid to writing the future edited pieces. Writing Guidelines Keep your pen moving Don’t pause to re-readContinue reading “Writing Workshops”

When I first discovered ‘free writing’ many decades ago, I fell in love. Prior to this style of writing I had fixated on the grammar. Flashbacks of my High School English teacher often came rushing back as I attempted to write anything. Memories of how she pointed out our failings and our inability to emulateContinue reading “Pick up a pen, instead of a fork”

How many times have you read an article with that heading? Or listened to an infomercial or picked up a book telling you this is the final and only diet you need? I know, now, there is no great diet. But… “my aunt lost 50 pounds” or “I can always lose weight on this diet.”..Continue reading “The best diet”

Or does it make us want to be thin? Is Vanity a good thing, ever? We want to love ourselves, but can loving too much become an unhealthy obsession? As a Brit, I still value humility, remembering how the phrase “self praise is no praise” got hurled at you if you commented on your ownContinue reading “Does vanity keep us thin?”

If you look at my photo albums you may wonder if I was in The Witness Protection program. Very few photos of me remain. For most of my life there is little evidence that I existed. For decades I either hated my body or believed it needed a tweak. Why keep photos of imperfection IContinue reading “Do you hate your body?”

Whenever I lost weight (Before ‘Dieter in Recovery’ days) I begged for people to notice my weight loss. I shouted it out. The accolades over my accomplishment had to be noticed? I had done it, become a super dieter and today in our thin obsessed world that warrants a drum roll. Or does it? ForContinue reading ““I did it, yes I am a winner, I lost the weight””

We have all done it: eaten more food than we realized through grazing, nibbling on one snack after another, or by acting as the garbage cleaner of our kids dishes. When we are shoving food down like a goose being fattened for Foie Gras, there is a sadness in that. One of the best giftsContinue reading “Mindless Eating and the price we pay”

We all try to silence painful emotions. but when we succeed in feeling nothing we lose the only means we have of knowing what hurts us and why.” ― Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves Learning and research is an enjoyable part of my life. You tube is my favoriteContinue reading “Get curious”

So many of my birthdays were ruined by my obsession with food and my body. The desire to be a different size loomed over the celebrations. Often I overindulged (isn’t that what dieters do?) and followed it up with shame and self flagellation. For over 6 years now I have not gorged myself or starvedContinue reading “The best birthday”