And I thought it was cold and snowy here!

Another blogging buddy of mine was in Alaska this week. Why? Read My Tango Year and find out. It's pretty funny!

6th week in a row!

Snow. Again. Luckily, I just made a big pot of soup. I call it African-Italian-American Vegie Soup because it's got black-eyed peas, greens, mixed vegies, tomatoes, basil, oregano and garlic. Yummy, healthy and very easy!

I also posted some garden porn on my website to remind us the snow can't last forever. Because it can't. Right???

Oh well. I'll eat soup and read the last 78 pages of my ms out loud. I got my edits from my editor today. So I've got plenty to keep me busy and warm inside. May we all be so lucky!

Holy low-sugar chocolate, Batman!

OMG! I just had a piece of a Dagoba Eclipse Bar. 87% cacoa and only 4 grams of sugar for 1/2 a bar (I had about an 1/8th of a bar). They call it "extra bittersweet." Wow. They are not kidding. At first it tasted really sweet (and REALLY good) and I thought, uh oh, I'm in trouble now. But it turned bitter (in a good way) and left just a real dark chocolate taste on my tongue, which is good because it left me with no desire to immediately scarf the rest of the bar. Whew, that's a pretty intense little candy. How intense? On their website Dagoba calls it a "test" for chocolate lovers. It's 2nd only to 100% baking chocolate with no sugar added.

Their website says that 1.4 oz of chocolate (little over 1/2 one of their bars) only has as much caffeine as a cup of decaf. I wonder...I didn't have near that much, but I feel like I just had a shot of espresso! Another reason I'm not rushing to eat the whole thing.

Check out Val Phillips blog

My gal pal Val is blogging from the Vermont Studio Center, including posting some of her writings about her time in Palestine. Beautiful, haunting stuff!

Want a free vacation?

Upload a travel photograph and write an essay that explains what's in the picture and you could win a dream vacation from Conde Nast Traveler.

Thanks to Elaine Lee ("wander woman" and author of Go Girl: The Black Woman's Book of Travel and Adventure) for the heads up!

Writers helping writers

Last October I quoted a wonderful affirmation/exercise by Eisa Nefertari Ulen, author of Crystelle Mourning. Eisa recently emailed me and thanked me for quoting her. It was my honor! She was right: it's a beautiful thing for writers to inspire one another. Thanks Eisa!

Best-selling cats

Mystery-solving cats are again on the Times best-seller list today. I need to get in on this! If only I could convince my cats to get on the case.

Getting to work

My friend Jan tried to convince me that I should put up a photo of The Pajama Gardener at work in my p.j.s So I took this photo yesterday. Now Tayari Jones has a post up asking writers to send in photos of what they wear at work, so I decided to go ahead and post it.

This is my desk, and this is me in my navy pajama pants (purchased for hubby for Xmas, but he didn't want them) and a page of the Orange Mint manuscript.

Edits are due to my editor March 1, and my goal is to read the whole thing out loud by then. Friday was my first real day at work on this in a looong time. It was pretty painful. Today was better, though I did find some doozies--like my character referring to the wrong city! Youch.

The healthy writer...an oxymoron?

For me it has been. My health was always one of the things that got ignored when I was working on a project. We've all heard the stories of authors writing with a bottle of wine or whiskey at their side. But my drugs of choice were caffeine and sugar. And for good reason: Our brains run on glucose (sugar) and caffeine opens up pathways in the brain. So I'd eat "writing vitamins" (M&Ms) and drink lattes by the bucket. I pumped out 4 books that way.

But over a year ago, I was forced to stop drinking caffeinated coffee because I was having a tiny little problem with my heart. Instead of going thump, thump, thump. It started going thump...thump...thump.................(terrified gasp!) thump. Or sometimes, THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! Took me many months and trips to the doctor before I was willing to hear her when she said, "Do you think it might be the caffeine?" Finally I was desperate enough to give up coffee...and what do you know? My heart started beating normally. Sort of. For me.

Sort of normal heartbeats were good enough for a year. But then, (well hell, in for a penny in for a pound) I started taking Prozac. And my anxiety level decreased so much that I was able to really, deeply, truly relax for the first time in ... possibly forever. All the cells in my body went, ahhhhh in deep ocean breath. My shoulders dropped from my ears. My hips unclenched. As the soul singers used to say, my back bone slipped. And I had what my friend Marion calls an "IFI," an incredible fucking insight: this is how I was supposed to feel.

Unfortunately, my body didn't believe that and very quickly adjusted to the extra serotonin in my brain and back up went the anxiety. But I had had a taste of paradise and I wanted it back!

Enter my new acupuncturist, Dr. Yu. I've had acupuncture before from 2 different people, and they were good and helped me with different aches and pains. But this is at a whole nother level. Dr. Yu looked at my tongue and took my pulse and knew me. You know what I'm saying? Instead of asking me questions about my health, she told me things about myself. One of the things she told me was that sugar had to go. Actually, she gently suggested avoiding it. But I knew as soon as she said it that it was time.

So 5 weeks ago I stopped guzzling sodas and stopped with the "writing vitamins" and the cookies and donuts and Starbucks classic coffee cake and chocolate chip muffins and all of it. I have to say that anybody who knows me knows this is HUGE. This is like saying that for 5 weeks I've been learning to live without air, without water. And it's been hard. But I'm making it. Just like the recovering alkies and junkies, one day at a time.

I started doing what every good writer does: research. It turns out there's a connection between sugar and anxiety and weight gain. They all fuel each other. I won't go into it here--I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on my blog--but if you have questions or want to chat about it, email me.

Do I feel better? Well, that's hard to say. I'm still shall we say a little crabby sometimes. And I haven't gotten back to the all-over ocean breath state. But I've lost a lot of weight (don't know how much because I haven't weighed myself because this isn't really about weight loss, even though, trust me, weight loss is a good thing). Even better, I feel empowered by this very new idea that I am stronger than my sweet tooth.

At least I have been so far. The novel I'm working on is going to test me. I don't know how to write a book without mega doses of caffeine and sugar. But so far grapefruit, apples, dried cherries, cashews, garlic hummus and decaf with cream and Splenda are getting me through. And I've found a really tasty no-refined-sugar, no-wheat, no-dairy, no-eggs, chocolate chip cookie ("air cookies," both my boss and my husband called them, but they're really good!). I should say it was really good, because I've had one so far. Oh my God, I've had ONE COOKIE IN A MONTH! And it was an air cookie.

Hmm. I just might be okay.

Stay tuned. I'll let you know how it goes.

Dreams

Today, I am officially a half-time employee! My job is allowing me to job-share with a wonderful editor/writer who is also a friend. It's amazing! I get to work enough to earn enough to keep my bills covered and I get 20 whole hours a week back to work on my next novel (how lucky am I that I even get to write those words "my next novel"!). The best of both worlds. I feel incredibly grateful.

I've been fortunate. My last employer also allowed me to go part-time so I could write. And from time to time I forget what a wonderful blessing that is. Today, I just wanted to acknowledge it.

It's appropriate on this MLK holiday to celebrate dreams come true. That's one good way to honor Dr. King's memory. May you manifest your biggest dreams!

Introducing...Pajama Chats

This is a new feature at The Pajama Gardener. Pajama Chats are Q&A's with interesting writers and gardening folk (and maybe others). I'm so pleased to announce that Stephanie Rose Bird will be my first Pajama Chat guest!

Stephanie Rose Bird is a spirituality and health writer, educator and visionary artist. She's also a solitary green witch, hereditary intuitive and contemporary root-worker. She holds an MFA from UC San Diego and is author of Sticks, Stones, Roots & Bones and Four Seasons of Mojo.

Stephanie contributed a lovely essay to Age Ain't Nothing but a Number called "The Pathway Home," which I loved immediately for its style and tone. I met her three years ago in Chicago when we read from Age at Women and Children First. I found her to be a very interesting, creative and down-to-earth spirit, and have enjoyed an email relationship with her since then. I think you'll enjoy hearing about her take on writing and gardening.

Look for our Pajama Chat on February 1!

Motivation

Years ago I read a really good article in Writer's Digest about setting writing goals. I can't remember the author's name, but she wrote about 2 types of goals: process goals and outcome goals. Process goals are goals like "for X amount of time I will write every day" or "I'll learn all I can about quilting or fishing or nursing" (or whatever informs your story). Process goals are, just like it sounds, about motivating you to start or stay with the process of writing.

But after a while if you're going to finish something, you need outcomes. Outcome goals are goals like "I will write 500 words a day" or "I'll finish a first draft by this time next year."

These concepts have been very helpful for me, and it's time for me to remember them. Because...I need to get moving. I have a book due in March 2008. Yikes.

With Orange Mint and Honey (you can read the 1st chapter here), my goal was to try to write 500 words a day. What really helped me do that was keeping track of the number of words I wrote every time I wrote. It's really simple. I take a lined sheet of notebook paper and write the date and the number of words I have. So, for example, day one might show 500 words, day two might say 1,000 words, etc. It's satisfying to watch the numbers add up. However, sometimes a good day of writing is really editing and I end up with fewer words than I started with. That's harder, and I have to remind myself that it's still an accomplishment (maybe even a greater one).

But first, I'll do some process goals like reading over my notes and character sketches to familiarize myself with my people and their story. The hardest part for me is starting. Looking at the blank screen. Yeesh. That's why I like to just get some words on my sheet of paper as fast as possible. They can be really lousy (at first), but they need to be there. Then I can move on.

The other thing I'm going to do is take the Lighthouse Writers Workshop master novel class. I should end up with a 200-page draft and some good critiques in 6 months. The class is supposed to begin in March. I'm guessing by May I'll be up to present my first 100 pages. Better get a move on!

I'd be happy to get other tips about getting started with a writing project and keeping going once you're started. What works for you? Writers, holla back!

As if I needed another reason to support Obama

This is enough to make me cast my vote for Obama right here. I mean, really people. What century are you living in??? Or maybe a better question is, What grade are you in? But, it actually bodes well for his run (if he decides to make one). If all they can come up with are his name and his suits to talk about, that makes him a pretty dangerous candidate.

Do you make resolutions?

I don't really make new year's resolutions. I try to take stock and think hard about my life, my choices, wants and goals. But making resolutions is too structured or something for me. Do you make resolutions? If so, why and does it work?

As I was reading Eat Pray Love there were many lines I found myself wanting to write in my journal. I post this quote from Elizabeth Gilbert not as a resolution, but as a reminder: "You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings."

And speaking of participating relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings, the New York Times has a story today about literary cruises being one more way for desperate publishers and authors to try to reach readers. If any literary cruise planners should happen upon this blog, I'm game! I'll just stock up on Dramamine. :-)

Happy new year, everybody!