Write with TLC

I first tried yoga in 1998 after watching Madonna discuss her yoga practice with Oprah while promoting her awesome album, Ray of Light . I was intrigued, so I bought a couple of VHS tapes of yoga routines and tried it. I struggled at first but felt drawn back to the routines time and again.  At first I only practiced once a week. Then I added a second yoga practice each week. Before long, I started looking forward to yoga days because I loved the way I felt after I finished. Today I mostly practice routines on Do Yoga with Me , but I still own a DVD of the first yoga routine that hooked me, Ali McGraw: Mind &Body , which remains one of my all-time favorite routines. Eventually, yoga became my primary form of exercise.  I still love the way I feel when I finish a yoga routine and have grown to enjoy the practice itself - well, at least most days. I love it when I push past that last edge to move into a pose I've never been able to do. As much as I enjoy dancing an...

Last year I guest blogged on 50 Authors from 50 States about Oregon and focused mainly on hiking, so this year I decided to go a different way and explore another interests - the arts scene in Oregon. While this barely touches on the deep and diverse art scene to be found in Oregon, I wanted to show what the diversity in the Oregon art scene that I've experienced. Please check it out at 50 Authors from 50 States . While you're there, comment for a chance to win a signed copy of Vulnerability in Silhouette: Poems. And don't forget to check out what other authors have had to say about their states!! If you'd also like to read last year's guest post , you can.

As I worked through the course, Learning to Learn and read the book, A Mind For Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You Flunked Algebra) , I came to realize I'd practiced many of the techniques taught in the class in different areas of my life but without deep understanding of how or why they worked. I often didn't consider things that worked in one area of my life for another area. As I studied Learning to Learn, I began to make connections I'd never made before and felt energized to apply these techniques in new areas of my life, including writing. One common piece of advice in the writing world is to sit your butt in the chair and write. Get the words written. The idea is to take the muse out of the process, stop waiting for inspiration, and focus on getting words written. In this kind of focused writing, one to focus on the project at hand without being distracted by the multitude of other projects in the works. This allows one to free one's min...

The Glory Hole Kaylee and TL Standing in the heat emanating from the glory hole, I stared at the molten flame inside and watched the clear solid ball of glass with colored glass beads pressed into it transform into a malleable form. The colored beads spread through the clear glass as the heat kissed them simultaneously. I remembered having been in a similar position a few years earlier the first time I took a glass blowing class at the same glass art studio,  Jennifer Sears Glass Art Studio  in Lincoln City , Oregon - perhaps, glass blowing experience would be more accurate. Glass Paperweight I made in 2009 The first time I took the glass blowing experience, I opted to make a heart shaped glass paperweight with red and black "veins" encapsulated in clear glass. I loved the first experience but wanted to try making a bowl or a vase ever since that first experience. A visit from my niece, Kaylee, gave me the perfect opportunity for an activity I thought we'd bo...