The title implies a diet book, but it is much more than the typical diet book. It has the usual suspects: eating plans, nicely exercises, allowed and not allowed foods. But the book expands the idea of dieting and shows that most of us need to put more than our bodeis on a diet. The pantry and refrigerator are prime targets, and we can move out from there.

Uliano’s plan has a basic, but thoughtful, beginning: figure out what you really want before you begin. How many times have I jumped into a plan of self-improvement in excitement after reading a book or seeing something on television?

And this book does inspire, It connects what we eat with the ecological and environmental movements we are all thining about. It offers three different levels of being green to show that living better is possible for all of us. And she lists many websites and company names that sell the kinds of healthy foods and products recommende in the bookthat makes it easy to do further research on the specific topics that appeal to you. ( )

Author’s Website: http://www.gorgeouslygreen.com

Using writing strategies, from journals to essays and fiction, as a strategy for handling depression and working through emotional problems is not exactly a new idea. But Elizabeth Schaefer PhD. manages to offer guidance for anyone who wants to do so in a nonthreatening, fulfilling way. The book is written both for people naturally drawn to writing (even professional writers) and for non-writers facing depression and other mental illnesses who want to try this a as a strategy. Schaeffer is quick to point out that doing this on your own is not a replacement for cognitive therapy, and that professional advice and care is needed for people with severe depression or people facing an emergency situation.

There is a section of the book that deals with the connection between writers and depression, which is fascinating and worth getting the book just for that.

This book offers great tips for beginning a regular writing routine, as well as its primary purpose of using writing to help deal with depression.The book gives a great many writing exercises and topics to write about to help deal with emotional issues and dealing with the causes and management of depression. Also included is a section on starting a writing group for people who want to write about depression, including advice on how to lead such a group. The writer also has a blog at http://writeoutofdepression.blogspot….

                                      organizing,

                                                contributing,

                                                          smiling,

                                                                   curious.

I will create beauty,

                             collaborations,

                                      dreams.

I will listen to the songs of others, 

                                                           my intuition,

                                                                  nature,

                                                                      my body.

I will have  music

                     stories,

                             friendship,

                                      color,

                                                laughter.

I will become connected,

                             peaceful,

                                        fearless,

                                                encouraging.

Most importantly, I will make an impact,

                                                bake cakes,

                                                          increase beauty,

                                                                    expand boundaries,

                                                                             trust and be trusted.

By the time we reach adulthood, many have perfected the art of isolation, of being careful, of not listening in the name of safety. But the truth is that we need to hear other people, all people, especially in those moments when we don’t know exactly where we’re going ourselves.

A simple book that takes on an important subject: how do I decide what to do with my life? With humility and wisdom, Ann Patchett reminds us that ourlives are unpredictable. That education, status, and the labels placed onus by ourselves and others only tell part of the story. The paradox that we have to figure our paths out for ourselves and yet “the truth is that we need to hear other people, all people, especially in those moments when we don’t know exactly where we’re going ourselves (p.35).”

Based on a college commencement address, this is a great book for anyone who is searching, puzzled, stuck, disillusioned or disappointed.

On twitter, posts are limited to 140 characters and are known as tweets. From searching around reading various posts, I have come up with what I think makes an interesting tweet:

• Like any other form of communication, have something to say that is interesting. If all you can think of is something plain and boring, find a way to link it to some other idea.
• Think of the haiku. It is beautiful, poetic, descriptive and it is focused on one subject.
• Don’t get too carried away with symbols and abbreviations; people need to be able to figure out what you mean.
• Even though abbreviations and casual communication are the form on twitter, careless spelling and grammatical mistakes are going to make you look bad. Before you hit submit, think about your career, your family, your future goals. If the post isn’t going to help those things, or will hurt it, don’t post it.
• Don’t feel you have to post with any certain frequency; I have noticed some people feel they have to post all the time, and they end up having a lot of silly, embarrassing or even irritating posts. I prefer people who post when they have something interesting to say and remain quiet the rest of the time.
• I recommend not sending out direct advertisements or proposition unless the fact that you will is spelled out in your profile description; that way way only people interested in your spiel will sign up as a follower.  Instead, people seem to have good luck sending a link to a blog or web page that they have written on something interesting, that can provide promotional links.
• Something different stands out: a clever joke, recipe, math puzzle, interesting description.

Some good blogs on twitter:

• Julia Angwin of the Wall Street Journal writes about her experience learning about twitter, which I think is pretty typical :http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123638550095558381.html
• 17 Ways You Can Use twitter, from a blog called DOSH DOSH:http://www.doshdosh.com/ways-you-can-use-twitter/
• CEO of Zappos.com wrote on his blog about how twitter has helped him personally:http://blogs.zappos.com/blogs/ceo-and-coo-blog/2009/01/25/how-twitter-can-make-you-a-better-and-happier-person
• Brian Beholds blog on “Curious About Twitter”: http://www.brianbeholds.com/2009/06/16/curious-about-twitter/

Starlings pecking street gutter,

fast food bag blows by.

The holiday spirit doesn’t just automatically appear on the same schedule for me each year. I try, though; usually I put up the Christmas tree and decorations on Thanksgiving Day. I started that process this year, but my heart wasn’t in it. Some technical difficulties with the tree lights delayed the decorations a few days, and kept the spirit at bay.

The universe tried to help me out this year as well. The few times I had to drive somewhere, I felt a mild annoyance that my two favorite radio stations are all Christmas music, and have been for a couple of weeks. My parents even sent me my Christmas presents early, perhaps to make up for their having to cancel plans to visit us for Christmas. I got some nice sweaters and a digital camera I’ve been wanting.  But still I felt nothing in the spirit.

So when the date of our annual Holiday Open House was drawing near, I saw it as work instead of the usual joy. Menu planning, shopping, picking out candles, trying to get some of the dust off the woodwork. But the tree, second attempt, turned out beautifully. The party preparations went according to plan, and as  Saturday (party day) wore on, I found myself less harried than usual.

When the food was put out, the candles lit, the tree plugged in, holiday music started, I thought, “Oh, this all looks nice. My entertaining skills are improving.” Still, no real joy.

About 10 minutes before the first guests were to arrive, I looked out the window and saw it was snowing. A wet snow, not hard, not sticking to more than grass and parked cars, and that only a small dusting, but still it seemed it was snowing just for my holiday party. And the guests arrived, a good mix of people bearing wine and candies. They circulated with each other, we had great conversation. Everyone complimented the tree and the food. The punch bowl was steadily emptied, but not too quickly. No one got too drunk. Everyone stayed just the right amount of time.

As I was laughing, talking, gossiping, drinking punch, I failed to notice that I was starting to feel festive, and starting to enjoy myself, starting to be glad it was the holiday season. The joy spilled over to the clean up, which seemed so much less work than the preparation.

Today, Sunday, I watched three holiday movies on television.  A Christmas Carol, the 1938 version with Reginald Owen, my favorite. It was free “on demand.” Then I watched the last half hour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on AMC (Gene Wilder version), a movie called Prancer on AMC, and the 1984 George C. Scott A Christmas Carol. The spirit of Christmas Present is here. I’m ready to get out my favorite holiday DVDs, and maybe buy some eggnog.

In a fit of fall organizing I was going through my files this morning and I came across this folder. I have recently begun work on a mystery novel I am very excited about; excited, that is, until I saw the fate of my past projects. Today I realized it was not my skill or perseverance that was lacking in the past projects. It was that I had crappy ideas. We all have to start somewhere, though, and obviously I cannot do any worse than I already have. The contents of my cherished “Personal Writing” folder are as follows:

1. About one-third of an epistolary fantasy novel to be co written by a friend, this was to be a novel set in a medieval setting involving a corrupt priest. We worked on this while living in different parts of the country, and before the internet exploded, so I have each chapter in an envelope we used to mail them back and forth to one another.

2. The first chapter and lots of scribbly pages about a young photographer with major anger management issues, his girlfriend and her gay coworker with substance abuse problems. I envisioned this as a poetic novel, a combination of poetry and prose “seamlessly woven into one story.”

3. A book about an odd misfit named Mr. Petersen (I never intended to give him a first name) who works in a high rise office building downtown and drinks tea out of china cups at his desk. This was to be a scathing critique of modern corporate life. Since I have never worked for a large corporation and never had a cubicle I don’t know how I intended to accomplish this feat.

4. I have what seems like reams of notes for an epic poem to be on the subject of a butterfly flying across a field, up a mountain and back down to a lake for a drink of water. Working title: “Water Beside the Mountain.”

5. In 1991 I started a fantasy novel (and I should point out that I have read maybe a dozen fantasy novels in my life)   about a precocious boy who is able to will anything into being that he focuses his thoughts on. In doing so, he has taken over the country’s political power and wealth abnd the novel was to be about a group of spoiled young people trying to overthrow him and reclaim their rightful rulership. If I knew anything about writing fantasy this could be an interesting idea, except I kept writing in my notes I wanted this to be comical.  Also, I recall this whole idea was inspired by a Dan Fogelberg song.

6. I have 27 copies of the first chapter of a proposed novel about a college professor remembering when his friend was killed in college contrasted with this professor’s son as a freshman in college. I have the vast copies because I used this as a presentation piece in a creative writing class I took my senior year of undergraduate school because I procrastinated too long and had nothing else to turn in. I wish I could find them all and apologize for inflicting that on them.