Blog Archives

How to Start a Story

January 31, 2012
By
How to Start a Story

One of the questions I hear frequently from aspiring writers is, “How do I start a story?” Even seasoned writers have days when the story won’t come. In an interview in Intrview Magazine in 1995, Martin Amis said of novel-writing, “If I come up against a brick wall, I’ll just go and play snooker or something or sleep on it, and my subconscious will fix it for me.” Good advice, for sure. But if snooker and the subconscious don’t do it for you, here are a few tips to get you going. You can begin “in medias res,” or...

Read more »

Does Neato Really Work?

January 29, 2012
By
Does Neato Really Work?

Clean Your Floor like the Jetsons: In March of 2011, I finally gave in and invested in the Neato XV-11 All Floor Robotic Vacuum System. I’ve had it for almost a year now, and no one is happier than my husband, who is the sole voice of tidiness in our little family of three. The burning question: Does Neato really work? Bottom line:  Neato is amazing. Aside from the obvious joy of having a ROBOT at your house, it actually does a good job of cleaning a room while you’re not looking. I like that it cleans systematically, rather than...

Read more »

Creative Fidgeting

January 27, 2012
By
Creative Fidgeting

An article by Roland Rotz, Ph.D., in ADDitude Magazine this month claims you shouldn’t fight the fidget, especially when it comes to children with ADHD: Doing two things at once, it turns out, can actually help focus the ADHD brain on a primary task. Experts believe that engaging in an activity that uses a sense other than what’s required for your primary task — listening to music while reading a social studies textbook, for example — can enhance focus and improve performance in children with attention deficit disorder. These secondary tasks are called fidgets — mindless activities you can...

Read more »

What Happened to the McStay Family?

January 26, 2012
By
What Happened to the McStay Family?

The McStay family went missing from their home in Falbrook, CA, in February of 2010. Joseph McStay, 40, and his wife Summer, 43, apparently left home in their Isuzu Trooper on the night of February 4 with their two children–Gianni, 4, and Joseph, Jr., 3. Aside from a call Joseph made to one of his co-workers that night, the family has never been heard from again. There was no sign of forced entry or struggle at the home, which the family had only recently moved into. On February 8, the Trooper was towed from a strip mall parking lot...

Read more »

The Joy of Less: How to Declutter & Live Simply in 2012

January 9, 2012
By
The Joy of Less: How to Declutter & Live Simply in 2012

So maybe you’ve made a resolution to downsize, declutter, and simplify your life in 2012. It seems as though everyone is talking about living simply these days. The desire for simple living is a natural response to the frightening economy, the daily stresses of life in a highly technological age, and the intense pressures that both kids and adults face to be better, smarter, faster, thinner, more excellent in every way. If you’re like me, you’ve made this resolution every year for the past ten years. You keep planning to throw stuff away, but never get around to it. You keep planning to stop...

Read more »

A few products I love:

Fibit Ultra Wireless Activity and Sleep Tracker
Scribe. SEO Made Simple.
Blog WebMastered by All in One Webmaster.
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Twitter