I should have known I wanted to be a writer when I requested my own personal card catalog. Sure, mine was a tin recipe box instead of the massive chest of many tiny drawers, but even as a youngster I had a dream of writing enough stories to need a catalog.

Writing became a compulsive habit in middle and high school, and my favorite place to write was the closet because it was a handy spot to hide out from chores. Eventually, I moved out of the closet and to the University of Tennessee where I met my own Prince Charming. Then I did some time teaching Spanish. (Because that’s what you do with an English major, folks.)

I just finished my Masters in Professional Writing and am now wholly devoted to mothering and writing, i.e. herding cats. My novel Beulah Land and the Happy Hour Choir, won the 2010 Duel on the Delta Single Title category, finaled in the same category for the 2010 Maggie Awards of Excellence, and is a 2012 Golden Heart® finalist.

Fitness is another passion although it’s at war with my love of food. I had lost over thirty pounds, but I did a little too much stress eating while finishing my Masters and working on the conference. Part of my journey as a Healthy Writer will be to get back into the exercise groove, to figure out why I allow myself to eat poorly, and to come up with strategies to lose weight and make that weight loss permanent.

• Michelle Butler
• Mary Curry
• Sally Kilpatrick
• Trish Milburn
• Anna Sugden
• Tawny Weber

• Rachel Graves
• Keri Mikulski

     

• 2012 Golden Heart (R) finalist!

Everybody Feng Shui Tonight!

Posted by Sally Kilpatrick Apr 6 2012, 12:02 am in Feng Shui, harmony, Lady Swales, navel gazing, Sally Kilpatrick

I’m going to deviate a bit from my usual post on fitness because I have been rearranging my house like a mad woman. I’ve not made the best eating choices, but I have been on the Lady Swales workout plan which includes lifting heavy pieces of furniture and toting them across rooms or up and down stairs. Calories have been burned, make no mistake about that.

No, this week has been a study in harmony. I’m a big believer in sitting up and paying attention when the universe keeps telling you something, and I’m hearing “harmony” loud and clear from a variety of sources. First, I read this in The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room by Terah Kathryn Collins:

As a holistic art and science, Feng Shui is meant to balance and harmonize your inner and outer domains. In our culture, as Feng Shui has become more popular, so has the tendency to make it strictly an outer “quick fix” practice….People stand back, arms crossed over their chests, feet tapping, impatiently waiting for Feng Shui to magically appear. They don’t realize that they breathe “the magic” into the changes they want in life. Their embellishments remain like a still pool, until touched by the vital breath of intention and focus. Only then, when their purpose and clarity join forces with their enhancements, will positive and lasting changes occur.

Something about that passage struck me. Logically, I know removing the clutter from my house will help me think straight and will prevent stubbed toes. Rationally, I know that finally decorating my house will help me have a sense of pride. Irrationally, I can believe how I’m stuck on my story and in my weight loss journey are somehow related to my environment. I’m not so naïve as to think painting the back wall red will make everything better, but it’s a tangible change. Painting a wall or moving a piece of furniture is a way to exert control over my environment since I can’t exert control over my subconscious.

Then I read this in my Disciple workbook:

To be righteous does not mean to be “pure” or “good” but rather to be in harmony, in right relationship, both with God and with neighbor.

At this point, I’m feeling the chill bumps on my arms and thinking to myself, “This is going to be one of those life lesson, Circle of Life sorts of days, isn’t it?” On the same day I read 1 Corinthians 3:16:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Followed by this passage from Feng Shui for Dummies:

You receive chi from many sources, but the main source is through your mouth; food, air, light, and chi all enter the body through the mouth to provide nourishment, sustenance, and energy. (The fact that your mouth plays a key role in your ideal chi state reveals why breathing exercises and changing what you eat for the better are so important.)

Okay, okay! I get it! Balance and harmony are necessary both in home and body. And it’s going to be tough. And there are no “quick fixes.” As much as I want to put a jade plant in the healthy and family part of the house and forget about it, it’s going to take work. It’s going to take a sustained intention of being healthier and equally sustained intentions of keeping a clean house and pushing through this mental block I’m suffering at the moment. Just keep on keepin’ on—and thank God for the blessing of family and friends who put up with me. In addition to the aforementioned navel gazing, I did manage to do the following:

• Long run on Sunday and short run on Tuesday. Copious amounts of furniture moving and deep cleaning.
• HORRIBLE eating week. There were, however, some salads involved.
• No yoga this week because it’s spring break, a time full of house guests but bereft of babysitters.
• Entire house straightened and cleaned with the exception of the front room, master bedroom, and two closets. By press time I hope to have the bedroom done. The front room will become an office by May—Lord willin’ and the Creek don’t rise.

-0/-2 for the year. Next week will bring you my views on 5:30 boot camp, and those views should be amusing because I am SO not a morning person. Go ahead and place your bets for if I’ll make all 16 early morning sessions. In the meantime, if you want to read more about my exploits, please visit me at www.sallykilpatrick.com

 

5 Comments

Eastbound and Down, Loaded up and Truckin’

Posted by Sally Kilpatrick Mar 30 2012, 12:03 am

My main victory this week is that I was named a Golden Heart finalist by RWA—and that I didn’t gain any weight in the midst of celebration. Toasts were raised, but many salads were had. For the week I’m -2/-2.5/ So, yeah. Kinda stagnant over here. Here’s what got done this week: Finaled in the [...]

16 Comments

I Have Only Myself to Blame…Again

Posted by Sally Kilpatrick Mar 23 2012, 12:13 am

As I tried to think of something to write this week, I wrestled with the “unfairness” of it all. After finally posting a loss last week I had chicken wings on Friday night. Next thing I know, I’ve gained four pounds. It takes me four weeks or more to lose four pounds, but two days [...]

9 Comments

Yoga that’s Hotter than Beckham under a Broiler

Posted by Sally Kilpatrick Mar 16 2012, 12:04 am

As I write this post, I have no idea what tomorrow’s scale will bring. And that’s okay because I’ve seen a total loss of three pounds most of the week before I caved and had dinner at my new favorite restaurant, Giovanni’s. And I would do it again. If you live near Austell, GA then [...]

10 Comments

Le Sigh

Posted by Sally Kilpatrick Mar 9 2012, 7:02 am

So, I’ve told myself that I am going to stick with logging my food choices and exercising for an entire year come hell or high water. And I’m going to have to keep telling myself that after this week because, despite seeing the lowest number on the scale since September, I gained right on back. [...]

10 Comments