Posted by Rachel Graves Sep 24 2010, 3:25 am in process, progress, Rachel Graves
Down dusty trails, across long hot highways, and over rough, storm tossed oceans people journey. They go from one place to the next seeking new beginnings, hoping for a better life or escaping from one they can no longer bear. Along the way, they say goodbye to people and places they’ve loved. With each ending a person realizes they’ve changed, shifted priorities, and made decisions, however unconscious, that forever altered the paths they can walk down.
I began writing for this blog in January. My best friend hadn’t yet taken the car ride that would end with an intoxicated driver facing manslaughter charges. My family had no idea of the hospitalizations ahead of them. I never imagined I’d spend a sunny May Sunday in a cemetery. I thought I’d live in the same town, work at the same job, and have pretty much the same life in December as I had in January.
But life isn’t like that.
News from doctors shattered my world. Good news from my agent put the pieces back together again. I made friends in places where I’d always felt like an outsider, and felt like an outsider in the most familiar spaces. Along the way I’ve dropped ten pounds. If I was going by numbers, I’m sure that would be too small. Thankfully, I have other ways to judge: the number of crunches I can do, how much weight I can lift, how long I can run. My health is better and for that I’m very grateful.
This will be my last post as a regular contributor to the Healthy Writer blog. I hope I’ve tickled your funny bone, made your heart beat fast, or (more than anything else) made you think. I hope you’ve enjoyed my words. It wasn’t easy deciding to give up my regular audience with the world of writers. I will miss having this virtual soap box to shout from. As this journey ends, I focus on the new beginnings, on what could be next. I don’t know what or when that will be, but I know I’ll carry the wisdom I’ve learned from all of you along with me.
Good bye.
Posted by Rachel Graves Sep 10 2010, 5:45 am in bad habits, confidence, positive thinking, Rachel Graves
The rifle felt heavy in my arms. Not just because of the weight of steel and wood, but because of the weight of my fear. A thing designed to hurt, it could hurt me. I feared the recoil, the snap back of the action, the loud noise, that the explosion would go horribly, irreversibly wrong. [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Sep 3 2010, 5:20 am in confidence, exercise, inspiration, motivation, positive thinking, Rachel Graves
In the months leading up to my wedding my future mother in law planned an elaborate bridal shower for me. Scheduled to coincide with a large family event it would welcome me into her social circle, introducing me to cousins, aunts, and wise women. My mother was thrilled with the idea. My fiancee was excited. [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Aug 27 2010, 5:17 am in eating healthy, non-scale victories, positive thinking, Rachel Graves
I’m in an odd mood for purging lately. I’m not sure what brought it on, probably getting rid of a desk in the office. Suddenly 8sq.ft. of paper piles needed somewhere to go. Surprisingly, that somewhere has been the recycle bin. A list of things I’ve ditched: my cell phone bills from 2000-2003, an autographed [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Aug 20 2010, 5:59 am in food, health tips, positive thinking, process, Rachel Graves, Writing
Each week I make a pilgrimage to my own holy land: a bookstore three stories tall filled with all of the latest and greatest novels. The booksellers know me by sight. When I couldn’t make the trip for a few months they worried about me. I give the entire crew a nice present at the [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Aug 13 2010, 5:46 am in confidence, process, Rachel Graves, Writing
Seven o’clock in the morning began, inexplicably, at ten o’clock at night. Pitch black clouds boiled in a sky that should have been filled with pink rays of morning sun. By the time I stepped out of my door wind picked at my hair and skirt. Driving to the train station my car rocked with [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Aug 6 2010, 5:59 am in confidence, eating healthy, Rachel Graves, Writing
The beating inside my head made a noise like thunder, then white lightening streaked across the sky proving that the pounding wasn’t just inside my skull. I swallowed two tablets and sunk into sleep. When the migraine left me the storm outside still raged, the afternoon turned as dark as night with heavy clouds. I [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Jul 30 2010, 6:16 am in positive thinking, Rachel Graves, small changes, Writing
I arrived at RWA Nationals, hot, sweaty, and more than slightly annoyed. A thousand little things decided to go wrong on my first day. I dealt with adults who acted more like spoiled children, mechanical failures, and technological malfunctions. I endured blazing heat, and simmered with frustration left over from a wide scale blackout back [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Jul 23 2010, 4:46 am in goals, process, Rachel Graves, Writing
It’s time to come clean about the biggest reason I love Disney World. One of my favorite manuscripts began in the Walt Disney World Contemporary Hotel, just one floor up from where the monorail whisks through the building, in a room with a view of Space Mountain and Cinderella’s Castle. No, I didn’t intend to [...]
Posted by Rachel Graves Jul 16 2010, 3:15 am in exercise, fitness, Holidays, Rachel Graves, running, walking
For many of us traveling no longer involves arduous physical activity. We don’t ride horses for hours to get to our destination, or take a trek by donkey or camel once we arrive. While some people prefer active vacations, most of us equate relaxing with being sedentary and vacations with taking a break from our [...]
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