_Thinks it's time to down the editing and go and see how busy the lap and hydrotherapy pools are at this time of day. Then, with my body warmed up - I hope to get a little bit of active jobs done when I get home.  So open up the pool fence tampa  I am heading out to town and to the Auqamoves Gym to go for a swim.

Then I plan a fantastic evening back working in my novel and reading John Grisham's 'The Painted House.
Sounds like a good plan to me, and I am feeling HEAPS better than before I headed out to join the gym yesterday. 

Yukky thing to say - to some I'm sure, but the swimming helped me with my coughing (I have mind CF) last night and have a lot more oxygen in my system today and feel heaps 'n heaps better than I've felt in weeks. 
 
Swimming is marvelous for lung issues.

_ My husband grew up on Pea and Ham Bone Soup that his mother made. Personally I didn't like it. The ham bone was always too smokey or salted for my taste but I must admit it sure flavoured up a soup.
My mum and I always made a beef thigh bone soup and we would ave added a swead to the recepie below and a lot of celery rather than those peas.
The thing with soup is you don't really need a cook book, you look in the fridge and use whatever takes your fancy. I never added cream to the soup but I love a generous dollop of sour yogurt in the centre of the soup added just before serving. How do you like your soup?

A friend shared her version on facebook - here it is.
1980 version of The Mennonite Cookbook. Then I'll share my differences. This is a good versatile recipe that allows for so much flexibility. Have fun with it! The ingredients & directions are in both Metric & Imperial.Yield:  5 L/qt.

Serves:  10 or more

Ingredients

1 - 1 1/2 kg/2-3 pounds soup bone

3 L/qts. cold water

15-25 ml/1-2 Tbps. salt

1 medium onion

1 medium head cabbage

4 medium carrots

3 medium parsnips

2 medium potatoes

125 ml/1/2 c pot barley

2 bay leaves

4 small chilli peppers

large bunch dill

large bunch parsley

1 can (284 ml/10 oz) peas

1 L/qt. cut tomatoes

1 conatiner (284 ml/10 oz) heavy cream

Directions

Place soup bone & water in 6 L/6 qt. pot. Bring to boil and simmer two hours. Add salt. Slice onion and cabbage. Grate carrots and parsnips. Peel and cube potatoes. Add fresh vegetables, pot barley and herbs. Let simmer for one hour. Add peas, tomatoes and heavy cream. Bring to boil and serve.

Here's What I Did:

I did not use cabbage, parsnip, or chilli peppers. I used whole peppercorns, & I used several more bay leaves, although I don't know how many.

Instead of canned peas, I used frozen peas. I also used 3 potatoes instead of 2, & I didn't peel them.

Mom told me that it'd be more like borscht if I'd used the cabbage, & I'm going to try that next time. She also said that if you don't want to use a bone, you can use prepared broth, but it might not be the same. I'm going to stick with the bones myself.

I didn't grate the carrots - I peeled & sliced them, & I used fresh parsley & dill, & I just ripped up the parsley into various sizes. Instead of fresh tomatoes, I used canned, but either one works.

I used whipping cream since that was the heaviest cream I could find, & I used a bit more of that than the recipe asks for.

I followed the directions, & after the second boil, I let the soup simmer for hours to let it cook up even more.

I have One of these Kathy Shell artist Cartoon fridge magnets to give away FREE. (including postage or shipping cost. I'll choose a winner tomorrow night.
I have never done a lot of cartooning, oh a little on and off over 50 years and lol, I've even taught it, I just never had the time to do a lot of it. I was mostly a fine artist who wrote non-fiction until I broke loose and began writing novels. This was an early attempt at a cartoon Fridge magnet.

If you would like to win this fridge magnet for FREE then leave a comment in this blog post in the next 24 hours and I will select a winner tomorrow night, email you for your address and as long as I receive your details to send it to within a few days, it will be in the mail to the winner by this time next week.  Have FUN and give it a try.  The magnet is business card size.

I have drawn the winner of the Rooster cartoon art fridge magnet competition.  Melita is the winner.  Thank you for entering Shelley and Melita.

Earlier this year I purchased some poetry writing books and books on comedy poetry writing and cleared a couple of tables to begin writing and illustrating children's books.

I am one step closer today.

I am planning a trip from Northern Victoria though the Goulburn Valley and the Dandenong Ranges to visit my family in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne and to attend a Cartoon Writers seminar that I have just won.   This should be a great way of combining my artist skill with my novelist and travel writer professions. Writing and illustrating a children's story book that tackles some of the aspects of learning difficulties, has been a plan of mine for a while though my Australian novel has rather taken over from this, in importance this year. This will be a good break from writing and planning the pitch to publishers of my completed novel.  


Thank you Writers Victoria. I just won a place in this seminar and I am TRILLED. Organizing the trip to the big city and my notebooks, now :-).

I had best go pack out bags, leave tomorrow, home on Thursday. Need to be a big girl and learn how to catch a train from the outer suburbs into a city I usually avoid like the plague...lol...'country girl here.' :-).
Will be staying over nights with our daughter in the suburbs and Reg can stay with her while I take off for the day.. :-) WOW! Haven't done anything like this in a couple of decades. summer-school-cartoon-writing

There I was, 65 year old straight girl, me in a writer's forum giving advice to young women who were struggling to write a sex scene in a novel.

My advice was:

Don't. :-)

Write as suits YOU. Never compare yourself with others - write in YOUR voice. Sex might sell but so do apples.

For example in my writing: Mind you you can practice and get better at it if you want to but seriously - I don't write about vampires, nor make romance more than a side plot and I'll never write graphic nor deviant sex.

My characters have sex, but the sex is not the reason for my novels, so why tell my reader how they did it...that's their business.

i am happy with the four fade in and out scenes in my novel and that is how I write sex.

It will not make me a better writer if I were to put graphic sex where graphic sex doesn't belong in an otherwise good story.

If you are a writer, consider this when writing a sex scene.:
Writing sex scenes can be a daunting task of balancing hot passion with believability. The sex should have a purpose in the story (unless it's a voyeuristic look into your protagonist's bedroom romps). Think about the characters involved, what does this encounter between the sheets mean for them?

Happiness is a CHOICE.

Happiness is NEVER dependent on other people.

Waiting around for things to be perfect will never bring LASTING happiness.

Smell every Rose.
Climb every Mountain.
Love every Day.
Happiness is not dependent on other people or what is happening to you. Claim JOY today.

The First Key to open the door to happiness is to train yourself to see the GOOD in things.
That makes me think of the books I loved as a child. Do you remember Pollyanna?
The Billabong books by Mary Grant Bruce conveyed a similar message. There were times when rural life was tough, during drought yet the characters in the novels, Jim, Nora, Wally, Tommy and Bob, maintained a positive mental attitude and took delight in what was going well for them and worked on whit a belief that if they thought positively and worked toward a better future things would turn out well, and they always did.
Of course life is not like a novel and we are not going to stumble across a chunk of gold as Bob did and get ourselves out of financial wows for all time by finding the gold seam but we can control our thoughts.

Today practice claiming JOY for your life, and look for the rose within the thorns.

I wish I had written it, :-).

Now that was a part of the advice given in this blog post. 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing.

Be true to your own voice.

Typo free and some of the best advice Ive ever read, for writers, all here in one blog post by Chuck. Sure I knew most off it but I too get tempted to stray from my ideals and I find blogs like this helpful reminders of how to stay on track and true to action plan to my goals.
I will look at the other things he has written.

This 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing is a brilliant article for a writer.
Very helpful at keeping one committed to their ideals ans keeping them on track with the issues they struggle with.

I am planning our winter tour in the caravan and one of the things I need to do is to look at computer carts and decide what office set up I will install in the caravan. I also need to work on my fitness to be ready for the lifestyle on tour.

That crap out not crap in should be my mantra this year lol. :-).
I struggle to get the balance of exercise and food portion control right with a full time creative life passion and all external reminders of the importance of exercise in order to write, assist me.
I liked the advice to not chase a genre or what publishers say they want you to write. That will help keep me true to writing the novels I want to write and to heck with how easy it will be to get my voice published. I know from my other creative fields, if you learn from others you can improve but if you copy others, you are just a half rate version of them and have copied the mistakes as well as the good bits but never learn the difference.

_

I made myself some mini healthy ingredient, (no sugar or artificial sweetener gunk) ice cream treats this morning and have them in the freezer for when an ice cream craving hits again. I got over my ice cream craving last night by eating some roasted almonds. I just don't like eating processed junk food though I do love ice cream.
With a little prior preparation and portion control I can have my ice cream and eat it too.

My mum always made a low fat low sugar version with skim milk fruit and gelatin.

I make a high fat, pure cream and nut version (add nuts afterwards) as it is more satisfying and I just eat less. The main thing I don't want is the sugar, cornstarch or artificial sweeteners or chemicals in the bought stuff.

I once owned an ice cream maker. I would not bother again. Just an ice cream tray and a hand beater and beat the mixture twice when it is semi frozen to get a lovely ice cream consistency and frankly - just make it as you like it.

A skim milk iced coffee with gelatin added as a thickener would make a low fat and carb slimmers version or sweeten with a little honey, it is twice as sweet as sugar so you use less. Or a little natural vanilla and some fruit. So many versions you can try.

Break yourself free of recipes, life in the kitchen becomes more fun :-) and frankly eating is too.

I made myself some mini healthy ingredient, (no sugar or artificial sweetener gunk) ice cream treats this morning and have them in the freezer for when an ice cream craving hits again. I got over my ice cream craving last night by eating some roasted almonds. I just don't like eating processed junk food though I do love ice cream.
With a little prior preparation and portion control I can have my ice cream and eat it too :-)_