0 Comments on Guest Post: Smile when you write that! (It’s ok. Really.) by Michael DiCerto as of 1/1/1990

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Celebrity doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz host a show together on Oprah & Friends Radio where they discuss preventative medicine and breaking health news. Roizen is a heart surgeon and Oz is the chairman of surgery at Columbia University. Now, the two collaborate again on the update to their self-help/guide/reference/diet book and New York Times Bestseller "YOU: The Owner's Manual: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger."

The book starts out with a quiz that gauges the reader's "body-quotient." It seems that Roizen and Oz designed the test to show readers just how much the average individual doesn't know about their body. Following the test, these doctors guide readers through different sections each focused on a separate area of the body, i.e. the heart, brain, digestive system, reproductive system, etc. The revised edition has additional information about the liver, pancreas and more systems not included in the original. The doctors focus on the education side of anatomy, comically teaching the reader what they need to know about their organs.

A central theme of the book is guidance on how to age gracefully. Roizen is a pioneer in the concept of gauging someone's "biological age." Biological age" is the age at which someone's body functions, not how long it's been on the planet, so this concept will be familiar with fans. It's also quite timely for our age-obsessed culture.

The medical information and advice is relayed with the duo's signature color. They explain things in silly, sassy ways that make them automatically relatable; adrenal glands are "the shape of Mr. Potato Head's hat" and readers get facts, like how much gas they produce in one day. This mood is mirrored by diagrams that are part biological illustrations and part political comics. The drawings feature tiny elves climbing around the body or alien-esque disease characters trying to get in. The writing also approaches the parts of the body with a sense of wonder as if to say, "This is what your heart does—isn't that cool!" And it is cool. The doctors make extra effort to teach about each body system before explaining how to improve it.

The book ends with a 30-recipe menu the reader is supposed to adapt for a "feel younger" diet. The doctors are not pushing weight loss specifically, but a generally healthy lifestyle that is sure to keep your body aging well. While this book is written by physicians, it's always a good idea to check with your own highly skilled physicians to make sure any health changes you want to make are safe for you. The revised addition has a chapter of over a 100 frequently asked questions from fans, a workout guide and quite a few odds and ends. This book is perfect for the person who wants to learn more about their biology and wants to have a little fun doing it.

Nan is a fitness expert who loves traveling the world. When she’s stateside, she enjoys spending time volunteering and spending time with her lab mix, Cody.

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The documentary “Man on Wire,” is a breathtaking film about Philippe Petit, the twenty-four-year old French self-trained wire walker who pulled off the “artistic crime of the century” in 1974 when he walked and danced on a wire suspended between the two towers of the World Trade Center. For forty-five minutes, Petit performed a high-wire act without a safety net or a harness, mesmerizing the crowd that had gathered on the
sidewalk 110 stories below. While I was fascinated by Petit’s skill and the daring feat that continues to amaze, I was perhaps even more taken with his attitude and response to the hordes of reporters who asked the same question over and over: “Why did you do it?” Petit’s frustration is almost as exquisite as his exploit. He responds, “Here I do something magnificent and beautiful and people ask why. There is no why.” And such is the response of that rare individual: a true artist, the person who creates and performs for
the sake of art.

I am no Philippe Petit. I know why I write, but I understand what he means when he says, “There is no why.” If someone were to ask me why I write, I would have to say, “Because I have no choice.” In the years between the sales of my books, I continued to write, and I would have continued even if my agent was unable to sell my work. I write because I am a writer. I write because it is the way I make sense of the world. And
I write because whatever I see or hear or experience has the potential to be translated into narrative. I notice the way a woman holds her bread at the edge of her husband’s plate, so his beans will not spill over. I record the subtlest exchange of looks between friends when someone else at the table mentions a name. I am aware of how a mother and daughter resemble each other as they shop together in a department store. When I attend a dinner for a friend and the hostess tells the story of how her previous home burned down, I am eager to leave and jot down the details because it is likely I will want to use not only the story, but the narrator’s wonderful tone and good humor as she tell about the unfortunate event. I will be sure to make mention of her crisp blue eyes and her throaty laughter. Often when I ask someone if he or she noticed something that was so apparent to me, I get a quizzical look. Always, however, I am the one who is perplexed. How is it possible that such an unusual expression, or such a surprisingly harsh tone or such an unexpected movement could go unnoticed when it is as plain as anything to me? I am always listening, always looking and always writing in my head.

One of the most important lessons I have learned as a writer is that I am not unique. I remember once many years ago, I had a meltdown and phoned my writing teacher of many years, the late Hayes Jacobs. I wailed, “I’ll never be successful. I don’t have any talent. I’m wasting my time in your seminar. There’s no point.” He listened without interruption. When I was done, he said, “You too, eh?” I laughed, but I felt better immediately. Apparently, all writers anguish at one time or another. The life of a writer is a solitary and often frustrating. Still, I celebrate that it is my daunting destiny to recreate my perceptions, and then put them in a form that makes sense to others. Sometimes I struggle, and sometimes the words seem to dance onto the page. When the words dance, a rare occurrence, I worry that it is too easy. Th

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Patti Lacy is celebrating the release of her latest book, Reclaiming Lily,
 with a KindleTouch Giveaway, blog tour and FB Book Chat Party!



Follow the blog tour and
read the reviews!



Patti and her publisher, Bethany House, are giving away a Reclaiming Lily prize
package worth over $150 to one lucky winner!!!!

Enter the Reclaiming Lily Giveaway and you could win:

• A brand new just released KindleTouch with Wi-Fi
• $25 gift cetificate to Amazon.com

But, wait there’s more!




Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. Giveaway ends on 10/19!
Patti will be announcing the winner of the Reclaiming Lily Giveaway at her Party on Facebook
October 20th! She’ll be hosting a book club chat of Reclaiming Lily (it's
okay if you haven't read it - you could win a copy!) and giving away other

fun prizes! (signed copies of her books and gift certificates to Amazon.com, Starbucks,
& iTunes!). Don’t miss the fun at Patti’s FB Author Page on 10/20/11 at 5pm
PST ( 6 pm MST, 7 pm CST, & 8 pm EST)! RSVP today!

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Novelists are a unique breed of writer. A friend once told me writing a novel is more of a calling than a choice. There really isn't a formula—each writer must find their own process—but there are some newbie mistakes to avoid.

I'm not ashamed to admit I made my fair share of goofs while writing my novel, Invisible Snow. I kept rewriting until I fixed most—hopefully all of my rookie errors. I was fortunate to have some experienced mentors showing me the ropes. Here is a list of the advice I was given that I gladly pass along to other new novelists:

Details, Details, Details: Too many details makes for a slow start. A strong first chapter is essential to engaging readers. Excessive background information can sour reader interest. It's important to grab the reader with a compelling scene and add the back story in over subsequent chapters. Readers in the digital world are impatient. Most won't wait till page 100—or even page 50—for the story to get going.

Keep A Balanced Pace: Perhaps the biggest challenge for new fiction writers is to create enough tension to keep readers turning pages, while supplying enough breathing space for them to relax a little. Too much tension makes readers anxious and they close the book. Not enough tension and they fall asleep. The best way of to gage for the appropriate amount of tension is seek honest feedback from early stage readers and/or a professional editor.

Perfect Characters Have Imperfections: A protagonist who is so good and virtuous is not believable or interesting. The good guys need character flaws too. One of the best reviews I read about my protagonist, Kate Delacroix described both her positive and negative qualities, but then added . . . this is all normal and goes to show how richly depicted she is. Character driven novels must show all sides of their characters. And this goes for the antagonists, too. Villains who are so evil risk coming across as caricatures. Understanding an antagonist's motives makes the character more interesting and complex if not necessarily sympathetic.

Get To Know Your Characters: Stiff dialogue is common for first-time novelists. If your characters don't sound natural, you probably need to know and understand them better yourself. There are lots of techniques to do this. Somebody suggested that I go through the entire manuscript reading the dialogue of one character at a time, all the way through. This approach didn't resonate with me. Instead, I used a social media profile as a template to create specific details about all of my characters. When I was done I knew each characters likes, dislikes, motivations and interests—they became very real to me and I knew how they would
respond and act in any given situation I put in front of them.

Keep The Story Moving Forward: This goes back to the level of detail we infuse in our writing. Readers my differ on this point, some love oodles of detail while others tune out too much description. The novels of today have little in common with the detailed-rich classic novels of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. We need to make out points more concisely and not over-write our scenes and messages. It's a common trap because we do a lot of research as part and parcel of our writing process and we want our readers to as excited about our work as we are, but two or three pages of descriptive prose can be a bit self-indulgent and mind numbing to our audience. Thank heavens

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Dirty Little Secrets, a contemporary young adult novel written by C.J. Omololu, explores the life of a teenage girl who is struggling through living with her hoarder mom. Lucy, the main character, has been trying to hide this fact from her best friend and crush, fearing they would be horrified that she lives in a home filled with clutter, garbage, and shame.

This book was published by Walker Books for Young Readers in February of 2010, a little more than a year after the documentary series called Hoarders aired its first episode. If you consider that a book is generally acquired from an author about a year to two years before its publication, you'll notice the author had great timing in writing her book.

The TV series, much like Dirty Little Secrets, explores the struggle individuals and families face when a loved one suffers through compulsive hoarding, also called disposophobia. Wikipedia defines it as, "The selfish acquisition of possessions and failure to use or discard them in excess of socially normative amounts, even if the items are worthless, hazardous, or unsanitary." Though sometimes associated with stockpiling, hoarding is not related to extreme couponing, as shown on the aptly named TLC program, where savvy shoppers clip their way to spectacular savings. So, if you clip coupons, there's no need to question your behavior or mental condition. Keep on saving.

The behavior of a hoarder at their worst can cause fires, injuries, infestations, and other safety hazards. In Dirty Little Secrets, Lucy's mom has a home shopping addiction that leaves their home so full of collected purchases that Lucy's mom lives in her recliner because there's nowhere else to go. The exception is Lucy's room, which she keeps clean and clutter-free. This serves as a stark image of Lucy's desire to be a different person than her mom. While Lucy keeps this secret from her friends and convinces herself she's not worthy of a boyfriend, her clean bedroom represents her true self, the one she must fight through the garbage and messes to discover.

Omololu does a great job of showcasing the classic struggle of a teenager still bound by her upbringing. Lucy must choose to stay bound to that as child does or break from it and become her own person – become an adult. If a young reader cannot relate to living in a hoarder's home, they will most certainly relate to feeling trapped by the behavior and values of a parent. I highly recommend this book.

Nan is a fitness expert who loves traveling the world. When she’s stateside, she enjoys spending time volunteering and spending time with her lab mix, Cody.

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Writing is one of the greatest passions of my life. When I was eight years old, I wrote a two page short story describing the emotions that I experienced during my parents separation and divorce. My third grade teacher read the piece and was moved to tears. She drove to our home, read it to my mother, and insisted that she nurture my writing ability as much as possible. We didn't have much money at the time, but my mother took what she had and purchased a set of World Book Encyclopedias. Those books were the greatest gift anyone had ever given me. They opened the world up to me. I have been under the unending influence of the writing bug ever since.

Writing is one of the most difficult fields in the world. Most writers never publish a single piece of literature with a major publishing house. Most of our work never sees an audience wider than a few supportive eyes that love everything we write, even the schlock that we know is bad.

Writing is a force that grabs you by the soul and shakes you until you can't see yourself living a single moment in this world without it.

So why pursue it?

Writers are the last of an ancient breed. In ancient times, we created plays and other productions that entertained audiences before the creation of movies, the internet, and dvds. When a writer feels an emotion, we have the capacity to capture it, focus it onto paper, and whittle it down until it shines like new money. At least on a good day we can do that. Without writers, movies, magazines, books, the internet, and hundreds of other forms of information and entertainment would cease to exist. From Shakespeare to Steinbeck, writers capture the spirit of life and preserve it for future generations. A real writer recognizes the force of the gift that burns within his/her soul, and realizes that every breath drawn in life adds fuel to the fire of the pen.

All of us would love to become New York Times Bestsellers. All of us would love to make millions, pen the next great movie, and receive all the fruits of success that come with the acclaim and prosperity of a successful writer. That power and energy fuels the fire to a certain extent, but it is not the reason that all of us put pen to
paper. We pursue the craft because at the end of the day, when we put the kids to bed, the television goes quiet, and your loving mate says good night, we look forward to capturing the thoughts of the day on pen and page. Ten pages done by midnight equals a good day. If you have experienced it, there is no feeling like it in the world. To a writer, that is nirvana.

www.tybro.com



Dr. Mitchell Gibson is one of the world’s leading authorities on the interface of science and the frontiers of human consciousness. He is the best-selling author of Your Immortal Body of Light, Signs of Mental Illness, Signs of Psychic and Spiritual Ability, The Living Soul, Nine Insights For A Happy and Successful Life, and Ancient Teaching Stories. Dr. Gibson has been a consultant for Fortune 500 companies, Hollywood celebrities, p

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While finishing up my Christmas shopping and hunting for deals on the Internet, I ran across a review for this book and impulsively bought it. When it first came in, I placed it alongside all of the other books I have impulsively bought over the years and promptly forgot about it, but I had unexpected free time a couple of weeks ago and picked it up. I started reading with few expectations, aside from the favorable reviews I had read about Troublemakers, John McNally’s first book.

The story is told from the perspective of Jack Hercules Sheahan, a one-time hotshot of the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop. After publishing a short story in The New Yorker and The Best American Short Stories anthology, he grudgingly admits, “What I realize now but didn’t – couldn’t – grasp back then was that my peak had come when the complimentary copies of Best American Short Stories arrived in the mail” (11). Ten years later, the post-MFA manuscript for his novel remains unfinished and gathering dust as he suffers from a decade-long bout with writer’s block, and serves as a media escort.

The characters were well-developed and believable. The narrator’s voice is a good mix of sarcasm and self-deprecation, and McNally’s insights into the writing world are astute and hilarious. His nemesis, Vince Belecheck, is a good foil to Jack’s character: Jack is a failure who is still hung up on his ex-fiancée, Alice, while Vince is a successful writer who carries a bottle of Rohypnol in his pocket. The authors Jack escorts around town are primarily ancillary in nature, but they eventually provide the motivation Jack needs to throw out his dusty manuscript and write a fictionalized memoir – titled, of course, After the Workshop: A Novel.

The plot was well-developed and unfolded smoothly and in a believable fashion. Because of the diversity of characters, McNally opened the door for anything to happen. The result is a satirical look at the writing community, and writers in particular. Even Jack’s decision to write a memoir is something that is cliché, but since this is a book about writers and their respective clichés, it works. After reading this novel, I plan on buying more of McNally’s work, in the hopes that they will all live up to the standard set by this book. Turns out this was an even better find than the rest of the deals I found that day on the Web.

Nan is a fitness expert who loves traveling the world. When she’s stateside, she enjoys spending time volunteering and spending time with her lab mix, Cody.

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