Sick? Might as well smile!

The best humidifier I ever owned had fish that "swam" around in the water. When, to my sorrow, the humidifier finally died (probably because I didn't use distilled water), I kept the fish with the intention of making earrings out of them some day.

My faith in happy humidifiers was restored when I spied these whimsical humidifiers that, though fish-less, can still make you smile if you're feeling congested.

The funny thing about this penguin is that it also looks like he may be exhaling smoke. That's not a great image if you already aren't breathing very well.

I don't know what the cow, pig, or duck humidifiers do with their steam. I'll leave that to your imagination.

Truly, the best thing I've found to keep myself well and writing is gargling with warm salt water each morning. While colds have run through my family, I was untouched, until January 2013. I was stunned to have a stuffy nose and cough until my neighbor asked, "Have you been getting enough sleep?"

My honest answer was "no." SO, with enough sleep and daily salt water gargles, you can be healthy and writing for days to come!

Oh, and a spoonful of sugar ALWAYS takes my hiccups away!

Since we've got to be healthy to write our best and longest, what's your best health care tip?

WRITE HERE IN EPHRAIM - BIG SUCCESS!

Presentation Matters

I don't care how long your nose is or how sallow your skin or limp your hair (or no hair, as the case may be.) What matters is that you're as clean and neat as possible.

The same goes for boxes.

(What?)

When I went to LTUE and put out my flyers for WRITE HERE IN EPHRAIM (two days away! We'll be playing and writing on SATURDAY, MARCH 9, in EPHRAIM, UTAH!...the geographical belly button of the state) I made a display out of paper I scrounged, a red marker that I use as lipstick, and a tissue paper box. See the result below: 

Following lukewarm response, I went to my sister, Loraine's, house where she made me a more professional looking display (on back corner in photo below.)

Which one would you want to be associated with? The clean? Or the clean AND neat?

The funny thing is that as soon as my son Monkey put out the new sign, four people flocked to the table and took flyers.

SO COME PLAY on SATURDAY! Check out the WRITE HERE IN EPHRAIM conference link at: http://shirleybahlmann.weebly.com/write-here-in-ephraim.html

You'll be glad you did.

(I'll be the six foot tall neat, clean person running around helping everyone.)

Not your Average Staircase, but the Stuff of Dreams

These stairs are on Utah Valley University campus in Orem, Utah. When my son Monkey and I were there for a writing conference, I couldn't resist taking a picture of him on the curvy stairs with pregnant pauses at each turn.

Then there's the staircase that looks like it was designed by someone who had a few too many cups of wine. The angle may look a bit off, but that's because the stairs go up and down at an angle I've never seen on a real staircase before.

You really have to hold onto the handrail while you play Alice In Wonderland who-ate-too-much-shape-shifting-cake.

I found these to be delightful stairways with unexpected turns and angles, just like the best stories we read. So when you're writing, throw in something unusual, make your story stick in your reader's minds, just like these stairways will stay in your head and haunt your dreams.

You're welcome.   

Patience

Here is visual proof that patience is rewarded. When we visited Las Vegas, my son, Bron, sat on a bench for a long time, coaxing what we call "parking lot birds" with tidbits of cookies. (We call them parking lot birds because we notice them mostly in parking lots, hopping under cars and around cart return stations, pecking up the goodies that small travelers drop through the cart wire.)  I don't think Bron moved a single thing except his arm and his eyelids while he waited for what he wanted to have happen, and happen it did.
I saw an inspirational cartoon recently that showed a side view of two men tunneling through the ground toward a diamond mine. One man was only an inch away from the diamonds, but had turned away and was heading back down his tunnel, while the other man was still digging with energy and enthusiasm.
Guess which one got the diamonds?
What is your diamond? Are you still going for it?  

Round is a Shape

(This is funny because the snowman got cut in half... evidently he is too round to fit in the picture!)
Something funny about me is that because I'm so tall, there were times when I felt like a big gorilla in high school. (I'm just half an inch shy of six feet, but I generally wear my hair up or at least have puffy bangs, so considering the hair, I'm usually good to go for over six feet tall.) Now when I look back at pictures from my "I'm so big" era, I'm actually quite slender. My gorilla-ness was all in my mind.
Now that I'm wiser, I realize that when I spend some time exercising (swimming last night... lovely!) and when I eat good food, I feel just fine, no matter what the scale says.
Guess how this applies to writing? It's because this type of progression and change in thinking is essential for good characters in your stories. They can't be the same gorillas they thought they were at the beginning. By the end of the book, they need to realize they can be round snowmen and still melt happily ever after.
What have you learned to love... or at least accept... about yourself?

Loving People You Don't Even Know

When my 5-year-old niece asked how long we were going to stay at her house (she likes to play with her cousin Monkey) I told her we had to leave to visit Grandpa Bahlmann. "Who's Grandpa Bahlmann?" she asked. I explained that he was Monkey's grandpa, and he was in the hospital, so we were going to go see him. My niece's face fell. Looking up at me with concern in her round blue eyes, she asked, "Do you think he'd like a heart?"

"I think he'd love a heart," I replied.

So she got busy with her markers and scissors and made a grandpa that she didn't even know two hearts in the hope that they would make him feel better.

My niece's selfless action was quite touching. I would expect most 5-year-olds to just shrug off an unknown grandpa. But this little girl put her energy into sharing love. When we left, she said, "I hope Grandpa Bahlmann gets better."

When we passed along the hearts to Grandpa, he laughed with delight. We left them on his hospital bedside stand where he could look at them any time he wanted to.

This type of unexpected warm, fuzzy behavior is a good element to include with characters in a story. It helps readers relate to them and care more about them.

It's even better to include this element in real life. What plans do you have to show love this Valentine's Day?