We’re not talking about golf or tennis swings. We’re talking about the swing of your life…bringing back the jazz, the zing, the excitement! I have to admit that I am constantly working at this. I have to remind myself to stay in the NOW because I spend far too much time thinking ahead, worrying needlessly or wasting the moment.

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Remember that tired expression? Let’s revive it!

1. Sleep – Almost daily you can find a report somewhere online telling you the importance of getting enough sleep. We know it’s true, so why do we shortchange ourselves? Lack of sleep can cause apathy, irritability, flat emotional responses…no zest, no zing. Sleep to restore you bodily functions and rev up your brain…hence, more zest and zing. If you’d like to read more about the damage lack of sleep can cause, click HERE.

2. Play – No one has more zing in their lives than children. They wake with energy and are excited about the day. Adults can feel the same way. Put more play into your daily life. Create fun activities to amp up your energy. Play tennis, go swimming, play in the garden. Playing with your spouse in bed creates feelings you get nowhere else. The feeling of being younger, being desired, and of being able to then jump out of bed and tackle the day with vitality. Simple acts like eating an ice cream cone in the backyard, giggling over corny jokes, having a pillow fight, or running in the sprinkler can bring back zesty youthfulness.

3. Declutter – We can get weighed down by all the clutter in our lives. Get rid of it all! Clean a junk drawer, a closet, the attic or garage. Excessive obligations are also classified as life’s clutter. Even the people in your life who are a drain on your energy and add nothing but negativity to your life amount to clutter. Clear it all away and you’ll feel refreshed and renewed!

4. Revisit – Take another look at the goals you’ve written for the future. How many have you already accomplished? Cross them off the list. Can some of them be broken down into smaller, more easily achieved steps? Are some goals still valid? If not, get rid of them and replace them with something more meaningful and attainable. Life is constantly in motion, changing all the time. Don’t expect every goal you wrote down a year ago to be relevant today. It’s okay to make changes. After this exercise, you should have a smile on your face and a little more spring in your step.

5. Balance – This is a big problem for most of us and one of the hardest things in life to maintain. Swinging too far to one side creates stress and, often, negative self-talk when you realize you’ve overburdened yourself. Swing too far in the other direction also causes stress when you’ve lost focus and lose track of your responsibilities. You berate yourself for not handling life better and waste time feeling badly about your decisions. Sometimes writing it all down gives you a clear picture of how to swing back toward the middle. Unleash yourself from the ball and chain tasks that weigh you down. Make a plan to get back on track with responsibilities you’ve neglected. The first example that comes to mind is regaining the balance between ‘overeating and inactivity’ and ‘running yourself ragged to keep up with all your health commitments’. Cutting out desserts and walking three times a week can center you with small steps and will bring back some of the energy and zest you had before.

6. Focus – "Today is all we have. Live it to its fullest." We’ve heard this before and it sounds like a huge mountain to climb. Break it down.  Living life to its fullest is simply focusing your thoughts on and enjoying what you’re doing NOW.

a. Have mindfulness. It creates a serene feeling, making you less reactive and aggressive. It takes your ego out of a conflict and gives you an opportunity to make better decisions. Just breathe. Mindfulness opens your eyes to the beautiful view, the succulent taste, the sensual pleasure, the melodic sounds of life at the moment.

Take control of your thoughts, give NOW your full attention, otherwise you may be missing out on some wonderful experiences.

b. We only have so much energy. Wasting energy on worrying over things we can’t change is fruitless. "If it’s worth worrying about, it’s worth doing something about it." Change what you can and let the rest slip away. We can’t do anything about the past and what’s to come in the future will be dealt with in the future.

c. We live in a world of distractions. To live more in the NOW, allow yourself to get completely absorbed in a task. This is called flow. To create flow, choose an activity with an attainable goal, but one that is specific and will cause you to stretch your abilities. For example, increasing your speed during running, knitting a new challenging pattern, writing the next chapter of your book or playing the next bar of a scroll of music. The focus required makes time slip by, blocks distractions and creates a state of flow.

So, now that you know how to get that ZING back in your life, what are you going to do with it? What can you enjoy more fully? What gets you excited?

Marcia Richards is a veteran blogger and author of Marcia Richards’ Blog…Sexy. Smart. From The Heart. Marcia writes about SSS (strong, smart, sexy) Women, Health and the path to realizing your dreams. She has a Historical Trilogy and a collection of short stories in progress. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing with the grandkids or her husband, seeing the sights of her home state or turning old furniture into works of art. She believes there is always something new to learn and always time to play.

Come hang out with Marcia at: http://twitter.com/MarciaARichards or http://facebook.com/MarciaARichards .

Visit Marcia at: http://Marcia-Richards.com

Our Fort Worth Star-Telegram has been filled with news the last few days in both the main section and the sports section about a drug bust that included four members of TCU’s football team along with a dozen or so other students among those arrested for selling the drugs. It seems to be the kind of story they can keep puffing to sell newspapers. I don’t watch TV news, but I imagine it has received plenty of attention there also.

From the kind of big deal that’s been made of it, you’d think this was the first time an athlete had ever been implicated in something of this nature. They keep talking about what a horrible reflection it is on TCU. Come again?

The narcotics detectives involved have gone on record to state that neither the coach nor the administration had any knowledge of the problem or the investigation until arrests were made. Once they were notified of the arrests, both the administrators and the coach moved quickly to announce it to the media and to the world at large and to remove the offenders from both the football team and the university. How does that reflect poorly on either the school or the team?

What it reflects badly on is the news media. These vultures hover over anything that could possibly be sensationalized for the purpose of increasing newspaper sales and/or TV ratings. Sometimes they take the time to get their facts straight, and sometimes they don’t. Even when they do get the facts straight, however, they try to paint them in the most spectacular way they can to attract attention to their stories.

When they were arrested, the four players involved in dealing all stated that huge numbers of their teammates used drugs and had failed a recent unannounced drug test. Okay, these guys were caught with their pants down, and they naturally made self-serving statements. If they could make it look like “everybody” did it, they wouldn’t look quite so bad themselves. What else would you expect from boys immature enough to get themselves into this situation?

The media immediately jumped on these self-serving statements and quoted them as if they were gospel and continued to do so for the next day or two. We should be able to expect a little more from these people than we do from college boys caught in a bind. They should have checked the accuracy of the statements before putting them in print.

The fact of the matter, which they finally acknowledged, is that only one player besides the dealers failed the drug test. A far cry from what was being trumpeted in all their stories.

Another fact which has come out more recently is that the number of players on TCU’s football team failing a drug test is a single digit figure, while the figure for many other prominent universities was a three digit figure. This reflects badly on TCU?

If this sounds like I’m taking up TCU’s cause and defending the university, I am—but not because I’m a huge fan. I’ve never really been a TCU fan, although the success of its football team in recent years has won my respect both for the team and for Coach Gary Patterson. But fan or not, I hate to see any institution demonized by the media in order to create sensationalism over the misdeeds of a few people.

What do you think of the media’s handling of this and other stories where someone got into trouble for wrongdoing?

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and trying to learn to write a successful novel himself.

Last week I posted a blog about the death of my cousin Carol Eiland. Today, I want to share, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story. It starts with my maternal grandmother, whom we called Mimi, my mother, and her brother and sister, Uncle George and Auntie Mac.

Auntie Mac, Mother, Mimi, Uncle George

Mother had four of us, and Uncle George and Auntie Mac each had three. The three of them apparently made a pact before most of us were born that they would do whatever it took to give all of us a love for and relationship with our cousins. All three families would get together for Christmas and Easter each year, and every summer they would ship us kids back and forth between Fort Worth, where we lived, and Lamesa, where my uncle and aunt lived.

It worked. We all grew up with strong bonds among us and great love for one another. Geography has scattered some of us cousins and our kids and grandkids, so some of us don’t get together often, but the bonds of love are still there.

When Carol, my Uncle George’s daughter-in-law (okay, ex – but we’re not into ex much) died it was a terrible thing for all of us. She was so young and healthy we were all in shock. Her kids were devastated, and the rest of us felt pain, too.

Enter God. In case anyone isn’t aware, He’s very much into bringing good out of bad. This was no exception.

We first cousins had all talked from time to time about the fact that our kids and grandkids didn’t have the sort of family ties we had. None of the big holiday gatherings like we enjoyed. A lot of our grandkids don’t even know one another, and our kids aren’t close like we were.

It became obvious as we gathered for the visitation and the funeral and such that our kids and grandkids recognized this and missed the relationships. Several of us lamented it and said that we should start getting together now and then without having a funeral to go to.

Then my dear cousin June put some feet to the wish. She, with the cooperation of her sister, who lives near her, invited 60 or 70 of us to descend on her house for a family reunion next Thanksgiving. As she mentioned it to different people gathered there, she received a 100% positive response. I’m sure there will be a few who can’t be there for one reason or another, but most will. This will be the first time in my memory that this bunch, which stretches all the way across Texas and over to Georgia, has gathered in one place without a funeral drawing us there.

We’ll all enjoy the visiting, and several—maybe many—of these people need and should receive real ministry from this gathering. Without Carol’s death, this would not have come about. God has indeed taken something bad and made something very good out of it. This is very much a part of how He works.

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and trying to learn to write a successful novel himself.

This came to me in a recent email, and it was so funny I just had to share it with you. Hope you enjoy.

IDIOT SIGHTING

I handed the teller @ my bank a withdrawal slip for $400.00. I said "May I have large bills, please"

She looked at me and said "I’m sorry sir, all the bills are the same size."

When I got up off the floor I tried to explain it to her.

IDIOT SIGHTING

When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. ‘Hey,’ I announced to the technician, ‘it’s open!’

His reply: ‘I know. I already got that side.

This was at the Ford dealership in Canton , MS *

IDIOT SIGHTING

We had to have the garage door repaired. The Sears repairman told us that one of our problems was that we did not have a ‘large’ enough motor on the opener. I thought for a minute and said that we had the largest one Sears made at that time, a 1/2 horsepower.

He shook his head and said, ‘Lady, you need a 1/4 horsepower.’

I responded that 1/2 was larger than 1/4.

He said, ‘NO, it’s not. Four is larger than two.’

We haven’t used Sears repair since.**

IDIOT SIGHTING

My daughter and I went through the McDonald’s take-out window and I gave the clerk a $5 bill. Our total was $4.25, so I also handed her a quarter.

She said, ‘you gave me too much money.’ I said, ‘Yes I know, but this way you can just give me a dollar bill back.’

She sighed and went to get the manager, who asked me to repeat my request.

I did so, and he handed me back the quarter, and said ‘We’re sorry but we could not do that kind of thing.’ The clerk then proceeded to give me back $1 and 75 cents in change.

Do not confuse the clerks at McD’s. Better yet go to Burger King

IDIOT SIGHTING

I live in a semi rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the DEER CROSSING sign on our road. The reason: ‘Too many deer are being hit by cars out here! I don’t think this is a good place for them to be crossing anymore..’

IDIOT SIGHTING

My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for ‘minimal lettuce.’

He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg lettuce.

IDIOT SIGHTING

I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, ‘Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge?’

To which I replied, ‘If it was without my knowledge, how would I know?’

He smiled knowingly and nodded, ‘That’s why we ask.’

IDIOT SIGHTING

The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it’s safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red.

Appalled, she responded, ‘What on earth are blind people doing driving?!’

IDIOT SIGHTING

At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker who was leaving the company due to ‘downsizing,’ our manager commented cheerfully, ‘This is fun. We should do this more often.’

IDIOT SIGHTING

I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the sake of her life, couldn’t understand why her system would not turn on.

IDIOT SIGHTING

My Dad was in the hospital in NYC, my Mom and I decided to take a break and go out for a cup of coffee. We went for a walk and found a small shop. We both ordered coffee, my Mom asking that hers be black. The server went behind the counter, looked all around, then into the kitchen. When he returned, he very apologetically told her that he was sorry, the only coffee they had was brown.

STAY ALERT! They walk among us, they breed… and they VOTE!

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and trying to learn to write a successful novel himself.

R. I. P. Carol Underwood Eiland

The first time I saw Carol Underwood, I thought she was one of the most beautiful women I’d ever seen. She was a tall, willowy brunette, and I thought my cousin Randy Eiland had married above himself. Even in her sixties, shown here with her daughter Shawna, she was still a beautiful woman.

Carol and her daughter Shawna

All the years she was married to Randy and through the years since, she has maintained her beauty, both inside and out. She exercised all the social graces and always had nice words to say about everything. Although they’ve been divorced for a quarter of a century now, I’ve never heard her say anything bad about Randy.

They raised two kids—Shawna Eiland Gross and George Randolph (Shad) Eiland IV—and helped finish raising a niece when Randy’s sister’s marriage fell apart. Carol lived her life in Lamesa surrounded by Randy (and my) family and was always a gracious and fun part of family gatherings.

After their divorce, she left the West Texas farm town of Lamesa where they had lived and moved to Dallas. Following an interest she’d always had in interior decorating, she entered that highly competitive business as a salesperson for Stark Carpet Corp. She successfully made a career for herself there even though she was around forty when she began.

At my age, you’re not too surprised to hear that a contemporary has passed on, but Carol would have been about the last one we would expect to see go. She was very slender and always kept in shape.

Unfortunately, she fell down the staircase in her apartment. Her son Shad was visiting and rushed her to the emergency room, where it was determined her only injury was a big goose egg on the back of her head. The fatal heart attack occurred a couple of days later. All we can figure is that the fall must have caused a little clot to form and work its way to her heart.

Be careful even of little injuries. It doesn’t take too much to cause a blood clot to form, and once it does, it can cause irreparable damage to the heart or lungs or brain if it should migrate to one of those places.

Life is a fleeting thing. Don’t take it for granted. God gives us no guarantee of tomorrow. Make the most of today—everyday.

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and trying to learn to write a successful novel himself.

J. Holmes, in Author Piper Bayard’s fine blog, keeps us all up to date on current events and international affairs, but that doesn’t inform us about the politics that go on behind those events. I thought I’d correct that by sharing some political wisdom with you. I think Will Rogers once said that politics is like the weather—everyone talks about it, but no one ever does anything about it. Maybe the wisdom shared by various people below will shed some light on that.

* The problem with political jokes is they get elected. ~Henry Cate, VII

* We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. ~Aesop

* If we got one-tenth of what was promised to us in these acceptance speeches there wouldn’t be any inducement to go to heaven. ~Will Rogers

* Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~Plato

* Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river. ~Nikita Khrushchev

* When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I’m beginning to believe it. ~Clarence Darrow

* Why pay money to have your family tree traced; go into politics and your opponents will do it for you. ~Author Unknown

* If God wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates. ~Jay Leno

* Politics is the gentle art of getting votes from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other. ~Oscar Ameringer

* A politician is a fellow who will lay down YOUR life for his country. ~ Texas Guinan

* Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically, by definition, be disqualified from ever doing so. ~Gore Vidal

* I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~Charles de Gaulle

* Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. ~Doug Larson

* Don’t vote, it only encourages them. ~Author Unknown

This all brings up a new word and its definition, which I found in another email:

Ineptocracy
Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

I hope I’ve contributed to your education about politics this morning. I know you’ll find the wisdom in this piece invaluable.

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and trying to learn to write a successful novel himself.

I’ve hijacked David’s blog again!  He’s being held hostage at Marcia’s Richard’s blog.  He will be released later today, starting in the comments section, but only if you voice your opinions loudly and proudly below!  Until that time, I’m taking over, and I’ll be talking about the value of critique groups.

Read slowly or Walker gets it!

All of us have goals.  We want to find a job we love, save some real money this year, learn to make beef bourguignon, whatever!  What we don’t always do so well is ask for help, real help.  When striving for something new, the chances for success exponentially improve when you write your goal down and start talking about it with people around you.  So wouldn’t your odds of success be even greater if the people around you gave honest and open feedback?

I’ll give you an example.  I don’t know how many of you took a creative writing class at some point in your educational career, but I had a class in college where we all sat in a big circle and took turns sharing our poems and short stories to the group then asked for feedback.  The replies usually sounded something like “I like the title.  It all went together.  I thought the character was good.  I like you, do you like me?  Circle yes or no.”

I wonder what Billy thinks of MY poem!

Ok, maybe that last one wasn’t in there, but you get the point.  In traditional critique groups it’s hard to get real feedback.  Everyone’s sitting in the circle not wanting to speak up or not wanting to hurt the writer’s feelings so they focus on only the good comments.  And good is good! We want to know what’s working well, but we also need to know what’s NOT working well.  The reality is after you submit your work for publication, it goes into a pile read by someone you don’t know who is BRUTALLY honest.

Here’s what I know.  I also took a literary publication class and acted as poetry editor with a team of readers.  We didn’t know all the individuals of the odd 400-some submissions.  We had to weed through for the best.  And we were harsh!  We didn’t have the time or energy to look at each poem and say “Gosh, this author spent a long time thinking up words for his acrostic poem!  He sure is swell!”

N – Needs
O – Only
P – Practical
E – Editing

The best thing we all can do for achieving our goals is to have a person or group keep us accountable and willingly give honest advice.  For those of you who are writers looking for critique groups, check out Social Media Expert for Writers, Kristen Lamb’s post A New Approach to a Traditional Group: The Concept Critique.  She has great things to think about when looking for a good set of eyes to assist your work.

Other examples of critique groups and support networks that work include Kristen’s #MyWANA hashtag and WANA author brand classes.  Taking her book’s theme, We Are Not Alone, Kristen created both a twitterverse and class group of writers wanting to help other writers.  The hashtag is designed as a place for you to find inspiration, tips, research help, useful links, and oh yah, laughter!  Her classes also formed their own hashtags of #WANA711 and #WANA1011 where we continue to support one another by tweeting for each other’s blogs, sharing useful links, promoting new works, getting feedback on others, etc.  Stop by sometime, we’re a friendly bunch!

Not a writer?  No problem!  Ask about joining the Life List Club, or start your own with friends or other bloggers who you know will give you honest feedback.  While a lot of the Life List Club seems like fun and games of guest blogging, we’re doing this with a goal in mind.  All of our contributors and members are working on their “to do” lists for life.  We hold milestone parties and give updates because we have to hold each other accountable to what we committed to do.  None of us are perfect as we start out on this journey, heck, we’re over 6 months in, and some of us still have lessons to learn about our goals.  The point is, we’re benefiting from the group’s advice.  What you don’t see is a lot of emails and behind the scenes work we do, helping match up, host, and promote other guest bloggers, getting successful ideas on our resolutions, support when we’re making big changes, and even a reaming out if it’s necessary to make deadline.

So ask yourself, who are the people supporting the dreams and big changes in your life?  You may not have even met them.  Don’t forget how powerful this blogosphere can be!  Check with your local library about discussion groups, be a mentor yourself and work with a non-profit like Big Brothers Big Sisters, invest in a personal trainer that is going to motivate and energize you.  The sky is the limit!  What’s holding you back from getting the help you need and deserve?

Bio:  Jess Witkins claims the title Perseverance Expert.  She grew up in a small Wisconsin town as the much younger youngest sibling of four, she’s witnessed the paranormal, jumped out of a plane, worked in retail, traveled to exotic locations like Italy, Ireland, and Shipshewana, Indiana, and she’s eaten bologna and lived to tell about it!  She deals with it all and writes about it!  Come along on her midwest adventures; Witkins promises to keep it honest and entertaining.  Go ahead, SUBSCRIBE, you know you want to.
Follow on Twitter:  @jesswitkins

Today, I’m asking for your input on something. I hope you’ll give me some honest feedback about this. Not what you think I want to hear but what you really think.

Let me start by admitting that substance is more important than form. The story you tell is more important than the grammar you use in telling. I realize that. But in my opinion that doesn’t mean grammar is of no importance at all.

A lot of authors are putting out a lot of good books with powerful stories these days. With the burgeoning growth of e-publishing I expect to see a real explosion in the number of new books coming out. That should provide a lot of good reading. But . . .

(Please don’t take what I’m about to say as a personal affront. This is about all those other writers, not you.)

Most of the books I read seem to be written with fifth grade grammar. I may be alone here, but it takes me out of a story when the author makes gross grammatical errors. I lose track of the story and dwell on the poor grammar. Probably most people are not as OCD about this as I am, but I’ll bet you have a pet grammatical error that puts you off, too.

We can find books and conferences and seminars and online courses about using social media, writing successful blogs, and structuring novels, but there’s little available to help with the use of the language. It’s a situation I’d like to help correct. Several writers I know were talking about fields of expertise recently, and grammar seemed to be the only writing-related field where I possess any real expertise.

I may be given an opportunity to develop an online course in grammar for writers and link up with a source that would send potential enrollees to me. This idea appeals to me, especially if I could develop a large enough customer stream to make it profitable.

In order to develop the course, however, I would have to take time away from other writing. I have no idea how much time, but I know it would be significant. Well worth my while if the course developed enough income for me to offset the loss from delaying getting a book published.

On the other hand, the whole thing would be a colossal waste of time if it turns out no one was interested in such a course. I’d be much better off continuing what I’m doing in that case.

What do you think? Are you satisfied with your own mastery of grammar? Would you be interested in such a course? If you’re satisfied with your own, do you think most writers are okay with their use of the language? Please comment with some honest opinions.

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and is currently writing a book of Christian inspiration and insight.

Frequently I see tweets asking what #WWBC or #MyWANA means. Probably everyone who reads my blogs could give the short answer to that. But what do those terms REALLY mean?

WWBC—Warrior Writers Boot Camp—is a complete departure from the standard critique group where members bring a certain number of pages from whatever they are working on and read them to the group. Kristen Lamb and I were president and vice-president of such a group for several years, and we saw severe shortcomings built into the structure.

Lest I be accused of attacking anyone’s sacred cow, let me assure you that’s not my purpose. The traditional group allowed several writers to come together and share experiences and ideas and lend moral support to one another. For anyone writing five-page articles or poetry or other pieces that could be read in a turn at the group meeting, it also gave valuable feedback to the writer.

The problem Kristen and I saw with our group was that no one could get a real sense of an overall novel from reading five pages. We might give some good critique on grammar or catch spelling errors and typos, but that was about it. We had no idea where the pages you read today fit into your novel or how well the overall novel was structured.

We started Warrior Writers Boot Camp nearly three years ago to correct that problem. Funny thing was, once we started the group, we realized that we didn’t really understand the depth of the problem.

The first thing we figured out was that we didn’t understand what an antagonist was or his or her importance to the story. We thought the most important character was the hero(ine) or protagonist and that the antagonist had to be a serial killer or mass murderer or at least a serial rapist.

As the importance of the antagonist became clearer to us, and we began to see his real nature and crucial importance to the story, other things began to fall in line. With a bit of borrowed wisdom from Bob Mayer, Les Edgerton and others who have written books on the craft of writing, we began to develop a whole series of evolutions for a novelist to go through in preparation for writing a novel.

Ironically, Kristen and I have both become involved in non-fiction projects and blogging and have not actually produced a publishable novel using our format. It has fallen to Piper Bayard to lead the way on that. She has completed a novel which Kristen assures me will be a blockbuster.

We shortened Warrior Writers Boot Camp to WWBC for convenience. I put a hashtag to it some months ago to provide a cyber-gathering place for novelists familiar with our method.

WANA, as most of you know, is an acronym of We Are Not Alone, the title of Kristen’s bestselling book on social media. Once the book began to enjoy wide sales, she made the hashtag #MyWANA as a gathering place for writers who have read one of both of her books or for others who just want to hang with us.

Obviously, the thought behind the book title and the hashtag is that writing tends to be a lonely pursuit and that we can make it a bit less lonely by sharing experiences and just knowing there are others out there going through the same struggles and fighting the same battles we are. But there’s more to it than that.

One of the most famous and most oft-quoted sayings of Jesus Christ is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s important to notice what He did not say here.

Jesus didn’t say, “Do unto others as they have done unto you.” Nor did He say, “Do unto others what will cause them to do something for you.” His was a completely altruistic command.

In following this command, we don’t do a favor for someone else in hopes or in expectation that person will do something for us. That’s called manipulation. We do unto others because they are human beings created by God in His own image.

The more of Jesus’s character I have in me, the more I will love others just because they’re there. Not with any expectations. Just because it’s my nature. I’m sure there are many among you who have the character of Jesus more fully formed in you than I do, but this is one area God has really worked on it me. I do love you because you are a child of God created in His image.

Sounds like a lot of preaching, but that’s the principle Kristen had in mind with WANA. She has said this many times, both in her books and in her blogs: help one another. Period. Don’t help someone in hopes of getting whatever. Just help one another. Period. I know Kristen’s heart well enough to know she truly has no ulterior motives when she tries to help you.

As with God’s principles in general, there’s a bonus when you follow this one. That bonus is the Law of Reciprocity. Buddhists call it Karma. The Law of Reciprocity says, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”

Even though I don’t offer a suggestion here or point out an important fact there with the intention of reward, God sees to it that reward comes to me in some form. It may be directly related to whatever I did and come straight from the person I did it for, or it may be totally unrelated. But God sees to it that it is there.

And that’s the essence of WANA. Help someone with no ulterior motive—just because you want to be helpful—and you can’t keep from benefitting from it in the long run. All of which brings me the little blurb I put at the top of this post.

I ran across this on a sign in a restaurant, and it resonated so powerfully in my spirit I decided to use it as a slogan for my blog. I’ve also suggested to Kristen that she use it somehow as part of the identity of anything she does with WANA.

What do you think of this new slogan? How do you feel about helping others with no thought of personal gain? How have you benefitted from helping other writers without seeking payback?

David N. Walker is a Christian father and grandfather, a grounded pilot and a near-scratch golfer who had to give up the game because of shoulder problems. A graduate of Duke University, he spent 42 years as a health insurance agent. Most of that career was spent in Texas, but for a few years he traveled many other states. He started writing about 20 years ago, and has six unpublished novels to use as primers on how NOT to write fiction. Since his retirement from insurance a few years ago, he has devoted his time to helping Kristen Lamb start Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp and trying to learn to write a successful novel himself.

Wednesday, the fabulous Angela Orlowski-Peart hosted me. Today, I get to be her host. As most of you know, Angela grew up in Poland, and all things European are still very dear to her. Let her take you through a tour of some of the castles of Europe.

The Charm of European Castles

Each time I go back to my native Europe, I try to visit at least one castle. There are plenty of amazing castles in Poland, where I am from, but the whole Europe is practically packed with those architectural jewels.

It is not only how great they look, how huge they are, or how well (or not) they are preserved. What’s most thrilling is the history they have witnessed over the years—the battles, the political changes, the social alterations, even the new trends in a surrounding architecture. The centuries have passed but those palaces still stand, as a legacy of the past. Some of them are in ruins, but many have been renovated to their former splendor.

One of my favorite European castles stands over river Wisla in Polish Malbork. Its massive brick walls and towers form city’s western fortification. Looking from the opposite bank of the river, this breath-taking medieval gem fills the entire view.

Image source: http://www.zamkigotyckie.org.pl

For tourists that don’t want to drive, the easiest way to get to Malbork from the Baltic coast is by train—it only takes about one hour from the picturesque Gdansk.

The history of Malbork goes back to the Holy Land. After Islam took over Jerusalem, the legendary Teutonic Knights found themselves in need of a new base of operations. In the 13^th century Polish Kings offered Teutonic Order sanctuary in return for help in converting some of the pagan tribes to Christianity. The Order was allowed to establish the town of Malbork and build the castle that, soon, became the largest Gothic fortress in Europe.

During the II World War, a huge part of the castle was destroyed. Despite ongoing construction since the end of the war, the main cathedral remains in its ruined state. In 1997 the Malbork Castle was entered on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle located in Bavaria, near the town of Fussen is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. It is a Romanesque Revival palace, built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, who was often referred to as the “Fairytale King”.

Image source www.hellotravel.com

The castle was designed in the honor of Richard Wagner, the world-renowned composer. Neuschwanstein literally means “New Swan Castle”, which is a reference to “the Swan Knight”, one of the Wagner’s characters. The palace was constructed to be a stage for the Wagner’s operas. Many rooms were planned as places where an opera might be performed. The German mythology, that was a base for Wagner’s operas, is visibly reflected in the architecture and artwork throughout every room and hallway of the castle.

The palace really looks like something straight from a fairytale. Interestingly, Neuschwanstein was constructed in the 19^th century, when castles no longer had any defensive purposes. It has a picturesque medieval look, but it was equipped with most advanced luxuries at that time, like toilets with automatic flushing system and an air heating system for the entire palace.

Take a look at the photo above—does this castle remind you of something very familiar? Yes, it very much looks like the Disney castle in Florida. There are opinions that the Disney castle was modeled after the German Neuschwanstein.

I have to admit, I had a hard time selecting just two castles for the purpose of this post. There are so many that I would like to write about. If you are interested in learning more, please view Europe’s Most Beautiful Castles video and let me and David know which one is your favorite. Or maybe you have visited some of them. If so, please share your experiences.

This urban fiction, paranormal romance, and fantasy YA writer loves reading good books almost as much as writing them. She plots, daydreams and does research for her novels. When not imagining twists and turns for her manuscript plot, she blogs, watercolor paints or connects on Twitter and Facebook. And in the slimmest spare time possible she also participates in an awesome critique group, SCBWI Western Washington meetings and conferences. A tea and strong coffee lover, prefers sunshine over rain and wears designer high heels to the least appropriate places like her son’s soccer practice.