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Intro to Paganism Study Guide
So last week About.com advised us that they would shortly be doing away with the e-courses. There were several reasons for this – all of which are valid and legitimate – but that doesn’t change the fact that a lot of readers really loved my site’s e-classes. In particular, the Intro to Tarot and the Wicca & Paganism 101 e-classes were huge hits with many readers, and I always got a ton of great feedback from people who had subscribed. With limited notice as to the end of the e-courses, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do about them – while I know there are a number of other programs…
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Whole30: I Lost Some Stuff
So yesterday was the final day of my #whole30 experiment, and I’m happy to report that I feel amazing. Sure, there are a few things that could use improvement – I’m still experiencing the weird fibro Charley horses in my legs, and the arthritis in my hips still makes me hate mornings – but overall, I feel great. I’m sleeping through the night – I’m talking about six hours, uninterrupted – which is something I haven’t done in a long time. My skin, which has always looked healthy, looks even more clear. I’m not tired throughout the day, and I feel well rested and have a ton of energy. Also,…
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Salem, Hartford, and Pendle Hill
I first became interested in the Salem witch trials long before I was interested in witchcraft itself. I remember reading about them as a child, and being fascinated by the tales of these girls my age who had been possessed, taken by spirits in the night in league with the Devil himself. Accusations flew about like gray specters in the dark nights of colonial Massachusetts, fingers pointing, and no one was safe. As I got older, and became more interested in history itself – not just of Salem and its trials, but of the entire country and in particular, the pre-Revolutionary world – I read more and learned more. Among…
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Whole30 Week 2: No One Is Dead Yet
So now I’m finished with week two of my #Whole30, and I’m pleased to say I haven’t killed anyone yet. I know this is where I am supposed to start feeling that whole Eat All the Things and Murderous Ragey stuff, but honestly, I’ve never felt better. This week’s meals included curried chicken, portobello mushrooms, chorizo sausage, and tuna salad made with Ahi and homemade mayo. I legitimately think I might be able to not just pull this off, but also continue eating this way on a long term basis. Things I’ve learned this week: Coconut milk in my coffee is actually really good. Just because I see a candy…
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Whole30 Week 1: I Survived
So I’ve just completed my first week of my #Whole30 challenge, and I’m not gonna lie, it was a hell of a lot easier than I expected. I truly believe that the advance prep work helped me through it. A few observations: 1. I was worried I’d be hungry all the time, but I’m not. I’m sort of re-learning how my body does respond to its own signals, and now I’m eating when I start to feel growly, instead of when I’m bored. 2. I’m eating good stuff. Lots of chicken and fish, a ton of fruits and veggies, and of course, eggs. It’s never boring, because I have a…
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Whole30 Starts Tomorrow and I’m So Excited
OMG you guys, my #Whole30 begins in less than 24 hours. Wait, let me backtrack. Recently – and by that, I mean over the past few weeks – I’ve started researching the concept of clean eating. I eat pretty healthy for the most part… or at least I thought I did. I don’t eat a ton of bread or pasta (hello celiac!) and I try to eat vegetables regularly and all that stuff. Then I started thinking about all the other not-wheat grains I eat. And the candy. And the ice cream. Before I knew it, I realized that while I wasn’t exactly shoveling carbs and sugar into my face…
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Do You Want to Write Stuff? GOOD.
I get a lot of messages from people who have questions about writing stuff, and often those messages are along the lines of “I want to write a book, what do I do?” And that’s a pretty legitimate question, actually. What DO you do? I mean, obviously, you write, but how exactly does that work? Getting started is often the hardest part. I might stew on an idea for months before I actually commit words to paper laptop. So I thought I’d put together a few tips that I’ve shared with people in the past about writing – obviously, these are not rules, but more of a guideline, and they’re…
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High Expectations Are Your Friend
A few days ago, Amazon announced that e-books with excessive content errors – spelling mistakes, formatting problems, etc. – will be flagged with a warning when a reader goes to download the book, and authors across Teh Interwebz are shitting themselves. According to a blog post on Goodreader, beginning on February 3, “Amazon will begin showing customers a WARNING MESSAGE on the Kindle store detail pages of books that contain several validated quality issues.” The post goes on to say that the quality control – and make no mistake, that’s exactly what this is – will be a two-stage system. If a book contains a few small errors, the warning…
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For the Love of Fairuza Balk, “The Craft” is Not a Documentary
I told someone during a conversation yesterday that I can always tell when the USA Network has aired The Craft for the 847th time because I start seeing an influx of emails from people who want to know how they can change their eye color with Teh Magicks. Usually what happens is I’ll say “Erm, no, you can’t really do that,” and then, THEN GUESS WHAT. Nine times out of ten I’m told I’m wrong, I’m lying, or I must not be a Twoo Pagan or I would clearly know better. DUH PATTI. Okay, Neve Campbell Jr., don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.…
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Why I Don’t Read Vampire Romance
This originally appeared back in 2011, but it’s one of my favorites, and I wanted to re-run it, because vampires. On Vampire Romance, and Why I Think It Sucks This is partly inspired by a college essay I wrote a zillion years ago, and partly inspired by the recognition that I must be the only woman in America who doesn’t dig vampire romance. I should state ahead of time that in no way am I telling you that YOU should hate vampire romances. Read ’em if you got ’em. I’m just trying to explain why I personally think they suck. At any rate, some thoughts on the whole vampire-as-sexxeh trope:…
