Shift your focus. Cancel the negative image and replace it with a positive image. Sharpen the saw.

Today’s balmy weather gave me the opportunity to get out at first light and spend the bulk of the day in the woods. I got home after dark. I took my digital camera along.

I foraged for enough wild edibles to make a salad:

I’ve been struggling with writer’s block. I need to hike to write. Finally I got control over my time and hiked ten miles. I could feel my attitude shift. It has been weeks since I’ve had a full day hike. It has been months since I slept outdoors.

Writing is beginning to feel like fun again.

I’m surprised and delighted to find an abundance of tender greens at this time of year.

This salad has chickweed (note the tiny white flower), wild garlic, sheep sorrel (the funny shaped leaf) and sunflower sprouts.

Individual photos of each plant follow:

Several of my clients write in passive voice.

My job is to find the most powerful words to express their message. Consider the following sentences:

The protective covering should be removed before use.
Remove the protective covering before use.

See the difference?

Here are a few tips for helping you figure out whether to use active voice or passive voice in your message:

I’ve had a BAH HUMBUG! attitude about holiday shopping ever since I worked in a retail department store after my first semester at the University of Connecticut.

I don’t blame people for being grumpy. I don’t like to be bullied, either. Product-pushers demanding my cheer and joy while shoving gadgets at me makes me feel a level of anger beyond words. Friends and relatives demanding cheer are enough to make me scream.

In the last couple of weeks I have watched helplessly as two long-time friends battle mental health problems. As we head into this dreaded season of short days, long nights, and wind-driven precipitation, their challenges mount.

It’s a struggle not to get sucked into the vortex of anger, blame and all the other fear-based emotions. It’s even harder when fear-based media messages add fuel to the fire.

Emotions can travel through a room, a group or an organization. If you
are stressed, then you send that energy out wherever you go. If you can
harness that stress energy and send out peace, then you may not change
the world, but at least you do no harm.

Here’s my plan for keeping my sanity. I hope some of this works for you.

I’m going to put my fears about global warming on hold for a little while.

I’m exploring the features of my new digital Canon A710IS camera. I took a new trail to add to my sense of discovery. Late November is typically skeletal trees and dried brush in shades of brown and grey, so I was not sure I’d find something dramatic to photograph.

But I found enough chickweed and wild mustard for a salad.

This camera has enough features to keep me motivated to take daily sunrise and sunset hikes.

The photos:

Writing is a lot like sculpture. In both crafts you trim away the excess to reveal the art within.

Sculptors chip or carve away at stone, wood or clay; writers trim words.

Here are a few tips to guide you along this process:

Why would you want to boil water in your hat?

Water is essential to survival. If you are lost, you can’t take the chance of drinking from a creek, stream or lake; you need to boil the water.

Unless you had planned to go camping, you are unlikely to have a cooking pot. But you can still solve this problem.

Here’s how:

Writing seems to flow when you have a strong opinion.

Whether you write for like-minded readers or readers you hope to persuade, spotting the weak parts of your argument will help you and your readers.

You can determine how fast the wind is blowing by using the chart below.

This chart provides useful information when you are out on the trail or observing the wind’s impact from indoors. Use it in addition to building your own anemometer and read How to Deal With High Winds: Common Sense Tips for additional information on the wind’s power.

I can tie a square knot and it’s converse, the granny knot.

I have learned others, but like anything else I don’t practice, I forget.

I am bookmarking this site: http://www.iwillknot.com/