12 Monday Oct 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Action, Ambition, Dedication, Discipline, Drive, Exercising, Learning, motivation, Reading, Writing
After a relaxing week off, I’m back at it.
Here’s my schedule for the week:
Writing/Blogging Daily
Exercise Daily
Spiritual Exercise/Reading Daily
Learning/Coding Daily
Reading Daily
I hope each of you has a great week!
Until next time…
Dave
09 Wednesday Sep 2020
Posted in Wisdom Wednesday
Today’s wisdom is about writing. When we write, we bring what is in our head to the page. For some, this is a difficult process. It is difficult because our minds can be so jumbled at times. We have thoughts. But until we write those thoughts down, read through them, think about them, edit them, and then complete what we have written into an intelligible collection of words, sentences, and paragraphs, they remain in the same form they are in our minds. Writing clarifies our thinking. It solidifies our thoughts. It changes a wisp of thought to a concrete idea.
This is why I love writing. I love capturing what is in my mind and bringing these thoughts and ideas into reality. It is really magical. When you read a book written by an author, you realize that this world you are exploring was in someone else’s head. That is magic.
You, my reading audience, are also involved with this process each time you write a post for your blog and submit it to the WordPress servers. You tell your story. You expose yourself for others to see. You talk about what bothers you. You talk about what excites you. You tell your stories.
Your words teach, inspire, and impact everyone that reads them. You allow your readers to see a little piece of you, expressed in your words. The stories of adventure, heartbreak, mystery, war, love, and every emotion we experience as human beings. Words do that. Words!
Write. Write every day. Journal. Capture your thoughts. Tell your stories. Your travels, your experiences, your recipes. They all bring a richness to our existence. Your words matter. Your words impact others. Your words tell your story.
Until next time…
Dave
07 Monday Sep 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Consistency, Determination, Discipline, Exercise, Labor Day, motivation, Reading, Social, Spiritual, Writing
Today, I’m relaxing and enjoying Labor Day! So today’s posts will be shorter than normal. Here’s my week!
Have a great week, folks!
Until next time…
Dave
30 Sunday Aug 2020
Posted in Spread Your Wings
Tags
Challenges, family, Lockdown, Reading, Relaxation, Spread Your Wings, Sunday, Writing
Challenge: This week’s challenge involves some exploration. I’m going to offer another challenge below in case some of your lockdown conditions are just too hard to pull this off. The challenge is to take a walk in the woods, a beach, or a park. The challenge doesn’t require a certain distance, just that you go to one of these locations and take a stroll.
Challenge (alternate): Some of you live in areas where the lockdown is tough to overcome. One of my friends in Melbourne, Australia appears to be in an area that is suffering from a resurgence of the virus and is back under lockdown condition. This challenge is for you. This week, read about, look at pictures, or attend a virtual tour of one of your country’s or state’s national parks.
If you participate, tell me how you feel when you return from your little excursion.
Until next time…
Dave
27 Thursday Aug 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Gratitude, heavy metal, Meditation, memories, Movies, Music, Reading, Soundscapes, Thanks, Writing
I have always enjoyed music. It seems that we are all wired to music, in light of how popular it has been throughout history. Music entertains. Music reminds. Music inspires.
I like to listen to music when I read. I can’t listen to music with words, because it is too hard to concentrate, but instrumental music is a common partner when I read. I also enjoy listening to music when I write.
Again, I have to refrain from listening to music with words while I write because it is too hard to concentrate on what I’m doing when I listen to the words. Interestingly, I have found that listening to certain types of music invoke emotions that are helpful when I am writing an action scene or an emotional scene. I can’t listen while I write, but I do listen before I write.
Another type of music I like listening to is trance while I do cardio or heavy metal while I lift weights. Trance helps me deal with the monotony of cardio, while heavy metal helps me achieve the aggression I need when I’m trying to push myself to my limits.
I like listening to Asian music, sound scapes, and other cerebral music when I meditate. It helps my mind calm down, while I concentrate on the breath.
I even enjoy listening to movie soundtracks. When I listen to the music of Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Star Wars, or even the Godfather, I can see the various scenes play out in my mind. It is amazing how much the music impacts a scene in a movie.
Think about the dark music in the original Halloween movie or The Exorcist. When you hear these songs, you automatically think about these movies. It is fascinating.
So today, I am grateful for music that helps me write, workout, relax, and visualize my favorite movies.
Happy Thursday!
Until next time…
Dave
24 Monday Aug 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Coding, Exercising, journaling, K.M. Allan, Learning, motivation, Reading, Spiritual, Writing
I hope everyone’s weekend was outstanding! I got my work done and took some time to watch a few Marvel movies. I re-watched Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Iron Man 3. These are all great stories, and the special effects are over the top. I also got in some entertainment reading. I’m reading K.M. Allan’s second book in her Blackbirch series, which is really entertaining. I don’t read a lot of fiction, because non-fiction is more up my alley, but the Blackbirch series is awesome. I highly recommend you buy it, if you enjoy a good story. Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/2QlKrmR
Anyway, I hope all of you have a great week! Here’s my daily schedule:
Journaling daily (Personal, Dream, and Spiritual)
Coding daily (Data Science Path Codecademy)
Writing daily (Book, Blog, Classwork)
Exercise daily (See Workout Routine)
Reading daily (multiple books, articles)
Learning daily (Codecademy, Masterclass, Study.com)
Spiritual daily (Contemplation, Spiritual Reading)
That’s it folks! Have a great week!
Until next time…
Dave
22 Saturday Aug 2020
Posted in Spiritual Saturday
Tags
blog, Book, Communicating, crystallize, Dream Journal, Imagination, journal, Story, Writing
Some days I open up this window of my life and have absolutely nothing to say. I’m a blank slate. I stare at the whiteness of the background, waiting for something to come and it doesn’t. Some would call this “writer’s block.” Perhaps it is.
There is always something to write about, however. Some writers I’ve learned from suggest that you just free-write about anything. Others recommend working on a different writing project. Still others recommend a walk or some other activity.
If you’re a fiction writer, you know that stories unfold. It is rare that you will write out something as complicated as a novel without taking breaks or working on different aspects of a plot. It is the same for any writing project. The work begins as an idea, translated to the page, then alters itself as the author refines the story and crystallizes the pictures to the page.
The dream journal is a writing project. It brings your dreams to the page. Unlike other writing projects, your dream journal or personal journal is “for your eyes only”. Subsequently, you just write in it. Grammar doesn’t matter, spelling doesn’t matter, nothing matters but getting the things in your head onto paper or a digital document.
The more you journal, the more you can get out of your head. You can settle things with yourself. You can iron out past mistakes, relationships that didn’t work, failures, successes. Whatever you bring to your journal is something you needed to get out of your head.
Journaling is a way to talk to future generations. When you’ve left this life, your journal will be left behind. Can you imagine what wisdom is embedded in those pages for future generations. Do you think Marcus Aurelius ever thought someone would publish his journals? What about Seneca, Epictetus, Virginia Wolfe?
Writing is your way to communicate. It is a way of making the imagination come alive and join our world. Have a great Saturday!
Until next time…
Dave
03 Monday Aug 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Consistency, Dedication, Drive, Exercise, K.M. Allan, motivation, Reading, rituals, social media, spiritual efforts, Writing
Here’s my schedule for the week:
I’ll be conducting some research on Afghanistan for my book. I’ll be taking three courses (Sociology on Study.com, Sociology course at Grand Canyon University, and Malcolm Gladwell’s writing course on Masterclass). I’ll also continue pushing through my Computer Science course. I’m currently working on a Python project that reinforces the algorithms surrounding various search strategies.
I’ll also continue reading my books. One of them is on politics by Ben Shapiro, the other is a book on Afghanistan for my book research, and the third is a book by one of my favorite new authors (K.M. Allan) who just released book two of her Blackbirch series.
I’ll be jounaling daily, blogging daily, doing my spiritual exercises, spiritual reading, physical exercises (see my workout routine posting), and posting meaningful quotes and other uplifting content to my social media feeds.
Well, that’s it folks. Keep pushing on whatever goals you set for the year. I realize that some of them have probably gotten nixed due to COVID, but do the best you can. I’m rootin’ for ya!
Have a great Monday!
Until next time…
Dave
09 Thursday Jul 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Authors, Books, Entertain, Experience, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Storytelling, Teach, Writing
This week I’m grateful for the many authors that have entertained me or taught me something.
So many authors I’ve read and so many have contributed to my way of thinking. It would be impossible to list all of them here, but I have learned a great deal from the authors I have read. Covey, Sowell, Tolstoy, Tolkien, Allen, Shapiro, Seneca, Aristotle, Einstein, Feynman, Hawking, and the list goes on and on.
I’ve probably read more Non-fiction than fiction, but fiction writers like K.M. Allan, Tolkien, Burroughs, Poe, Doyle, have also taught me a great deal. Fiction teaches, too. You just have to read a talented author and peer into their words to learn something about them. Good fiction is drawn from life experiences. So when I read an author from an unfamiliar part of the world or time period, you learn about what they experienced in their lives and what they are teaching.
So, today I am grateful for the many authors who have contributed to the world.
Have a great Thursday!
Until next time…
Dave
18 Monday May 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday, Uncategorized
To guarantee success, act as if it were impossible to fail.
I’ve been busy taking a lot of writing courses on Masterclass. If you’ve not taken any on here, it is a great platform and the teachers (experts in their craft) are wonderful to listen to and watch. There is one underlying theme common across all the writers I’ve been watching—write. No excuses, no worrying about whether it is good or bad, just write.
My favorite so far has been Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale. She said that the wastebasket is your friend and God made it just for you. Her point is that if you can’t work it out, trash it and start with another idea. The same goes with your initial draft. You can revise it. So, no excuses—WRITE!!
It is liberating to keep the mindset that you cannot fail. You really can’t fail when it comes down to it. Even the exceptional writers have been rejected by publishers, or written books that won’t ever be seen by the public. They keep writing because this is what they do.
I’ve also begun to get the idea that writing on paper is probably the best way to create. There are no distractions, you can get your ideas down on paper without the temptation to auto-correct or edit what you are doing, and you can get the first draft done! James Patterson, another author who offers a class on Masterclass, said to drive through the first draft like a freight train. Like Atwood, he made it clear that the rewriting will also occur. Get the story out of your head and onto paper. Then the real work can begin.
Keep this quote in the back of your mind as you tackle that next challenge. You’ll be more motivated when you realize that the project is not complete until you say it is.
Have a great week, everyone!
Until next time…
Dave
