Shelley Widhalm

Archive for the ‘Valentine’s Day’ Category

Happy Valentine’s Day! (and goodbye chocolate)

In Editing, Editing Advice, Valentine's Day, Writing, Writing Advice on February 13, 2022 at 11:00 am

Candy and chocolate are a big part of some holidays like Valentine’s Day, but do we really need all those carbs? (Photo by Shelley Widhalm/Shell’s Ink Services)

By SHELLEY WIDHALM

Valentine’s Day is the key chocolate-related holiday, but really chocolate and candy get extra promotion from Halloween through Easter.

Then there’s a lull from April to September, though there are a couple of holidays during those months, including May Day and Independence Day. Those holidays get their own attention, but it has nothing to do with candy—instead it’s about delivering baskets, lighting fireworks and getting together over hotdogs and other American faire.

Back to Valentine’s Day and chocolate—I’m on the keto diet for health reasons and within two weeks have seen a decline in my need for chocolate. I still believe I need espresso drinks and have found the sugar-free versions are okay enough. My cutback on sugar and carbs has also resulted in a reduction in my desiring unhealthy foods, though dark chocolate has been shown to be rich in nutrients—flavanols may help improve blood flow, lower blood pressure and protect the heart.

Essentially, I’ve edited out sugar and reduced carbs from my diet and, at first, felt a low level of energy. Now my energy is back to what it was, and at least mentally I feel better about not relying on sugar for a mood/love boost.

That’s what Valentine’s Day is about—messages of love, which really shouldn’t have to do with candy, though they are sweet. The sweetness should come from the delivering and the receiving of the love message, not in the actual sweet (and unhealthy) ingredients.

I wish you on February 14: Happy writing. Happy editing. Happy Valentine’s Day.

And happy cutting out the unnecessary, whether it is food or extra words.

Lucky in Love (with Writing) on Valentine’s Day

In Loving Writing, Valentine's Day, Writing, Writing Advice, Writing Inspiration, Writing Motivation, Writing Tips on February 6, 2022 at 11:00 am

Sure, I like my boyfriend, but my other love is writing!

By SHELLEY WIDHALM

When it comes to a romantic holiday like Valentine’s Day, do you think about your other love?

I do, though I’m not cheating on my boyfriend—I happen to love him and writing both. Valentine’s Day is about declaring your love for your love as in “Be Mine,” giving valentines to friends and enjoying all the different presentations and forms of chocolate. And it’s about the other loves—passions, hobbies and jobs.

This year, I’m showing my love for writing by setting aside at least a half hour a day, now that I got rid of a heavy burden on my schedule. I think of this time as a gift.

The Valentine’s Day tradition of giving gifts and exchanging cards developed out of Saint Valentines. Several Saints called Valentine are honored on Feb. 14, a day that became associated with romantic love during the Middle Ages. Traditionally, lovers exchanged handwritten notes and later greeting cards when they became available in the mid-19th century.

Today, greeting cards and notes are a way to share sweet thoughts with friends and lovers. The written messages in them can be saved, reread and kept as physical proof someone is thinking about you. They’re also a way to spread love.

Here are 7 Things to Love about Writing

  • Writing is a way to figure out what you really think or feel about something.
  • It’s a way to play around with words and language.
  • It’s a way to improve your understanding of words and the best ways to get your message across.
  • It’s a way to express yourself, using your intelligent and creative minds at the same time.
  • It’s a way to make connections with text, memory or experiences that you might not otherwise make by thinking or talking.
  • It’s a way to tell stories and disappear into another world, where you don’t see the page and can’t tell you’re writing.
  • It’s a way to be whoever you want to be and do whatever you want to do, going places and doing things you might not do otherwise.

Writing is a Perfect Match

It’s interesting to find out what it is you created after spending a few minutes or hours on a story or essay. It’s a process of discovery from seeing your thoughts written out. It’s a sense of accomplishment from meeting a word or time goal. And it’s reciprocal, because when you give your time and energy, you get back notes, then a rough draft and finally more as you keep working. In other words, you’ve found your match.

On being in love with writing

In Valentine's Day, Writing, Writing Tips on February 14, 2016 at 11:00 am

Surgery-Splint1I have to admit I’ve been bitten by the love bug.

This bug is red—maybe a lady bug—and she fits in with Valentine’s Day, buzzing in my ear, reminding me I need to do what I love: writing.

Valentine’s Day is about declaring your love for someone—or something.

Before I explain the love factors that make writing the object of desire, I have to explain my temporary breakup with writing and blogging.

I took a two-month break from most of my writing activities following a wrist surgery in mid-December. I returned to work 2 ½ weeks later, but on limited activity, so I learned how to use voice recognition software and typed one-handed to write my news and feature articles.

My physical therapist said last week I could type a half-hour a day using two hands, but that doesn’t allow for much writing that’s not at an agonizingly slow pace. Instead, I’ve been working on some editing projects and writing a couple of things, but keystroke by keystroke in the hunt-and-peck method.

As a writer in my day-job, I slowed my pace and by relying on the software—Dragon and I call “her” Dixie the Dragon—for most of my work, I had to change how I approached my articles. Instead of taking notes and organizing them into story format as I wrote, I had to take notes one-handed, input the notes manually and cut and past them into a sort of outline and then talk-write one-handed.

To say the least, it was tiring, because I was processing information in a new way. I sort of wanted to quit, because I wasn’t really writing. I was talking into a headset in a newsroom while everyone could hear me think, but then I started liking it. I found a way to orally keep my style and realized a story can be told in many ways.

I fell back in love, and here’s why:

  • Writing is a way to get into the self and figure out what you really think or feel about something.
  • It’s a way to be creative.
  • It’s a way to play around with words and language.
  • It’s a way to improve your understanding of words and how to be concise with language and how to effectively get message across.
  • It’s a way to have a hobby (or a job) that can result in a physical product.
  • It’s a way to express yourself, use your intelligent and creative mind at the same time, and make connections with text, memory or experiences that you might not otherwise make by thinking or talking.
  • It’s a way to tell stories and disappear into another world, where you don’t see the page and can’t tell you’re writing.
  • It’s a way to be whoever you want to be and do whatever you want to do, going places and doing things you might not do otherwise.
  • And it’s interesting to find out what it is you created after spending a few minutes or hours on a story or essay. It’s a process of discovery.

Lastly, it gives you a sense of accomplishment after completing a story, meeting a word or time goal and finishing a novel or other large project.

In essence, it’s reciprocal, just like love, because you give your words and you get back a product, starting in rough draft form. But as you get to know each other even more, you develop a relationship, turning something rough into your perfect match.