Writing Practice Prescription

Don’t you just love to go to your writing group and watch the nervous two-step that some of the participants demonstrate when they read? Perhaps you know the drill. The writer starts to read and then sees a mistake and grabs a pencil or pen to correct the writing. Two sentences later, the same thing [...]

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by
Carol Kinsey Goman, PhD

A new study from the University of Chicago found that the more gestures babies used at 14 months (shaking a head “no,” raising arms to be picked up, pointing at an object of interest, etc.), the more words they had in their vocabulary at 3ˆ years old. Which is no surprise to [...]

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Rare diseases work as a plague on patients and their families–few understand their plight and even fewer have sympathy for the victims of these diseases.
What is a “rare disease?” A disease that lives as an “orphan” condition in the House of Medicine, defies diagnosis, and one that consists of vague and changing symptoms. The National [...]

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A recent Speakers’ Conference featured a keynote speech delivered by a motivational speaker who had just retired from the CEO position of a major, well-known airline. His presentation reflected his philosophy of life which matched the philosophy of his former airline. The color scheme used in his slides reflected the colors that identified that well-known [...]

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At the San Francisco Writers Conference last weekend I had the opportunity to listen to a wonderful presenter by the name of Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. Carol presented a workshop on The Nonverbal Advantage for Writers.
Her handout is reprinted here with her permission:
The Truth About Liars
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.
“You’re next in line for a promotion.”
“Let’s [...]

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The 2009 San Francisco Writers Conference held this past weekend at the Mark Hopkins Hotel was a hugh success. I loved hearing all the success stories from past conference atendees and was inspired to get home to Write! Write! Write!
I only got to hear one keynote speech: Richard Paul Evans who wrote The Christmas Box. [...]

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by
Ellen Taliaferro, MD
“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent [...]

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Does Disease Have Meaning?

Disease of Meaning, Manifestations of Health, and Metaphor
Disease does have meaning, according to the authors of a 1999 editorial in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. They begin their provoking editorial with the thought that the reigning biomolecular model of healthcare commonly sees disease and health as distinct opposites. These authors [...]

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It’s time to think outside the pill box.
Sir William Osler had a lot to say about this:

“One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicine.”
“Man has an inborn craving for medicine. Heroic dosing for several generations has given his tissues a thirst for drugs. The desire to [...]

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Many of us have ongoing struggles with our weight. We find that “diets” don’t work for the most part nor do most of the “gimmicks” that go around.
But here’s a question: Can a writing practice help you lose weight? Writing guru Julia Cameron of The Artist’s Way book says, “Yes.”
Check out an interview with her [...]

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