Food for the Soul

Blessed Pope John XXIII

During an RCIA session I was teaching on the Eucharist, I commented that my mother told me when I was a boy, "you are what you eat." I was trying to make the point that partaking in frequent Communion is a good thing, that by receiving the body and blood of our Lord, we can't help but become more like Him. In the middle of that talk, I had this thought: if I am what I eat, does that make me a potato? You see, I've never met a potato dish I didn't like.

I had an epiphany during our parish lenten mission. The speaker, Father Thomas McDermott, O.P., closed out one of the sessions by challenging us to pray about the one thing that was getting in the way of our spiritual growth. I was immediately hit with the thought that my weight has inhibited my ability to do more in the service of God and my fellow man. This was my biggest obstacle to getting closer to Christ.


So this realization has added a spiritual spin to my weight loss journey. I have now included prayer in asking for help in my weight loss.  I know losing weight will not come without difficulty, but those challenges will be opportunities to offer it up. 

I have searched for a patron saint for the weight challenged; there is none. I have two thoughts on potential patrons for those of us who are overweight: St. Thomas Aquinas and Blessed Pope John XXIII. There is some debate about whether or not St Thomas was obese, but there is no question that Pope John XXIII was. I have chosen him to intercede for me in my fight to get fit. I even have a picture of him as my wallpaper on my phone.


I now have a higher purpose for losing weight -- not to look good, but to be healthier so I can serve our Lord better. 

Day's of Summer: Title 1, Physicals and Outlines

My cluttered desk and laptop.

Today will mark the first day of summer break that didn't involve me having to work.  Monday was supposed to be my first day, but I had to attend a Title 1 training.  Yesterday, I had to finish an essay for the IPT Masters program to which I have applied.

So how do I get to spend my first day off? I am going to get poked and prodded for Part 2 of my annual physical exam. I don't know why I do this to myself every year.  I have about two weeks between the time school ends for the summer and when the debate institute I work at begins.  For those two weeks, I try to cram in all the doctor visits I have put off.  I sprinkle in a few honey-do's and the two weeks are done.

I hope to spend the last half of the day outlining part of the story for the book I am finishing this summer.  I might even spend some time developing some character back stories to help them come alive for me. Both of these will be new approaches for me as I normally just sit down and start writing. 

Stacey will tell you the worst part of my writing process is that I can labor over a sentence or even a word choice for hours.  In all my years of writing for school, work or pleasure, I have never started with an outline.  In fact, when I was required to turn in an outline in school, I would write the paper and then fabricate an outline to go with it.  I also don't do too much rewriting (in the traditional sense) because I spend a great deal of time editing as I go. This slows me down.

This summer I am going to scrap my old way of writing and try a few new things.  First, I am going to try using some minor outlining in my process.  Secondly, I am going to set a daily goal word count (2,500/day) and not worry about editing until later.

I figure the old ways have not led to a complete novel so change is in order.  Wasn't it Einstein who said doing the same thing over and over again and expecting new results is insanity?  

Summer Book Project

So the results are in from the poll I posted on this blog to help me decide which book project to finish this summer.  The winner is...(drum roll)...Lights Out!

While I have no intention of placing a page limit on the book, I do believe it must be at least 400 pages long. This means I will have to write an average of 2,500-3,000 words a day for the time I have available to write full-time this summer.

My hope is to make this book project interactive.  I will post excerpts from the book as I go along and I may even post difficulties with character development or plot sequences. We'll see.