Exercise and Fitness

Exercise Tips for Overweight People
Ideas to shape up for the new year.

Screenwriting Articles

Beginning Screenwriters: Avoid These Mistakes
Things to avoid if you'd like a reader to actually read your screenplay.

Effects of the Writers Guild Strike
Clearing up misconceptions regarding the WGA Strike.

Choosing The 2008 Presidential Candidate
Why voting for Huckabee is a mistake.

Fire Recovery: Left Behind

A while back I found a website where fellow tenants connected and shared information periodically regarding how to go about getting our property back after the fire. I just visited the page again to publish the link next to an article I'd written about the whole experience and had a sad surprise.

Yesterday, a woman posted the fact that she still had not been able to retrieve her property. It's been over a year and these people have obviously yanked her around. Or worse, said nothing at all.

Though after dealing with them, nothing surprises me. Except the article I found praising them for their excellent customer service. What a joke!

My heart goes out to poor Jessica. The last I dealt with them, the landlord was yelling at me because I was the last tenant who still had property on the premises and I wouldn't let him throw it away. It was May when I finally got him backed into a corner enough for me to get the stuff.

And Then What?

My Bishop preached a good sermon today. He taught about sowing seeds among thorns. The thing that stuck in my head is the "And Then What" test. To determine if you're sowing seeds among thorns or not, you simply take the thing you're considering doing and ask yourself, "And Then What?" If you get a positive response, you are safe to sow where you were considering sowing.

To give this a concrete example from my own life, I've always wanted to publish romance novels. Finally, this past November, I wrote my first one as part of the NaNo competition. I'm currently scheduled to revise it so I can send it out to publishers. I'm also a member of a Master's Synchronized Swimming team. We're scheduled to compete at Worlds in Australia this coming April. How exciting is that!

I had to apply my "And Then What" test after practice today when several of my teammates decided to go out for a quick bite. I love my teammates, but I had to decline because the "And Then What" test on the go-with-them revealed that I would be spending money I needed to save for Australia and I wouldn't have time to do my scheduled revision today.

The "And Then What" on the go-home revealed that I'd stay on schedule and finish my book so I could send it out to publishers. The book could sell in the month or so and I'd have the money I need to go to Australia with the team.

So now, I'm about to go to bed content in the knowledge that I'm still on schedule and thus a step closer to competing in Australia.

Thanks, Bishop!

How can you apply the And Then What test to your life?