Overdue blog

Hi, everybody –

Between the book, the show, the summer, and the fact that my computer has been on the fritz for two weeks (still in the shop---I’ve co-opted my husband’s to do this), I am, again, behind. So: I’ll write fast.

I hope all is well with you. I’m so grateful that you want to visit and keep up with my meager goings-on. Let’s see, fun stuff: well, I had a delightful guest on my radio show this week, a young comedian named Wendy Spero (www.wendyspero.com) who has a brand new book out called Microthrills: Reflections on a Life of Small Highs. If you like David Sedaris, you’ll love Wendy Spero. She tells these great tales of growing up with a single mom who’s a sex therapist, and how she’s recently moved to LA and is learning to drive for the first time. “In NY,” she says, “I could get up and go to the deli and know that there was no possibility that I’d kill anybody. Driving in LA, that’s no longer the case.” Anyway, she’s fun and funny and enchanting; do take a look at her stuff.

And last week I had some instruction in funniness myself: I took a Second City improv workshop, 3 agonizing hours a day. It was called the adult class, but in that context “adult” meant “finished high school.” I felt like Moses. And improv is so, I don’t know, revealing. Plus you have to do these “games.” I’ve never been much for games, even as a kid. They’re worse now. These were games like playing catch around the circle with an invisible ball; you only know you’re supposed to catch it through eye contact. Then, to make it really fun, a dagger throw is added: you catch the invisible ball with cupped hands, the invisible dagger with a clap. When they’re both flying around at once, it’s borderline terrifying. I so wanted to bolt. Much to my credit (and good grief, how could I write self-help books if I couldn’t handle 15 hours of improvisational comedy with sharp, hip, bright, barely pubescent classmates?), I stuck the whole thing out. One of the young guys told me at the end that I was brave. And I thought, “Ya know what, I was.” It was just little-brave, but courage comes in all sizes.

I’m three 10-chapter sections down on Fat, Broke & Lonely: The Stupid Lie that Runs Your Life & the 5 Power Principles for Breaking Free. The first principle deals with filling inner emptiness, the second with food and weight issues, the third with money issues. They’re good. I’m pleased with them and hope you and lots of new readers I don’t even know yet will be, too. Now I’m on the “lonely” part. And it’s a bear. I realize that even fat and broke, as painful as those states can be, can have some irony in them, and you can laugh at yourself and deal with the situation. Lonely is just plain depressing. I’m finding this section very hard to write. Part of it is that it’s bringing up memories with a lot of pain in them. But if I don’t go through those memories again, I won’t have anything to write, so I have to either face the feelings or face missing my deadline which I really don’t want to do. Since I’m way behind on the book with the computer troubles and all, I’ve booked myself a room at a vegetarian bed and breakfast on the Jersey Shore for the last few days of August. I need to get totally away from my life---away from email, the phone, the family, everything. I know it will jumpstart the remainder of the process. Once “lonely” is put to bed (please, God, soon…), I’ll finish up with a section on living remarkably and leaving a legacy. I look forward to writing that.

James, my 16-year-old stepson, is here from Toronto for the month. He’s a delightful kid, very bright and inquisitive. I wish my book deadline and his visit weren’t juxtaposed the way they are. I’m hoping for a free afternoon to go down to TeaNY (Moby’s coffee shop in the Lower East Side) where he and I have gone before and kind of bonded. He and William came to my show on Saturday and James seemed to enjoy that. The Sirius studios are very cool with a lot of intentional graffiti and pictures of stars and fully outfitted music studios with bands in them. Although it’s pretty quiet on Saturday when I do my shows (the first one is live; the second one is taped to air on Sunday), I think it looked pretty fly through 16-year-old eyes.

Adair is opening in The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe next week, and it will be fun to see her in a large role again. She is so committed and works so hard. I couldn’t have done that at 23.

I guess that’s about it from me for now. If you’re in the NY area, I’m speaking Sunday August 20^th at Unity of New York, Symphony Space, 95^th & Broadway, 11 a.m. The topic is “The Elegant Art of the Spiritual Life.” It would be lovely to see you. And to you, wherever you are on this beautiful planet, may you have a day that is downright charmed.

My very best,

Victoria

A Blog-ette

So many people have expressed an interest in my interview with Immaculée Ilibagiza, author of Left to Tell: Finding God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, that I wanted to let those of you who don’t have Sirius Satellite in on a cost-effective way to sign up or have a temporary free trial so you can at least listen to the show with Immaculée:

If you don't have Sirius, you can go to their website at http://www.sirius.com and either buy a full subscription OR get the free 3-day trial membership that will allow you to listen on your computer via the internet.

This is thanks to my brilliant assistant, Joya Scott, who can find things online I couldn’t begin to think of. (William and I went to her play, The Answer Is Horse, yesterday and it was terrific.)

Best wishes,

Victoria

A Midsummer Day’s Blog

Hello, all. I’m three days late on my promised 15th/30th schedule, but sometimes I believe these things take form when they’re supposed to.

We’re having a lovely summer day after several scorchers. I promised I wouldn’t complain since the winter here pretty much lasts till June, but when it was too humid to breathe, I complained a little.



To anyone who didn’t get the mailing about the audio of Fit from Within: it is ready and available from www.simplyaudiobooks.com. It is free for the first 30 days, but at least half of that, maybe more, has passed, so if you’d like a downloadable audiobook of Fit from Within: 101 Simple Secrets to Change Your Body & Your Life at no cost, go the Simply Audiobooks site right now.



William and I have been walking to Central Park on my non-gym mornings and climbing the rock outcroppings. We pretend it’s the wilderness. I know: pitiful, right? The park is wonderful, though. This morning we saw some kind of long-beaked water bird on one of the ponds. All the birds are friendly and we go so early it’s kind of private and very quiet. Quite a few homeless people sleep in the park, though, and that’s sad. Sometimes we’ll climb a rock and when we get to the top of it, there’ll be a guy, sometimes two or three, asleep on the hard rock. It’s illegal to stay in the park overnight, so I guess sleeping on a rock is arrest-proof in a way a ground-level bench would not be. The fact that there are homeless people seems very wrong to me. I spent my formative years when, with the exception of “bums” confined to one district of major cities, everybody had a place to live.



I’m working hard on Fat, Broke and Lonely and think I have some good stuff. Prayers appreciated. As you know, this book was not my idea and I have to trust that it was given to me to write because I really am the person to write it, that it will reach its intended audience, do good in the world, and carry me to my next indicated thing. My deadline was moved up from 12/1 to 9/15 so I’m aiming at a chapter (about 1200 words) a day. When the Muse shows up---today she did---that’s easy. When she doesn’t, it’s a grind.



The radio show is the most fun. I love it to pieces. I hope you get Sirius Satellite as soon as you can so you can listen. I think you can now get a subscription and listen on your computer so you don’t have to buy a special radio as was the case before. If you’re interested, go to www.sirius.com and see what it says. I’m techno-challenged, but I did hear this over at the Sirius studios so it should be right.





This is Weddings Week at Martha Stewart Living so my guest for Saturday will be Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway, author of The Wedding Goddess: Turning Wedding Stress Into Wedding Bliss, and afterwards I’ll tape the show that will air Sunday, July 30, probably the most important show I’ve done so far. I’ll have on Imaculee Ilibagiza whom you may have seen on the last PBS special with Wayne Dyer. Imaculee survived the Rwandan genocide, although it took almost her entire family and she herself was starved and hunted for three months. During this time of going through what no being God ever made should have to, she had profound spiritual experiences that led to her knowing that she had to forgive the murderers. She prayed 15 to 20 hours a day while hidden in a tiny bathroom with eight other women and wasting away to 65 pounds. When she prayed, the fear left her. She became convinced that although evil had overtaken these people, their souls were not evil; they had done horrific things and had to be held responsible for their actions but they were still God’s children. Her book is Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwadan Holocaust. Please buy this book and read it and let it lift you up. Christiane Northrup gave a blurb and said, “This book renwed my faith in God and the Universe in a profound and real way that has changed me forever.” I so concur. I want to give it as a gift to everyone I know. We need this kind of faith and love right now, maybe more than ever.



The world situation weighs heavy on my mind, of course. Living here in New York, I know a lot of people with family in Israel and some with family in Lebanon and Syria. It is so frightening, so inexplicable. Especially after reading Imaculee’s book and seeing how absurd war and killing looks when there’s even a little space of time for looking back, the idea that it’s happening again---in Israel and Lebanon, in Iraq, in other places around the world---is totally baffling to me. One of our New York papers bore the headline today: “Hez Says US Is Next.” It was an ugly, paper-selling pronouncement but it got me to do the disaster preparedness they say everyone should. I bought batteries and canned food and bottled water. William tried to make light of it all by saying, “Why did you get cat food? If there were an emergency, we’d eat the cat.” And then he gave me that grin that makes him look about twelve years old.



Last weekend we went to a cabaret performance because our neighbor, veteran composer and performer, John Wallowitch was appearing. One of the other artists on the program was Julie Gold, composer of the moving song Bette Midler recorded, “From a Distance.” You know the one: “From a distance, we are instruments, playing in a common band. It’s a song of hope, a song of peace, a song of everyman….” It seems so apropos, so necessary. I wish it could be piped into the halls of Congress and the UN and everywhere else that people make decisions that impact the world. Julie has agreed to be on my show this fall---appropriately on Veteran’s Day, November 11. I am so excited and grateful.



And life goes on: working out, climbing rocks, writing at Starbucks every morning, tending to the rest of my multi-faceted business life at home in the afternoons. (It’s weird to call what I do a business. I mean, I make my living at it, but I don’t think of it as a business. It’s more a calling or a commitment or a passion or just what I came here to do.) My daughter Adair opens tonight in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” at the Inwood Shakespeare Festival (obviously not all Shakespeare, but all classical theatre) in Inwood Park way Uptown. We are in Midtown (in the 50s), the main drag of Harlem is 125th St., and Inwood Park where she’s performing is around 214th St. It’s hardly like New York: hilly, full of trees, but still Manhattan Island. Adair never likes people she knows coming to her shows until they’ve been up for awhile so William and Sian (William’s daughter) and Nick (Adair’s husband) and I will see it weekend after next. By then, Adair will be in rehearsals for The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe, a children’s theater production in which she has the female lead.



Tonight William and I will go down to the East Village to my favorite restaurant Caravan of Dreams. We’ll have dinner with Pam Grout, author of wonderful books including God Doesn’t Have Bad Hair Days, and her 12-year-old daughter Tasmin. Pam does a lot of travel writing and this summer they’re a mom-and-daughter travelin’ team going all over the country.



Tomorrow night we’ll have dinner in the theatre district with Jack Moran, my first (deceased) husband’s eldest brother who will be in from Kansas City with his wife. He and his son Greg (a doctor in LA who does some script-writing for the TV series ER) do an admirable job of keeping Adair and me as part of the Moran family. Jack officiated at Adair and Nick’s wedding but we haven’t seen him since then.



I spoke in Orlando last week for the American Auctioneer’s Association Auxiliary, but otherwise I’m staying close to home, writing, doing life-coaching by telephone, and filling in the upcoming weekends with radio guests. My days are very happy. I hope yours are, too.



My very best,

Victoria

Something to blog about…

July 4, 2006

Happy holiday (and to you who are self-employed: what are you doing at your computer? It’s a holiday.) Of course, I’m at my computer but am feeling enough of the holiday spirit to be taking some blog-time instead of jumping right into my writing for the day.

My life has been rich and full. The past few days we’ve had as our houseguest from Kansas City, Chris Michaels, author of Your Soul’s Assignment. (You can read about it at www.yoursoulsassignment.com and order it from online booksellers.) He was the guest on my live show on Saturday (www.charmedliferadio.com). I taped two other shows, first Michelle Anton with Weekend Entrepreneur: 101 Great Ways to Earn Extra Cash (that one will air in September when I’m in Vermont for a wedding). I so took to Michelle and if she moves back to NY from LA I think we’ll be friends. It’s funny because Michelle was the longtime executive producer for Dr. Laura, whom I listened to almost every day from 1992 to 1999 as I drove my daughter to her various classes and activities. Much of the time I was in total disagreement with Dr. L., but it was compelling radio. And every day she would say, “Michelle Anton, selecting our music and screening your calls…” It was so interesting to be sitting with this woman whose name I’d heard Monday through Friday for the better part of a decade.

My second taping was Sherry Boone, my spiritual “action partner” and an amazing soprano who’s appeared on Broadway in Jelly’s Last Jam, Marie Christine, and Ragtime. Our topic: “Star Quality.” Sherry and I had such a lively conversation I kept thinking “TV show, TV show. . .I think we could have a TV show. . .” We’ll see about that. You can hear the radio show if you’d like on Sunday, July 9, 2 p.m. Eastern, on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius 112. Even if you don’t have Sirius and you have to sit in somebody else’s car, I think this will be worth tuning in for. It was very spirited and Sherry definitely has “star quality”---the real thing, not sham and show---down pat.

Anyway, after Sherry’s taping she and Chris and I went to Rockefeller Center for iced tea at the café that, in the winter, is the ice rink. It was a bright, warm, glorious day and this spectacular city was showing itself off. I felt so full. ‘You know how it is when you are so content, so in your right place, so surrounded by people you think are magnificent that you really do get that “cup runneth over” feeling? That was how it was.

On Sunday Chris spoke for Unity of New York with the message that we are indeed here only to love. He told the story of his relationship with his dad, a man who is very narrow in his views of life, lifestyle, and religion. For years the two of them did not speak. Then Chris realized that he didn’t have to understand his father, only love him. And when he did that, the love poured out from his dad’s side, too. They still don’t understand each other and his father has never been to Chris’s church (the Center for Spiritual Living in Kansas City), heard him speak, or read his book. And yet, they love one another today. (If you want to hear Chris speak---he is gifted---go to www.cslkc.org.)

After church, Chris and my husband William and I saw the final performance of Doubt on Broadway. It was a gripping drama, superbly acted by Dame Aileen Atkins and Ron Eldard. I usually only pay Broadway prices for musicals, but the dramas can be so moving. I mentioned in my last blog going to the Wednesday matinee of Awake & Sing! There was a small black dog in the show and during a pregnant pause in the second act, an elderly man in the audience announced for all to hear: “That dog’s a really good actor.” Ah, the theater!

Another moving and adventurous day for me was Thursday, June 29. I usually dash off to Starbucks to work on my book first thing, but that morning I read the newspaper before I left and learned that the entire collection of Martha Luther King’s written artifacts---homework from school and seminary, letters, notes for speeches and sermons, telegrams---would be on display at Sotheby’s just until 1 p.m. that afternoon. My schedule said I was to write from 8 to 12:00, have lunch, and be home by 1 to meet up with my assistant for an afternoon of work on the radio show and the various clerical and organizational tasks of keeping my multi-lane little business afloat. But I knew I was supposed to be at Sotheby’s, so I went.

And it was breathtaking. I was fighting tears as soon as I got in the room. I’m always moved by people’s handwritten works. It’s as if they leave a bit of themselves behind with the words. And rather like the psychics who claim they can “read” a person if they’re holding her necklace or his money clip, I felt I was with Dr. King as I perused his voluminous writings. Later, when I did get to my computer, I was enlivened. It was if spending an hour in the presence of greatness had opened the channels for inspiration to flow to me.

That evening, I went to the Oxonian Society to hear Ralph Abernathy. The Oxonians are the Oxford alumni in New York, but there are so few of them they let other people join, too, and they bring in luminaries to speak a few times a month. I know that not everyone likes Ralph Abernathy, but I like him a lot. He talked about the danger of narrow morality, “bedroom morality,” he called it, and how focusing so narrowly on the issues of abortion and gay marriage can shut people’s eyes to war, poverty, disease, children without health care and so forth. As a speaker he was funny and powerful. And when I asked if he’d be on my radio show, he said he would. I don’t do politics on my show but I do like looking at fascinating people who have something to say. If people disagree, they can call in.

The final thing I’ll share is about my talk on June 25 at Mama Gena’s School of the Womanly Arts (www.mamagenas.com ) . I’d heard about Mama Gena’s from TV---it’s been featured on Today and all over the place---and knew it was a program to teach woman to accept and enjoy themselves sexually and passionately, to unleash the power of pleasure and the power within. They use my book Fit from Within as one of their texts, and I’d had this date to speak on my calendar for a couple of months. When the day came, however, I was tired, my book deadline had been moved up, and I could have used a Sunday afternoon off. Then I got there. What amazing energy!---150 women believing in themselves and their right to enjoy their bodies and their lives. Mama Gena greeted me and said, “By the way, there are some VIPs in the front row---Dr. Christiane Northrup and her daughters, and Heather Graham.”

Wow. Dr. Northrup has endorsed two of my books but we’d never met. And Heather Graham---my goodness! Rollergirl! And I’d loved her in The Guru, a comedy with a message. Well, VIPs or not, out I went to “Here Comes the Sun,” the theme song for my radio show, blaring from mega-speakers. It was thrilling. I spoke about the gist of Fit from Within---if eating is a problem, give it to your Higher Power; be willing to sit through the cravings until they go away; and treat yourself very, very well. Then I shared the “free square” concept from Creating a Charmed Life and that day’s idea from Younger by the Day, “More Fun Tomorrow.”

During the q & a, a woman had a question about her husband who’d started writing and how she could help him. As part of my answer, I shared that my husband had also started writing (The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing the Harmonica and The New American Expat) and had also written a wonderful screenplay. There’s some serious interest in it and, just as she’s plugging for her husband to get a publisher, I’m praying and envisioning that William’s screenplay becomes a movie. At the book table afterwards, a woman came up to me who works for a major studio. She said they’re looking for family-friendly scripts and for William to send his over, which he has done.

Of course there are no guarantees about anything, but I absolutely love seeing how the flow of life energy works. I was there, book deadline and all, met some people I’m so happy to know, shared the ideas I believe in with women who were open and receptive, and may have helped William take one further step toward his dream. Just thinking of how things work in that way makes me smile.

In closing, I just want to let you know that there is an article in the August issue of Body & Soul called “Dare to Dream!” I didn’t write it but I was interviewed for it and they use my vision map as the illustration for how to do one. So if you have any interest in learning more about vision-mapping and taking a look at my current one (it has the cutest picture of a pig on it…), get yourself the August Body & Soul. (And my show on Saturday July 8 will be about vision-mapping.)

Okay, friends, I’d better get my breakfast and head down to the café to write. I go there to get the stimulation of other people and the blissful isolation of knowing that nobody needs me for anything. That seems to be the perfect balance for writing. Be well and happy and thanks for stopping by. I’ll do another entry in the middle of the month.

May your life be charmed,
Victoria

June 20, 2006

Dear friends, readers, and listeners --

There’s an old song that goes, “I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter….” That’s what I told myself just now: before I empty the dishwasher, put the fresh produce away, make dinner, and eat it, I’m gonna write myself a letter and send it out to all of you.

This won’t have regular newsletter format and I can’t promise one of those until my book is finished. Still, so many new people have signed up for the list, I wanted to at least send out a blog entry and let all of you, longtime subscribers and brand new ones, know that you’re appreciated and thought of.

The news from here is that I’m probably busier than a self-care advocate ought to be, but I’m busy with the life I always dreamed of, so it can’t be all bad. And I’m taking a suggestion myself from Creating a Charmed Life and “practicing the vacation principle” tomorrow. I’m taking myself to a Wednesday matinee of Awake and Sing! which won the Tony this year for best revival of a play. It will be playing hooky, however, because my editor has asked if I can have the new book (with a subtitle I’m finally crazy about) in by mid-September instead of December 1. That would guarantee a summer pub date for Fat, Broke & Lonely: The Stupid Life that Runs Your Life and 5 Smart Strategies for Breaking Free. Otherwise, it will come out in January ’08 which is far, far off and winter. I toured with Younger by the Day in January ‘05 and it was pretty rough.

In the meantime, the book and the radio show have me in harness. My assistant, Joya Scott, is working out beautifully and I think she’ll be able to start coming ten hours a week instead of eight. I wish I could have her all the time, but not only is that in my budget, she has exciting things of her own to do, notably directing a play she conceived herself (about the notorious Stanley Milgram experiments in the 60s) for an upcoming festival.

I am loving the radio show and hope that if you have Sirius Satellite, or know someone who has it, that you’re tuning in. “A Charmed Life” is my live show on Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius 112, on Saturday afternoons at 2 p.m. Eastern; it re-airs during the early, early (5 a.m. Eastern!) “life-coaching hour” on the same channel Tuesday mornings. Just this month, I’ve expanded to a second show, “A Charmed Life 2,” which airs on Sunday afternoons at 2 o’clock Eastern, with a Thursday a.m. prequel in the life-coaching hour. If you don’t have Sirius but you’re interested (and it is terrific: Martha’s channel alone is well worth the cost of the radio and subscription, and it’s only one of over 120 great stations to choose from), go to www.marthastewart.com and click on “radio” or go to www.sirius.com.

A guest I taped last month (to air September 9 when I’ll be speaking in Louisville) was Lori Finlay Hamilton (www.womenwisdomwellness) sent me this today as motivation for my writing, and I’m passing it on to you to use in bringing your current dream into being:

Remember to write down your vision statement

• who, what, when, where, how

then...your benefit statement

• anything you dream of
• it could be the smell of the new pages, and feel of the hard back
• could be an awesome vacation with your husband
• could be a day at central park
• or something much more exotic
• could be your own TV show ;)
• just use all 5 senses as you beautifully construct this perfect dream occasion

Then read it daily with wonderful music. Things will flow into place. And...BTW....I needed the reminder of this great feminine form of power!

—Lori Finlay Hamilton, www.womenwisdomwellness.com.

I’ve had lots of wonderful radio guests recently. Yesterday I taped a show (that will air June 29 and July 2) with Dawna Stone who won “The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.” She’s absolutely delightful: motivated, motivational, and a real fitness role model. She was a competitive swimmer, does triathlons, and founded Her Sports and Fitness magazine. This Saturday I’m interviewing Barbara Stanny, the H&R Bloch heiress who ended up with money troubles and has since become a financial guru in her own right; her latest book is Overcoming Underearning. (The full lineup of all the shows is on www.marthastewart.com and www.charmedliferadio.com.)

In other personal news, my husband William and I joined a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) this summer and have been getting beautiful fresh produce every Tuesday afternoon, today included (that’s the produce I have to put away). The split-out is in front of a church on the Upper East Side. It’s such a lovely juxtaposition: lettuce and bok choy, radishes and fresh herbs with farm soil sticking to the roots, in the middle of Manhattan. And the vegetables are so fresh---like they were picked in heaven (or somewhere close).

Speaking of juxtapositions, last week William and I went to the Gretchen Wilson “Redneck Revival” (you know I didn’t make that up) concert at Radio City Music Hall. It was such a hoot. Half the audience was in cowboy hats and boots. The prior evening, however, I’d been a guest somewhere very different: a posh and sedate French restaurant. The dinner discussion was stimulating and the women around the table fascinating, but I was distressed that the menu featured foie gras three times. I’d just done leafleting the week before to educate people on the cruelty of foie gras and I plan to be as involved as I can in the effort to have it banned in New York City, as it has been in Chicago, the state of California, and a dozen countries around the world. Even Pope Benedict has spoken out against what has been called “the cruelest food in the world.” (If you’d like to know more, you can visit www.nofoiegras.com.)

Sunday before last, I spoke at Unity of New York and had a wonderful time. You know, sometimes things just work. It was like that. My topic was “The Oldtime Religion.” (I think you can order a CD of that talk by calling the church at 212-560-0756.) That evening, the local raw food support group held their seasonal potluck here. I’m not a raw-foodist but I get close in the summer. Having the party here further inspired me. Twenty-eight people attended (in a New York apartment, that alone is rather magical) and the food was great. Some people kept it simple---luscious fresh fruit---and others made raw vegan lasagna and seed cheeses and amazing “chocolate” puddings and coconut cream pie. (For more info on the group and its activities, you can visit www.rawdish.com.)

My daughter Adair is rehearsing for the Inwood Shakespeare Festival here in the city, and my son-in-law Nick has a role in the in-production movie of The Nanny Diaries. It’s a fairly small part (he plays a mime) but he’ll have a credit which should mean that he and Adair will be attending the premier when the film comes out next year. My stepdaughter Sian, an up-and-coming makeup artist, has been coming down from Toronto a lot to go to makeup classes at MAC. At the MAC store downtown, she ran into one of the finalists from America’s Next Top Model. I think she’ll be moving to NYC since she wants to work with models, runway shows, and fashion shoots.

Oh, I have some books to recommend! A couple of fun summer novels are Glamorous Disasters by Eliot Schrefer, and 24-Karat Kids by Dr. Judy Goldstein and Sebastian Stewart. The former is by a young man who was an SAT tutor for the East Side upper crust, the latter the tale of a middle-class gal from Queens who becomes a Park Avenue pediatrician. They’re real page-turners. I felt like I was on vacation as I read them. On a more scholarly note, a book on writing I’m loving right now is Spunk & Bite by Arthur Plotnik. And the downloadable audio (free for the first month!) of Fit from Within should be showing up soon on www.simplyaudiobooks.com.

That is going to have to do it from me for tonight. I will ask Joya on Thursday to start collecting info for a proper newsletter next time. In the meanwhile, please come by the blog either on my site, on Amazon, or at blogger.com. I am promising myself (and you) that I’ll write something for the blog on the 1^st and 15^th of every month. In the meantime, enjoy summer (it took a long time coming, at least to the Northeast) and treat yourself very, very well.

May 29, 2006

Happy holiday weekend. I feel that with every blog entry I find myself apologizing for not having done one sooner. It’s hard to get to everything, although I have hired an awesome part-time assistant. I feel very blessed to have found her. Her name is Joya. Someone told me that means “jewel” in Portuguese. I think she is one.

A problem I’ve discussed with other authors is that many of us feel that we’re “word-drained.” It’s interesting: we used to write only our books and articles for publication, but now a lot of us, myself included, are also doing blogs and newsletters and presentations, as well as composing emails for hours every day. It seems, then, that when we sit down to really write, our brains are kind of cleared out. My response to this is to do my writing for publication early in the morning when I’m freshest. I can meditate first, and go to the gym, but other than ME care (ME=meditation and exercise), writing has to be the first act of the day.

And I am pleased to report that the book in progress, Fat, Broke and Lonely, is, I do believe finally revealing itself to me. It’s been tough, like decoding a puzzle, but it’s coming through. I have six months left to finish the writing and I do believe that will be enough.

Some rather glittery things have been going on that I do want to share with you. This past Friday evening I was invited by my friend, the amazing soprano Sherry Boone (www.operaathome.com), to an wonderful evening honoring author, Nobel Laureate, and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison who is leaving Princeton University after twenty years on the faculty there. The event was held in the Allen Room in the Time-Warner Building (the fabulous room with floor-to-ceiling windows and a view of Central Park, where Ellen Degeneres did her show when she was in New York a few months ago). Sweet Honey in the Rock performed; Phylicia Rashad and Tavis Smiley were among those doing readings; and Morgan Freeman and Bill Clinton were among those giving tributes to Ms. Morrision (I was two rows behind Bill Clinton: I kept telling myself, “You’re really not in Kansas anymore.”)

Sherry Boone, my friend and confidante, sang the most moving aria, with lyrics by the multi-talented honoree. I was ready to jump up and start the first standing ovation of the evening, but magically and wonderfully President Clinton and Toni Morrison beat me to it! I was practically in tears. Someone I know and love, and someone that I know works very, very hard both at her craft and at keeping real life afloat as an artist in this city, was honored by a man who led the free world and a woman who’s received a Nobel Prize. I will hold that image and that memory in my heart for a long, long time.

It was a totally amazing evening. Afterwards, I went out to hail a cab and the heavens opened with an extremely generous rainstorm. Taxis were hard to come by and I stood there literally watching my vintage blouse shrink its way from having full-length sleeves to three-quarter. When a cab finally showed up, I took off my favorite heels to wade through a puddle to the taxi door. It was so, I don’t know, Breakfast-at-Tiffany’s-like? I smiled till my jaws ached.

And that was my second glittery shindig in a week! (Something is happening; I’m just not sure what….) Anyway, the previous Saturday night was the 20th Annual gala for Farm Sanctuary (www.farmsanctuary.org), the first farm animal shelter and refuge in America. The president and cofounder of Farm Sanctuary, Gene Bauston, was the guest on my radio show that day and because I’m “press” now, William and I were invited to the VIP reception. This was a genuine paparazzi event: I’ve never seen so many flashbulbs outside the E Network. Among the luminaries were Moby, Mariel Hemingway, Alicia Silverstone, James Cromwell, Swoosie Kurtz, Greg Germann (whom we’d just seen in Friends with Money), Loretta Swit, Lindsay Wagner, Joan Van Ark, Persia White, Daryl Hannah, and the very personable Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

My mother-in-law was a supporter of Kucinich’s candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the last election and we asked if he’d write her a note. He did, and signed it “Best wishes and love…” I’m not sure our country is ready for someone who signs notes to supporters with “love,” but I look forward to the day that we will be. (Rep. Kucinich is going to be a guest on my show with his lovely bride Elizabeth. I don’t do politics on the show so they’re going to talk about how they found true love. The story, which is delightful, is on his website: www.kucinich.us.)

The most thrilling and inspiring part of the evening, however, was that it was for the animals. This is a cause so close to my heart. There was something to celebrate, the recent ban in the city of Chicago on the sale of foie gras, “fatty liver,” called “the cruelest food in the world.” It’s been denounced by Pope Benedict and outlawed by a dozen countries and the state of California. The Chicago ban is another step is a compassionate direction. A campaign is beginning to get a ban enacted here in New York City. It will be a struggle since many fancy restaurants believe that serving it is essential, but I want to be part of the movement to educate people about this and hopefully help the Big Apple go foie-gras-free just like the Windy City. (If you’re interested in this, there’s a website: www.nofoiegras.com).

Yesterday’s guests on A Charmed Life (Martha Stewart Living Radio, Sirius 112) were an integrative cardiologist Patrick Fratellone, MD, (www.fratellonemedical.com) and raw food chef and author Rhio (www.rawfoodinfo.com). Her cookless book, Hooked on Raw, may be my very favorite raw food recipe book. And she was kind enough to provide the following recipes to share with you. So I’ll sign off with appreciation for your support of my work and your interest in my goings-on. My very best,
Victoria

Blueberry Jello

1 pint blueberries
2 bananas
1/2 lemon or lime, juiced

1) Blend all the ingredients in a blender. Pour into custard cups and chill. Makes 4 custard cups. Keeps for 2 days in the refrigerator.

Hibiscus Punch

Hibiscus is a flower which is dried and much used in Mexico as a refreshing beverage. This punch could be the original Kool-Aid. If kids ask for Kool-Aid, try giving them this instead.

FOR 2 QUARTS OF PUNCH:

1 1/2 quarts of filtered water
1/4 cup dried hibiscus flowers
1 pint of mixed fresh fruit juices (try orange, tangerine and/or pineapple juice)
3 tbsp. raw honey or to taste
garnish with a few grapes

1) Put the dried hibiscus flowers into 1 1/2 quarts of filtered water, stir and let sit at room temperature overnight or for at least 3 hours. The water will become a beautiful shade of pink.

2) Drain the flowers and discard. Transfer the hibiscus water to a punch bowl, add the other ingredients and blend well. Refrigerate until cold.

3) When ready to serve, float grapes in the punch bowl. Serve with a slice of tangerine on the rim of each glass.

If you want a gallon, double the recipe. Keeps for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator.

Almond Milk

1 cup soaked almonds (soak overnight in filtered water)
3 to 3 1/2 cups filtered water

1) Drain the almonds.

2) Put the almonds into a blender with 1 1/2 cups of filtered water and blend well.
Add the remainder of the water and blend again.

3) Pour the mixture into a cotton or muslin bag or cloth and squeeze out all the milk. This is simple, plain almond milk.

For Sweet Almond Milk

4) Put the plain Almond Milk into a blender and add a few pitted dates and a little ground vanilla bean and blend well.

Yield: Almost a quart. Plain Almond Milk keeps for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. The Sweet Almond Milk keeps 1-2 days. After storage, the milk separates - so shake well before using.

Note: To grind a vanilla bean, put into a coffee grinder.

Note: You could use the same basic recipe to make Macadamia Milk, Brazil Nut Milk, Sunflower Milk, Oat Milk... you get the idea. There is no limit to the kind of milks you can create from soaked nuts, seeds and grains or a combination of them.

Hearty Buckwheat Porridge

1/4-1/2 cup hulled raw buckwheat
10-15 almonds
1/4 cup raisins or currants
1 banana
1 small mango (or other fruit like papaya or berries)_
1/2 cup filtered water
additional filtered water for soaking the buckwheat

1) At night, soak 1/4 to 1/2 cup raw buckwheat in one cup of filtered water.

2) In the morning, strain and rinse the buckwheat well. It will release a mucilaginous liquid, but keep rinsing until the water is clear.

3) Heat up 1/2 cup filtered water on the stove only to the point where you can still put your finger in, and then turn off the flame. Pour the hot filtered water into the blender, add in the rest of the ingredients and blend to a cream.

Serves 1

May 15, 2006

Hi, everybody –

Thanks for stopping in. I think I’ve found a part-time assistant and I’m thrilled. I’ve been so overwhelmed that the thought of a lot of those details easing up is absolutely delicious. I’ve chosen someone who’s very good with web stuff so I will soon be doing links and other web things I’ve not ventured into before.

I had a beautiful Mother’s Day and hope you did, too. Adair came over to watch the last three episodes of Big Love that I’d saved for her on Tivo. Then we went to her place to walk the dogs in Morningside Park---a lovely, woodsy, hilly place behind the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. It’s so rustic---you’d never believe you were in Manhattan. Mother’s Day dinner was at Zenith, a vegetarian restaurant we like in the theater district on 48th Street, Restaurant Row. And Adair gave me some feedback on my new book.

I admire her so much. She works hard---she’s on fulltime now at the health club where she works, plus training her personal clients, going to auditions, voice classes, rehearsals and performances, and being a wife, “mom” to two dogs (one an elder, one a puppy), co-homeowner, and volunteer dog-walker for a shelter. She’s also gone back to the Chinese studies she started when she was eight, taking classes and working with a language partner.

It’s interesting to look at her today, at twenty-three, and think back on our home-schooling past. I was of the “learning from life” philosophy and followed her lead quite a bit. Her interest in theater put literature and history into the curriculum; our travels broadened her horizon and led to the Chinese studies; math we did because we had to and science she’s become much more interested in now than she was as a kid. The home-schooling experts I read at the time emphasized that education should be a never-ending process, and I see that in my daughter today. (So I’m a boringly proud mom. Please allow me this Mother’s Day indulgence.)

I’d like to share with you the link to Body & Soul magazine. If you’ve been to my site or followed my blog, you know I’m a contributing writer there. They’re now featuring all their contributing writers---people like Cheryl Richardson, Jennifer Louden, and me---on their newly designed website, www.bodyandsoulmag.com. Take a look: I think you’ll like what you see.

It’s 7:30 and I’m still at my desk. Gosh, having an assistant will be like a day at the beach. Maybe I’ll even take a day at the beach! Have a wonderful week. Look closely at everything.