Crock Pot Cooking and the Food Pantry Visit

Crock Pot sauces are easy to make and they taste much better than the crap you get out of a can or jar.  Usually I do use cans of Del Monte, because it is priced to fit my budget   I simply add onion, peppers, meat and seasonings and let it cook all day. It has been known to fool people. LOL People think I do it homemade, but it is simply a shortcut here. Crock Pot Soups are good for you and so easy to make!  Try chicken noodle today! Toss a few pieces of chicken in the pot; add some broth, and seasonings. Allow it too cook all day on low When it is almost time to eat toss in some noodles. When food is running low at home and you need something to fill the bellies of your family rice always does the trick. I have a rice casserole that everyone seems to love. It is make with cream of mushroom soup, cheese, vegetables, chicken, and lots of rice. It is easy to prepare and it is filling. When the pantry gets way to empty and there is no money for food, it is overwhelming. I am a full time freelance writer but found myself in that position recently.  For two weeks, I simply limited my food intake, at the end of those two weeks I was eating once every two days so that my child could eat daily.  I ended up going to the local food pantry. I am not telling you this for sympathy, but I choose to write about it so others would know they are not alone. I felt horrible about going but I swallowed my pride and went there. I am glad I did as well. I am grateful that they helped me put food on my table. ~~Goals do nothappen as life does. You must work hard to make goals a reality!~~ http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Browne/e/B004EW761G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amybrowne https://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne https://www.facebook.com/pages/Circle-8-Writers/163212760355932 http://amyjob.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/AmyBrowne https://plus.google.com/u/0/107603247723229046700/posts http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-browne/1a/936/495

Work Smarter

Earlier I wrote about working smarter not harder and I will continue that Idea in this post.  Let us say you were going to create an article on snow and its dangers. Yes, snow is dangerous for you southern who may not realize it.  What are the dangers of snow you might ask? 

Well, it is dangerous for heart patients to shovel.

Cold wet snow is heavy we have to clean our roofs off.

Kids can get frostbite if they play in it too long

If snow piles up behind your running car this is dangerous. (Think exhausts fumes)

There are four ideas on how to split the snow dangers topic into four different articles.  

Inflammatory Breast Cancer, a hard topic to write.

Sometimes the hardest things to write are those topics, which are close to you. One such topic lately was the book I wrote about the research I gathered while I was searching for information on Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

You see a smart, funny woman I call my best friend got this diagnosis in October of 2011.  In my research, I learned all about the treatments and stuff she would be undergoing. I wrote down what I learned so that it can help others who have a friend going through this medical emergency called Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

The e-book is available on Amazon and Smashwords. 

Writers work smarter not harder

We writers can work smarter and not harder.  Trust me on this one, as I have been doing it full time since early 2007. I am not an expert but I am good at what I do.

 If you write web content for clients and do blogs and toss in fiction you might find yourself overwhelmed.  There is no need for that stuff.  Simple scheduling will help you out.

The first part of each day for me will be reserved for blogs.

I sit down and write seven different blogs posts for all of my blogs. I currently run five of them.  Open word and write 1400 words on your topic. Seems overwhelming I know. However, if you write a food blog, sit and write 200 words on each of the topics listed below, you will see its not hard.

 Fresh fruit in season

 Best herbs to grow in the kitchen window

 Shortcuts in the kitchen,

 The best banana bread you have ever tasted,

 Best lasagna recipe,

Best summer dessert,

Best cold weather homemade soup you can toss in the crock pot.

After each topic is about 200 words, go ahead and load up your blogger blog interface. Next copy and paste them in separately. Publish one right away and each additional post you schedule for successive days.

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After my week of blogs are set up I can reward myself with a quick game, or perhaps breakfast in the kitchen instead of my desk.

After a short break come on back to your desk and do the same with another blog. Pick 7 different topics and sit and write them out quickly. Publish one right away and schedule the next few.

Within a matter of hours, you can easily update six or seven different blogs and make them appear to be updated daily on the other six days. This way you are taking one day of the week to do blog posts, and  do not have to do them for an entire week.

Writers can catch the Zombie Virus

The zombie virus affects all of us sometimes! I know you are saying it does not affect me. I beg your pardon dear reader because it gets all of us.  Let me explain this one.

The zombie virus is that time at work when your brain gets so tired you just have that blah feeling. You want nothing more than to take a quick power nap. Of course, that is impossible because the work will not get done. What are you going to do?  

You could try some energy drink but that would push your blood pressure and heart rate up. Normally this is not a problem but if you got heart illness, it is a big risk.

You could eat some chocolate but that is a bad idea if you are diabetic.  In addition, the chocolate tends to works fast, but it is a brief thing and then you are more tired than you were before.

The trick of course is not to sit on your butt for hours upon hours. If you are writing get up every hour and walk around.  Go for a drink, take a potty break or walk around your yard.  After you have been away from your computer for at least ten minutes come back.

You will notice you are awake, alert and ready to begin anew. Then hidden benefits you will not see are you just lowered your risk of having a blot clot form because you have been sitting for hours.  

Freelance Writers Set your Limits

As a freelance writer for almost five years now and a heart attack survivor, I have learned that you need to pace yourself. Yes, the work needs to be done, but you need to have a plan here folks. If you have no attack plan then you will face burn out and increase your risks for stress related illnesses.

I write a mix of web content, some of it latterly bores me and I have to switch it out or I will get so tired that I will experience what I call ‘brain drain’.  My friend Nick, (God rest his soul) would call it CRS disease. It gets hard to focus on the article at hand and my mind begins to wander.

To prevent the brain drain I find that I need to write a fun article and then go to a brain drainer. After that is done, I can go back to a fun one.  My fun type articles tend to be 300-500 words but the brain drain ones are typically 500-1000 words. Some fun articles tend to go up over the 500-word mark, but not usually.

Typically, I set a limit of 1,500 to 2,000 words a day for web content stuff because I feel the need to leave a decent amount of time for my fiction. Fiction is my passion and I so wish I could focus on that and leave the mind numbing big boring content alone.  I cannot skip the web content because it is what pays the bills here. 

However the fiction is picking up, and its way more fun to write. 

Here is my smashwords link where you can read some of my short stories.  Most are free  but there are 2 which are low price. http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amybrowne

I also have short stories and books over on Amazon.. be sure to search for me there. Amy Browne.

Bingo Blitz Addicts Unite

Bingo Blitz is a very addictive free game on Facebook. I am addicted to this one and I play if often during the day.  I find it to very relaxing as a break between writing the articles.    Today I shared my knowledge of the game to help others as well as gain teammates.    Therefore, read my articles and add me as a Facebook friend. After we are friends on the site, please send me an invite to be a teammate! https://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne Articles Game review http://knowabit.com/2012/01/4522/ How to get credits http://knowabit.com/2012/01/bingo-blitz-credits/ ~~Goals do nothappen as life does. You must work hard to make goals a reality!~~ http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Browne/e/B004EW761G/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1 http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amybrowne https://www.facebook.com/authoramybrowne https://www.facebook.com/pages/Circle-8-Writers/163212760355932 http://amyjob.blogspot.com/ http://twitter.com/#!/AmyBrowne https://plus.google.com/u/0/107603247723229046700/posts http://www.linkedin.com/pub/amy-browne/1a/936/495