Ingredients

* 1 teaspoon butter

* 1 teaspoon olive oil

* 1/4 cup chopped onions

* 20-24 oz. vegetable broth

* 2 tablespoon frozen peas

* ¼ cup frozen French cut green beans

* 2 tablespoons frozen white corn

*1/4 cup  sliced mushrooms

* 1 small potato, peeled and chopped in cubes

* 1 carrot, peeled and chopped into circles

* 1 can can kidney beans

* 1/2  can chopped peeled tomatoes, with liquid

* 1/3 cup chopped fresh spinach

* ½ medium tomato, chopped

* 1 teaspoon garlic paste

* 1 teaspoon dried parsley

* 1/8 teaspoon salt

* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

* 1/4 teaspoon dried onion powder

* 1/4 cup cooked multigrain penne or elbows

* 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, reserve 2 tbsp. for topping

* 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

* 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

* ½ teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

* 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

* 1 teaspoon, a dash, of heavy cream (optional)

*  1 tablespoon fresh oregeno, chopped

* 3 tablespoons home-made pesto sauce (we had made some and kept in the freezer, but store bought should be okay too)

Directions

1. In a large stock pot over medium heat, stir and cook onions in butter until soft. Add broth, all the vegetables, kidney beans, canned tomatoes, garlic paste and simmer for about 45 minutes, covered. Make sure the potato and carrots are cooked.

While that is simmering, cook the pasta to al dente in a separate pot and then drain, leave on side and toss in the olive oil to keep the multigrain pasta from sticking.

2. Using a slotted spoon, remove about half of the vegetables to a blender or food processor, reserving liquid in stock pot. Puree the vegetables with all the fresh herbs until smooth and return them to stock pot.

3. Stir in garlic powder, dried parsley, dried onion powder salt, pepper,  pasta, 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and the optional dash of heavy cream-just makes it a little smoother/creamy; cook for 1/2 hour, stirring frequently. Pour into bowls and sprinkle with additional Parmesan cheese and top with about a teaspoon of pesto per bowl.

Serves: about 3-4

Note: Other veggies I would have added if I had them: zucchini and either cannelini or garbanzo beans. If using garbanzo beans, add at the end in step 3 rather than step 1.

Enjoy!

On the random days that I wasn’t writing for my challenge, I started to become paranoid, like what if I don’t finish?

And learned the SO WHAT? mentality from these lectures. It will get done, it will be okay, just to do it for doing it because I love it.

The whole idea of deadlines and misconstrued notion that if we don’t set our selves up for an opportunity to disappoint ourselves, we won’t get things done, stems from our conditioned environments of our school days, of an American education system that thrives on cramming things in, such as state exams or board exams, sometimes with irrelevant information for what it is we are dedicating so much time to. We never absorb to love what we do, deferring ourselves from truly feeling it as a passion.

We say we love it, I say I love writing, but the times I write and actually feel this love for it, for what I am doing in that moment, are rare, more likely feeling that at times when I just pick up to write a poem, feel something, write it down.

Everything is “Go, go, go” and fast paced in the accomplishment world, which I can totally handle with my New York roots, but I started to feel like I was rushing everything. Writing just to write. Blogging just to blog. How is that an accomplishment?

I also saw myself making writing a chore. Do it while I was doing other things, the multi-tasking in me kicking in and then I heard Frank Kern’s lecture from Amish’s seminar in the back of my mind. “Thou shalt not f#$k around.” Instead of doing ten things at once, instead of getting on my Macbook to write a story and then opening Safari and a few tabs with my bridal registry, my wedding planning, emailing my cousin, paying a bill….I need to just write to write. Stop all the other bullshit, (So yes, that’s where I had disappeared to)…

I stopped for a week and saw how it changed me as a writer.

I wrote when I was not stressed about having to write and ended up writing more substantial work.

I was writing with more feeling, and even if it wasn’t 5 pages all at once, maybe sometimes barely a page every other day, it was deeper, more meaningful to my character development, less rushed.

I then met with a friend, Vivian Glyck, who I respect for her knowledge on publishing.

She made me realize and basically I started to understand that with my goal, for publishing my short stories, a 90 day challenge was unrealistic, due to the fact that, with her advice and other friends who have been published advised, to have my stories edited professionally, which takes a lot of time.

It made me think, I want to do this the right way. I don’t want to look back and think, why didn’t I give it more time?

I want to look back and feel connected to my work with a sense of satisfaction that I did it right. I gave it my best shot. I didn’t do it to just to do it. I am, my life, is actually part of it. And when I look at it that way, it will really get done and I’ll never feel anxiety on questioning it. So, here I go, the right way, part deux.

P.S. Thanks for reading, I’ll be back every once in awhile, stay connected

We went hiking, talked, stayed up until 4 am the other night, just…being sisters.

I haven’t written much…but talked to her a lot about my ideas, goals and feelings about my story, my challenge. And it felt good talking about it.

Maybe part of this challenge, is actually developing the ideas that entail completing it, rather than just the stories, because as a whole, they both need development.

As much as I have been editing myself, (I gave my story about Chinese culture/ancient Chinese play) to my sister to read and she gave me some input since she is am Acupuncture/Chinese medicine student, but think that after her input, a good idea would be to perhaps send my work, all of it, to a professional editor for fine tuning.

I need to see how long this will take, what the costs are, and what they do to see if it is worth it. though. It’s all so new for me that figuring it out is part of my challenge…

Lately, with this story, I will have dreams about it, about events and details and character development, their thoughts, feelings, ideas…

and wake up wishing I was writing it down the whole time.

The latest dream involved something about Mumbai’s train station. Let’s see where that image takes me…

I got home from work and was exhausted, but we were together, in the same room, after so many months and it felt like she was always here. Didn’t feel like we had been apart for so long, and since she had some work to do for school, I picked up my computer and started writing.

Talk about real inspiration- her presence just kept the words flowing

they just know it.

In my story right now, especially since Amla and Asya are twins, they have an intuition about the other’s thoughts, feelings, emotions and so far they have been together the whole time. I am coming to a part of the story where they will no longer be together, but are separated, not by choice, and how they have the same connected feeling, even being apart.

While ago, when I first started out my story, 20 or more days ago, I had posted about developing the whole idea of this sixth sense, and wondering if, being twin sisters makes it’s stronger than with anyone else, thinking it would just happen naturally with my characters if it were true…which I am seeing unfold in my story now, which feels pretty awesome that it happened on it’s own.

About it really happening.

About believing that it will happen, not questioning if it will.

With that, I’m off to write more

I understood that sometimes that’s all you need. Your sister to lean on, talk to, make you laugh.

I just wrote a part of my story where this happens…Amla is the sister that when she feel this way, leans on Asya for support, for guidance, for love. And when Asya does it, Amla realizes that this is their bond.

And in my real life, I can see how real that bond is.

“An author (sometimes, in reference to a woman author, authoress) is defined both as “the person who originates or gives existence to anything” and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. The second entry goes on to clarify that, when using the term “author,” the “anything” which is created is most usually associated with written work.”

Giving existence to something…

So by creating emotion through words, by sharing my heart on paper, by giving existence to characters and their story, their actions, their thoughts, their feelings…

I am an author…or as Wiki puts it, an authoress.

Cool