PEACELOVEBASKETBALL: Make The Little Things Count
The number one thing to do is to stay in shape. You can do basic home exercise: sit-ups, push-ups, burpies, etc. on your own, or there are a lot of workout routines online to help you stay motivated. If you’re lucky, you may have a basement or room where you can dribble a ball and work on ball handling skills. (My kids dribbled balls and played catch in our house, but that was never allowed in my childhood home, so this may not be an option for you.) But, even if you can’t dribble in the house, there are a few things that you can do to help your ball handling.
One is to use your non-dominant hand to do things around the house. If you’re right handed use your left hand, and visa versa. Do this when you brush your teeth, drink your water, open a door. Everything that you can possibly do with your non-dominant hand, do it. This can help your ball handing by developing strength and coordination in your weaker arm. I know from experience. I spent months with my broken right arm in a sling and my left hand took over and grew much stronger. Adding some hand, wrist and forearm exercises can help too.
So if you’re stuck inside this winter (keeping you and others in your community safe) control the things that you can control, and work on your game in little ways. Use your non-dominant hand around the house and after you finish your schoolwork (or work), or during a break, do a basic workout and add some hand strengthing exercises to your routine. (links below) Even if you can’t play basketball right now, doing a few little things will pay off for you when you get back on the court.
What suggestions do you […]
PEN TO PAPER: Mining Memories
When I was working on my memoir Back On The Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return To Life, Love & Basketball, parts of my life that I had forgotten, came back to me while I was writing. For example, while writing a scene that took place in my roof top studio apartment near Green Lake, I was transported back to that time and place, and then remembered talking to my mom about getting engaged that day. I had totally forgotten about the conversation, but the memory just moved through my fingers and onto the page.
It’s interesting how the mind works. How it store memories, good and sometimes a little scary, in its nooks and crannies. Below are a few simple writing prompts to work from, to see what you might discover. Fiction or nonfiction, let your mind have some fun.
WRITING PROMPT 1: I don’t remember when…
WRITING PROMPT 2: I forgot…
WRITING PROMPT 3: Tanner relaxed on the bed, closed his eyes and let his mind wander until…
LIFE INSPIRED FITNESS: Wonder Walk
With shorter days, inclement weather, and a pandemic, sometimes it’s hard to find inspiration (and a place), to workout. I walk my dog, which gets me out moving, but he’s older and his walks are shorter, so they don’t do a whole lot for me. So recently, I decided to take a second walk each day, and it’s been awesome.
You might not think that walking is a workout, and granted it’s not like playing a game of basketball. But it is something that most of us can do, even if we need to get some snowshoes to do it. It’s helped me feel more fit, and just getting out of the house for some fresh air, has been good for my mental health.
According to the Mayo Clinic, a brisk walk can help you live a healthier life. It can help you to maintain a healthy weight, prevent or manage conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes, help strengthen your bones and muscles, and improve your balance, coordination and mood.
A 2014 Stanford study, Give Your Ideas Some Legs, found that walking increased creative output by an average of 60 percent. They found that, “walking opens up the free flow of ideas, and it is a simple and robust solution to the goals of increasing creativity and increasing physical activity.”
Who can’t use a little more creativity? I know I sure can.
So on those days when you don’t feel like doing a “workout”. Give yourself a break, go for a walk and let your mind wander. You’ll actually be getting a workout and who knows what wondrous idea you’ll come up with.
PEN TO PAPER: Plotter vs Pantser
Have you heard of Plotters and Pantsers? Well, I’m a Pantser, with a touch of Plotter. A Pantser is a writer who flies by the seat of their pants, just sits down and writes without much detailed planning. A Plotter is a writer who plans out their novel before they start writing it. Most people fit more into one category, but really both processes take place during the writing of a novel.
For example if you’re a Pantser, you normally have at least a vague idea of where you’re going before you start. With my current novel, I was driving home from a writing conference when the concept came to me. I imagined the storyline, and made a storyboard with pictures that I cut from magazines and pasted along a timeline, to help me see where the story was going. So you might call this some minimal planning, but when I started the novel, I just sat down and wrote, unsure of where it would take me.
Now that I’m nearing the end of the book, I’m starting to look at what’s missing and am beginning to weave bits and pieces back into the writing. Last week I decided to make changes to the first chapter, so I went back and edited and edited and edited. Now I need to make adjustments throughout the book. It’s the first draft, so it’s simply part of the process. I worked this way when I wrote my memoir too. Of course I had a basic understanding of what was going to happen in the story, it was a memoir after all, but there were a lot of different directions that I could have gone, so it took a lot of writing and editing and reworking to get the story the way I wanted it.
When I’m […]
Meet Sonya
Meet Sonya
Sonya Elliott’s memoir, Back on the Court: A Young Woman’s Triumphant Return to Life, Love & Basketball, is her story of finding hope in the wake of tragedy after she and her fiancé were hit by a train. She blogs about writing, basketball, and life and is currently working on a Young Adult Novel and a Non-Fiction Coaching book. Stories of her career as a fashion model are woven through her memoir, as both the Soloflex and Easy Spirit Shoes commercials were filmed during that time period, and this unique and intriguing business continues to be a part of her life.
Sonya played basketball at Eastern Washington University and was a starter for the Big Sky Champion team that went to the 1987 NCAA tournament. She coached for almost 25 years and was voted Seattle Times Coach of the Year, Seattle Officials Women’s Basketball Association Coach of the Year, and twice voted Metro League Coach of the Year. She loves the game of basketball and is thankful, not only for her husband and kids but for her ability to continue to get back on the court.
Blog
PEN TO PAPER: Working Together
The focus of my basketball coaching book is how to build a strong team. How to get players to work together. This concept is so important on the basketball court but it’s also important in life. There are so many times in our lives when we rely on others and our ability to work together, so I thought it would be a perfect place to mine our thoughts for writing this week.
As usual, I will list three related prompt ideas and you can choose which calls to you, use them all or make up one of your own. The key is to simply write.
Write on!
WRITING PROMPT 1: Together we can…
WRITING PROMPT 2: Alone I can’t…
WRITING PROMPT 3: Nora called them all together and…
PEN TO PAPER: Mood & Weather
It was so nice to take in the sun this last Saturday. The Vitamin B lightened my mood. Or maybe it was watching the football game in our local park, or perhaps the chance to chat safely with a bunch of neighbors since we have all been sequestered inside of our homes most of the winter.
All I can say is, it was nice.
The weather can change your mood. Sometimes in surprising ways. I also love a rainy day as much as a sunny day (just not too many). It gives me a great excuse to hunker in. But when my husband looks out the window and sees rain, his entire body slumps down upon itself.
All of us are different.
When you’re writing, bringing in the weather can help create the mood of the scene and it can also give the reader a peak into your character’s personality.
For today’s prompts let’s delve […]
PEN TO PAPER: Imagine Your Ancestors
Sometimes we wish we knew more about our family history. Today’s prompt might help you dive in a little or at least have some fun with your imagination.
WRITING PROMPT #1: Choose a family member who you know something about and start writing.
WRITING PROMPT #2: Choose an ancestor who you know nothing about, put their name at the top of your page and start writing.
WRITING PROMPT #3: Gwen and Edward sat in front of the computer, opened up Ancestry.com and started searching when…
Follow Sonya