The Odyssey Newsletter
Issue #3 March 1, 2005
A FREE periodic newsletter dedicated to helping you
improve your odyssey through life.
Brought to you by ODYSSEY COMMUNICATIONS, and by Thomas Martin Smith -
Author of
IN THE LONG RUN:
A Hopeful World Odyssey
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E-mail: newsletter@melawend.com
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ISSUE: #3 March 1, 2005
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Books are a uniquely
portable magic.
Stephen King. American
writer, b.1947
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IN THIS ISSUE:
~ PUTTING MAGIC IN YOUR LIFE - Ways & Means
~ BOOK REVIEW - On Writing, by Stephen King
~ TRAVEL - Americans urged to travel as Canadians
~ HEALTH - Dr. Andrew Weil: Guru of
~ EXPERTS - guest articles coming to The Odyssey Newsletter
~ ITLR - The Odyssey book to go mass market!
~ HUMOR - Life's Best Cure-all!
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Hello again!
Sorry I'm late this time... still recovering from the heart attack and subsequent
treatments (including two more stents implanted in blocked coronary arteries),... some
important things on the go related to the Odyssey book - more in a bit...
Feeling the blahs lately? In this issue, we'll look at ways and means of putting a
little magic in your life - with passion. One is as simple as reading good books -
"portable magic" as Steven calls them. Two of my ways even got me featured in a
Chicago-based magazine this month! Continuing on the subject of magic and books, I review
Stephen King's book, On Writing - a wonderful candid memoir and astute guide from
one of the best writers of our time. He credits much of his success to his marriage.
On TRAVEL, we'll have a look at an American company that is helping
Americans travel as Canadians - find out how and why. In the HEALTH
segment, we'll have a look at the world of Dr. Andrew Weil who has one of the most helpful
sites on the web to answer your health questions. Something I am going to begin featuring
in The Odyssey Newsletter is guest articles by leading EXPERTS health,
finances, lifestyle, etc. Finally, the HUMOR section tells why your
brother (or sister) might not be the best person to name your children...
As a bit of an epilogue, I'll bring you up to date on some exciting, hopeful things
that are happening with my book,
IN
THE LONG RUN: A Hopeful World Odyssey.
Enjoy!
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PUTTING MAGIC IN YOUR LIFE - Ways & Means
Do you ever find yourself in front of your TV, just channel-surfing? Do you find your
life is a bit like that? What you might need is to put some magic in your life - things
that arouse passion in you. Here are some ideas:
- TV
- Save wear and tear on the remote and on your brain - be selective! Study
this week's TV guide and note programs you really want to watch - that favorite drama, the
"reality" show that does something for you, upcoming guests on talk shows, that
great movie, that special program. Scheduling your TV viewing will free up time to do
other magical things.
- READ
- what genres, writers, or topics really grab your interest? Go to your
bookshelf or local bookstore or library and grab a book offers fulfillment. Escape,
entertainment, self-improvement - with a great book, you've truly have portable magic in
your hands!
- TAKE UP A HOBBY
- if you don't have one, think about what you might enjoy doing
- woodworking, needlepoint, drawing, painting, starting a collection. Do some research on
it. Ask friends. Maybe develop one with a friend. It's a great way to put more passion
into your life. You can also meet new people.
My world journey turned me on to collecting movie memorabilia. More
recently, I started buy a lot of things from reputable dealers and other sellers on e-bay.
I'm also selling part of my collection and posted it the odyssey website. Jennifer
Slawson, a columnist for Antiques & Collecting Magazine (based
in Chicago) discovered me that way and featured me in the March 2005 issue
in her column, "A Passionate Collector". The other bit of
personal magic this let me indulge in was writing - I wrote it and it was
quoted verbatim. Have a look: http://www.melawend.com/antiques.htm
Hobbies can be magic!
- JOIN AN ONLINE DISCUSSION GROUP
- no time to go out to club meetings, but you
spend a lot of time at your home computer? Well, you can still join clubs, in Yahoo or MSN
for example, and have some lively discussions on things you are passionate about. You can
even create your own club and invite members.
I stared one for people who enjoy discussing Ernest Hemingway, called,
simply enough, The Hemingway Club - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thehemingwayclub/
We now have 102 members.
- GET PHYSICAL
- sometimes if you're bored or feeling down, simply changing your
physical state can be magic (as well as being a healthy thing to do). Go for a walk or a
jog and be creative in selecting your route, or perhaps join a group of walkers or
joggers. Join a fitness club. Just get off the couch and get moving!
Those are just a few simple ideas. Get out some paper and a pen and jot down your own
ideas of how you can put magic in your life! Then turns your words into a plan of action.
Then act on your plan!
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BOOK REVIEW: -
On Writing, by Stephen King
I just finished reading, or rather studying, this fantastic little (for King) book.
It's a great memoir of his career as a writer, that includes the tale about his first
submission - to Spacemen magazine (rejected) - around 1960 up to this book's
publication in 2000. He began writing this book in December 1997. He had to stop on June
19, 1999, when, on one of his customary four-mile walks, he was hit by a Dodge Van driven
by Brian Smith. King finished the book in the months during his painful recovery. (King,
lucky to be alive, will never fully recover.)
The story goes back to his earliest childhood and first efforts and successes at
writing. He amassed rejection slips which he kept on a spike in his bedroom wall. He
married Tabitha Spruce a year and a half after college. After such glamorous jobs as a
laborer in a textile mill and a laundry, King landed a job as an English teacher - about
the time he started his breakout book, Carrie.
While King gives you lots of juicy background to the writing and publication of many of
his famous books (he abused alcohol and drugs for a ten-year period and hardly remembers
writing Cujo) you see King as a determined writer who always taken his craft
quite seriously. So the segments "TOOLBOX" and "ON WRITING" - the bulk
of the 288-page book - is King is really in his element - teaching us, in wonderful
personal detail, the craft he loves (and practices) so well. He does give us some of the
gory details of the accident but concludes the book with an example on how he edits a work
- the original unedited version followed by the same with his written editing - quite a
treat for aspiring writers! That's followed by a long list of books he had recently read.
Though he could not quote who said it but believes this: novels ar really letters aimed
at one person - a single ideal reader. For King, that first reader has been, and still is,
his wife Tabitha. "Her positive reaction...meant the world to me. But she's also
unflinching when she sees something she thinks is wrong." Speaks well of a marriage
that works.
There you go. King, whose works are loved by millions of readers, really writes for his
"first reader". And why does he write? "I did it for the buzz. I did it for
the pure joy of the thing."
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TRAVEL - Americans Urged to Travel as Canadians
This one reminded me of the intellectual couple from Washington, D.C. that I met at the
campground in Pompeii. The had been harassed as Americans travelling in parts of Europe so
they had sewn Canadian flags on their packs.
In talking with locals in several countries, I learned that Americans, however
unfairly, are sometimes generally viewed (however accurately or unfairly as individuals
go) as rude, demanding, arrogant travelers with no real feeling for the place they are
visiting (as in voicing frustration when they can't find a MacDonald's). I've also heard
that Americans are mistreated in some countries because of their perceived aggressive
foreign policies. On the other hand, Canadians are seen as harmless, polite, peace-loving
people and usually treated like welcome guests.
So at least one American firm - http://www.T-shirtking.com
- is cashing in on that by offering Maple-leaf bedecked disguise kits over the internet.
Its "Go Canadian" package that sells for $24.95 includes a t-shirt with the
Canadian flag with "O' Canada! under it, a Canadian flag patch and lapel pin, and a
CDN sticker that also sports two Canadian flags. On the website, look for the red
Maple-leaf icon in the upper right under "Top Products".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HEALTH - Ask Dr. Andrew Weil
You might have seen him on PBS giving talks on health and the body's only healing
powers. Or seen one of his books including "Eight Weeks to Optimal Health". But
this Santa-bearded, deep-voiced intellectual guru of medicine and natural healing knows
what he's talking about. He has a fantastic website that answers all manner of health
questions for mind, body and spirit; offers great tips on nutrition and supplements;
fact-back healthy recipes; and much more.
Check it out! http://www.drweil.com
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ITLR - The Odyssey Book To Go Mass Market!
Though it's still in the dream-to-plan stage - IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN! Quotes are in to
produce IN THE LONG RUN in both 6" x 9" softcover and
8.5" x 11" coffee-table editions. I'll be going with one of our top
printers. You should see the high quality of the books they produce for some of our top
publishers! And both editions of IN THE LONG RUN will feature 32
pages of full-color photographs! It's going to be awesome!
I will soon be going after sponsors and advertisers.
If you want to take part in the process and see what you can do to help, please visit
the Odyssey website: http://www.melawend.com
THANK YOU if you are one of
those who have already joined up!
For those who have already bought the First Print Edition:
I will keep my promise to you - to do all I can to turn IN THE LONG RUN
into an international best-seller and thereby make the First Print Edition
- your copy - a true collector's item. It will be the only edition that is signed and
numbered. The FPE has been limited to 500 copies, and I retain the
right to make fewer copies.
Thank you for taking a chance and buying my book.
You are helping to make the new editions possible!
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EXPERTS - Coming to The Odyssey Newsletter
As we go along, I plan to include insightful articles by top experts in
TRAVEL
HEALTH
SELF-IMPROVEMENT (including career and
finances),
RELATIONSHIPS, and
"THE GOOD LIFE"
Keep watching future issues!
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HUMOR - Life's Best Cure-all!
A pregnant woman is in a car accident and falls
into deep coma.
Asleep for nearly six months, she wakes up and sees that she is
no longer pregnant. Frantically, she asks the doctor about her baby.
The doctor replies, " Ma'am, you had twins! A boy and a girl.
The babies are fine. Your brother came in and named them."
The woman thinks to herself, " Oh no, not my brother, he's an
idiot!" Expecting the worst, she asks the doctor, " Well,
what's the girl's name?" Denise," says the doctor.
The new mother thinks, " Wow, that's not a bad name. I guess
I was wrong about my brother. I like Denise!"
Then she asks the doctor, " What's the boy's name?"
The doctor replies, " Denephew."
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See you in the next issue! (target date: May 1, 2005)
Questions? Comments?
Send me an e-mail:
newsletter@melawend.com
Take good care of YOU and those you love!
All best to you in your continuing odyssey through life!
Tom
Tom & Melawend "marooned" in Hawaii
after nearly two years on the road
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The Odyssey Newsletter
- a FREE periodic newsletter
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Feel free to forward it on to anyone you think would like to have it.
Published by Thomas Martin Smith & Odyssey Communications
Author & publisher of the acclaimed travel & self-discovery book,
IN THE LONG RUN: A Hopeful
World Odyssey
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