Hopefully you call in regularly to see what is happening at the Soul Food Cafe. Come and experiment with some creative envisioning in my new 101 Ways to Enhance Writers' Self Concept. Use Descansos to enrich your characters and make a Plains Indian War Bonnet to cast some light on the story they have to tell. You will find extra notes about the way to use these techniques in my online journal. Over the next couple of months it will be dedicated to discussing some of the strategies I have employed in my 30 year career teaching writing.

Recently, as I began to create a magazine with Soul, within the Soul Food Cafe, I found myself returning to Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Women Who Run With The Wolves for guidance and direction as I present new sections for Patrons such as Writes of Passage and Writers' Renewal. Her book remains a classic that reminds us how important it is to leave a trace in the sand and tell our story. Patrons get to live out their fantasy and become the writer they have always wanted to be. Designing a web profile and showcasing your work is real Soul Candy. It announces who you are and where you are headed.

Cathy Atherton over at One Woman's Writing Retreat has posted my review about the importance of Joseph Campbell in my writing life. Lately I have been returning to browse through some of my favourite books, the books that have guided me and helped to shape the directions and choices that I have made. Certainly within this book about Campbell I can see the traces in the sand that have influenced my thinking and creativity.

While you are there have a look at the link to Mind Mapping and consider how you can use mind mapping to enhance your writing.

The Soul Food Cafe has a mind of its own and seems to have taken charge of its destiny. The cafe is a compound of connecting corridors and it is multi-leveled. There are sections that are undergoing extension and old parts that are being redecorated. There are windows looking out upon the secret garden and the old Hayloft studio. Suddenly the cafe is a hive of activity. It is full of the sound of voices, new voices, old voices, all chatting and laughing over coffee or a nourishing meal. The Soul Food Cafe is alive and vibrant. Patrons are leaving their trace, putting their mark on the fabric of this cyber retreat as they take up residence and claim space of their own. Soul Food is young and vibrant and has a big welcome mat out the front. Join us to find out about things like Soul Candy and Creative Envisioning. Drop in and leave your mark on this quirky writing retreat that fosters creativity and encourages the writer to rest, relax and bask in anticipatory pleasures. Come on in and learn what your verse is to be.