The BROAD behind this BLOG
Stephanie DelTorchio (blogger, copywriter, aspiring screenwriter and working daily at it novelist) is the creator of the BE F.A.T. approach to life — living your 24 hour day in moments of Awesomeness. She left her longtime career in marketing and promotions to pursue a writing career and hopes to become a famous author before she dies, which, she says, could be any day.**
A new website dedicated to BE F.A.T. is in development.
www.befat.net and the book coming in 2015
In her own words
I turned 50 (okay, a few years back) and got to thinking: How the hell did I get here?
Oh, I know of course. I can count the days, months and years from being a scrawny kid to an AARP member. As time ticked by, my life filled up and became as crazy as everybody else’s – spouse, kids, aging parents, career, family, friends, volunteer work, household stuff – a roller coaster of day in and day out.
Very little time or thought went to that deep selfish place of my own needs, wants or desires. At the end of another exhausting day there was no time for me. Sound familiar?
I had bigger dreams.
But in the back of my mind I always had dreams of writing full-time. It got put on the shelf for a host of reasons. Every so often I’d write an article or submit a story idea but never committed to it as a career choice. For a few years I was the creator/editor/publisher of a local newspaper, but found myself in the business of doing the business, and not writing.
I stayed at “responsible” jobs I liked okay enough. They paid the bills and put shoes on kid’s feet. Within those jobs I always volunteered for writing assignments – flyers, newsletters, blog entries, press releases, catalog copy – whatever.
The burn in my belly to write never left. Someday…I’d tell myself. Someday I will be selfish and write and get it out of my system. If it sucks and goes nowhere, that’s fine. But to not give it a shot? I’d always wonder, what if?
Bypassing 50 and sliding down the other side, I questioned how much longer this dream could be delayed before I drool in a bib or forget where I live. As time passed the days seemed to go by faster each year.
My “Field of Dreams” moment.
One night I watched a rerun of my favorite baseball movie, Field of Dreams. In a poignant scene, Terrance Mann (played by James Earl Jones), the one-time social activist has been “kidnapped” by dreamer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to see a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston. At the concession stand when Ray asks his captive what he wants, Mann snaps at the intrusion into his private life and then rants about all the things he doesn’t want anymore. But Ray’s innocent question, misunderstood by Mann, to me, is very simple. Ray points to the hot dog vendor and Mann smiles. He gets it now. “Dog and a beer,” Mann says. Light bulb moment. We complicate our lives by not listening and misinterpreting. No?
The missed moment.
The scene that stayed with me was when Ray Kinsella meets an elderly Archibald “Moonlight” Graham (Burt Lancaster). His life in the major leagues consisted of half an inning, where he never got a chance to bat**. He would have liked that, he said. The game ended, the season was over, and so was his chance at a baseball career.
“It was like coming this close to your dreams and watching them pass you like a stranger in the crowd,” Graham says. “Well, then I thought, there will be other days. I didn’t realize that was the only day.”
Epiphany? Hell yes.
With some planning I left my regular job with a regular paycheck to jump all in to a writer’s life. Crazy? Not totally. I still write copy to pay the bills. I blog as a way to stay accountable and produce regular work while pursuing the “big” ideas of writing screenplays and novels. I write every day with my dog nestled at my feet. On Fridays I have a beer. Or wine. Or both. It’s that simple.
Writing and the BE F.A.T. approach to life
So I started this BLOG with three things in mind (please subscribe to Blog below):
1. To blog about my WRITING JOURNEY (maybe other “creative types” can relate)
2. To write funny, lighthearted, sometimes inspirational ESSAYS (as pure entertainment)
3. To form a supportive and encouraging COMMUNITY for others in pursuit of their PASSIONS, IDEAS and DREAMS by following the BE F.A.T. approach. #BEFAT® .
**What the heck is the BE F.A.T. approach to life?
If you live in the real world, you know any day is potentially your last one. BE F.A.T. is the kick-in-the-pants reminder to Be Fucking Awesome Today. Go and do that “thing” that has kept you up at night for years — unrealized hopes, dreams, aspirations — and get at the business of doing it before, well…you know.
BE F.A.T. is a simple shift in thinking, especially on days when sucky things happen. And sucky things always happen. BE F.A.T. is short and memorable. And trust me when I say, the term BE F.A.T. will be that little voice haunting you every time you want to give up. Don’t you dare ever give up.
My “thing” was to write. Period.
What’s yours? Please share.
All my best,
Stephanie
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ONE LAST THING: If you read about me you realize that this blog is neither about dogs nor beer, although sometimes I do post about both on my Facebook Page (click to join the conversation).
My short pieces are meant to be lighthearted and funny. Some, inspirational and motivating. I’d say 90% of the humor essays are from my personal experiences and the rest is creative interpretation to drive home the point. Sadly, many are 100% true. Yeah, my life is just that flippin’ hilarious.
Maybe you share my sense of humor. Maybe you don’t. I’d like to tell you that I care, but I don’t. That’s the privilege of getting older. We stop obsessing about what other people think. Stop it I tell you. Go #BEFAT.
About Dixie, the Dog.
This is our family dog, Dixie. She’s a female Australian Cattle Dog (Red Heeler) and our second ACD rescue.
Australian Cattle Dog Rescue Association
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**Since the iconization of Archibald “Moonlight” Graham in the movie Field of Dreams, the real life story of this true baseball player has been told in several newspaper and magazine articles, and books. Source: MSNBC
