I enjoyed the holidays with family. I hope your holidays were full of happy times with people you love. Here’s something to think about as you write in this new year. Intellectual curiosity withers in either or, black or white, up or down, left or right. It thrives on maybe, what if, but, and so, possibly and even though. Intellectual curiosity allows us to look through another’s lens. It forces us to consider viewpoints other than our own. When the world is presented as either or it puts blinders on the intellect. The world is not black and white. It is filled with a kaleidoscope of color. Media Landscape…
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The Writer’s Toolbox
An analogy is a comparison used to explain something. The simplest form of analogy takes this format: word is to sentence as chapter is to book. You may have seen it expressed this way Word : sentence :: chapter : book This comparison is easy to understand because we are familiar with words in sentences, and chapters in books. Analogy Teachers often use analogies to explain complex concepts or procedures. A kindergarten teacher may compare the United States to a school building, explaining that each state is like a classroom. Every classroom has a teacher with a set of classroom rules, while states have governors and laws specific to their…
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Hoof Print in the Snow
If only I could focus reader attention the way my dog focuses on tracking a deer through the snow. Wait, maybe I can! Remove Distractions Snow blanketed the ground nearly a week ago, masking the usual smells that Dusty loves to sniff on our daily walks. Shrubs marked by other dogs, clumps of native grass flattened by sleeping deer, and bird nests of ground dwelling quail were all buried by inches of snow. So instead of stopping at every bush, tree, and possible ground nest to satisfy her olfactory senses, Dusty has taken to shoving her nose in each hoof print she passes, breathing in what I imagine is the…
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Fifty Thousand Words
Here it is the final day of NaNoWriMo and I’m a few words short of the fifty thousand word goal. Did you see what I did there? Fifty thousand is two words and 50,000 counts as one! Bumps in the Road I’ve been plugging away on my novel and even earned my 25 day badge for writing twenty five days in a row. (see picture above) But on day twenty seven I ran into a few bumps. There were the five hours spent shoveling after a snowstorm, then a holiday, followed by an unexpected family crisis (they’re always unexpected, aren’t they?), and a car stuck in the snow! Playing Catch…
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Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on the blessings in our lives. In today’s post I want to focus on family, friends, and purpose. Family Family shapes us in so many ways. I am the youngest of three children. Both parents were college educated. Dad grew up an only child and followed his father into the family business after he contracted polio which put an end to his dreams of working outdoors in the forestry industry. Mom married young, had a son and was a widow by the age of 20. She attended college, received her teaching certificate and supported herself and young son on a teacher’s salary until she…
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Facts and Opinions
Facts are true for everyone. Grass is green. The sun is hot. Waltzes are in three quarter time. Lemons are sour. Skunks are smelly. Opinions are true for those who hold them. Grass is beautiful. Sunny days are cheerful. Waltzes are boring. Lemons make the best pie. Skunks are my favorite animal. Facts are irrefutable tidbits of information readily confirmed by multiple sources. Opinions are personal perceptions. Why does this Matter? With hundreds of media outlets, each catering to a specific audience, the line blurs between fact and opinion. So what does this mean? Back in the 1970s there were three broadcast networks. Everyone received the same factual reporting regardless…
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Treat Yourself
A writing retreat pays big dividends, and it doesn’t have to take a bite out of your wallet. Do you have access to a cabin, a condo, or a room over the garage? You could sign up for a Costa Rican retreat with daily writing, critique, and personal coaching sessions at a couple of thousand dollars per person. Or. . . create your own retreat for next to nothing! That’s what my critique group did. Share the Load One member generously offered her time-share condo for the weekend, another made sure we had enough snacks to keep us going, and two members provided meals. Everyone was responsible for their own…
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Filler Words
People use, you know, filler words when they talk all the time. It’s something we um, accept as part of like, natural speech. Did you notice the you know, um, and like? These words don’t have any redeeming value whatsoever. Writing has filler words too. Just, really, and very are a few examples. Generally speaking if you cut these words out, they will not affect the meaning of your sentence. As always, there are some exceptions. Amplifiers I can almost hear you disagreeing with me about very. Let’s look at an example. You might write: the very small dog barked as loud as a foghorn. Obviously you want to convey…
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NaNo Prep
NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. What’s that you ask? It’s shorthand for National Novel Writing Month. Each November since 1999, participants have attempted to write a 50,000 word novel. That’s a lot of words! Resources: Word Tracker NaNoWriMo’s website at NaNoWriMo.org is chock full of helpful resources. There’s a word tracker to show progress toward your word count goal. It’s set up as a graph. With days on the X axis and word count on the Y axis a target slope gives you a daily word count goal. Your actual progress shows where you stand in relation to the target slope. If you write every single day with no…
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Rewrite? You’re Kidding!
You’ve spent hours on your writing project. Spellcheck hasn’t underlined any errors, and you’ve said what you set out to say. Before your teacher even looks at it s/he says to rewrite. What? Why did you put all that time in you wonder? But hear me out. Your teacher has a point. First drafts are rarely ready for prime time. Revising involves more than punctuation, spelling, and grammar errors. You also want to look at sensory details, sentence flow and variability. Sensory Detail You may think you’ve already included all the necessary sensory details. My rule of thumb is to incorporate at least three senses in every scene. In our…
