Sunday, January 27, 2002 ( 7:16 PM )
The Home Study Closet
I finally wrote another homeschooling article yesterday... and I'm so happy with it. It was just a spur of the moment mind-flash... I've been doing the writing prompts in A Writer's Book of Days by Judy Reeves... and yesterday the prompt was to describe the contents of someone's closet. I immediately discarded the idea of writing about my own boring closet, and it came to me that I should write about the closet at a home study program I used to be part of. Then... I discarded that idea and decided to write down what I thought every homeschooler should have in his or her closet. So.. I did that, and it was so boring. I realized that I had passed up the better idea, of writing about that home study program. Going back to that, I wrote about 1700 words ... a good article ... one I am so glad I put on paper! I will submit it in February to one of my favorite homeschooling magazines. If they don't publish it - it will be on the web.
Tuesday, January 08, 2002 ( 10:05 PM )
Critical Analysis
In my other life, as editor of the online Happy Camp News, I am trying to learn more about writing editorials. Right now I'm into a chapter on how to write critical analysis... from Writing With Style: Conversations on the Art of Writing by John R. Trimble. He says, "A critical analysis ... takes a viewpoint and attempts to prove its validity; its object is to help the reader to make better sense of something he is already familiar with." ... "The critic's job is to explain and evaluate..." ... "You'll still slip into plot summarizing if you neglect to formulate an interesting, gutty thesis. Novelist Sloan Wilson's remark couldn't be more on target: 'A writer's job is sticking his neck out.' If you don't stick your neck out, your essay won't have a strong thesis..."
This book is great! Every chapter Trimble writes has useful... REALLY useful suggestions and information. Here's the link to find it for sale online:
Sunday, January 06, 2002 ( 6:51 PM )
I'm not like them!
I'm giving myself permission to create my own work of art. Far from being a clone of some greater, awesome mystery or children's writer, I'm creating my own little worlds in print. They are unique, just as I am. I will not seek to make my art like the others... rather, it will be spun of the threads of my own heart, my own life, my private imagination. What these novels become remains to be seen. I know only that I am trying to create the best works of word-art that I can.
Wednesday, January 02, 2002 ( 3:19 AM )
Desperation, Despair...
That's what we need... so long as it is fiction! I'm looking at Alicia Rasley's excellent writing website again tonight... specifically at her essay on developing The Dark Moment - a time when the protagonist has a dilemma, and the resulting desperation, despair, and deconstruction... then makes a decision... leading to the climax of the story, when all is resolved.
