April is Script Frenzy month at NaNoWriMo.com I was going to participate this year but now I am not sure. It would be interesting and is suppose to be really go practice for writing dialogue, even if one is not interested in writing scripts.
Will have to see how March goes first.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
On Everything
I have discovered one of my weaknesses when it comes to actually sitting down and writing. I lack focus. My mind swirls with thoughts, ideas, and connections. The "big picture" is too big to put into words, so no words are forth coming. Take this morning as an example: I have listened to Bill Bennett's interview with former Secretary of Education and Senator Lamar Alexander discussing the importance of excellent teachers in the classroom, read a column by Walter Williams on the education of black students and the importance of speaking proper English, and read Charles H. Spurgeon's commentary on Psalm 116:1-8.
One could wonder how three such diverse topics could tie together, but they do and here is why.
Mr. Bennett and Senator Alexander were discussing the importance of good teachers in the classroom. Studies have shown that incentive pay for good teachers can work and that simply firing the bottom five percent of teachers elevates a student's learning and earning potential exponentially over the course of their lifetimes. Quality matters in the classroom. As a former teacher in a school that at one point could easily have been defined as elitist, I concur. We had a high school full of excellent teachers save for our science department. Our students excelled in every respect except for science. That is not to say that we did not also produce students who went on to succeed and even excel in the scientific fields because we did, but those were students whose personal ambitions and whose parents attention to their education made sure the gap was filled elsewhere. Unfortunately,this does not happen often enough.
Walter Williams' piece dealt with the disservice done to black students when they are not taught to speak proper English. He relates how he was corrected and made to learn how to communicate using proper English in spite of his poverty and in spite of the fact that his mostly black school had mostly white teachers. He and his siblings are well spoken, but his nieces and nephews sound like they "are from a different family." Why? Because they are victims of a political correctness which says that to correct their speech is to demean and deprive them of their culture and diversity.
William maintains that what they are deprived of is opportunity--opportunity to go on to higher education and all the opportunities that will afford them and oportunity to prosper in a world in which the ability to communicate effectively is still necessary for success in any field of endeavor.
Lastly, Charles H. Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers of the 19th century. He communicated with language that remains both erudite and effective. I was struck by the beauty of his sentences; how he puts words together to paint picture that open up a whole new world of understanding for me. That is what effective teachers do whether they are standing before a class or writing articles and books. It is what students must learn to do if they are to be successful in life. And it is what will save America--educated people able to articulate their ideas and knowledge to this and future generations.
Nothing great was ever accomplished by being ignorant and stupid. Great things are accomplished by great minds and great minds are developed and nurtured by great teachers and authors who all have one thing in common--the ability to effectively communicate and connect with the minds of their audiences.
I said when I started my first blog that since I no longer had the captive audience of a classroom full of students, I would have to earn my audience, and so does everyone who wants to make a difference in our world. The next generation will never be able to do that if they are not taught by people who can both teach and model the ability to communicate well.
Now how is that for focus?
One could wonder how three such diverse topics could tie together, but they do and here is why.
Mr. Bennett and Senator Alexander were discussing the importance of good teachers in the classroom. Studies have shown that incentive pay for good teachers can work and that simply firing the bottom five percent of teachers elevates a student's learning and earning potential exponentially over the course of their lifetimes. Quality matters in the classroom. As a former teacher in a school that at one point could easily have been defined as elitist, I concur. We had a high school full of excellent teachers save for our science department. Our students excelled in every respect except for science. That is not to say that we did not also produce students who went on to succeed and even excel in the scientific fields because we did, but those were students whose personal ambitions and whose parents attention to their education made sure the gap was filled elsewhere. Unfortunately,this does not happen often enough.
Walter Williams' piece dealt with the disservice done to black students when they are not taught to speak proper English. He relates how he was corrected and made to learn how to communicate using proper English in spite of his poverty and in spite of the fact that his mostly black school had mostly white teachers. He and his siblings are well spoken, but his nieces and nephews sound like they "are from a different family." Why? Because they are victims of a political correctness which says that to correct their speech is to demean and deprive them of their culture and diversity.
William maintains that what they are deprived of is opportunity--opportunity to go on to higher education and all the opportunities that will afford them and oportunity to prosper in a world in which the ability to communicate effectively is still necessary for success in any field of endeavor.
Lastly, Charles H. Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers of the 19th century. He communicated with language that remains both erudite and effective. I was struck by the beauty of his sentences; how he puts words together to paint picture that open up a whole new world of understanding for me. That is what effective teachers do whether they are standing before a class or writing articles and books. It is what students must learn to do if they are to be successful in life. And it is what will save America--educated people able to articulate their ideas and knowledge to this and future generations.
Nothing great was ever accomplished by being ignorant and stupid. Great things are accomplished by great minds and great minds are developed and nurtured by great teachers and authors who all have one thing in common--the ability to effectively communicate and connect with the minds of their audiences.
I said when I started my first blog that since I no longer had the captive audience of a classroom full of students, I would have to earn my audience, and so does everyone who wants to make a difference in our world. The next generation will never be able to do that if they are not taught by people who can both teach and model the ability to communicate well.
Now how is that for focus?
Thursday, February 4, 2010
I found a great site today www.ratracerebellion.com was linked from a www.military.com article about ways to earn money from home by writing. That is what I want to do, but, boy does this require due diligence and discipline. I like to think that I am quite disciplined, but this is going to be a stretch. However, in light of the pathetic job market, it is most likely be necessary.
Monday, January 18, 2010
A New Start
Julia Childs once said that for thirty years she ate and then she cooked. Well, for more than thirty years I have read and now I write. It was only a couple of false starts until I discovered National Novel Writing Month. Now I am a two time National Novel Writing Month winner. This means that in thirty days in November for two years in a row I wrote a 50,000 word novel while neglecting friends, family, and other normal activities that got in the way of my daily word count. Now the really hard part is what happens next. Rewriting is even more daunting than 50,000 words in thirty days. I really don't even know were to start except that since it has been two years since I wrote the first novel, I decided to start by re-reading it. In conjunction with reading again, I am working my way through a very good writing book, The Mind of Your Story, by Lisa Lenard-Cook. I started reading this book once before and didn't get very far, but this time with a manuscript to work with at the same time, the book is making good sense and is actually helping.
That said, it does not mean I am making blazing fast progress. No, there are still too many books to read, a living to make, and occasional house work and social activities.
However, I decided to start this blog to keep myself motivated. There is nothing like putting a post into cyberspace and since writers write, I figure this is good practice as well as a place to think out loud as it were.
Not that anyone is going to read this. But who knows? If you do, and you too have dreamed about writing forever, then maybe this can motivate us both.
Story arcs and plot are on the table at the moment. Conflicts and questions are on my mind. It's a long shot, but maybe someday this effort will meet up with the reading public.
That said, it does not mean I am making blazing fast progress. No, there are still too many books to read, a living to make, and occasional house work and social activities.
However, I decided to start this blog to keep myself motivated. There is nothing like putting a post into cyberspace and since writers write, I figure this is good practice as well as a place to think out loud as it were.
Not that anyone is going to read this. But who knows? If you do, and you too have dreamed about writing forever, then maybe this can motivate us both.
Story arcs and plot are on the table at the moment. Conflicts and questions are on my mind. It's a long shot, but maybe someday this effort will meet up with the reading public.
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