Laurie L.C. Lewis's Blog: Bloggin' It Up Here, page 44

WHAT ARE WE LEAVING BEHIND?

One of the most entertaining and intriguing parts of the research on my Free Men and Dreamers series has been reading the personal diaries and letters of men and women who lived two hundred years ago, in the era of the War of 1812.

Clearly, some of the entries were as poignant to them as they are to us—a young boy's account of seeing a conquered American army being marched through the spectator-filled streets of Montreal, or Sarah Ridg Schuyler's descriptive account of being ushered into the magnificent but unfinished Capitol to attend President Madison's Inaugural. These glimpses into another time, even another world, are priceless shards of history that help personalize the people and events of this lost era. They touch us on a personal note as well.

While the account of a young woman's appraisal of a rival seems like a universally timeless topic, her gentle word choices and the grace with which she applauds the other woman's virtues also provides a stinging measurement of how different our eras are. There is something in the word choices and the sentence flow that simultaneously fascinates me and makes me melancholy.

Beautiful expressions like, "extraordinarily entertaining" and "pleasant diversion" would likely now be reduced to "really fun", while "her face was exquisite, as perfect as porcelain" might be expressed as "really pretty" or worse yet, "she's hot". Where is the beauty of our language today? Where has our vocabulary gone? I'm guilty of it too. It drives me crazy that the descriptive words that flow through my head when I write get replaced with their anemic sidekicks when I speak.

I started noticing it when my children were in their teens so I began employing a strategy to take our language up a notch. Whenever anyone would use a word that impressed me I would point it out and say, "Good SAT word!" Sometimes they'd be flattered by my notice of their brilliance and sometimes they would just roll their eyes and give me that "Oh please" look, but when I tried it with the students at the high school, they seemed to like the recognition and actually started applauding impressive word choices made by their peers.

Another tactic I began utilizing at school was aimed at reducing the amount of swearing I heard in the halls. I made posters of a saying President Kimball used to say. It went something like, "Profanity is the attempt of a feeble mind to express itself forcibly." I plastered them in my work areas and made little cards with the saying on it. When a student would swear within my ear space I'd scold them humorously and make them read the card, then I'd tell them if I caught them swearing again they'd owe me a quarter.

Sure enough, I collected a lot of quarters which I then invested in treats to reward my "reformed", but the most interesting thing began to happen. Kids would drag their "vocabulary-challenged" friends over to me to have me "give them the treatment too". Somehow being reminded that coarse language was not acceptable actually pleased them and there was a remarkable drop in swearing in my areas. They just needed to have the expectation raised.

Another concern the old diaries have raised in me is the effect of our increasingly paperless world. When our letters and cards are being transmitted electronically, and texting replaces writing, few permanent records of our interpersonal communications are being kept at all. In two hundred years will there be many "hard copies" of personal writings for our descendents to read, for them to know what moved us, what filled our days and what dreams we dreamed? Will they even be able to feel the imprint of our culture on our language?

I'm the most craft-handicapped person that ever lived, (a glue gun is a lethal weapon in my hands and my handwriting is so poor I was encouraged as early as sixth grade to take up typing), so I bravely admit that I am not a scrapbooker. But let me with equal courage express my longing to be one . . . to leave a beautiful record behind. I do my best. I journal on my computer, (yes, an electronic device, but it can be printed out).

I'm no Wilford Woodruff. I have gaps, and when life is really hard I avoid delving into those topics until the rawness has soothed somewhat, but the rest is there . . . the dreams, the triumphs, the disappointments.

Like Sarah Schuyler, someday I hope my children and my grandchildren will read my journal and know me . . . really know me, not as just the wrinkled old woman I will be by then, but as the proud young mother of babies, and as the exultant mother of a new parent. I don't want tender letters to my missionary sons to dissolve in the press of "delete" nor letters written to lift a crushed heart to evaporate when the computer memory has been exceeded.

I hope my family will understand my opinions about the government and the entertainment of my day. Better yet, I hope they will sense what I did to make a difference in the world. I want them to hear my voice in my entries . . . to know I was, as we all are, a complicated and diverse person—silly one minute, then somber at times.

I want them to feel how deeply love touched and shaped my life and how my testimony of Jesus Christ's and Heavenly Father's love sustained me so fully that I could often feel the blissful joy of heaven right here. I want to leave all those things behind in hard copy . . . for them to understand, and for me to remember.Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

Don't miss out on the "best bang for your buck" writers conference around!

Have you always wanted to write? Are you an author looking for a writers' conference to improve your skills and make professional connections?

The 2011 LDStorymakers Writers Conference is just around the corner, (May 5-7, 2011 at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City.) Registration ends on April 15.

Three national agents are holding pitch sessions and classes— Becca Stumpf (Prospect Agency), Sara Crowe (Harvey Klinger, Inc.), and Sara Megibow (The Nelson Agency). We also have a national editor, Marcia Markland (Senior Editor for Thomas Dunne Books, part of St. Martin's Press), and local editors Lisa Mangum (Deseret Book Co.) and Kirk Shaw (Covenant Communications), who will also be teaching classes and holding pitch sessions.

Special guest Larry Brooks, bestselling author of five critically-praised novels (including a USA Today bestseller), and creator of the writing tips website, www.storyfix.com, which was named the #1 writing blog and website for 2010, will be giving a keynote address and teaching a two-hour master class. His newest book, Story Engineering: Mastering the Six Core Competencies of Successful Writing, was just published by Writers Digest Books.

We have over 60 classes in a power packed schedule broken into four tracks—Craft Basics, Advanced Craft, Genre, and Marketing & Career Development—so there is something for every writer.Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

FOOD: HISTORICALLY SPEAKING

I love food, which may explain my fascination for one of my favorite research books--"Plantation Life at Rose Hill: The Diaries of Martha Ogle Foreman, 1814-1845." Catchy, eh? But really, it is a great book in that Martha Foreman wrote an entry almost every day of her married life giving us a fascinating glimpse into what she and her contemporaries ate, how they prepared it, how they preserved it, and the quantities of food they put up each year. Amazing! Eating required hard work, and lots of it. Really stop and think about the effort required to have a jar of jam on hand, or the bread to slather it upon. Think about a nice breakfast and imagine the time and prep involved in preparing such favorite menu items as sausage, bacon, biscuits, ham, pastries. No wonder eggs, bread and oatmeal often topped the list. I was really fascinated by the quantities of food a plantation had to produce to feed everyone. Rose Hill was run using slave labor, albeit well-treated slave-labor, if such a thing can be said. When they slaughtered hogs they were talking thirty-nine in a day from which she reports rendering 78 hams, 24 pieces of middling (salt pork), 12 jowls and 10 chins, along with what we must assume was bacon, and a host of by-products. A few days later she discusses making the sausage. Every day was a critical food prep day. Canning was still relatively new for households, so everything was salted, pickled, dried or smoked. An entry that discusses oysters talks about pickling them in large batches of twenty pounds or more. Imagine then rendering the lard, churning butter, and storing the fruit and root vegetables in the root cellar. Or digging up the yams and potatoes with a shovel, or catching, killing, plucking and preparing a chicken for supper. I think I would have been eating a lot of bread. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say we have it easy today. So when you open a can, defrost a pizza, or toss some dried noodles into a pot of boiling water heated over a stove you didn't have to chop wood for, give thanks! Martha Ogle lived along a tributary that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay, so seafood of all varities, including the famous Maryland Blue Crab, was part of her diet. Here's a crab cake recipe from one of my favorite food sites, Kitchen Daily. It uses a local seasoning that's practically its own food group here in Maryland--Old B ay Seasoning. Enjoy! BAKED CRAB CAKES with LEMON MUSTARD SAUCE FOR CRAB CAKES: 1/3 cup mayonnaise (preferably flavored with olive oil) 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard Zest of 1 lemon 1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley leaves 2 scallions, finely chopped 1 large egg 1 pound lump crabmeat Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 cup bread crumbs FOR LEMON MUSTARD SAUCE: 1/2 cup mayonnaise Juice of 1 lemon 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley Directions: Gather the following tools: cutting board, chef's knife, dry measuring cups, measuring spoons, small and large mixing bowls, rubber spatula, spoons, sheet pan, offset spatula Preheat the oven to 400F. In a large bowl, mix together mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, lemon zest, Old Bay, parsley, scallions, and egg. Add crab meat, season with salt and pepper, and stir well. Form crab cakes into a ball using about 1/4 cup of crab mixture for each cake. Dip the cakes into the breadcrumbs, flatten to about 1 inch high, and place on a lightly oiled sheet pan. Bake for 10 minutes. While the crab cakes are baking, prepare the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a small bowl. Serve the crab cakes with Lemon Mustard Sauce. Read more: http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/ba... 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

SNAPSHOTS OF HISTORY

While conducting research for my books I come across some really wonderful finds. The best are almost always the actual accounts people have left behind--their journal entries, or snippets from personal correspondence--underscoring the critical nature of keeping paper records, which is fast becoming a lost art in our electronic world.

There is a wonderful site called "Eyewitness to History" that is a priceless collection of true accounts of great historical moments and events. Every adult will enjoy these true-life glimpses and every student will need at least a few of these as they prepare papers on ancient kingdoms or US history.

The site and it's accounts will enlighten us on some topics, showing the incredible elegance and ingenuity of people who managed great feats without all our modern technology. It also blasts holes in romantic myths of courtly behavior during Medieval times, displaying the atrocities that occurred in those stunning castles, illustrating the barbarism nobles inflicted on the peasantry to construct them, and then to support the lifestyle.

I've spoken several times on the need to maintain a personal record. No one's life, no matter how mundane we may think it is, will be without value to someone looking back upon it. One of my very favorite references is a published diary of Martha Ogle Foreman, the young wife of a wealthy plantation owner and military man. Her diary entries are short and concise accounts of her daily work with occasional entries about the weather, the people who visited her, and the trips she took. It is an invaluable look at plantation life in the early nineteenth century, and it debunks the "The Gone With The Wind" idea about lazy lives of pleasure. Everyone worked--hard.

One of my favorite examples of the need to keep records comes from Dolley Madison's letters during the final hours at the President's House before it was burned by the British. These were a great resource to me during the writing of "Dawn's Early Light." A friend of the family who became disaffected from James Madison wrote a scathing report about the president saying he abandoned Dolley in the dangerous hours prior to the British entry into Washington, in a cowardly effort to save his own skin.

Dolley's letters to her sister, and a copy of hurriedly scribbled notes from James to her shows a very different picture. James told her over and over to be prepared to leave the house at any moment, and then he sent wave after wave of men to ferry her away, but he own letters prove that she chose not to leave without him. That she actually had those who had been sent to save her ruffled to the point of near anger with her, but still, she would not budge until she had secured a few of the nation's treasure, including the famed portrait of George Washington, and was assured she was completely out of time. Had it not been for her own record, history would have had only the bitter and untrue account of a disaffected friend which would have forever tarnished James Madison's reputation.

So why should any of this matter to us? Someone will write our record. Will we trust how we are remembered to someone else, or will we set the record straight? It's in our hands.Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

SNAPSHOTS OF HISTORY

While conducting research for my books I come across some really wonderful finds. The best are almost always the actual accounts people have left behind--their journal entries, or snippets from personal correspondence--underscoring the critical nature of keeping paper records, which is fast becoming a lost art in our electronic world. There is a wonderful site called "Eyewitness to History" that is a priceless collection of true accounts of great historical moments and events. Every adult will enjoy these true-life glimpses and every student will need at least a few of these as they prepare papers on ancient kingdoms or US history. The site and it's accounts will enlighten us on some topics, showing the incredible elegance and ingenuity of people who managed great feats without all our modern technology. It also blasts holes in romantic myths of courtly behavior during Medieval times, displaying the atrocities that occurred in those stunning castles, illustrating the barbarism nobles inflicted on the peasantry to construct them, and then to support the lifestyle. I've spoken several times on the need to maintain a personal record. No one's life, no matter how mundane we may think it is, will be without value to someone looking back upon it. One of my very favorite references is a published diary of Martha Ogle Foreman, the young wife of a wealthy plantation owner and military man. Her diary entries are short and concise accounts of her daily work with occasional entries about the weather, the people who visited her, and the trips she took. It is an invaluable look at plantation life in the early nineteenth century, and it debunks the "The Gone With The Wind" idea about lazy lives of pleasure. Everyone worked--hard. One of my favorite examples of the need to keep records comes from Dolley Madison's letters during the final hours at the President's House before it was burned by the British. These were a great resource to me during the writing of "Dawn's Early Light." A friend of the family who became disaffected from James Madison wrote a scathing report about the president saying he abandoned Dolley in the dangerous hours prior to the British entry into Washington, in a cowardly effort to save his own skin. Dolley's letters to her sister, and a copy of hurriedly scribbled notes from James to her shows a very different picture. James told her over and over to be prepared to leave the house at any moment, and then he sent wave after wave of men to ferry her away, but he own letters prove that she chose not to leave without him. That she actually had those who had been sent to save her ruffled to the point of near anger with her, but still, she would not budge until she had secured a few of the nation's treasure, including the famed portrait of George Washington, and was assured she was completely out of time. Had it not been for her own record, history would have had only the bitter and untrue account of a disaffected friend which would have forever tarnished James Madison's reputation. So why should any of this matter to us? Someone will write our record. Will we trust how we are remembered to someone else, or will we set the record straight? It's in our hands.Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

FICKLE MEDIA

My sons all played college-level sports, and we spent years watching games and dealing with the aftermath--good or bad. If the game went well--meaning if our sons performed well--we'd go out for a meal and hear a lively recounting of the game with tons of people coming by to pat their backs, offer congratulations, and bask in the "big guy's glory." When the game didn't go well, the conversation was stilted, the mood tense, the company thin. We coined a phrase to succinctly explain the shifting tides: "Some days you're the hero. Some days you're the dog." (The dog on a run in the farthest, muddy, forgotten corner of the yard, no less.) We've all seen similar behavior in the national media. When BYU's Jimmer was on his game, you'd hear awed howls from the booth about BYU's great teamwork and their heart. When he had a dry run for several minutes, the focus was on what they lacked. Politics runs similarly. After the beginning of the war in Libya, (what is it called now? A kinetic military exercise?) I tuned to both CNN and FOX every day to see how wide the swing in reporting was, and I was very surprised that both networks' tenor was one of criticism over the failure of the administration to lay out clear objectives, and the arrogance of the decision to head to the UN for approval without consulting Congress. After President Obama's address last night, a major shift occurred. CNN was rolling out every chart and diagram to support their wild-eyed enthusiasm over every three-pointer they felt he scored. FOX marched out a long line of refs with differing opinions. My advice? Watch both, and divide everything in half. Historically, little has changed in two hundred years, and probably longer than that. I've read one hundred plus years-old newspaper accounts that swing just as widely, and chuckled at the volumes the conflicting reports speak about human nature. We haven't changed much over time. We like winners, and we'll do our best to make our guy look like a winner every chance we get. Well, one thing has changed quite a lot actually--the aspect of the civility with which we express our opinions. But that's another topic. Somewhere out in the nether-reaches of my backyard there's a dog that need a pat and some love.Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

CONFERENCE AD in MORMON TIMES

This is the ad we're running in the Mormon Times during Conference Week. It's the last hurrah before we begin the promo for the final volume, "In God Is Our Trust," due out this summer.

I love seeing all four books together, but seeing all five together will be even sweeter. Thanks for the kind words about the series, and for supporting this project.

As you may know, book four, "Oh Say Can You See?" is a Whitney Finalist. Keep your fingers crossed!Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

LOSING A GENERATION

Yesterday I shared a cute email my Aunt Dot sent to me. I'd like to tell you a little about her. She's a tiny, peanut of a thing, five-feet nothing with a massive spirit and a quick wit. She's actually my great aunt, the baby sister of my grandmother who became best friends with my mother because of the closeness of their ages. I've only met her once, about 35 years ago.

My mother's mother's side of the family is Portuguese. Her father's side is French/Portuguese, which made my mother a stand-out looking woman as I grew up in suburban Maryland in a white-bread, predominantly Anglo community. I thought this side of my heritage sounded so exotic and special, particularly since everyone said I favored my father and his seemingly plain English/German side. But being different and looking different was challenging for my mom, particularly so because she had lost her father at a young age and ended up with a step-father who had been abusive to her, verbally and physically until her self-esteem was shattered.

She had grown up wishing she were blonde and blue-eyed like the anglo kids in her school, who often looked and treated the more ethnic children as if they were less. It scarred her. When she moved east as a young bride, she hid from the people who noticed the shy, dark-eyed, dark-haired beauty that made them think of Sophia Loren. To her, each eye was a judgment, and she became nearly reclusive.

She lost ties to her Portuguese family in California, and so did we by consequence. She's in her seventies now, and we have a weekly "date." She loves to tell the old stories, about childhood parties at her Grandmother Rose Rodrigues's house where a family gathering meant upwards of 100 loud, loving, dancing, singing, card-playing people. She can't remember the language anymore, but she remembers hearing it spoken by the older folks around the table as they cut slices of dark, Portuguese breads and cheese, and by her aunts and uncles when they'd hold a conversation not intended for the children's ears.

I discovered copies of my great-grandparents and their children's records from their first immigration from the Azores to Hawaii. They're names were Maria, Alejandro, Joaquin back then. As they came to America, they wanted to fit in to their new country so they Americanized their names to Mary, Alexander and John. They worked hard, and served their new country in the military. Soldiers, hungry for home, would walk past the Rodrigues house during the holidays and hear a band playing music inside. They'd knock on the door and ask if this was the dance hall, Elmurst Gardens. The family would laugh and reply that it wasn't but that they were welcome to come in and join their party. It sounds like heaven doesn't it?

I have a few brief memories of my mother's people from the 60's when we lived briefly in California. Then we never returned. They became ghosts to me--rarely heard from, rarely spoken of. My grandmother and her sister Dot flew east in 76 for my wedding. It was the last time I ever saw either of them. Grandmother is gone now, but Aunt Dot connected with my mother, and she and I began emailing some years ago. She sends me cute jokes and quizzes like the one I posted yesterday, and she tries to help me put my mother's family tree back together.

She sent this one as well, and I have to say, as I read it, my heart broke a little. How I would have loved to have known this kind of extended-family love:

Portuguese kids vs. American kids:

American kids: Move out when they're 18 with the full support of their parents.
Portuguese kids: Move out when they're 28, having saved enough money for a house, and are two weeks away from getting married... unless there's room in the basement for the newlyweds.
------------------
American kids: When their Mom visits them, she brings a Bundt cake, and you sip coffee and chat.
Portuguese kids: When their Mom visits them, she brings 3 days worth of food, begins to tidy up, dusts, does the laundry, and rearranges the furniture.
-----------------
American kids: Their dads always call before they come over to visit them, and it's usually only on special occasions.
Portuguese kids: Are not at all fazed when their dads show up, unannounced, on a Saturday morning at 7:00, and start pruning the fruit trees. If there are no fruit trees, he'll plant some.
-----------------
American kids: Will come over for cake and coffee, and get only cake and coffee. No more.
Portuguese kids: Will come over for cake and coffee, and get a fish dish, a choice of two meats, potatoes, salad, bread, fruit, espresso, multiple choices of cakes.
----------------
American kids : Will greet you with 'Hello' or 'Hi'.
Portuguese kids: Will give you a big hug, a kiss on your cheek, and a pat on your back.
----------------
American kids: Will eat at your dinner table and leave.
Portuguese kids: Will spend hours there, talking, laughing, and just being together.
----------------
American kids: Know few things about you.
Portuguese kids: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.
----------------
American kids: Eat peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches on soft mushy white bread.
Portuguese kids: Eat presunto and cheese on a fresh baked Portuguese roll.
----------------
American kids: Think that being Portuguese is cool.
Portuguese kids: Know that being Portuguese is cool.
---------------

I wish my mom had come away from her childhood holding fast to these ideas of self and heritage. Fortunately, my Mormon heritage instilled these same values of family devotion and love in my family, but I would have loved to have had some of those great Portuguese hugs.

Mom and I are going to try to get out to California for the Rodrigues family reunion this summer. She's never wanted to go, but this year, she says she's ready. I will hear about a lost side of my self, a side I never embraced. A side my children know nothing about.

Of all the history I ever research, this is the one I most need to understand. When we lose a child, no matter how he or she is lost, we lose a generation. What are we planting in their little hearts?

So I'll go to California, and then I'll try to reclaim a lost Portuguese/American/German/English generation. Thanks, Aunt Dot!Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

DEMENTIA QUIZ

My eighty-something Aunt Dot sends me stuff all the time, but this may be her best shared email yet. I like to think of myself as fairly sharp, but I only got one of these questions right. So take the quiz yourself, and enjoy!
****************

DEMENTIA QUIZ:

FIRST QUESTION:
YOU ARE A PARTICIPANT IN A RACE. YOU OVERTAKE THE SECOND PERSON. WHAT POSITION ARE YOU IN?





~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~







ANSWER : IF YOU ANSWERED THAT YOU ARE FIRST,
THEN YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY WRONG! IF YOU OVERTAKE THE SECOND PERSON AND YOU TAKE HIS PLACE, YOU ARE IN SECOND PLACE!

TRY TO DO BETTER NEXT TIME.
NOW ANSWER THE SECOND QUESTION,
BUT DON'T TAKE AS MUCH TIME AS
YOU TOOK FOR THE FIRST QUESTION, OK?




SECOND QUESTION:
IF YOU OVERTAKE THE LAST PERSON, THEN YOU ARE....?
(SCROLL DOWN)




~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~











ANSWER: IF YOU ANSWERED THAT YOU ARE SECOND TO LAST, THEN YOU ARE.....
WRONG AGAIN. TELL ME SUNSHINE, HOW CAN YOU OVERTAKE THE LAST PERSON??


YOU'RE NOT VERY GOOD AT THIS, ARE YOU?


THIRD QUESTION:
VERY TRICKY ARITHMETIC! NOTE:
THIS MUST BE DONE IN YOUR HEAD ONLY.
DO NOT USE PAPER AND PENCIL OR A CALCULATOR.
TRY IT.



TAKE 1000 AND ADD 40 TO IT. NOW ADD ANOTHER 1000 NOW ADD 30.
ADD ANOTHER 1000. NOW ADD 20 .. NOW ADD ANOTHER 1000.
NOW ADD 10... WHAT IS THE TOTAL?


SCROLL DOWN FOR THE CORRECT ANSWER.....




~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~








DID YOU GET 5000?

THE CORRECT ANSWER IS ACTUALLY 4100...



IF YOU DON'T BELIEVE IT, CHECK IT WITH A CALCULATOR!
TODAY IS DEFINITELY NOT YOUR DAY, IS IT?

MAYBE YOU'LL GET THE LAST QUESTION RIGHT.... MAYBE...



FOURTH QUESTION:

MARY'S FATHER HAS FIVE DAUGHTERS:1.NANA,2. NENE,3... NINI,4. NONO, AND ???
2.WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE FIFTH DAUGHTER?~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~







DID YOU ANSWER NUNU? NO!OF COURSE IT ISN'T.
HER NAME ISMARY! READ THE QUESTION AGAIN!







OKAY, NOW THE BONUS ROUND,
I.E., A FINAL CHANCE TO REDEEM YOURSELF:





A MUTE PERSON GOES INTO A SHOP AND WANTS TO BUY A TOOTHBRUSH.
BY IMITATING THE ACTION OF BRUSHING HIS TEETH HE SUCCESSFULLY EXPRESSES HIMSELF TO THE SHOPKEEPER AND THE PURCHASE IS DONE.
NEXT, A BLIND MAN COMES INTO THE SHOP WHO WANTS TO BUY A PAIR OF SUNGLASSES; HOW DOES HE INDICATE WHAT HE WANTS?





~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~






IT'S REALLY VERY SIMPLE
HE OPENS HIS MOUTH AND ASKS FOR IT...
DOES YOUR EMPLOYER ACTUALLY PAY YOU TO THINK??
IF SO DO NOT LET THEM SEE YOUR ANSWERS FOR THIS TEST!



~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~


PASS THIS ON TO FRUSTRATE THE
SMART PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE!
HAVE A NICE DAY sunshine!Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)

WHY JOIN A WRITERS GROUPS, OR ATTEND A WRITING CONFERENCE?

I frequently have people ask me how to get started with an idea they have for a book. I generally say the same few things--get started, see who's currently publishing/representing the kind of book you're writing, and get a critique partner or join a writing group. A few months ago a woman mentioned she had an idea for a book. Yesterday she told me she had submitted it. I was thrilled to see her enthusiasm over making her dream come true. She found a good friend who had the skills to critique and edit her manuscript, and she was able to place copies of her book in each of her children's hands this Christmas. That alone was sufficient reward for her, but as is so often the case, she felt that familiar tug that says, if this book touches them, than maybe it will touch others too. She still doesn't consider herself more than a one-time writer who followed a prompting, but she's an author now. And that's a game-changer.

I belong to two writers groups--LDStorymakers and ANWA. Both are comprised of LDS writers and authors. LDStorymakers is open to all LDS authors who've published a book through a traditional publisher. ANWA is a women's group of LDS writers and authors in every stage of the process--from those already published to those drafting a book they dream of someday writing. The groups meet different needs, and each is a source of support and camaraderie for a part of my life that is often confusing and under-regarded by other friends and family members. I chose to belong to LDS writing groups because there are special challenges for people trying to publish clean, moral, but high-quality literature in a world where "dirtying-it-up" is often the key to success.

No matter your genre, your experience of your level of success, I highly recommend joining a group to all authors--aspiring or otherwise, and here's why.

1. A writers group helps validate the creative part of you that few other people "get." You may be blessed with a supportive circle of people who encourage your gift and aspirations, but only other writers, and maybe other creative artsy people, can understand the intimate personal tug a manuscript has on your heart. Writing groups surround you with people who understand your pain, your elation, your frustration and your insecurities. This is huge.

2. They will clap, cheer, cry, and sulk with you. Your project often becomes an appendage to you. Digs at your manuscript are visceral. You need a place to vent and heal so you don't bring all that emotion to the dinner table every night.

3. Empathetic people will truthfully assess your work without destroying your dream. Anyone can find someone who'll tell you you're piece if great. You've seen such people at auditions for American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, and watched their view of themselves be destroyed when someone tells them their momma and daddy were wrong.

4. You will learn. More people means more experience, more knowledge, more insight, more opinions. If your group is generous, (mine are!) they will share the good, the bad, and the ugly side of publishing; they will steer you away from time-wasters and pitfalls. They will share tips from grammar errors to publishing ideas, from industry trends to book signing no-nos.

5. Many either sponsor or attend writers' conferences. LDStorymakers has a spectacular conference coming up in May. ANWA hosts theirs in February. These are break-out opportunities for authors and aspiring authors to take diverse classes on the craft of writing and to glean current info on the current literary market. The contacts made at these conferences are invaluable. Hear success stories, meet other authors, pitch to agents and publishers. It's AWESOME!!!

6. Open your eyes to other opportunities. ANWA breaks us into smaller critique groups. My group meets online once a month. Our lesson topic was on the self-publishing and the niche market. I left that meeting so thrilled, with new ways to use my historical research. I'm so excited to give this new idea a go!

I could list a ton of other reasons why a writers group is crucial. Do a little research and see if you can find a writers group or critique group in your area. And plan to attend a writers conference this year. I highly recommend the Storymakers conference. I'll be working at thbe bootcamp and teaching a class on historical fiction. The cost of the conference is very affordable, and you'll leaved revved up and inspired.

Click and come! Launch your dream!Copyright 2009 Laurie LC Lewis, (To obtain permission to copy or reprint any portion of this post, please contact the author at lclewis2007@gmail.com)