Karen GoatKeeper's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"
Plans for 2015
I don't like resolutions. They have this false feel to me. I will do this or that and when it doesn't work out, I failed.
Setting plans and goals is a better option for me. This way, when life happens, they can be amended or postponed.
For Goodreads I have a new book reading goal. Last year I tried for 40 and exceeded it for the first time in years. GR has been good for me. So next year I will try for 44 books.
The plan is to read three books from my own bookshelves and one library book each month. Books over 350 pages amend this plan due to time to read them.
For writing I have a goal of 5 books finished this year. Drafts are done for four so I think this is doable.
However, I do need to plan for next year too. So I want to complete three drafts to rewrite next year.
This year ends tonight. I wish everyone a great New Year. May it have many blessings for you. May you reach many of your goals for the New Year.
Setting plans and goals is a better option for me. This way, when life happens, they can be amended or postponed.
For Goodreads I have a new book reading goal. Last year I tried for 40 and exceeded it for the first time in years. GR has been good for me. So next year I will try for 44 books.
The plan is to read three books from my own bookshelves and one library book each month. Books over 350 pages amend this plan due to time to read them.
For writing I have a goal of 5 books finished this year. Drafts are done for four so I think this is doable.
However, I do need to plan for next year too. So I want to complete three drafts to rewrite next year.
This year ends tonight. I wish everyone a great New Year. May it have many blessings for you. May you reach many of your goals for the New Year.
Plans for 2015
I don't like resolutions. They have this false feel to me. I will do this or that and when it doesn't work out, I failed.
Setting plans and goals is a better option for me. This way, when life happens, they can be amended or postponed.
For Goodreads I have a new book reading goal. Last year I tried for 40 and exceeded it for the first time in years. GR has been good for me. So next year I will try for 44 books.
The plan is to read three books from my own bookshelves and one library book each month. Books over 350 pages amend this plan due to time to read them.
For writing I have a goal of 5 books finished this year. Drafts are done for four so I think this is doable.
However, I do need to plan for next year too. So I want to complete three drafts to rewrite next year.
This year ends tonight. I wish everyone a great New Year. May it have many blessings for you. May you reach many of your goals for the New Year.
Setting plans and goals is a better option for me. This way, when life happens, they can be amended or postponed.
For Goodreads I have a new book reading goal. Last year I tried for 40 and exceeded it for the first time in years. GR has been good for me. So next year I will try for 44 books.
The plan is to read three books from my own bookshelves and one library book each month. Books over 350 pages amend this plan due to time to read them.
For writing I have a goal of 5 books finished this year. Drafts are done for four so I think this is doable.
However, I do need to plan for next year too. So I want to complete three drafts to rewrite next year.
This year ends tonight. I wish everyone a great New Year. May it have many blessings for you. May you reach many of your goals for the New Year.
A Year's Reading Challenge
Normally I write about some aspect of writing involving me over the week. This time I'm writing about reading.
Writers should read widely. Seeing how other authors handle subjects, interest their readers and different styles can help improve writing styles.
This year I plan to tackle "A Sense of History" one essay at a time. It is a book of essays on American history.
Everyone took American history when I was in school. They still do. But that doesn't mean we learn much history.
When I was teaching science, my students asked me one day why I never gave them a day off. Strictly speaking I did, the last day of each semester.
This is what I explained: Missouri required them to attend my class 178 days a year. Out of that 178, two ended semesters, ten dropped for testing, six dropped for semester tests, six were half days. Assuming that 178 days was 178 hours [periods are usually less than an hour], that left me 154 hours to teach science.
The state standards wanted me to cover 20 topic areas. I had to cover a topic every 7 days.Each unit of science included reading, classwork, labs and a test.
My students never again wondered why we worked every day. And, when they got to college, they were ready to tackle the college science classes.
History has a similar challenge as do all subjects. So, I don't know a lot of history, only bits and pieces. I would like to know more.
This 800 pages + book covers so much American history I am barely familiar with. So this book will come up on my reading list and will sit there for a long time. But I hope to know some history by the end of the year.
Writers should read widely. Seeing how other authors handle subjects, interest their readers and different styles can help improve writing styles.
This year I plan to tackle "A Sense of History" one essay at a time. It is a book of essays on American history.
Everyone took American history when I was in school. They still do. But that doesn't mean we learn much history.
When I was teaching science, my students asked me one day why I never gave them a day off. Strictly speaking I did, the last day of each semester.
This is what I explained: Missouri required them to attend my class 178 days a year. Out of that 178, two ended semesters, ten dropped for testing, six dropped for semester tests, six were half days. Assuming that 178 days was 178 hours [periods are usually less than an hour], that left me 154 hours to teach science.
The state standards wanted me to cover 20 topic areas. I had to cover a topic every 7 days.Each unit of science included reading, classwork, labs and a test.
My students never again wondered why we worked every day. And, when they got to college, they were ready to tackle the college science classes.
History has a similar challenge as do all subjects. So, I don't know a lot of history, only bits and pieces. I would like to know more.
This 800 pages + book covers so much American history I am barely familiar with. So this book will come up on my reading list and will sit there for a long time. But I hope to know some history by the end of the year.
Being a Writer
I met an interesting woman at my last Missouri Writers, Ink meeting. She had taught English, helped students publish award winning annuals and dreamed of writing her own books. And she has yet to put a word on paper or computer screen.
A writer writes because writing is as much a part of their being as living and breathing. But that doesn't put a word down on paper or up on a computer screen.
Every story about a successful author has one thing in common. The author sits down and writes. Some write a certain number of pages. Others do a word count. Some have time frames. But words in a story, even ones ultimately cut or totally rewritten, appear on that paper or screen.
This habit is what divides writers from those who dream of being writers. This habit takes ambition and stubborn persistence.
Spring with all its distractions make it so hard for me to keep sitting down and writing every morning. New baby kid goats, warm weather, the garden and the wildflowers on the hills lure me away.
But I am a writer. I will persevere. I will work faithfully every day. Maybe a deadline will help keep me inside yet another day.
A writer writes because writing is as much a part of their being as living and breathing. But that doesn't put a word down on paper or up on a computer screen.
Every story about a successful author has one thing in common. The author sits down and writes. Some write a certain number of pages. Others do a word count. Some have time frames. But words in a story, even ones ultimately cut or totally rewritten, appear on that paper or screen.
This habit is what divides writers from those who dream of being writers. This habit takes ambition and stubborn persistence.
Spring with all its distractions make it so hard for me to keep sitting down and writing every morning. New baby kid goats, warm weather, the garden and the wildflowers on the hills lure me away.
But I am a writer. I will persevere. I will work faithfully every day. Maybe a deadline will help keep me inside yet another day.
Too Busy But...
I suppose everyone busy doing something has the same complaint. There never seem to be enough hours in a day. Actually there are. We just try to over schedule. Or waste some of the time we do have.
My website is normally lots of fun to do. I write a couple of fast commentaries and set up (and do) a science project each week.
This week I am putting the first part of "The Pumpkin Project" up for subscription so time is tight. So why did I set up a long science project? And whatever possessed me to do a poem for one of the commentaries?
I must be mad!
The science project really took only a couple of hours to set up when I finally got up the nerve to start it. Part of that was time to clean up the stove. The project included making rock candy and the sugar syrup boiled over when I looked away for five seconds.
After that it was a matter of waiting, watching and hoping the rock candy would form. I should know by now, having tried this a couple of other times, that I am doomed. The rock candy forms anywhere but on the dangled string.
I'm expecting the first hummingbirds any day. They can eat the remains of rock candy after I dissolve it off the bottom of the jar.
And the poem? The pictures are ready. The poem is two or three stanzas from done. It will need rewriting eventually as the meter isn't quite right yet.
"The Pumpkin Project?" It's ready to debut, I think. The PDF is done after arguing with the computer about margins. The Introduction and Project 1 with pictures are ready.
There really was enough time. Things did get almost done. I even finished up the two new Investigations in Part 2 of "The Pumpkin Project" due out in a couple of weeks.
Maybe the problem isn't the amount of time. Maybe the problem is stressing out about the time which is itself a waste of time. Maybe someday I will learn this and quit stressing. Maybe.
My website is normally lots of fun to do. I write a couple of fast commentaries and set up (and do) a science project each week.
This week I am putting the first part of "The Pumpkin Project" up for subscription so time is tight. So why did I set up a long science project? And whatever possessed me to do a poem for one of the commentaries?
I must be mad!
The science project really took only a couple of hours to set up when I finally got up the nerve to start it. Part of that was time to clean up the stove. The project included making rock candy and the sugar syrup boiled over when I looked away for five seconds.
After that it was a matter of waiting, watching and hoping the rock candy would form. I should know by now, having tried this a couple of other times, that I am doomed. The rock candy forms anywhere but on the dangled string.
I'm expecting the first hummingbirds any day. They can eat the remains of rock candy after I dissolve it off the bottom of the jar.
And the poem? The pictures are ready. The poem is two or three stanzas from done. It will need rewriting eventually as the meter isn't quite right yet.
"The Pumpkin Project?" It's ready to debut, I think. The PDF is done after arguing with the computer about margins. The Introduction and Project 1 with pictures are ready.
There really was enough time. Things did get almost done. I even finished up the two new Investigations in Part 2 of "The Pumpkin Project" due out in a couple of weeks.
Maybe the problem isn't the amount of time. Maybe the problem is stressing out about the time which is itself a waste of time. Maybe someday I will learn this and quit stressing. Maybe.
Just Wondering
Whenever I read or hear an author interview, the comment seems to come up about sitting down and writing every day. I do see the wisdom of this and try to practice it. This last week I have come upon a question about exceptions.
My friend brought home a cold, a most unwelcome visitor. Being unimpressed by its reception, this cold spread itself around.
Now, a cold does not impress the goats. They must be milked and fed anyway. So I show up even when crawling and miserable.
Is writing the same? Writing when hot and cold flushes roll by? Writing when the nose uses the tissue box as an extension? Writing when coughing doubles the writer over? Writing when putting a subject and verb together is difficult let alone making them agree?
I decided not and crawled back in bed. Writing time was cancelled for the day.
My friend brought home a cold, a most unwelcome visitor. Being unimpressed by its reception, this cold spread itself around.
Now, a cold does not impress the goats. They must be milked and fed anyway. So I show up even when crawling and miserable.
Is writing the same? Writing when hot and cold flushes roll by? Writing when the nose uses the tissue box as an extension? Writing when coughing doubles the writer over? Writing when putting a subject and verb together is difficult let alone making them agree?
I decided not and crawled back in bed. Writing time was cancelled for the day.
Blackmailing Myself
I started "The Pumpkin Project" ten years ago. It was fun. It was challenging. I roared ahead on it.
Then my mother became ill. Work stopped.
For me it is much harder to return to a writing project than it is to start a new one. Perhaps the new one has that aura of excitement the older project wore through. Perhaps the vision of what the older project was to be has slipped away. Perhaps there is a difficult part in that older project and a new one lacks those snags for now.
Bit by bit I am working my way through "The Pumpkin Project" as I must get it done this year. Every year I tell myself: This is the year I will finish it. And each year slips away.
This year I'm doing some personal blackmail.
First I'm posting the Investigations on my website over the summer as my Outside Project. (This has the added benefit of having most of the projects already done instead of needing to be done.)
Secondly I signed up for CampNaNo to do an edit of the book.
I did make it all the way through all the written parts, the stories, the Projects and the Investigations. They are now formatted the same way. The stories sound good and are rearranged to fit into the book better. The main Project is split into more doable pieces and enlarged so anyone, even apartment dwellers, can do it.
Now I get to go through the book again. All the Investigation tables will become images and look nicer. All the pictures will be resized and will look more uniform throughout the book.
Just in time warmer weather is arriving here in the Ozarks. Time to plant my pumpkins: giant, sugar pie and miniature (in a container). There are those missing pictures to take. I even arranged with other people to grow some pumpkins and take pictures in case the squash bugs attack my vines.
Will this year be the year "The Pumpkin Project" gets done? Determination, persistence and blackmail say yes.
Then my mother became ill. Work stopped.
For me it is much harder to return to a writing project than it is to start a new one. Perhaps the new one has that aura of excitement the older project wore through. Perhaps the vision of what the older project was to be has slipped away. Perhaps there is a difficult part in that older project and a new one lacks those snags for now.
Bit by bit I am working my way through "The Pumpkin Project" as I must get it done this year. Every year I tell myself: This is the year I will finish it. And each year slips away.
This year I'm doing some personal blackmail.
First I'm posting the Investigations on my website over the summer as my Outside Project. (This has the added benefit of having most of the projects already done instead of needing to be done.)
Secondly I signed up for CampNaNo to do an edit of the book.
I did make it all the way through all the written parts, the stories, the Projects and the Investigations. They are now formatted the same way. The stories sound good and are rearranged to fit into the book better. The main Project is split into more doable pieces and enlarged so anyone, even apartment dwellers, can do it.
Now I get to go through the book again. All the Investigation tables will become images and look nicer. All the pictures will be resized and will look more uniform throughout the book.
Just in time warmer weather is arriving here in the Ozarks. Time to plant my pumpkins: giant, sugar pie and miniature (in a container). There are those missing pictures to take. I even arranged with other people to grow some pumpkins and take pictures in case the squash bugs attack my vines.
Will this year be the year "The Pumpkin Project" gets done? Determination, persistence and blackmail say yes.
Is Editing Writing?
Page by page I am again going through "The Pumpkin Project" even though the writing has been gone over several times. This time the pictures, tables and page numbers are the targets. Each page is listed so I will have a list of those pictures and other items I need to complete the book. The list will also correct the Table of Contents.
Such editing is essential to complete a book. Mistakes do slip by from time to time but most get caught by a careful edit. A sloppy edit can sink a new book for potential readers.
But is editing writing?
Rewrites can be. A piece can look entirely different, a new piece entirely other than the subject when a rewrite is done. So a rewrite can be writing.
But what about editing?
I tweak a word here and there. I may add a sentence or change one. But I am not writing anything new.
So I don't think editing is writing, only a necessary adjunct to writing.
Perhaps that is why editing can feel so stifling and plodding.
I long for the freedom to write. A story is distracting my brain. Yet, if I start writing, can I continue to plod faithfully along on "The Pumpkin Project" edit?
Such editing is essential to complete a book. Mistakes do slip by from time to time but most get caught by a careful edit. A sloppy edit can sink a new book for potential readers.
But is editing writing?
Rewrites can be. A piece can look entirely different, a new piece entirely other than the subject when a rewrite is done. So a rewrite can be writing.
But what about editing?
I tweak a word here and there. I may add a sentence or change one. But I am not writing anything new.
So I don't think editing is writing, only a necessary adjunct to writing.
Perhaps that is why editing can feel so stifling and plodding.
I long for the freedom to write. A story is distracting my brain. Yet, if I start writing, can I continue to plod faithfully along on "The Pumpkin Project" edit?
Wonderful World of Words
Tongue twisters. Remember them? How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Or Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers?
Or Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" or especially "The Bells."
Words have such wonderful sounds. People with small vocabularies have no idea how rich the sounds of English are.
Some time back I started playing with goat tongue twisters. Yes, more goats.
One by one I have worked my way through the letters to Q writing quick stories, tongue twisters and alliterations on goat topics.
Q has me stumped. For now. I will sit down with the unabridged dictionary to leaf through all the Q entries until the topic appears in front of me.
Why should the sounds of words matter to a writer?
In any book words can help create the setting, the situation. Their sounds can make a reader hear the wind, the sea, the rise and fall of a carousel. They can add depth to a sentence. They can twist the meaning of a sentence through their connotations.
So often only picture book writers are urged to pay attention to their words. The rest of us are missing out by not doing the same.
Or Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven" or especially "The Bells."
Words have such wonderful sounds. People with small vocabularies have no idea how rich the sounds of English are.
Some time back I started playing with goat tongue twisters. Yes, more goats.
One by one I have worked my way through the letters to Q writing quick stories, tongue twisters and alliterations on goat topics.
Q has me stumped. For now. I will sit down with the unabridged dictionary to leaf through all the Q entries until the topic appears in front of me.
Why should the sounds of words matter to a writer?
In any book words can help create the setting, the situation. Their sounds can make a reader hear the wind, the sea, the rise and fall of a carousel. They can add depth to a sentence. They can twist the meaning of a sentence through their connotations.
So often only picture book writers are urged to pay attention to their words. The rest of us are missing out by not doing the same.
More on Words
Words are on my mind lately as I have been working on pencil puzzles for The Pumpkin Project and my Q entry for the goat alphabet alliteration just for fun book.
Years ago my mother worked at later directed an historical museum in a small Ozark town. I had the chance to browse through some of the old text books from local one room schools.
My grandfather had left school at age 13 when his father died and he had to work the farm. I always wondered why he seemed to have such a good education without much time at school.
Looking through a sixth grade McGuffey's reader, later other readers from the same time period I found the answer. In spite of reading far above my grade level, completing a bachelor's degree and being, at that time, a voracious reader, I needed a dictionary for some of the words in the reading selections.
A memory from one of my first substituting days before getting a teaching position is using the term general consensus and watching all mouths in the room drop open.
So often writers are advised to write on grade level. Check your vocabulary. Check your grade level. Simplify your vocabulary.
So many young people have limited vocabularies now. Maybe we should share the blame.
Teachers are told to set high standards for their classes to encourage students to strive to improve. Not impossibly high just higher than mediocre.
Perhaps we should do the same as writers. Maybe we should use bigger vocabularies, longer words in our writing. Challenge our readers a bit. Grow their vocabularies a bit.
My mother introduced me to teaching ESL English to adults. The rule of thumb was to use a word five times for the reader to become familiar with it, to own it.
English is a rich language, one of the richest in the world as it includes words from many languages and times. It can be a beautiful language. What a shame to let this diversity vanish as we write to grade level.
Years ago my mother worked at later directed an historical museum in a small Ozark town. I had the chance to browse through some of the old text books from local one room schools.
My grandfather had left school at age 13 when his father died and he had to work the farm. I always wondered why he seemed to have such a good education without much time at school.
Looking through a sixth grade McGuffey's reader, later other readers from the same time period I found the answer. In spite of reading far above my grade level, completing a bachelor's degree and being, at that time, a voracious reader, I needed a dictionary for some of the words in the reading selections.
A memory from one of my first substituting days before getting a teaching position is using the term general consensus and watching all mouths in the room drop open.
So often writers are advised to write on grade level. Check your vocabulary. Check your grade level. Simplify your vocabulary.
So many young people have limited vocabularies now. Maybe we should share the blame.
Teachers are told to set high standards for their classes to encourage students to strive to improve. Not impossibly high just higher than mediocre.
Perhaps we should do the same as writers. Maybe we should use bigger vocabularies, longer words in our writing. Challenge our readers a bit. Grow their vocabularies a bit.
My mother introduced me to teaching ESL English to adults. The rule of thumb was to use a word five times for the reader to become familiar with it, to own it.
English is a rich language, one of the richest in the world as it includes words from many languages and times. It can be a beautiful language. What a shame to let this diversity vanish as we write to grade level.
