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December 2007-
Okay, if you want a front row seat to see what happens after a boook contract has been signed, go to my blogspot to read all the steps involved and experience with me what it's like as a book is being published. It's very exciting!
November, 2007
I continue to have great classes at LBCC. My students keep me on my toes and hopping. I also have some excellent online courses now, with students who really want to learn and grow as writers, so that is very exciting. One of the cool things some of my students are doing is playing this word game at www.freerice.com. It's a word game that donates 10 grains of rice for every word you get right. We are playing it like mad at my house because we are geeks. It's also a cool way of sharing and to see what words you need to know. Anyway, check it out.
I am now in a Bookclub and I love it. Nothing better than sitting around with other bibliophiles and talking about a book. Our first book was Once Upon a Day, and we gave it an 8.5 as a group. Great girlie read. Then we read Veil of Roses, and some of us gave that a 10. We are currently reading Fall on Your Knees and so far, people are loving it. Book clubs rock.
So, I took the bookclub notion and applied it to my classes. They are reading some great novels and discussing them on Blackboard. I love it! I love reading what they think about, the questions they have, etc. Big fun for me...and...I hope...for them!
June 10, 2007
Okay...this term, I had killer classes! My fiction 104 class was the kind of class you dream about...it's magic...it's go time...it's one of those rare moments when everything and everybody clicks. I have never had so much fun in my life! They were so into Poe, so easy to laugh with, so...ENGAGED! It was remarkable. Classes like that do something to a teacher...what? You ask? Let me tell you... They make me aspire to be a better teacher...so I did something today I haven't done in years: I signed up for a writer's conference in Portland this summer. I can't believe how excited I was when I started registering for the conference. It just felt so good to know that I was going to spend a weekend redefining my craft, learning from experts, talking about words and writing and all the other things geeky writers like me live to talk about! I am so very excited. The best part is...I will be teaching a creative fiction class during that time, so I'll be able to bring back to the class all of the things I learned there. How cool is that?
So...it's almost summer and I've already read two great books, I am 70 pages away from finishing the second rewrite of the Third Echo book, and I am so excited about life! Summer is the best!
Feb 10, 2007
Okay. Some of you have seen this, many of you haven't, but when I get papers where it's clear that proofreading did not happen, I'll have students stand there trying to convince me that they did. After reading this next piece, I realized that they probably THOUGHT they did, but all they had really done was manage to trick their mind because they were reading things in context. Read this next passage quickly. You'll be amazed by how much (if not all) of it you understand:
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.
So, my advice is to read backwards from the end of a passage, paragraph, sentence, etc. to the beginning. That way, your mind isn't EXPECTING to see things that aren't really there (or at least, aren't there CORRECTLY). It's a little like when people see this: Red
Yellow Green Blue and are asked to say the color they see. WEIRD!
Wow...It's been a while...I guess all that teaching keeps me busy. I love my job. Teaching is just such a rush...but let's talk about writing. I have a new book that is perfect for anyone who needs a little prompting, who has not a lot of time to sit down and write. The book's title is The Write Brain, and it has short exercises that combines entirely colorful pictures, photos, etc. For example, there is a photo of a sailboat and your exercise is to write INSIDE the mast of the sailboat all the sounds you hear, what the mast is doing, etc. It's a great book for kick-starting your writing day.
My second must-read book for would be writers is still If You Want to Write by Barbara Ueland. She has a no nonsense approach to getting your writing life going. Throw all the others away and get her small, easy to read book on what you need to be doing, thinking, etc.
My third recommendation is a leather bound writing journal by Oberon. Everyone needs one of those...they are inspiring and inspirational...they give you pride in your words that a spiral bound just doesn't cut. I have several. They come in different sizes, different colors, and with designs that says this is MINE. Definitely worth the price of admission!
My final recommendation is The Writer's Market for anything from where to send your stuff to how to get it ready. The 2007 one normally comes out in October. Don't get the online one...I didn't think it was worth the extra dough.
Okay...that's it for now!
Happy reading! |
