A Memory Letter Is a Great Gift

Don't worry, I haven't lost it. The reason I am putting up a Christmaslike poster two days before Thanksgiving is a sane one. The quote got me to thinking about a personal gift you can give this year, or at any time.

Create a Memory Letter for various people. After you write about your memories with that person, enfold it in a special card or tuck into a pretty box tied with a sparkly ribbon. Write about a memory, or memories, that involve that person. Tell your Aunt Suzy about the times you spent the night at her house and what it meant to you. Or write to Uncle Ted about the time he took you swimming at a lake far from home and the car broke down and you cried. Or whatever happened.

Write to a sibling and you might end up with a lengthy piece. Highlight those memories that stand out for you, things like--sharing a room, taking turns doing kitchen chores, fights you had over nothing and then made up. 

Write to your best childhood friend or a fraternity brother or a friend who went all through grade school with you. Write about the funny things, the times you loved and what you learned.

If this is a gift, you shouldn't write about any grievances you might have. Aim for positive things. Maybe you can write about a difficult time and how it affected you and the way you got through it with that person's help. 

If you write a letter filled with memories as a gift for your mother or father, be sure to let them know how much you appreciated this or that as you grew up. Kids don't thank parents for things in their everyday life over the years, but later the memories emerge and they realize what their parents did for them. It's never too late to show your appreciation and love. The same goes for grandparents if you are fortunate enough to still have them.

What about a letter to your doctor or your longtime hairdresser? It would mean a great deal to people who have offered you a service for many years. Tell them what you admire about them, what special things you appreciate. 

Anyone who receives a memory letter from you will be touched and pleased. The letter gift will be remembered long after it was given, unlike the gift you might have picked up in a department store. 

The December holidays are still far enough away that you will have time to write your Memory Letters. Pick a few people as recipients this year and do others next year. Or for their birthday. 

No returns, no gift card that runs out on a certain date, no worries about sizes or likes/dislikes. A Memory Letter may be the best gift ever!

Authors Who Write Books On Writing

A book is for learning, for joy, and for satisfaction

Last Friday, I used a quote by Orson Scott Card at the top of my post. A writer friend and Follower of my blog commented that this writer was one of his favorites, that he wrote wonderful sci-fi books and also books on writing including Characters and Viewpoint; How To Write Science Fiction; and Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction. 

I started thinking about other writers who stepped away from their usual genre to write books that are meant to help new writers, intermediate writers and even advanced writers. Should you and I read them? You bet! These books are written by proven, published writers. They know what they are talking about. Bigtime!

I like that they are willing to share their expertise and their experiences with other writers. Granted, they want to sell the book and make some money but they are also willing to give advice to other writers. I admire those who do that. I also thank them as I have read many books on writing that have been written by well-known authors. I have gained a lot from each one.

Here is a partial list of books written by novelists about writing. Look for them in bookstores or online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

• Ursula LeGuin--Conversations on Writing; Steering the Craft; Words Are My Matter
• Anne LaMott--Bird By Bird
• Stephen King--On Writing:  A Memoir of the Craft
• Elizabeth George--Write Away: One Novelist's Approach To Fiction and The Writing Life; The Art of Writing
• Ray Bradbury--Zen in the Art of Writing
• Ernest Hemingway--Ernest Hemingway On Writing
• Nancy Kress--Beginnings, Middles and Ends; Characters, Emotion, and Viewpoints; Crafting Dynamic Dialogue

There are many more which you can find by hunting through your favorite search engine. Do you have any favorites to add to this list?

Story Ideas Are Everywhere

I have told other writers much the same thing as our quote today by the novelist, essayist and public speaker, Orson Scott Card. He is a man who must walk through life observing others and looking for a storyline. 

How many times have you heard a writer say I want to write but I just don't have an idea for a new story and you nod in agreement.? There are stories everywhere! What you need to do is train yourself to use your 'writer's eye' as you move through your daily activities, your travels and visits to family or friends. 

When you walk through your grocery store aisles, you pass many people. Do you look through them or at them? To develop your writer's eye, you must look at them. Then do a mental questioning to get a glimmer of what their story might be. Will you ever know for sure? Probably not. The important thing is to observe and see if there could possibly be a story there. 

When you see a mother interacting with three children trying to shop and keep control of the little ones at the same time, you might find a storyline. How is she handling the situation? With grace and style or as a harassed mother of three crying children? Does her frustration show or does she keep total control of herself? 

The mother is only one of many people you see on your grocery shopping expedition. You might pass a college student filling his basket with Ramen Noodles--cheap meals for a struggling student. How about the elderly couple moving slowly from aisle to aisle helping one another? You could pass an obese woman whose basket is filled with all the wrong kind of food. 

You might not find a full story but you can certainly catalog the people you see in your mental file as possible characters to use later. Conversely, you might witness a full story in a grocery store with two or more people involved. The next time you do your grocery shopping, look at the people you pass. 

Walk through the park or on a walking trail and you're bound to come up with an idea or two for a story or essay. Many years ago, I was overwhelmed with the beauty of nature that I witnessed on an early morning walk. As soon as I reached home, I sat down and wrote an essay on the same. 

There are stories to be found in your workplace, sporting events or shows you attend, even on Sunday morning at a church service. Consider a newspaper reporter. He/she is looking for stories wherever he/she goes. They become very keen at nosing out a story. Fiction writers and essayists and poets can do the same. One day, a few years ago, I was out walking and noticed an old man in baggy pants walking ahead of me with a companion/nurse. I knew there was a story in the making. Later in the day, I wrote a poem titled "Old Man In Baggy Pants." What else? I could have just walked by and not given him a thought but I used my writer's eye and my writer's mind to come up with a story about him.

The point here is that you can train yourself to find story ideas wherever you go. When you see people or a situation, play the What if...? game to help you get started. There will be times that you see a full story in front of you but sometimes it might be just the start of a story and you'll have to finish it with your creativity. 

Remember to look "at" people, not "through" them. 

Watch Those Passive Verbs!

Sometimes we adult writers need to go back to school, if even for a very short time. Our English teachers gave us the toolkit to use as we write our stories, essays, nonfiction articles and poems. Even so, we can use a bit of a refresher course now and then. And being a teacher from way back, I will step up today and remind you about one important part of our writing. 

When I critique the work of the others in my online writing group, one of the things I mark over and over again (and other critiquers do, as well) is the repeated use of passive verbs. We pump out those 'to be' forms like is, was, are without a thought as to what they do to your overall piece of writing. 

We all do it, especially in a first draft. When you don't catch them during an edit and submit your work filled with passive verb forms, you lessen your chances of acceptance. 

So, what's wrong with those passive verbs? We all use them in our daily conversations. What's the big deal? Too many passive verbs and we end up with plain vanilla when we could have chocolate if we use active verbs. Sentences with myriad passive verbs are rather blah. Change them to something that shows action and your reader sits up and takes notice, subconsciously perhaps, but their inner mind tells them this is a more interesting read than some. 

Some examples:

A.  The reason was that the girl was afraid she would be laughed at. (3 passive verbs)

B.  She feared others might laugh at her so she ran inside her house. (No passives/more interesting)

A.  The clown was funny and he was the hit of the show.(2 passive verbs)

B.  The funny clown proved the hit of the show.  (used adjective and then a semi-active verb)

Some writers question how to get rid of those passive verbs. There are sentences in which you can just substitute an active verb and change nothing else in the sentence. Sometimes, reversing the order allows a writer to use a more active verb. You can also use the object of the verb as an adjective as shown in The funny clown... in the first B example above. 

When you are ready to edit, you can move painstakingly through the text searching for passive verbs and make changes. If you use Word to write your stories and more, there is a handy little gadget that will make short work of finding those passives. 

Open your document and you should be on the Home page of the many choices at the top of the document. Move to the far right until you see a list of words that start with 'Find.'  Click on Find and a box will show at the left side of your document. Type in the word you want to check. I used was in the document I wanted to check. Like magic, each was in the 1700 word document showed up ion a brownish highlight color. I chose something written long ago and I used was. To be honest, my reaction can only be described as shock. I had a bushel basket of that tiny little, and oh so passive, verb.

If you use some other program to write, it most likely provides a similar provision for you to check words. You can use it to check any word, not only the passive verbs. Try it with a few of your documents filed away for future use (hopefully). 

Is there ever a time you can use passive forms like was? Of course! We'll never eliminate all passive verbs. Like all things, use them in moderation. Watch the overuse, especially when one sentence has three or more in it. I critiqued a submission yesterday where the word was showed up three times in one overly-long sentence. That is a no-no. 

Remember that active verbs provide interest and your job as a writer is to keep your readers interested.  

Writers--Each Day Is A Fresh Beginning

Today's quote works in our writing world as well as our everyday life. If we let them, our cares and woes as writers tend to build as the days go on. If we let them! We are in control even though we need to be reminded of that now and then.

Let's face it. None of us likes it when a story doesn't gel or we get rejections three times in one week. What if we submit a story for a critique and it comes back with red marks slashed in more places than ever before and the remarks from the person who did the critique are crushing blows? We hate that part of our writing life but it IS a part of the world we've chosen. 

We can let these negatives drag us down or we can push those broken pieces of yesterday out the door. Sweep them up in a neat little pile, then dispose of them. We can't forget about all of those problems. Some of them do have to be addressed but we can do that on another day.

Consider each day as a blank sheet of paper. We start fresh but we can begin by taking care of those troublesome things behind us, one at a time. It's not a matter of dragging the bad things along with you. Not at all. Each new day allows you to fix whatever was wrong and then start anew. 

In a perfect world, we'd be able to bandage every wound from our past writing but we know that is not going to happen. Even so, we can repair some of the old problems on a new day. We can also slam the door to yesterday behind us and walk through the portal of today and feel renewed. 

Some nights, when I go to bed, I lie there and think about what I did and did not accomplish that day. I nearly always fill both those columns. I find that the older I get, the more of those 'did not accomplish' things are added to my list. It doesn't mean they will never get done. I don't lose sleep over that part of the list. 

Instead, I know that the morning will come and I have an entirely new day to whittle that to-do list in my writing world. 

Treat each new day as a gift. It's yours to begin all over again. 

Guest Blogger: Marlene Cullen, The Writing Prompt Queen

Marlene Cullen

 I have a new writer friend who gives various prompts to help writers get some inspiration to write. I have dubbed her The Writing Prompt Queen. She has also edited three anthologies for writers about writing. See links in Marlene's guest post today. 

Ways To Heal When Writing

You can use the difficulties in your life and represent them in your writing.  Describe the difficulties as if writing a scene in a novel.

Look at your situation from a different point of view – from that of a character in a story.

Take A Break
When your writing becomes too difficult, stop. Take a break. Go for a walk. Treat yourself to a glass of iced tea or hot apple cider. Wash your hands with special scented soap. Do something physical to relax your mind.

Use a focal point as a reminder to relax and breathe deeply. A focal point is anything you like to look at: in your home, your writing environment, or outside.

Have A Plan
Have a plan for when you are feeling overwhelmed and need relief from emotional tension while you are writing.

Prepare a healthy snack before you begin to write. When the writing gets difficult, take a few minutes to nurture yourself, whether it’s food, a soothing drink, or a visual treat. Look at a pleasant picture or a memento that has good memories for you, or get physical. Go for a walk,  stretch, move around.

Empowering

Writing is a type of self-care that can be very empowering. Writing about emotional situations gives you some control in your present situation and new ways to look at past experiences, where you didn’t have control.

Use your writing to heal, being careful to not re-traumatize yourself.  You might benefit from the healing potential of telling your story.

Practice writing about your past without letting it overwhelm you.

“If we write about our pain, we heal gradually, instead of feeling powerless and confused, and we move to a position of wisdom and power.” — Writing As A Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo

Links to healing through writing on The Write Spot Blog:

How to write without adding trauma.
The Healing Power of Images Prompt #139
Does your heart hurt? Prompt #269

BIO:  Growing up in the Mission District of San Francisco offers a treasure chest of stories for Marlene Cullen to write about. Living in the same Sonoma County farmhouse with her husband since 1977 and raising three wonderful children on this rural property provides a rich bounty of cherished and tender memories to choose from and turn into stories.

Marlene is the editor of The Write Spot series:  The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Discoveries, The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Connections, The Write Spot: Reflections. These anthologies include entertaining vignettes and writing prompts. Every contributor offers encouragement to writers to keep writing.  Each volume has a resource section, guiding readers to become writers.

Marlene’s blog, The Write Spot Blog, features over 400 writing prompts, places to submit writing, encouragement to write, and techniques to improve writing.

Marlene's short stories and essays have been published in literary journals, anthologies, and newspapers.

The Write Spot

The 100 Year Anniversary of Armistice Day--Poems

A field of poppies

Yesterday, we marked the 100th anniversary of the signing of the armistice of WWI. The famed phrase, ...on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th  month..., is one many who honor the fallen of that war and others find familiar. 

There were myriad poets who wrote about that war, the war that was supposed to be the end of all wars. One of the most famous poems is In Flanders Fields written by John McCrae, a Canadian. He penned the poignant words after conducting the funeral of one of the men in his company who had been killed. 

There are many others with words that were written with swelling emotion in the middle of the conflict and others by someone waiting in fear at home. Why were these poems so acclaimed and remembered? I think one reason is so that we remember the horror war brings and hope to never see it again. Another is that the poets wrote with heartfelt emotion which invoked those emotions in the readers. That so many get resurrected every year on Veterans Day and are used by teachers in schools in present-day shows the lasting quality of the works and our need to remember. 

The National WWI Museum in Kansas City, MO is a must-see if you are in that area. To enter the museum, one crosses over a glass bridge which has a field of poppies beneath it. What a preparation for what the visitor is about to encounter inside. A short video about what they have done to commemorate this anniversary is worth watching.

Here are three poems that evolved from the horrors of that war fought 100+ years ago. The first is one you probably know. The second talks about the regular soldiers and the third shows us a typical morning and a solider who sees a rat that moves from one side of the conflict to the other, a simple observation with great meaning. 

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


Dreamers
by Siegfried Sassoon

Soldiers are citizens of death's grey land,
Drawing no dividend from time's to-morrows.
In the great hour of destiny they stand,
Each with his feuds, and jealousies, and sorrows.
Soldiers are sworn to action; they must win
Some flaming, fatal climax with their lives.
Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin
They think of firelit homes, clean beds and wives.

I see them in foul dug-outs, gnawed by rats,
And in the ruined trenches, lashed with rain,
Dreaming of things they did with balls and bats,
And mocked by hopeless longing to regain
Bank-holidays, and picture shows, and spats,
And going to the office in the train.


Break of Day in the Trenches
By Isaac Rosenberg

The darkness crumbles away.
It is the same old druid Time as ever,
Only a live thing leaps my hand,
A queer sardonic rat,
As I pull the parapet’s poppy
To stick behind my ear.
Droll rat, they would shoot you if they knew
Your cosmopolitan sympathies.
Now you have touched this English hand
You will do the same to a German
Soon, no doubt, if it be your pleasure
To cross the sleeping green between.
It seems you inwardly grin as you pass
Strong eyes, fine limbs, haughty athletes,
Less chanced than you for life,
Bonds to the whims of murder,
Sprawled in the bowels of the earth,
The torn fields of France.
What do you see in our eyes
At the shrieking iron and flame
Hurled through still heavens?
What quaver—what heart aghast?
Poppies whose roots are in man’s veins
Drop, and are ever dropping;
But mine in my ear is safe—
Just a little white with the dust.