Search results matching tags 'writing' and 'uncategorized'

Ideas for children’s writing

Anonymous — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:47:54 GMT

If you’re looking for a fun idea to get your child writing, try making a Zig Zag Book. It’s a great way to encourage beginners to have a go at writing. The format of the book is fun and quirky and let’s them do lots of drawings, adding in a little writing too.

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Winter Break as an English Teacher

Anonymous — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 21:01:34 GMT

I hear it often, and you do too. Winter Break (Christmas Break) approaches, and community members begin to envy the two weeks away from school that teachers have and the comments begin.

“It must be nice to have two weeks off.”

“What will you do with all of your free time?”

“Must be nice to get paid and not have to work.”

These comments frustrate me, but I do try and correct the misconception with my responses, which don’t need to explain in detail here; however, I did think a good idea would be to post what my “break” is like as an English teacher.

I time one set of the students’ papers to be due around this time because I have 150 students. Each paper averages about 15 minutes to read, mark, and evaluate, which means I have about 37.5 hours of grading time during the break. This is essentially an unpaid week of work (but, as most of you know, teachers are only paid for contracted days). This is the only time of year when I bring papers home to grade because I like to work the extra hours at the school before coming home in order to keep my work life and home life separate.

I do take 2-4 days off for family time and decorating the house and such, and then it’s back to work. Some years my wife and I take a short trip outside of family time–we’re partial to Vegas–but this year we couldn’t swing it.

Then, it’s time to prepare for the return on January 2. Usually, I re-read one of the novels I’m teaching and prepare “Big Idea” questions (ideas that allow for full discussions and essays) for each section of the novel.

I typically start going to the school each day beginning on the 27th of December to make copies, clean and re-supply my classroom, update and change the bulletin boards, and post grades. I probably average 2-4 hours per day.

Also, I like to take January 1 off, and I schedule time to watch my favorite college and pro football games. All in all, of the 17 days of the Winter Break, I usually work 12 of them.

What type of hours do you keep over the holidays?

Filed under: Uncategorized

Pretend play post office

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 08:48:33 GMT

‘No! Don’t talk to me Mummy. Send me a letter!’

Our house has been transformed this week with the creation of a pretend play post office. Children who used to run off into the garden at the sight of a pencil and piece of paper are getting up early to check their mail and write replies. Everyone . . . → Read More: Pretend play post office

Procrastination

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:55:23 GMT

Trying to find time to write can sometimes be tricky. There’s always something I could be doing, or often I feel like I should be doing. But worse than that is the distractions when I sit down to write something. I end up wanting to check my facebook for the umpteenth time, refresh my blog reader, or surf on pinterest. I’m hanging out on twitter, watching shows on netflix, downloading things from the internet. Or lately, making friends on AIM and other chat places and playing online games. These run the gamut of online mmorpgs to online text based rpgs, which I’m currently in love with.

Though I’m driven crazy at times by my procrastination tendencies, sometimes it’s useful. In the case of the role play games, or talking with friends about life problems, these often inspire me. It gives me ideas for characters and plots, little elements or quirks to add to a person to make them more realistic. Though, then I have another distraction to add to my list of distractions: ideas for future work.

Are there things that distract you? How do you get back on track?

Tagged: writing

I COME BEARING LINKS!

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:33:21 GMT

I, along with a plethora of others, am subjecting myself to the punishment, I mean loveliness, that is NANOWRIMO! Spit out a 50,000 word novel in a month? NO PROBLEM! But this isn’t so much about nano as it is about writing in general. Never have I had so many people to talk with about writing, to encourage, to whine. I love it! I love the community we share for this one month, though fleeting, and I wish it lasted longer.

So today, I’m coming with lots of pep for those looking for inspiration and LOTS of freebies and goodies for anyone that is wanting to hone their craft. ENJOY LOVELIES!

7 free e-books until November 12th about writing!

Are you inspired and loafing about? Go read THE BUTT KICKING THREAD on the nanowrimo site for some tough love and get back to work!

30 tips from galleycat a blog about news in the writing world plus writing tips

A step by step breakdown to write 10,000 vs. 2,000 words a day.

Enjoy lovelies! And share the wealth!

Tagged: nanowrimo, writing

Frantzerland 5

Anonymous — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 08:51:14 GMT

A great site explaining some of the more outrageous differences between Switzerland and the States: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~terry/english/surprising.switzerland.html

My favorite part is the rules about naming your kid. Although there isn’t a list of names, per se, you cannot name your kid anything that would be offensive, not actually a name, or damaging to the child. The name has to be approved by the records office within 3 days. If it is inappropriate or something that would be deemed “strange” by the Swiss populace you have to get a letter from your country of origin stating it is an appropriate name for your kid. So you can’t name your kid Budweiser or Cannabis. Nothing like shmaboogiesnicklesnickle. No Topanga. No *** (it’s pronounced She-Thay you people who don’t appreciate my facebook humor, or sarcasm, or the fact that I block a lot of people I don’t want to see inappropriate or tongue in cheek stuff).

We have a place to live! It’s a beautiful one bedroom with a fully furnished kitchen (remodeled with EVERYTHING from Ikea). And partial bills paid. It’s really amazing to find a place like this as most places over here don’t even have light fixtures, just the wires dangling down from the ceiling. One we saw did not have a toilet seat or sinks. They MEAN unfurnished. It’s nice though because it means that it is THAT customizable. Down to the not having closets and everyone buying armoires and such. And yesterday we went and the guy sold us all his furniture. Some of the pieces are too big for our liking, and we’d like to get at least a futon for guests, but it’s really beautiful and modern. HUZZAH!

It’s starting to cool off here. I am really excited about winter because they do bobsled and luge runs up in the alps. I WANT TO GO SO BADLY! It snowed last weekend and we went up a little mountain trail and hiked around a bit in a wooded forest. It was so old and overgrown. Really magical and inspirational.

We went to the UN. It was pretty cool, but you can only take pictures from the outside. Some bigwig foreign dignitaries came over and they had cops out all over on the corners of pretty much every street with these huge guns. But cops over here don’t just have guns. Oh no. They have tanks! Huge tanks! There were 3 HUGE TANKS sitting outside the UN with Police stickers on it and Police standing all over it. I did not get a picture though because I didn’t want to get shot. By a TANK!

In other words, don’t *** with the Police.

We went to the flower festival in Yvoire last week. The smell of the countless geraniums and the colors overflowing from the ancient structures was just mind blowing. We got meat crepes and homemade french fries that were to die for, and this from the person that detests potatoes.

After the festival we went up on top of a short mountain (probably 4000 feet or so) and found this beautiful chateau that looked just like a castle. But it was nothing compared to Chillon (pronounced shown) Castle. We got an amazing bottle of wine that is made there and wandered around for hours. There’s over 700 pictures on our respective cameras, but I only posted my favorites. I studied the works of Byron in school and he was one of my inspirations to write fantastic stories with huge plots and epic details. His “superheroes” and focus on ego is really wonderful. He’s one of my favorite poets, along with Keats, Wordsworth, and Shelley of course. Coleridge is good if you want to feel like you’re brain just exploded and leaked out your ear. Walking in the footsteps of the greats, in a land filled with enchanting oases, calm living, and a value for history has me filled with whimsical notions of not so far off places in times long past with figures I’ve admired for years. Like Anne Boleyn, for example. Someday I’ll share my thoughts on this tragic heroine, misunderstood and misrepresented for being a woman striving for the stars.

Speaking of inspiration, I’m writing again. After reading and editing 2 AMAZING books for friends and getting some market analyses from some publishers I decided to put the werewolf story aside and start something new. Hopefully my friends won’t forget me when the film options and book tours start happening. I’m building a confidence to submit this one as it’s more adult. Not that I’m not confident in my work, but it’s more of a nervousness. I don’t read reviews of my stuff usually (unless I’m getting an award notification, which has been happening a lot recently) but I don’t share my work with people I know in real life. It’s embarrassing to share your hopes and dreams and fantasies with someone you know well because I feel like people are really judgmental and I don’t want someone I know in real life telling me that I’m weird or perverted or OMG you sit around thinking about effed up stuff all day. So I keep my accomplishments to myself. So the werewolf story is out to 2 publishers that are interested, and if neither of them pick it up I’m moving on. But today I’m 5500 words into a new what will probably be a novella.

2 nights ago we watched A Knight’s Tale, one of my favorite movies of all time, and walking among the ruins of great battles from a world long forgotten makes my heart ache from the overflowing joy of being here. A dream come true.

A man can change his stars.

Tagged: Frantzerland, inspiration, traveling, writing

Motivation and Guilt

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 11:29:28 GMT

I’ve been reading a lot about staying motivated to keep writing. Some people suggest the every day method. Some people suggest the when you’re inspired, or not necessarily inspired, but giving yourself time to relax. Not forcing it.

For me, writing is about time management. It’s hard to find time to write when you’re working or have other responsibilities. For me, I feel guilty when I take time to write. I feel like there are more responsible things I should be doing, like cooking or cleaning. I could be looking at houses or for jobs. This goes along with lots of my other interests. I don’t read as much or play video games, do things that I enjoy, because I feel guilty. And it’s not someone making me feel guilty, I feel guilty myself. I feel guilty when I watch a movie or spend money.

The husband’s been telling me I need to take it easy, take a day or two and not worry about things like dinner or the house, just recharge. For me, that’s really hard. My mind is always bouncing around to the things I “should” be doing. But if you give me a deadline on something, like a paper or a story, I’m all over that. Like today! I signed up for a fic exchange and a prompt challenge. I’ve already gotten my prompt and started. I did another short prompt yesterday, just 500 words, and it inspired a longer piece I’m going to work on soon. But again, this makes me feel very driven and like something I “have” to do. If I label some sort of enjoyment with a responsibility, it’s not a problem for me, but like sitting here writing this when there’s laundry to be switched over is making me feel a little guilty.

Do you ever feel guilty for engaging in activities you love? How do you balance your time? Where do you fit in your recharging?

Tagged: thoughts, writing

Sexuality in Young Adult Literature

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 09:02:35 GMT

I was attempting to post a comment to a blog about teen sexuality in Young Adult novels, but the comment wouldn’t post. So I’m putting it here instead. The original post can be found here: http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-ya-and-teen-sexuality.html This is the third post I have seen in a week about Teen sexuality in YA so I wanted to chime in.

Teens are much more comfortable about sexuality today than in years past. I’m 26 now and I remember being 13 and 14 talking with my girlfriends about sex. Not kissing. Not holding hands. We talked about sex. And what we wanted to do. And what it would be like. We were voracious readers and consumers of media, mostly to learn about what to do. We talked about practicing kissing our pillows and teddy bears. I remember feeling very comfortable and excited though nervous during my first sexual encounters, and by this I’m talking kissing and petting between the ages of 17 and 19. I think that by assuming all readers are naive and awkward is a huge discredit to your readers. I remember feeling nervous and insecure, but I never felt sitcom like.

I’d like to see some research on what the author is calling “adult view.” Is she talking about how adults think about things like STDs and pregnancy? Teens think about that. Is she talking about coyote ugly and thinking the next day I shouldn’t have done that? Teens think those things. Is she talking about being curious about your body and your sexuality and wanting to express it? Or about insecurities with their body and how they feel? Teens go through that, and so do adults. What woman who is going through pregnancy or menopause doesn’t think those same things? Adults go through feeling awkward, insecure, and nervous. Adults go through the newness of the experience with a new partner.

I’m not promoting a hyper sexualized child populace and everything should be erotica or little lolitas. I’m saying teens are much more aware of what is going on and much more comfortable, at least for the most part. This argument to me to be more a debate of values, such as the insensitive comment about sexually active people not reading, than about the consumer. Teens are going to sources to get information so that they are comfortable and aware, and a lot of times these sources are wrong or myth laden. Other sources are value driven. People talk about teen sexuality as though it’s something new, but teens today were the adults of yesteryear. Look at the baby boomers, and even before then in medieval and victorian times where girls and dowries were exchanged like cattle. If we continue with this idea of the general population thinking teens have whimsical thoughts a la The Brady Bunch we are going to continue to drive teens to find information from places that may not be safe. I would want my daughter to know that I want her to wait till she’s mature enough to handle it, but if she decides this is something she wants to experience here is information about this, this and this to keep her safe. I want her to be confident enough to voice what she wants and likes so she’s not pressured into doing something she doesn’t want to do, or something she’s not comfortable with. As an educator, I could tell you stories about the three 11 year olds that carried babies to term, the 3rd grader that described and made the motions of how she was going to “give head” to her 6th grader boyfriend in front of her mother, or the countless myths kids came to me to ask questions about. Teens are more aware of their sexuality than before, but they are surrounded by dangerous myths. Statistics show abstinence only sex education programs results in teens waiting three months to engage in intercourse, and they use no protection when they do. In Europe they start teaching sex ed very young, at about age 8 in school, and contraception is readily available. We have a very sophisticated teenage population when it comes to sexuality and relationships, which may or may not be to their detriment, but without support from family and adults they are playing a very dangerous game.

This argument isn’t so much about sexual expression as it is about control. Trying to control sexuality, specifically women’s sexuality because we all know guys are patted on the back and looked at as studs for spreading their seed to as many people as possible, is detrimental to our girls. And trying to force a value system of the “good old days” is naive and a farce. Watch Grease or read the book by Greg from The Brady Bunch and see what was actually going on in those wholesome, whimsical fantasies. We need to be wiser and change with the times or else we could be looking at an impoverished, unhealthy, misinformed, powerful youth. I think as a society we should move to be more accepting of everyone and sharing information so we can all be safe and healthy.

For further reading:
*Generation Me
*The Lolita Effect
*Geographies of Girlhood (articles about what teen girls are experiencing right now)
*Fleming, Jennifer J. (2007).Critical Thinking About Sex, Love and Romance in the Mass Media: Media Literacy Applications
*Nymphomania: a history
*Lamb, Sharon. (2008). The ‘right’ sexuality for girls,
*Lyons, Paul J. (1991). Our young people need more education about sexuality, and the media should take some responsibility to provide it. The Oregonian,
*Monaghan, Peter. (2007). Sex ed for grown-ups.
*Pinker, Susan. (2008). The sexual paradox.
*Roberts, John. (1994). Surgeon general resigns in masturbation row.
*Tavris, Carol. (2002). Are girls really as mean as the books say they are.
*Whitmire, Richard. (2008). A tough time to be a girl: gender imbalance on campuses.

Tagged: activism, education, issues, sexuality, teaching, teens, thoughts, writing, YA

Other Venues

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:00:52 GMT

I’ve been looking at e-publishers. Romance has always been a passion of mine, and I know there are lots of romance e-publishers and the market has been exploding online, specifically for Romance novels. I was thinking that I should just put away the YA and start on a romance novel.

Then I was looking at online publishers who needed telecommuting editors. As I was applying, I also saw a LOT of submission calls for online YA and Fantasy. Be still my heart. Maybe mainstream agents and publishers won’t take my book, but what if I take the Houck method, only instead of self-publishing, I can e-publish it with an actual publishing line!

So I just sent out my book to several e-publishers. We’ll see if someone wants to pick it up. It’s exciting to think of the possibilities in this market. After the latest round of rude responses on that agent viewed message board, I’m feeling hopeful for the first time in a long time. I may have finally found my niche. Here’s hoping anyway.

Tagged: publishing, writing